Racism,militarisation and policing: police reactions to violence against Palestinian women in Israel

This article moves beyond the discussion of police racism to a broader account of the militaristic racism of policing in Israel. The highly permeable boundaries between the military, society and the political conflict all affect how violence against women is policed. Focusing on case studies of police officers' perceptions of abused Palestinian Israeli women — members of an ethnic and indigenous minority — this paper considers key features of the policing of violence against women in a militaristic context and during a continuous political conflict. Police officers' philosophies and actions in law enforcement concerning violence against women are critically scrutinised. The findings indicate that while some aspects of cultural difference between the indigenous ethnic group and the majority are relevant to policing, focusing predominantly on the ‘cultural characteristics’ or ‘ethnic traditions or rituals’ of the policed population and denying the effect of the political conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as a factor in the militarisation of policing can reinforce rather than ameliorate ethnic prejudice, racism and discrimination.     

Muslims’ social inclusion and exclusion in France,Québec,and Canada: does national context matter?*

This article compares the social experiences of Muslim minorities in three contexts – France, Québec, and English Canada – each reflecting a different approach to immigrant integration. France’s republican model emphasises cultural assimilation and the exclusion of religion from the public sphere; Canada’s multicultural model advocates official recognition of minority cultures; Québec shares Canada’s tradition of large-scale permanent immigration but embodies a unique intercultural discourse of integration, in some ways resembling France. We compare the social experiences of Muslim and non-Muslim minorities in these three settings using the French ‘Trajectories and Origins’ survey (2009) and the Canadian ‘Ethnic Diversity Survey’ (2002) data on reports of discrimination, friendship networks, social trust, voluntarism, and national identity. We find the Muslim/non-Muslim gap in social inclusion is significant in all three settings and results from ethnic, cultural, or racial differences, more than religion. In assessing immigrants’ social inclusion, we suggest consideration be given to: (i) the reality of ‘national models’ in the community, (ii) a tendency for minorities to locate in more accepting segments of mainstream society, and (iii) the limited impact of policies based on national models.     

中国民族间发展的多重差异格局与差别化、协同性政策开发研究——论中国民族关系的新形态与民族政策的新体系

After 60 years of implementation, the ethnic regional autonomous policy has provided basic political support for promoting the common development and prosperity of all ethnic groups. Especially since the period of “Reform and Open-ing Up” began, the national preferential policies and support for ethnic minority areas gradually in-creased, and economic and social development in the ethnic minority areas clearly speeded up. Ac-cording to official statistics, after more than 30 years of “Reform and Opening Up”, the economic growth rate of China’s ethnic minority areas is high-er than the national average. However, at the same time , the economic and social development gap be-tween different ethnic groups has become more and more pronounced. The development of the ethnic groups has created a structure of multiple dispari-ties, which fundamentally restricts ethnic unity, as well as political and social stability in ethnic areas of China. This structure of multiple disparities re-flects the imbalances mainly in four aspects: 1 ) the ongoing large gap between the ethnic minority areas and Han Chinese regions remains; 2 ) the unequal economic and social development among the various ethnic minority people has expanded;3 ) the economic gap within the same ethnic minor-ity autonomous region has gradually become more pronounced;and, 4 ) the differences in develop-ment within the same ethnic group who live in vari-ous regions of China are also very obvious. The multiple inequalities of the economic and social development of China’s ethnic groups add more complexity to the ethnic problems of China. The disparity in economic and social development between different ethnic groups is not only an eco-nomic problem, but is also a significant political issue. Hence, promoting a balanced economic and social development among the various ethnic groups has a very obvious practical significance for main-taining ethnic unity, promoting national integra-tion, and maintaining national stability . Based on the discussion above, this article mainly explores which kind of ethnic policy can ef-fectively resolve the multiple disparities found with-in ethnic development and is beneficial for promo-ting the integration of the various ethnic groups in China? On the basis of summarizing and reviewing approaches found in earlier research, the author puts forward the following core ideas:1 ) The economic and social development differences of various ethnic groups have formed a pattern of multiple disparities in China, and it is no longer simply a gap between the Han and ethnic minorities. Since the implementation of the “Re-form and Opening Up” policy, the differentiation or disparity between China’s ethnic minorities has become more and more pronounced—this phenom-enon constitutes a new challenge to China’s ethnic unity and national unification. Therefore, we must adjust ethnic policy in order to solve the “true problem” or “new problem” concerning China’s ethnic problem. 2 ) The multi-faceted disparities found in the economic and social development among China’s ethnic minorities result from many factors, inclu-ding institutional, policy, historical, geographical, cultural, and psychological. Therefore, we must realize a diversity of ethnic policy, and build a comprehensive ethnic policy system. 3 ) For the purpose of realizing the integration and state construction of the ethnic groups, in ad-dition to implementing the current policy of differ-entiation, we must also ensure a “four balanced and coordinated development”. This includes a balance between the Han areas and ethnic minority areas, a balance among the various ethnic minori-ties themselves, a balance within the same ethnic minority areas, and a balance within the same eth-nic group who live in different areas. This requires the central government to strengthen a double dif-ferentiation and collaborative orientation of ethnic policies concerning the market, labor, resources, technology, and capital.     

