Mada al-Carmel Center has released a new issue of Jadal Electronic magazine, edited by Muhannad Mustafa and Areen Hawari. This issue (29) deals with the public sphere and its context in the Palestinian community inside Israel from various aspects. The introduction starts by saying that the “public domain or public space is not a new subject for discussion in social literature; there have been writings on the study of the public sphere and its role in political culture and democracy, and its relationship with authority, whether political, social or religious. The public sphere aims to build the active citizen, through participation of the people in the formulation of public interest.”

The current issue of the Jadal magazine includes eight intellectual and cultural articles on the public sphere in the Palestinian community inside the Green Line from various angles and fields of knowledge.

The issue starts with an article by Dr. Muhannad Mustafa in which he provides a theoretical approach to the public sphere and the theoretical discussion around it. The article refers to the debate among researchers on the difference between the official, public and private spheres, in that the last is the field of sound, while the first is the field of loyalty. By sound, he means the place where you hear the debates, discussions, different attitudes and opinions, and therefore it is diverse and controversial, while loyalty represents one voice, the voice of the authority. In contrast to the pluralism in the public sphere, there is a unilateralism in the official field, regardless of the political system. Democratic elections are resolved between the different political ideological positions in the midst of the struggle for authority, while the public sphere is not based on the settlement of the issue, but on the debates and discussions and the presence of all positions.

The second article entitled, “the public and private spheres”, is from Dr. Azmi Bishara’s book “Theses on a Deferred Awakening” published over a decade ago. It is, to our knowledge, the first cultural text that establishes the discussion on the public sphere in the Palestinian community inside the Green Line, and has an in-depth analysis of the idea of ​​the public and private spheres in Palestinian society. In this regard, Bishara says: “The public sphere is therefore not exactly a public place, nor is it always in the public domain, rather it is a socio-cultural state of mind able to visualize the common good, or to legally impose it in order to deter the exceptions that are incapable of visualizing, addressing or respecting it. For this to happen, a period of historical development is required in which a process of classification between the private and public sphere in the institutions and in consciousness has occurred.”

In the third article, Dr. Ramiz Eid talks about the “Palestinian communal system”, which formed, until the mid-twentieth century, a shared public space that was managed by different groups in Palestinian society. In his presentation of the history of the communal system in Palestine, Eid emphasizes the social and economic role played by the latter in creating a management that relies on equality and local participatory democracy in decision-making. The article also emphasizes the role of the communal system in preventing external interference in the affairs of the local community and in its ability to prevent the sale of land. It opposes the first writings about it, particularly in the period of the British Mandate, which described it as an old economic system with a backward and inefficient structure in managing the economic and agricultural public sphere. Favoring the promotion of private ownership, which allowed for the sale of the land and control by the British Mandate and in line with what the Zionist forces and institutions demanded.

In his article, Dr. Mussalam Mahameed discusses the social network “Facebook” describing it as confining the presence and highlighting masks, saying: “the cosmic systems have become closer to the realization that leads to ignorance. The greater our exposure to obscured science, the more we realize how ignorant we are. We have experienced many types of communication, but we have not yet understood its philosophical dimensions. Even philosophers, it seems, are now scrambling to build a clear methodology for the definition of public space and its relationship to systems of communication. The theory of public space seeks to consolidate this concept and establish its foundations, but it frequently fails, in my opinion, as it chooses a philosophically loose cover that it wants it to wear in order to minimize the definition of communication.”

Hama Abu Kishek starts her article, “The virtual space of the Palestinian minority inside Israel,” by talking about the Arab media inside the Green Line and the role of the censor/authority in its formation. She also addresses the image of Arabs in the dominant Israeli media, followed by the development of the Arab press with the spread of the Internet and its consumption, highlighting the emergence of the phenomenon of the youth movement across social networking among young Arabs inside the Green Line, a phenomenon that played a role in highlighting the opinion and participating in the debate, which has been used in some cases as a tool in mobilizing and organizing national protests and marches.

