‫גוריון בנגב‬-‫אוניברסיטת בן‬

‫גוריון לחקר ישראל והציונות‬-‫מכון בן‬

Exploring Iden es of Young Pales nian Arab Chris ans in Israel

Franklin Sargunaraj

A thesis proposal for the Master of Arts degree

Under the supervision of Dr. Kobi Peled

February 2022
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 Ques onnaire

Sociological and anthropological perspec ves indicate that separa on of one group from

another group is marked by unique symbols, myths, language,1 architecture, objects,2 rituals3,,

holidays, and commemora on of events.4 These customs demark a community from the mainstream

society to create, change, or conserve a collec ve iden ty within a group 5 connec ng them and

reminding them of their past. Families and neighbours of Pales nians living in Israel possess and

passes on tradi ons or narra ves (about viewpoints on rela onship with Jews, al-nakbah and other

violent events) to their younger genera on which forms iden ty related concepts in their memory.6

The Arabic naming system of babies is unique. Pales nian Arab Chris ans use Arabic version of

Biblical names, or naming with ibn (son of) deno ng their genealogy or familial iden ty. Arabic

naming always has a meaning to convey their cultural or religious iden ty.7

Name: Majd Ghantous

Gender: Male
Age: 16
Religious/Secular: Secular
Village: Nof Hagalil
Iden es: Pales nian [x] Arab [x] Chris an [x] Israeli [x]

1 Smith, A. D. "The Origins of Na ons in Becoming na onal." (1996).

2Peled, K. (2017). Things that ma er: nostalgic objects in Pales nian Arab homes in Israel. Middle Eastern
Studies, 53(2), 229-249.
3 Kapferer, B. (1979). Introduc on: ritual process and the transforma on of context. Social Analysis: The
Interna onal Journal of Social and Cultural Prac ce, (1), 3-19.
Turner, V. (1969). The ritual process: structure and an -structure. Ithaca. NY: Cornell University Publica ons.
4Hermanowicz, J. C., & Morgan, H. P. (1999, June). Ritualizing the rou ne: Collec ve iden ty a rma on. In
Sociological Forum (Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 197-214). Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers.
5 Ibid.,
6Veronese, G., Cas glioni, M., & Said, M. (2011). Arabic family in transi on: The case of Pales nians living in
Israel. Perspec ves on immigra on and terrorism, 74-84.
7 Notzon, B., & Nesom, G. (2005). The Arabic naming system. Science, 28(1).
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 The ques onnaire will men on all the aforemen oned aspects. Ini ally, ques ons which are

friendly, and that will reveal the meaning their past will be asked. For example,

1. What’s your name? What does it mean? Does it re ect your Arab Chris an or Israeli iden ty?

Answer: Majd, the meaning of it is glory, it doesn’t re ect my Arab Chris an neither Israeli iden ty.

Your name will be kept anonymous.

2. What is the meaning of your past for you?

Answer: Things were easier in the past and nothing was special, so it doesn’t really have any

meaning for me currently.

3. If you ask “which past, do you mean?” It is about your ancestral past, family histories, or

community’s past.

Answer: I do not know anything about them.

4. What is the meaning of your village/town/city’s past for you? What is your sense of

belonging to the nature and landscape architecture of your na ve village or town?

Answer: My city is a new city and it came out since about 70 years, I never heard about something

about my city’s past so it doesn’t have any meaning to me. My sense of belonging to the nature of

my town is normal and I’m used to it and I don’t have any problems with me belonging here.

(Answers to this ques on will reveal your a tude and sen ments toward your land.)

5. What is the meaning of the 1948 war for you? The Nakba

Answer: I always decide not to care about what happened in the 1948, I only look at the present and

for the future so it doesn’t have any meaning to me.

6. What is the meaning of ea ng food that has to do with the past for you? How do you feel

when you taste your mom’s soup, your grandmother’s tradi onal dish, etc.? Does preparing

and sharing desserts like knafeh or mamoul represent and retain your Pales nian Arab or

Chris an iden ty?

Answer: No it doesn’t at all.

7. What does this past (or pasts) mean today for you? For instance, about the landscape of

the old village and its winding allies and old stone houses (including, perhaps, the old

church). The land, which is, a very strong Pales nian cultural symbol, or the olive tree, the g

tree, etc. What does the gure (both real and imagined) of the Fellah (probably, your great

grandfather) mean today for you. What is the role of these memories and stories about the
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 past (agricultural but also urban in some of the cases) in your lives today? The present paints

the image of the past. The past is shaped according to current trends, distresses, and

dreams.