Muslims as Victims of Security Dilemma in the West

Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity in the world, and Muslims are the fastest-growing ethnocultural minority communities in the Western world. However, Muslims, especially living in Western countries, have increasingly become the victim of a contemporary form of racism and xenophobia—that is Islamophobia. Survey reports conducted across Western nations have underlined the fact that a significant number of respondents are critical of the Muslim minority community and that this negative trend poses a challenge for these Muslim minorities’ ethnocultural freedom and equality. Today, mainstream Muslims in the West are victims of both Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-like terrorism and Islamophobics. Within this context, this study analyses the causal relationship between the West’s sense of insecurity and Islamophobia through the lens of the realist concept of security dilemma using a qualitative approach.     

中华民族共同体视域下当代少数民族题材记录片的创作演变

“铸牢中华民族共同体意识”是党和国家基于民族工作新形势部署的新战略。作为民族话语重要文化载体的中国少数民族题材纪录片见证并勾勒了其话语表达逻辑及实践机理。从主流意识的“政治宣传”到民族文化“共生交融”,从话语主体的“他者言说”到“开放自述”,从镜头对准“集体形象”转向聚焦“个体形象”,折射出我国民族共同体话语建构传播的递嬗性超越。作为民族话语重要文化载体的中国少数民族纪录片一方面应以植耕历史,加强对各民族优秀文化的挖掘和阐发,表达文化诉求,促成各民族间的认识、认知、认可、认同,进而在精神层面生发持久、恒定的态度与力量。另一方面从人本角度出发,思考“人的自我发展”、“人与他者”、“人与世界”的多元伦理关系,互相接纳,互相启迪、互惠利他,在休戚与共的命运共同体中解决现实生活中的生存生活困境,在共同体谱系中实现个人、民族的价值追求。     

Consequences of religious and secular boundaries among the majority population for perceived discrimination among Muslim minorities in Western Europe

While the concept of symbolic boundaries and ethnic boundary-making is well established in social research, the direct consequences of these boundaries for the integration of migrants have not received much attention. This paper thus analyses whether religious and secular boundaries of national belonging among the majority population have an impact on perceived discrimination among Muslim minorities in Western Europe. To analyse this linkage, data from the International Social Survey Programme measuring the importance of religion as a symbolic boundary of national belonging among the majority have been aggregated as a regional context condition and combined with a Muslim minority subsample from the European Social Survey. The results of the multilevel models reveal that the salience of religious boundaries is associated with less perceived discrimination among Muslim minorities, while secular orientations among the majority seem to be more decisive for subjective perceptions of feeling discriminated against. Overall, the results thus challenge the role of religion as an ethno-religious demarcation and point to the relevance of secular boundaries of belonging for immigrant integration.     