In contrast, Deema Abu El Assal, in her article, “The illusion of the virtual world,” discusses the role of Facebook as ​​a public network, wondering whether it is an equal platform for everyone, or a virtual world that reflects reality and its conflicts. While in her article, Abu El-Assal presents different views of researchers of social networks on the latter’s ability to build a public space among its users and abolish discrimination and class and racist policies in some countries of the world. She is biased in favor of the claim that the ruling and powerful classes exploit Facebook and other networks, to keep up with the activities of users, their posts and content they share on their pages, to follow and monitor them. She argues that what young Palestinians face, based on their activity on Facebook, from political prosecutions, investigations and arrests, is an example of the fact that Facebook works on consolidating the existing power relations.

Regarding defending the dignity of women and their bodies in the public and private space, Maysa Irshaid addresses in her article, the entry of women into the public sphere with their bodies. She analyzes the experience of a protest activity by a group of Palestinian women through dance in the public arena, in rebellion against the violence directed towards women. In addition, limiting the freedom of the woman, the human, and prosecuting her socially and morally based on her body, which was raised to maintain the boundaries set for it, pointing out that the entry gate to the public space is often restricted, limiting its entry (i.e. the body) to moving from one private space to another.

Jadal Qassem concludes the issue with a theoretical essay on human dignity in the public sphere, in which she addresses the concept of human dignity and its move from the private sphere to the public sphere. She argues that freedom represented in the human right to self-determination is a sole prerequisite to achieving human dignity, which remains an individual feeling until it moves from the private to the public through a revolution or a popular demand for change. This transition is accompanied by a demand for the right to participate in the development of laws and regulations, and choosing the shape of the political, social and economic system.

Available only in Arabic: https://old.mada-research.org/?p=8646*

Mada al-Carmel Center issued an extra issue of the Jadal electronic magazine, edited by Muhanad Mustafa and Areen Hawari. This issue (27-28) of Jadal deals with the Palestinian city and its cultural, political, social and urban transformation, in the context of Israeli colonial settlement structure inside the Green Line and in the territories occupied in 1967, and in the framework of the Arab Palestinian social structure. The articles address the general level of transformations of the Palestinian city, with case studies of Palestinian cities/ residential areas, such as Haifa, Nazareth, Um el-Fahem and Ramallah. They raise several aspects of the issues relating to the Palestinian city, most importantly, the cognitive-epistemological aspect. This current issue features a large collection of articles divided into two sections: The first deals with a general analysis of the social, cultural and urban reality of the Palestinian city, and includes four articles. The second section deals with case studies of Palestinian cities/residential areas: Um el-Fahem, Haifa, Nazareth and Ramallah.

In the first section, Dr. Musallam Mahameed deals with a situation he calls the “Villacity” in the Palestinian communities inside the Green Line. The article tries to analyze everyday social behaviors stemming from this “Villacity” created by Israeli colonialism and complied with by the social strata, which is to drop the favorable aspects of the village without connecting with those of the city, and maintain the negative aspects of the village without repelling those of the city.

In his article, Professor Rasim Khamaisi addresses the urban planning transformations in the Palestinian residential areas, after the severing of the urbanization process, the city that evolved in Palestine and the Nakba of the Arab city in 1948. He suggests a critical view of the polarity of the city/village, and points out that “following resumption of development of the city, we are required to avoid continuing to stagger between the rural and urban, and produce concepts that critically read the reality of our cities and prepare for the future without copying and simulation.”

Within the general articles, which discuss the social aspect, Dr. Ibrahim Mahajneh analyzes in his article the issue of social solidarity in the Palestinian city, through the so-called “social urbanism,” assuming that “the Palestinian cities established under Israeli colonialism” suffer from “partial” and “strained” social urbanization. Mahajneh believes that the informal social solidarity system in these cities, is a relief solidarity in the form of grants and aid, but despite its inadequacy and irregularity as it is seasonal, works as an important safety net for the benefit of poor families.
In the same context, the researcher Lubabah Sabri, presents the cultural structure of the Palestinian city, stressing that the “social and cultural infrastructure in the Palestinian city has not changed.” Under the Israeli governments this emerging bourgeoisie structure acquired the political and social discourse and cultural production, protecting its privileges; to be the economic, political, intellectual and social decision maker.

