Presentation of national identity on social media in times of crises: The case of a Palestinian anti-violence movement in Israel

Abstract

This case study offers an understanding of the perception and use of social media among social activists as means of collective identity formation. It focuses on the case of a Palestinian anti-violence movement in Israel. To learn about the identity presented by the United Fahmawi movement, interviews with two of the movement’s leaders and its Facebook posts were analyzed. The findings show a multi-layered, complex identity. The identity is presented as Palestinian, mainly centered around the city of Umm al-Fahm. Otherness is a crucial aspect of this identity, as Palestinian identity stands in opposition to the Israeli one. Furthermore, the police are presented as the source of the crime crisis, while also seen as responsible for reducing it. This study shows how indigenous social activists use the intersectionality between the social, the political, and the national to present an identity.