南京国民政府时期全国性议政机构中少数民族代表考察

China is a multi-ethnic country. From the wuzu gonghe ( Five nationalities under one union ) in the early Republic of China to the current union of 56 ethnic groups, the participation of ethnic minorities in political affairs has always been a vital and important factor for the develop-ment of China’s democratic politics. On one hand, the Nanjing National Government was dedicated to the model of a“civil identification” and weakening ethnic characteristics. On the other hand, due to the immense pressure from the resistance of the Japanese invasion and the increase of minority representatives’ appeals, they had to gradually al-low some ethnic elites, as ethnic minority repre-sentatives, to participate in the national affairs so that they could acquire more political identity. Al-though the government of the Republic of China claimed “Five nationalities under one union” as well as declaring many times to guarantee extensive and orderly ethnic minority participation in national affairs, by analyzing cases of elections in the state council agencies during the period of Nanjing na-tional government, not all the promises were imple-mented. I. The general situation of the elections for ethnic minority representatives in the state council agencies. In the National Conference in 1931 , only Mongolia and Tibet were allowed to organize their own elections and send their own ethnic representa-tives. Among the total of 520 national conference representatives, Mongolian representatives accoun-ted for 12 , and Tibetans accounted for 10 . The National Political Council, which also known as“the Congress during war”, was founded on July 6 , 1938 , and was abolished on March 28 , 1948 . It lasted for 9 years and held conferences a total of 4 times. In all the 4 conferences, 10 people were elected as participants to represent Tibet to discuss political affairs, and 18 people were elected as participants representing Mongolia. However, al-though other minorities were not regarded as elec-ted units, yet still some outstanding personages from these ethnic minorities were recommended by their provinces or other political organs as partici-pants to discuss national political affairs. In the National Assembly held on November 15 , 1946 , each of the following provinces, including Yun-nan, Guizhou, Xikang, Sichuan, Guangxi and Hunan, were allowed to send ten people who re-presented their local ethnic minorities to discuss political affairs. In the National Assembly held in March of 1948 , not only the numbers of ethnic mi-norities increased, but also the way of electing them was improved. II. An analysis of the election conditions of the ethnic minority representatives in the national state agencies. 1 . Although the numbers of ethnic minority representatives increased, nevertheless, the pro-portion of them did not. During 18 years ( 1931-1948 ) , the number of the ethnic minority repre-sentatives increased from the initial 22 to 147 . However, the proportion of them only increased by 0. 7%, which was not so remarkable. 2 . The structure of the ethnic minority repre-sentatives was complicated, but most came from the “upper classes”. In the year of 1931 , there were only 6 representatives for the state conference from both Mongolia and Tibet. By the year 1948, there were 148 ethnic minority representatives coming from Mongolian, Tibetan, Hui, Manchu, Miao, Yi, and, so on, ethnic groups. As a result, the structure of ethnic representation was more complex as the numbers increased during the peri-od of Nanjing National Government. Many repre-sentatives were elected by the selection method, and most of them came from the upper classes. Therefore, structurally, representatives from the bottom rung of society who deeply understood the sufferings of ethnic people, were lacking. 3 . The regional characteristics of the ethnic minorities were weakened and the ethnic character-istics were strengthened. With regard to the elec-tion of representatives for the National Conference held in 1931, in consideration of regional politics, only Tibet and Mongolia were chosen as election u-nits which could hold their own elections. When the National Political Council was held in 1938 , the situation had not changed. Many provinces, for example, Xinjiang, and Ningxia, and many south-western provinces, which were home to many eth-nic minority people, could only select their repre-sentatives through elections held either by organiza-tionsor elections on the provincial or municipal lev-el. It was not until the victory of the war against Japan, that the National government acknowledged the particular characteristics of the southwestern ethnic minorities. It was only at the time of the e-lection for the representatives for the National As-sembly, that the Manchu and Hui achieved the right to hold their own election separately. III. “Five nationalities under one union” or“Single nation state”? Although the Nanjing National Government claimed “Five nationalities under one union” and asserted to the public that all the nationalities were equal, Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek were hopeful of building a country which promoted the situation of a “single nation state”. Their ethnic policies embraced the hope of the national govern-ment, i. e. to replace“ethnic identity” with“state identity”. In fact, with the awakening of ethnic consciousness in modern times, it was obvious that the idea that 400 million of people came from the same nationalities was only the government’s view. During that time, although the political status of a few ethnic minorities was acknowledged by the gov-ernment and the number of the ethnic minority rep-resentatives increased, the change was not promo-ted by the national government on its own accord. First of all, because of the pressure from the resist-ance to the Japanese invasion, all the social clas-ses needed to unify. In addition, many ethnic elites tried their best to gain the opportunity to par-ticipate in national affairs. What’s more, the eth-nic policies in those regions governed by the Com-munist Party were also one of the influential fac-tors. From the National Conference to the National Assembly, the criteria for holding elections were still only acquired by the Mongols, Tibetans, Hui, Manchus and the ethnic minorities in the southeast-ern border areas. All in all, it was an unequal way for ethnic minority representatives to participate in national affairs. Objectively, the ideal of a “Single Nation state” which was pursued by the nationalists was not suitable for China’s situation. Instead, it might be the cause of ethnic conflicts. China has a vast territory with uneven economic development. The transportation, economy and education in the re-gions where ethnic minorities live were mostly un-developed. As a result, it was difficult for the eth-nic minorities to win when they campaigned with the inner regions which held many resources. Fur-thermore, although a few of the ethnic minorities were gradually granted the status of political sub-ject by the Nanjing National Government, this process lacked efficiency. A large group of the ci-vilians belonging to ethnic minorities had trouble approaching state identification while, moreover, their own ethnic identification was not acknowl-edged by the government. Therefore, the ethnic minority region naturally found it difficult to identi-fy with the rule of the national government.     