The second part of the issue is opened by Dr. Ahmad Eghbarieh analyzing the urban – cultural reality of the city of Um el-Fahem, noting two factors that contributed to the formation of the cultural, political and social urban infrastructure in the city, namely political Islam and Israeli colonialism. He directs severe criticism of the development of the city to become “isolated from its close history and distant real heritage, living a spiritually confused mood between the terrestrial and celestial, or between the secular and religious, not to mention the daily colonial practices which emptied the concept of “citizenship” of its content, and dismisses simple dependence on it in a future reality. For the reasons given in combination, this city does not produce knowledge about itself, as it does not live a normal situation, but the bulk of what is produced is chanting consumed religious slogans, or extoling national repugnant mantras.
Dr. Nadeem Karkabi deals with the cultural situation in the city of Haifa. He observes the cultural transformations in it since its emergence as a global city embracing the middle class culture in the 1930s, through the Nakba till today. Karkabi deals with some of the associated ideas of Haifa as the capital of Arab culture inside Israel, which is consistent with the desire to restore the Palestinian city lost since the Nakba. He believes that the Palestinian social class which owns the economic luxury in Haifa and other cities seeks to reproduce and redefine the Palestinian civilian areas, on a cultural and not economic basis. He also points to the emergence and development of civil society institutions and initiatives, such as Palestinian non-governmental organizations, which, through their activities have attracted an audience and artists from outside the city.

The researcher Nisreen Mazzawi deals with the city of Nazareth in the framework of the “cultural and structural changes in the urban realm of Nazareth.” She presents the urban transformations in the city in the broad sense of urbanization and its economic, cultural and social implications, and city’s future destination.  In this respect, she states that the “cultural changes in the urban realm of Nazareth, in addition to the changes in lifestyles and their impact on identity, contains the issue and its opposite; the presence of the first sustains the presence of the second. A special network of deep, composite and contrasting relations combines the city’s residents in moderate consistency and harmony. Together they constitute a mosaic that reflects key elements in the life of the Palestinians in Israel.”

The second part of this issue has two articles about the transformations in the city of Ramallah, especially after the Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Dr. Jamil Hilal tries to understand the transformations in the city and its future destination following the changes that took place and continue to occur after the Oslo agreement, noting that the “biggest challenge for the city is combining between being a pluralistic, open and creative city, engaging with the racial colonial settlement system, and realizing that the greedy values of capitalism are incompatible with the values of freedom based on equality, solidarity and justice.”

In the same regard, the Palestinian researcher Lawziyeh Bazar presents a historical sociological reading of the transformations that took place in the city of Ramallah till this day. She confirms that “Ramallah wasn’t –the Oslo city– despite the importance of the developments that followed Oslo and the return of the Palestinian Authority from abroad. The centrality of Ramallah came gradually as an urban place emerging since the Ottoman rule, expanding during the British Mandate, to be reengineered during the period of Jordanian rule, and continued later to become in its current form.”

The current issue of Mada Al-Carmel electronic magazine “Jadal” addresses the decision to outlaw the Islamic Movement adopted by the Israeli government in the mid of November 2015. The Israeli decision, to politically outlaw the Islamic Movement, is considered a historical turning point in the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians in Israel. This is not a compositional argument, it is the precise description of this outlaw to whom understands the essence of this step and what it expresses from the change of this game’s rules between the Arab Palestinian crowds and the Israeli institution, including all its divisions, the political, the judicial, the media and security, all of which were mobilized to support this outlaw. It is an indicator for the change of the game’s rules, though unfair, and which determined the relationship between the Palestinian people and their national institutions on the one hand, and the State of Israeli on the other hand; a change towards new rules that emphasize Israel’s discourse and  colonial behavior and attitude towards the Palestinian masses inside the green line.

The majority of the Israeli society approved the prohibition of the Islamic Movement, in addition to incriminating the Arab political work in general. A recent poll on “The Israeli Democracy scale” published by the Israeli Institute for Democracy clearly reveals the racist attitudes of Israeli fascist and colonial nature against not only the Islamic Movement, but also the Arab masses, their leadership and parties. According to this poll, the entire Palestinian political work may be banned and criminalized. The Israeli political leadership is not only familiar with that approach but it is also in harmony with it and it feeds it. Some of the Israeli Elite opposed this banning for different reasons. Some opposed it for the harm it would cause to whatever is left of the democratic space in Israel, others are against it because it is ineffective, and there are those who opposed it because they believe it would harm the Arab-Jewish relationship. On the other hand, the majority of the Israeli society and its political parties supported it and considered it to be an accomplishment on Netanyahu’s behalf and that is what Netanyahu was looking for, considering his constant political and security failure; taking advantage of the global confusion about the terrorist attacks in Europe and Islamophobia to increase the fear from the Arab masses in general, their leaders and the Islamic Movement in particular.

