Relocation in Rural and Urban Settings

Abstract

This article describes aspects of the relocation of schools from the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip ( Gush Katif) after implementation of the disengagement plan in summer 2005. The study describes “successful” and “unsuccessful” relocated schools in the eyes of parents and the impact of the schools' new geographical positioning on the parents' discourse. Parents from successful rural schools in the periphery mainly emphasized the schools' attainment of educational—ideological goals, whereas parents from a semiurban school located close to the center mainly emphasized learning achievements. Although both groups underwent the same trauma of disengagement, the parents from successful rural schools expressed a more segregated tendency, whereas parents from the semiurban school expressed a more integrated and multicultural tendency. The semiurban school located close to the center serves as a mediator between the particularistic and universalistic concepts of the refugees from Gush Katif and as a means to normalization and integration within general society.