Circumcising the body: negotiating difference and belonging in Germany

ABSTRACT

The circumcision debate in Germany in 2012 is an exemplary case for symbolic struggles over national boundaries. The debate became a site for the negotiation of traditions practiced by religious minorities. We ask, first, how the clinical gaze constitutes Muslim and Jewish others. Second, we investigate how ‘writing around’ the debate’s center, bodily integrity, became meaningful through analogies to other practices said to harm it. We compare newspaper coverage in Germany, Israel and Turkey, and reveal transnational discursive dynamics that transgress national boundaries. We show how ‘otherness’ of Muslims and Jews remains present in a self-perceived secular, liberal imaginary.     

The dynamics of negation: identity formation among Palestinian Arab college students inside the green line

How does granting certificates of ‘business clean of Arab workers’ to owners of shops, stores, and Jewish businesses who prove they are not employing Arab workers shape identity? Identity development involves making sense of, and coming to terms with, the social world one inhabits, recognizing choices and making decisions within contexts, and finding a sense of unity within one's self while claiming a place in the world. Since there is no objective, ahistoric, universal trans-cultural identity, views of identity must be historically and culturally situated. This paper explores identity issues among members of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel. While there is a body of literature exploring this subject, we will offer a different perspective by contextualizing the political and economic contexts that form an essential foundation for understanding identity formation among this minority group. We argue that, as a genre of settler colonialism, ‘pure settlement colonies’ involve the conquering not only of land, but of labor as well, excluding the natives from the economy. Such an exclusion from the economy is significant for its cultural, social, and ideological consequences, and therefore is especially significant in identity formation discussed in the paper. We briefly review existing approaches to the study of identity among Palestinian Arabs in Israel, and illustrate our theoretical contextual framework. Finally, we present and discuss findings from a new study of identity among Palestinian Arab college students in Israel through the lens of this framework.     

Islam,Moderation, Radicalism,and Justly Balanced Communities

If media outlets and political rhetoric are to be believed, then the way to counter “radical” Islam is through “moderate” Islam. Seemingly, “moderate” Islam is that which “radical” Islam is not. In appointing “moderate” Islam as an antidote to “radical” Islam, the implication is that, conceptually at least, the two terms are contradistinctive. Yet, while much is, perceivably, known about “radical” Islam, with its associated ills of an unequivocal Islamic worldview, very little attention has been afforded to this signifier, “moderate”. Inasmuch as this term is bandied around, even scholars of Islam will acknowledge that, within Islamic education, understandings of and debates on conceptions of moderation, and moderate Muslim communities, have been somewhat overlooked. What, therefore, is a “moderate” Islam? What is a “moderate” Muslim community and how would it act? What are the implications for a “moderate” community in relation to pluralist societies? And, can such a “moderate” community offer a practical response not only to “radical” Islam, but, perhaps, more importantly, to increasingly antagonistic, liberal contexts?     

Marketing an imagined Muslim woman: Muslim Girl magazine and the politics of race,gender and representation

This article examines the magazine Muslim Girl (started publication 2007) and explores how the representations on the magazine's pages construct a particular type of identity for Muslim women: an ‘idealized’ Muslim woman who is both North American/Western and Muslim. Such a woman is portrayed as liberal, educated, fashionable, a ‘can-do’ woman, who is also committed to her faith. This ‘ideal’ woman is situated squarely as a neo-liberal subject in an increasingly consumerist world: she is ‘marketable’ (and marketed) as the ‘good Muslim’ (Mamdani, 2004) and is positioned as the ‘familiar stranger’ (Ahmed, 2000) in North America. This so-called ‘modern’ Muslim (read: ‘good Muslim’) is juxtaposed both against the ‘fundamentalist’ Muslim (read: ‘bad Muslim’) and the ‘normalized’ white North American subject. Against the discourse of post 9/11 nationalism and within the context of (gendered) Orientalism, this article argues that such idealized representations present easily recognizable tropes, which serve important political, ideological and cultural purposes within North American society. An analysis of these representations – and the purposes which they serve – provides an important window into the nuances of the structured discourses that seek to control and discipline the gendered Muslim body. On the one hand, the representations in Muslim Girl focus on the so-called ‘integrated North American Muslim’ – a ‘modern’ or ‘good’ Muslim – within the context of the multicultural, neo-liberal and post 9/11 nation-state. On the other hand, these representations also highlight examples of Muslim women, who seemingly remain committed to their faith and community. Such representations of hybridized North American Muslims speak powerfully to the forces – ideological, cultural, political and social – that are at play in the post 9/11 world. In analyzing the representations found in Muslim Girl, this paper provides an insight into some of these forces and their implications.     

