Twice removed: Mizrahi settlers in Gush Katif

Abstract

What does ethnicity (or race) have to do with the struggle over land in post-1967 Israeli occupied territories? On the Israeli scene, post-1967 settlers tend to be depicted as religiously motivated Jews of Ashkenazi descent and often Anglophone origin, while Jews from the Middle East and North Africa (Mizrahim) tend to be associated with development towns and other locations known for high unemployment and generally depressed socio-economic situations. Prior to the Israeli disengagement of 2005 there was a great deal of public attention focused on the controversy surrounding settlement in the occupied territories. The conflict often appeared in stark oppositions of ‘left-wing secular liberals’ against ‘right-wing religious radicals.’ The most outspoken messianic settlers and those often depicted in mainstream media tended to be of Ashkenazi origin, a representation that denies the presence of Jews of Middle Eastern and North African descent (Mizrahim) in the settlements then slated for evacuation. This article raises a set of questions about the hegemonic representation of the Israeli socio-political-religious scene regarding the relative absence of representations of Mizrahi Jews who lived in the settlements of Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip. It asks both what this representation accomplishes and what is at stake in recognizing the Mizrahi presence as settlers in post-1967 occupied territories.