The Islamic Movement is nor a closed Sufi trend, neither an Othman association. The Islamic Movement is a political-ideological stream that is present in all Arab social stratums and in all its locations. The debating and disagreements with the Islamic Movement on its political and social agenda do not provide moral nor national justification to support the outlaw. This was reflected in the articles published in this editorial, tackling the different aspects of interpretations and reflections of the outlaw on the validity of this argument.

In her article, attorney Suhad Bshara, provides a judicial-political reading for banning the Islamic Movement through a comparative approach, comparing the banning of al-Ard (the Land) Movement, the differences and the similarities between the two cases. She also reads the outlaw within the general legal-political system which Israel uses as an attempt to incriminate the political activities and work within the Palestinian society in Israel. The writer clarifies that “unlike al-Ard Movement, the Islamic Movement did not only choose not to operate within the parliament, it also chose to operate out of any system in order not to frame itself as a registered body according to any of the Israeli laws. It preferred to operate as a mass religious political movement legally unframed. Despite that, the Islamic Movement was subjected to the same methods of repression by the emergency regulations, in an attempt to impose the constitutional/ideological equation set by the Supreme Court in the case of al-Ard Movement, also in no harmony with the law. Thereby
the Israeli institution takes one further step to expand its oppressive and dominant space towards the Palestinian political action inside the green line.
The columnist Hisham Nafaa offers a political interpretation for the Islamic Movement prohibition in light of the general Israeli policies towards the Arab masses, emphasizing that this prohibition came in association with the government’s old strategy of reproducing the Arab Palestinian enemy in a systematic manner, seeking this strategy planned goals. He specifically emphasized the decision made by the right-wing government led by Benyamin Netanyahu to outlaw the Islamic Movement, referring to the techniques used by the authority to produce the enemy, as merging fear and terror, in addition to recruiting media in order to make Israeli decisions as dramatic as possible.

The researcher Rana Iseed offers an interpretation of the Islamic Movement’s role in providing social services and social welfare for Arab community, mentioning the self-reliant society, which was embodied by the Islamic Movement through the
initiative for establishing non-governmental institutions, which would be responsible for social welfare. She revealed the negative reflections of the embargo on the different social stratums which previously benefited from the services provided by the Islamic Movement, noting that “the government considers providing social services to be “a socio-political threat” rather than a legitimate competitor against the government and its institutions in this regard. Therefore, Iseed believes that there is a relationship –albeit indirect- between the outlaw of the Islamic Movement and its socio-political activities”.
In his article, advocate Alaa’ Mahajneh presents a reading of the relationship between the diversions in the Israeli and Zionist policies, and the prohibition of the Islamic Movement, emphasizing the relationship between the rising of the religious settler approach of the government and the Zionist project, and their seeking to ban the Islamic Movement. Given the recent activities of the Islamic Movement in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque wherein the Zionist religious colonial stream is attempting to regain religious dominance on Al-Aqsa mosque. The Zionist stream considers the Islamic Movement to be the main obstacle preventing them from accomplishing their ambition.

The writer suggests that “the project of the Islamic Movement, its exceptional activities in Jerusalem and the enforcement of steadfastness and resilience, especially the issue of Al-Aqsa mosque, are the main reasons behind the outlaw decision. Whereas this project collides with the endeavors of the new right-wing to regain the possession of “Temple mount” and the judaization of Jerusalem, in addition to the compulsory displacement of its indigenous Palestinian inhabitants. All of that come as an attempt to establish Jewish religious values within the concept of religious Zionism in the context of its internal struggle over the identity of the State”.

In her study, Dr. Taghreed Yahya-Younis offers a gender approach regarding the Islamic Movement prohibition, where she focuses on the negative aspects of the Islamic Movement prohibition on the feminist activity within the Islamic Movement, especially that a large feminist stratum has found in the Islamic Movement a political, social and religious framework through which they can play a political and social role, adding to that the opportunity of going out to work and self-actualization on both spiritual and psychological levels. The writer clarifies that “The outlaw impacts affected the whole Palestinian society and the entire Northern Islamic Movement, boys, girls, women and men, individuals and group/s. But it specifically and directly affected the dozens of girls and young women employed by the Movement, in addition to the awareness  raising activists and so many other fields. Thousands of women who receive the Islamic Movement services inside the green line, the West Bank and Gaza have also been affected. The date of the outlaw, to some women, is a determining one with both literal and metaphorical meanings”.

