ABSTRACT

During Israel's first decades, conflict between immigrants from Islamic countries and the Israeli establishment focused on questions regarding equality. The immigrants protested against discrimination in the labor market, against poor housing conditions, and against police brutality. The question of Mizrahi culture and identity was barely mentioned. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, the ethnic discourse in Israel shifted from economic issues to cultural issues. Different groups challenged the school curriculum, asking for more attention to the history and literature of Jews from Islamic countries. Mizrahi music started to develop on the fringe of the Israeli musical scene and moved slowly into the mainstream. Political parties (Tami and Shas) identified with Mizrahi identity and emphasizing it, started to appear and to achieve success. This article provides examples of the expression of identity and culture in different fields and analyzes the causes of this change.

BACKGROUND: THE EXPECTATION OF A MELTING POT

SINCE THE FOUNDING OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL, AND ESPECIALLY SINCE the beginning of the mass aliya from the Middle East and North Africa in 1949, the ethnic question (1) has preoccupied Israeli society.

At first, the state dealt with the challenges posed by the physical absorption of the immigrants from Islamic countries. (2) Later, after the wave of mass immigration ended, it became clear that two social groups had been created. An awareness developed of the gaps in educational achievement between the two groups of different origins and the absence of the expected social equality began spawning protests of various sorts. (3)

The core of the ethnic issue was the question of equality of resources. A majority of the residents of the ma'abarot (transit camps) and poor neighborhoods were immigrants from Islamic countries; the same group was disproportionately represented among welfare recipients and prison inmates. The protesters against ethnic discrimination in Wadi Salib in 1959 and the Black Panthers in 1971 were offended by the establishment's unequal treatment; they attempted to fix the problem by calling for fairer representation on the police force or by stealing bottles of milk from wealthy neighborhoods and distributing them in impoverished neighborhoods. (4)

Throughout most of this period, the status of the culture and heritage of the Jews from Islamic countries as part of the Israeli cultural fabric was a marginal issue. When people live in cramped quarters and poverty and feel that the police are harassing them, they do not have leisure to deal with their cultural identity.

The public at large, politicians, and social scientists assumed that cultural differences between Ashkenazim (Jews of European ancestry) and Mizrahim (5) (Jews from Islamic countries) would disappear over time. The assumption was that as the mass aliya faded into history, and as a majority of both Ashkenazim and Mizrahim came to be native-born Israelis and products of the Israeli education system, the two groups would become increasingly alike. (6) This would certainly happen if the groups achieved equality in educational attainment and economic status and started living in the same neighborhoods.

An assessment...