This dissertation investigates enduring forms of Jewish “presence” in Tunisia, but a presence in the near-absence of Jewish communities. French colonialism, Zionism, and Arab nationalism led to the mid-twentieth century immigration of Tunisia's Jewish population to France and Israel-Palestine. Minor Differences examines the century-long de-nativization process by which the Jews of Tunisia went from being seen as Tunisian or Ottoman subjects, to a minority of “nonnative” outsiders. If the historical Jew indexes a past “Golden Age” in Tunisia, then the contemporary Jew is a subject of curiosity––and hostility through her association with the Israeli state. Through the prism of Jewish absence, I examine social relations among the few Jews who stayed in Tunisia, as well as between Jews and Muslims. I draw on a wide array of historical and literary sources as well as two years of fieldwork in a variety of sites, some intuitive and some unexpected: a boxing gym, a Hebrew class, a photography studio, a cemetery, and a synagogue; all of which inform my research, three of which I explicitly discuss in this dissertation. In these cultural sites, my research revealed a phenomenon I call “minor differences”: a paradigmatic instance of this anthropological pattern is the common distinction made between two nearly identical dishes, the “Muslim” madfouna and the “Jewish” bkaila. The “narcissism of minor differences” is a phrase used by Freud to describe an inclination toward aggression that facilitates cohesion between members of a family, or community. Provoked by Freud’s limited theorization of this peculiar form of narcissism, my research develops and applies it to understand the small ways people construct Otherness in everyday life—even, and perhaps especially, the Otherness of an absent cultural presence; and my fieldwork illustrates how it is through these “minor differences” that Jews and Muslims in Tunisia define themselves historically and contemporaneously. I show how minor differences are used to divide people and treated as proof of their essential cultural difference but also how these same “differences” can be used to foster connection, smooth out bumps in social relationships, and argue for broader solidarities. Ultimately, minor differences form the basis of major distinctions in inherited and ascribed forms of social belonging.

These (Ph.D.)--University of Waterloo, 2007. / Title from PDF title page. Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-131). Also issued in print.

This thesis is concerned with the reaction of British M. P.'s to the Labor government's Palestinian policy 1945-48. The primary data comes from the British Parliamentary Debates (Commons) and works by British leaders. There are great differences among British political parties and between individuals within the parties in their reactions to and suggestions concerning the deteriorating situation in Palestine. Most politicians supported the Jews prior to the terrorist activity of 1947, but many then shifted to the Arab side. Due to the anti-Zionist policy of Ernest Bevin and Clement Attlee, a solution to the Palestinian problem was delayed; the Jews were driven to desperation; and Great Britain, previously a friend to the Jews, became their bitterest enemy.

This investigation is concerned with determining what influence, if any, results from the dependence upon foreign sources of petroleum by the United States, France, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. The influence that petroleum plays upon the changing attitudes of these four nations towards Israel and the Arab nations is ascertained by the utilization of primary and secondary sources. The study analyzes all the resolutions that have been adopted by the United Nations Security Council in the years between 1948 and 1976 dealing specifically with the Arab-Israeli conflict. Other chapters analyze each of the four nations to which attention is being directed. This study concludes that the growing and continuing dependence upon Arab oil has influenced the foreign policies the four nations have assumed toward the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The role of religion in politics has been rising to the forefront of history in the Middle East for a number of decades and more so since 9/11, raising significant questions as to whether religion functions as a catalyst for conflict or peace. This thesis focuses specifically on the role of religion in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the manner in which actors incorporate religion into their national politics. In doing so, the inquiry focuses on the proponents of religion on both the Jewish and the Palestinian sides in addressing a) territorial rights, b) interpretations in the use of deadly force and violence, and c) interpretations of the final political goal to be attained. In the context of the broader nationalism of each side, the study reflects on different approaches to religion and how they may provide perspectives that are either catalytic to conflict or catalytic to building peace. In this light, the inquiry of this thesis analyzes and contrasts religious nationalism and pro-peace religiosity, concluding with implications and directives for conflict resolution.