Historicity and citizenship as conditions for national minority rights in Central Europe: old principles in a new migration context

Having a historical presence in a country and citizenship of that country are two basic conditions under which national minority rights are granted in many countries, but increasing international migration has started to pose a challenge to this conception. Like other countries of Central Europe, the Czech Republic has adopted the two conditions for granting rights to traditional ‘national minorities’ and has developed a separate policy for the ‘integration of foreigners’; however, the emergence of the second generation of Vietnamese has presented a special challenge to this two-tier policy system. Recent renegotiation of the historicity of this immigrant group has resulted in its ‘official recognition’ as a national minority. This paper discusses this case in its wider Central European context, and addresses the question of whether we are observing an erosion of the two-tier policy system or a reconsideration of the distinction between ‘old’ and ‘new’ minorities. Finally, the paper touches upon the question of the role and usability of ‘old’ minority language rights, considering the lack of interest among the traditional minorities vs. the linguistic situation of the migrants’ second generation.     

What They Really Want Is a Caliphate! British Salafi Reactions to the Arab Spring

This contribution discusses the lack of references to the success of Salafi parties in the Middle East after the Arab Spring, in Egypt especially, by groups who self-identify as Salafi outside the Middle East. In their interpretation of the uprisings known as the Arab Spring, British Salafis have emphasised that Arab Muslim populations in the Middle East want an Islamic Caliphate despite cries for liberal rights and democracy. The aim of this contribution is to provide a theoretical frame for analysing a type of European Salafism on the rise preoccupied with establishing “Sharia Zones” and controlling fellow Muslims’ observance of Islamic principles in British cities but with little interest in political developments in Muslim majority countries. Rather than working for political influence, the British so-called Salafis in al-Muhajiroun are preoccupied with defining a place of their own in their European context. Thus, the argument is that in order to understand current Salafi-inspired movements in the Middle East and Europe, it is necessary to analyse practice, rhetorical expressions and political context rather than how various groups self-identify.     

The “Trojan Horse” Plot and the Fear of Muslim Power in British State Schools

In 2014, an alleged “Trojan Horse” plot to Islamise education in a number of schools attended predominantly by diverse Muslim pupils in the inner city wards of Birmingham raised considerable questions. Ofsted investigations of 21 schools explored these concerns at the behest of the then Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove MP. At the head of this so-called plot, a certain Tahir Alam, once a darling of New Labour’s policies on British Muslim schools, faced the brunt of the media and political furore. Based on a series of face-to-face interviews with Alam in 2015 and 2016, this paper provides a detailed insight into the allegations, the context in which they emerged and the implications raised for young Muslims in the education system. Ultimately, as part of the government’s counter-terrorism policy the accusations of the “Islamisation” of education in these “Trojan Horse” schools foreshadowed the additional securitisation of all sectors of education. However, there was neither the evidence nor the legal justification to ratchet up anti-extremism education measures that eventually followed; namely the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. The consequences of the negative attention heightened existing Islamophobia but, paradoxically, they also limited the opportunities for de-radicalisation through education.     

Ambivalent Islam: the identity construction of Muslims under Portuguese colonial rule

This article wishes to contribute to the study of the historical processes that have been spotting Muslim populations as favourite targets for political analysis and governance. Focusing on the Portuguese archives, civil as well as military, the article tries to uncover the most conspicuous identity representations (mainly negative or ambivalent) that members of Portuguese colonial apparatus built around Muslim communities living in African colonies, particularly in Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. The paper shows how these culturally and politically constructed images were related to the more general strategies by which Portuguese imagined their own national identity, both as ‘European’ and as ‘coloniser’ or ‘imperial people’.

The basic assumption of this article is that policies enforced in a context of inter-ethnic and religious competition are better understood when linked to the identity strategies inherent to them. These are conceived as strategic constructions aimed at the preservation, protection and imaginary expansion of the subject, who looks for groups to be included in and out-groups to reject, exclude, aggress or eliminate. The author argues that most of the inter-ethnic relationships and conflicts, as well as the very experience of ethnicity, are born from this identity matrix.     

