The Place of Israel’s Palestinian Citizens in Mamlakhti Culture: The First Independence Days and the Notion of Accommodation

Abstract

The place of Israel’s Palestinian citizens in its republican-mamlakhti culture is a constant source of ambivalence and indecisiveness for Israeli agents of memory. The issue was initially raised with regard to the first Independence Day, when the different institutions were unsure how Palestinian citizens should mark it, if at all. During the 1950s, this question concerned 150,000–200,000 Palestinian citizens (11%–18% of the total population), but it also had implications for the national narrative and the public sphere. The article argues that despite the obvious power relations between Jews and Palestinians, during the first five Independence Days the authorities often used terminology and techniques of accommodation commonly associated with consociationalism. In the belief that the holiday celebrations should not be enforced (at least not directly), they avoided addressing the source of tension (the place of non-Jews in a Jewish public culture), and generally accepted decisions that were locally based, temporary and improvised.