Britain's presence in Palestine coincided with a promise to Zionists to support the establishment of a Jewish national home. For two decades, Britain continued to support Zionist aims in Palestine including immigration and colonization, even in the aftermath of the first phase of an Arab Revolt in 1936 that shook the foundations of British colonial rule and could not be suppressed without intervention from neighboring Arab states. With the Arab Revolt in full force again from 1937 to 1939, in the midst of preparations for war in Europe, British statesmen questioned and reinterpreted promises the British government had made to Zionists two decades earlier. The resulting new policy was published in the White Paper of May 1939. By using the White Paper as a lens it is possible to widen the scope of investigation to examine the end of British rule in Palestine in a broader context than that provided by the years after World War II, 1945 to 1948. The White Paper of 1939 introduced three measures: immigration quotas for Jews arriving in Palestine, restrictions on settlement and land sales to Jews, and constitutional measures that would lead to a single state under Arab majority rule, with provisions to protect the rights of the Jewish minority. The White Paper’s single state was indeed a binational state, where it would be recognized by law that two peoples, two nations, inhabited Palestine. But the provisions of the White Paper were self-contradictory. Constitutional measures and immigration restrictions advanced the idea of a binational state with a permanent Jewish minority, while land restrictions aimed to keep Jews where they had already settled, legislation more in keeping with the idea of partition. The debate between partition and a binational state continued throughout these years. This work examines the motivations for the White Paper, foremost among them to keep the world Jewish problem separate from Britain's Palestine problem and to assure stability throughout the Middle East. An investigation based on the White Paper introduces a number of important debates that took place between 1936 and 1948 and echo into the present. / text

The use of violence in the Israel/Palestine conflict has been justified and legitimised by an appeal to religion. Militant Islamist organisations like Ramas have become central players in the Palestinian political landscape as a result of the popular support that they enjoy. This thesis aims to investigate the reasons for this support by analysing the Israel/Palestine conflict in terms of Ruman Needs Theory. According to this Theory, humans have essential needs that need to be fulfilled in order to ensure survival and development. Among these needs, the need for identity and recognition of identity is of vital importance. This thesis thus explores the concept of identity as a need, and investigates this need as it relates to inter-group conflict. In situating this theory in the Israel/Palestine conflict, the study exammes how organisations like Ramas have Islamised Palestinian national identity in order to garner political support. The central contention, then, is that the primary identity group of the Palestinian population is no longer nationalist, but Islamic/nationalist. In Islamising the conflict with Israel as well as Palestinian identity, Ramas has been able to justify its often indiscriminate use of violence by appealing to religion. The conflict is thus perceived to be one between two absolutes - that of Islam versus Judaism. In considering the conflict as one of identities struggling for survival in a climate of perceived threat, any attempt at resolution of the conflict needs to include a focus on needs-based issues. The problem-solving approach to negotiation allows for parties to consider issues of identity, recognition and security needs, and thus ensures that the root causes of conflicts are addressed, The contention is that this approach is vital to any conflict resolution strategy where identity needs are at stake, and it provides the grounding for the success of more traditional zero-sum bargaining methods. A recognition of Islamic identity in negotiation processes in Israel/Palestine may thus make for a more comprehensive conflict resolution strategy, and make the outcomes of negotiations more acceptable to the people of Palestine, thus undermining the acceptance of violence that exists at present.

An intelligent understanding of international relationships requires a special study of the critical places where continuous crisis arises. It was felt, therefore, desirable to examine a significant aspect of the conflict between the Arab World and the State of Israel that provides the subject of this study. The economic boycott of Israel has assumed a grave significance in international relations, yet to the author's knowledge this subject has not been investigated in a scholarly and comprehensive manner in any available publication. The writer embarks on this topic in the hope that it may provide the American student of Middle Eastern affairs with the essential data for its clear understanding.

Pas de résumé / Doctorat en droit / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study politicizes the mixed relationship in Israeli-Palestinian literature. I examine Arab-Jewish and interethnic Jewish intimacy in works by Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish, canonical Israeli novelist A. B. Yehoshua, select anthologized Anglophone and translated Palestinian and Israeli poetry, and Israeli feminist writer Orly Castel-Bloom. I also examine the material cultural discourses issuing from Israel’s textile industry, in which Arabs and Jews interact. Drawing from the methodology of twentieth-century Brazilian miscegenation theorist Gilberto Freyre, I argue that mixed intimacies in the Israeli-Palestinian imaginary represent a desire to restructure a hegemonic public sphere in the same way Freyre’s Brazilian mestizo was meant to rhetorically undermine what he deemed a Western cult of uniformity. This project constitutes a threefold contribution. I offer one of the few postcolonial perspectives on Israeli literature, as it remains underrepresented in the field in comparison to its Palestinian counterparts. I also present the first sustained critique of the hetero relationship and the figure of the hybrid in Israeli-Palestinian literature, especially as I focus on its representation for political options rather than its aesthetic intrigue. Finally, I reexamine and apply Gilberto Freyre in a way that excavates him from critical interment and advocates for his global relevance.