Resistance and Assimilation: Transforming Security Roles of China’s Largest Muslim Minorities

China’s resurgence as an economic power has brought it increased interconnectivity to international global markets, and with it, increased exposure to transnational crimes. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the resulting increase in religious-inspired terrorist attacks have been of particular concern for the Chinese leadership. This paper aims to highlight the processes of resistance and assimilation of China’s two largest Muslim minorities, the Hui and Uyghur, in successive Chinese Empires since the eighth century CE and how critical events in the past two decades have affected the way in which the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has approached relations with its Muslim minority communities. The purpose is two-fold: to expose these groups’ stabilizing and destabilizing influence throughout the 1300 years of Muslim-Chinese coexistence, and to assess the effectiveness of the Chinese Communist Party’s Policies towards its Muslim minorities.     

‘Both an Arab and a woman’: gendered,racialised experiences of female Palestinian citizens of Israel

Following feminist and postcolonial discourses, this paper uses the concept of ‘everyday experience’ as a tool to trace the social world of educated Palestinian women in Israel. The term refers to the complex array of these women's experiences in racialised and gendered social sites, as well as within the class, religious, and ethnic contexts in the subordinated group and its relations with the dominant Jewish group. Based on 108 in‐depth interviews with Palestinian women citizens of Israel, the paper claims that educated Palestinian women are located in a ‘third place’ between cultural, gender, class, national and racial structures that generates a continual ambivalence. Within this marginal, ‘unhomely’ space women negotiate their own identities and challenge dominant social definitions. Women create various modes of interim spaces and multi‐dimensional, shifting identities for themselves. The ambivalent attitudes generated by the women's experiences expose the possibility of shedding categorising markers. The omnipresent existence of the gendered, racialised regime of knowledge makes every place a potential site of subversion and resistance.     

Shi‘ism in the American Diaspora: Challenges and Opportunities

This paper examines the new diasporic jurisprudence or jurisprudence of minorities (fiqh al-aqalliyyāt) that has emerged within Shi‘i juridical circles. Shi‘i jurists (maraji‘) have responded to the needs of Shi‘i communities that live as minorities in the West by recasting Islamic legal discourse on Muslim minorities and reconciling Islamic legal categories to the demands of the times. New situations and contingencies have prompted the experts in the field to delve into the sources and to devise methodological devices in usul al-fiqh to enable them to deduce fresh juridical rulings in order to deal with novel problems and issues. The article will also argue that when facing new situations that cannot be located in the revelatory sources and do not have legal precedents, jurists can formulate judgments that will best protect the interests of the community while remaining faithful to the Islamic frame of reference. The paper also examines the various challenges that American Shi‘is encounter as they navigate their ways in the American socio-political milieu. These include the construction of ethnic borders within the community, political engagement, the community’s attempts at acculturation in the post-9/11 era and its engagement in academic discourse.     

“Muslims are the New Jews” in the West: Reflections on Contemporary Parallelisms

This article examines a spectrum of contemporary texts by Muslim essayists, scholars and activists based in the Arab world, in Europe and in the USA that comparatively analyzed Jewish experiences in the West as invaluable lessons for Muslim minorities. These included: anti-Semitism and the struggle against it; segregation from and integration into majority societies; and, political lobbying on behalf of the “greater nation”. The article argues that the diversity of Jewish realities, past and present, and the general sense that Jewish minorities in the West ultimately found ways to preserve their religious identity while amassing social-political influence, have rendered comparisons between Muslims and Jews an essential aspect of different (and at times contesting) arguments about the future of Muslim minorities in the West.     

‘Trapped between two worlds’ – Muslim Palestinian women from Israel in Jordanian universities: new identity and the price it demands

Interviews were held with 12 Muslim Palestinian women from Israel, presently studying in Jordan (6) or who had completed their higher education in Jordan (6). They explained the factors that pushed or pulled them to study in Jordan, the independence that they experienced there, the empowerment they achieved, and the price they paid when they returned to Arab society in Israel. The Arab cultural space in Jordan is defined as both foreign and close, due to its geographical and cultural proximity, and yet its distance from home and patriarchal supervision. The research findings indicate that this situation influences the formation of these women's gender identity and their empowerment but also creates much pain and conflict. The Palestinian women's new identity, formed during their studies, assists them in their efforts to reintegrate and establish their status when they return from their academic studies abroad to their society of origin, Muslim Arab society in Israel.