Whose House is This? The Palestinian ‘Other’ and the Construction of Jewish Israeli Identity

Abstract

The construction of identity is a central issue that has been discussed in theory and in research over the last 30 years (Tajfel, 1981; Rosenthal, 1997). In Israel, researchers deal with the issue from the perspective of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Suleiman, 1997; Bar-On, 1999), by emphasizing inter- and intra-group processes (Bar-Tal and Rouhana, 1998; Maoz, 2000). This chapter focuses on the processes involved in the construction of personal and collective identity in Israel from the perspective of perceptions of the Palestinian Jewish ‘other’. We hold two basic assumptions concerning the construction of identity which have their roots in the study of group identity. The first is that identity is multifaceted, composed principally of individual identity and collective identity. The latter is based on social factors such as group membership (Tajfel, 1981). The construction of personal and social identity is a dynamic process that develops and changes over the life course of the individual. Identity is perceived as a means by which people connect the real to the imagined and the concrete to the symbolic, as they perceive their personal and social world (Bhabha, 1990). An example is how people perceive themselves as being part of a national or ethnic group and the thoughts and emotions that this identity evokes.