Community on the Margins: The Social Consolidation of the HaTikvah Neighborhood in the Late Mandate Period and during Early Israeli Statehood

Abstract

The definition and analysis of disadvantaged neighborhoods have been rethought in recent years, with the goal of trying to surpass the monolithic identification of all marginal neighborhoods and move towards an analysis of the social, urban, and national circumstances that create marginal neighborhoods in a particular country under specific historical circumstances. This paper offers a micro-historical case study that allows us to examine the social consolidation and civic engagement of a marginal urban community residing in the HaTikvah neighborhood, next to the city of Tel Aviv, during the period between the mid-1930s and the early 1950s. It argues that the residents’ identifications and actions stemmed from an intersectional marginality that was composed of their low socio-economic status, their ethnic origin as Oriental Jews, the geographic location of the neighborhood, and its lack of municipal status. Taking into consideration the circumstances of British Mandatory rule and the processes of the consolidation of the Jewish national society in Palestine as a European society, this paper unveils the struggles of the community vis à vis various institutions for the purposes of recognition, the improvement of living conditions, and, subsequently, the preservation of the fabric of life in the neighborhood.