In addition to all of the mentioned previously, the researcher and Professor Saleh Lutfi presents an Islamic interpretation for the Islamic Movement outlaw through a cultural approach, considering that the conflict between Israel and the Islamic Movement is not only a political conflict, but also a cultural one; using the Islamic framework manifested in the concept of “Conflict” used by Israel for its relationship with the Islamic Movement, and the concept of “Jostling” adopted by the Islamic Movement for its relationship with Israel. Lutfi suggests: “The nature of advocacy dealt by the Islamic Movement in the gain momentum, and the nature of collision (clash) and conflict dealt by Israel, as the Israeli institution calls for collision because it is easier for it, and it was initially established on that logic, the only logic Israel can understand, through which and by which it can coexist”.

In the general articles’ section, MK Haneen Zoabi, contributed with an article on the Joint List, which is a continuation of the debate introduced by the previous editorial of “Jadal” magazine. Zoabi approached the Joint List from many different angels, thereby  revealing the political and ideological unlikeness between the components of the Joint List regarding its essence and role, indicating that developing the culture of a national, responsible sober and solid argument among different parties of the Joint List is an important condition, but is not enough for those who want to develop the Joint List as a national strategy. Those who want to achieve that must minimize the differences and deepen the unanimity which develops the Joint List’s political vision. Zoabi also assures that despite all the differences “Unity is more important than the ideological or political agreement, unity will prevent Israel from going alone with any party” of the Joint List’s parties. Unity will prevent Israel from weakening the parties by rating them into “moderate” and “extremist”. Zoabi also suggests that the leadership must repel the incitement and protect its people from it, and this leadership should not change its positions to avoid agitation”.

Finally, the writer and researcher Salameh Keileh provides a summarized and general reading of the Palestinian cause in the present time, and after the outburst of the Arab revolutions in particular, exposing the changes the National Palestinian Scheme went through, and the need to restore the Palestinian National project as a project of national emancipation. He also believes that the Arab revolutions indirectly contribute to the Palestinian cause, contrary to the present illusions. The writer explains that well by saying: “The circumstances were referring to a general tendency to end the Palestinian cause, even before the Arab revolutions; perhaps these revolutions may have led to a different direction, an issue that is not being recognized, or ignored. Wherein the revolutions portend a great coup in the Arab world, which is not in favor of the Zionist State and all the capitalists. It led to the thought of a third intifada by Palestinian youth in Palestine’s various regions.

The main theme of the current issue of Jadal is the Joint List, which is a political alliance of four Arab-dominated parties in Israel. The formation of the Joint List has been considered as a historic step within the Arab political scene inside the Green Line, as it is the first time that the Arab parliamentary parties ran in the Knesset elections within a single list. Editors Mohanad Mustafa and Areen Hawari state in their editorial that “the Joint List’s formation, its participation in the elections, and its success in receiving thirteen seats in parliament are achievements that may usher in a new and promising phase of Arab political activity inside the Green Line. At the same time, however, such successes may be temporary and ultimately reduce national action, if they are not followed by steps to improve the List’s effectiveness in producing political achievements beyond that of its formation”.

Editorial

• Muhannad Mustafa and Areen Hawari

Issue Theme

• The Future of the Joint List’s Experience – Prof. Asaad Ghanem
• The Joint List: Transformations in Representation and Performance Effectiveness – Saleem Brik
• The Joint List and the Political Discourse – Suleiman Abu Irsheid
• The Joint List: A Gender Oriented Approach – Dr. Tagreed Yihya Younis
• The National Accord Committee and its Role in the Establishment of the Joint List—A Personal Testimony – Prof. Mustafa Kabha
• “The Joint List: A Unified Front or a National Front” – Jamal Zahalka

Articles

• The Role and Status of the 1948 Palestinians within the Palestinian National Project: A review of attitudes within Palestinian society – Dr. Mtanes Shihadeh and Dr. Ameed Saabneh
• The Romantic Moment in the Palestinian National Project – Dr. Muhanad Mustafa