Israel: Pluralism and Conflict

First published in 1978, Israel focuses on the pluralistic structure of Israel and its internal conflicts. The author distinguishes five major plural divisions: Palestinian Arabs in the occupied territories versus Israeli citizens; Israeli Arabs versus Jews; Druze versus Christian versus Muslim Arabs; religious versus nonreligious Jews; and non-European versus European Jews. These divisions differ in culture, social structure, and resources, yielding together a social hierarchy which stands in contradiction to the vision of Israel’s founding fathers.

From this troubled situation, Dr Smooha suggests that Israel, dominated by a minority of European, predominantly nonreligious Jews, is far from reaching an optimal social mix and group harmony. He observes that, within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, the policies of compromise with the religious Jews, control of Israeli Arabs, and co-optation of non-European Jews have failed to resolve the tensions. The threat to national integration, however, will not be realized as long as the Arab Israeli conflict and the benefits of a full-employment, subsidized economy continue. Until then, Israel will remain a highly controversial and deeply divided society.

Sammy Smooha is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Haifa, Israel. He is a member of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and an Israel Prize laureate in Sociology. He served as a visiting professor and a senior research fellow at many academic institutes in the West. Smooha studies Israeli society in comparative perspective, with a focus on ethnic relations and democracy and has published widely on the internal divisions and conflicts in Israel.