Answer: The past doesn’t mean anything to me today, it’s just history for me. The role of my past

memories and nothing more than that.

Ques ons on past-present are as follows:

8. What is the meaning of being Israeli? Pales nian? Arab? Being a minority within a minority?

Rela ons with Pales nian Arab Muslims and Israeli Jews.

Answer: The meaning of being A Chirs an, Arab and Israeli is actually normal, I feel that I’m just like

any other ci zens.

9. What is the meaning of being a Chris an?

Church architecture, denomina onal belief – what is the meaning of these, and especially their

pasts, for you? What does it mean to be a Chris an in Israel?

(Religious component might be addressed exclusively with addi onal ques ons on a separate

sec on)

Answer: I do not know, I don’t have the Chris an beliefs. But as a Chris an ci zen, I don’t feal that is

there any meaning of it other than it’s normal.

10. What is your a tude toward languages in Israel? Hebrew, Arabic, English, and or other

languages. Do you possess an element of a rac on or rejec on with regard to Hebrew? If so,

why?

Spoken and Literary forms of language hold a poli cal implica on.

Answer: I mostly use the languages Arabic and English, I rarely use Hebrew, I don’t really have any

rejec on for Hebrew because it’s necessary to learn it.

E.g., Spoken Arabic connects di erent Pales nian Arab Chris an youth with other Arabic speaking

groups in Israel or Levant. Modern Standard Arabic can connect Pales nian youth to people in the

Arab world via social media or Biblical sermons.

11. How do you make sense of all the mul ple iden es? Is it confusing? How do you rank your

iden es? How do you thrive with these mul ple and o en con ic ng iden es? Do you

s ck to a certain iden ty in order to cope with life here in Israel?

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 Answer: It makes sense to have mul ple iden es here, I don’t really know how but it simply does,

it’s kind of confusing since I don’t know how it makes sense. I rank my iden es from Arab to Israeli

to Chris an. I thrive just by ge ng used to it and I don’t s ck to a certain iden ty in order to cope

with life, I live my life normally. Just living without dealing with the issue of the mul ple iden es on

a regular basis. Iden ty is who I am and not nothing that I have to deal with it.

This ques on will enable us to understand how all the components men oned above are held

together.

Following are minor ques ons and that their relevancy will be assessed according to their

links with the main research ques on.

12. Do you appreciate high standard of Arab Chris an educa on?

Answer: Of course I don’t, the school system in the Arab Chris an school doesn’t really make sense,

it’s very low. The system is so outdated and has not moved forward to get along with the present

changes. They give me nothing special. I’m there just because I have to. Can’t wait to nish this

episode of my life.

13. How has the recent pandemic changed your life? Did it a ect your Chris an iden ty by

preven ng you from a ending churches or travelling abroad for Bible conferences? How did

the recent May 2021 riots a ect your Arab iden ty? How did it a ect your rela onship with

Pales nian Muslims or Israeli Jews?

Answer: I haven’t changed at all from the pandemic, it didn’t a ect my Chris an iden ty at all, I have

been secular since a long me, even before the pandemic, and it didn’t a ect my rela onship with

Muslims and Jews.

14. What is your a tude towards involvement with Arab and Pales nian na onalism? What is

your view on Zionism?

Answer: My a tude is ok, I have no problem towards involving with Arab and Pales nian

na onalism. I don’t know a lot about Zionism so I can’t judge it. But for me, Jews are people just like

me and just like any other people who simply speak a di erent language.

15. How do you imagine your future twenty years from today?

Answer: I probably imagine myself having a good life with a good gym business.

16. Do accultura on pressures from Muslims or Israeli society to compromise your Chris an or

Arab iden ty force you to emigrate?

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 Answer: Not really, it doesn’t at all. I believe that “problema c” people are ac ng so because they

are so and it has nothing to do with their religious backgrounds. Good person is good because he is

good as a person, same as for Evil. I’m here because I was born here, but I believe that the whole

planet is my home and in the future I will be were it’s a good place for me to live without any

sen mental feelings to a certain piece of land.

17. Feel free to add anything about your past and iden ty or anything else regarding these

topics you wish to share.

Their responses will be categorized based on gender as it is an important issue among Arab

socie es, hometown, and denomina on. Their percep ons can also be classi ed according to how

they rank their Arab linguis c, Pales nian na onal, Chris an religious and Israeli civic iden ty. In

other words, I am interested in nding out to which iden ty they give the most and to which iden ty

they give least preference. And how does this predisposi on towards one iden ty and repudia on of

another iden ty determine their a airs.

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