Michael M. Karayanni

Multiculture Me No More! On Multicultural Qualifications and the Palestinian-Arab Minority of Israel

Multiculturalism has become a central theme in many academic disciplines from philosophy to education, social work and psychology, ultimately reaching political science and law. What seems to be unique in current studies on multiculturalism is not merely the observance and display of societies that happen to be diverse in terms of the religious, cultural, national and ethnic affiliation of their members. Rather, it is the central argument that such divergence is legitimate and should be accommodated. Accepting other groups in society and the legitimacy of accommodating them has become a virtue of tolerance. This paper argues that we must first look into multicultural theory itself to discover what can be called ‘multicultural qualifications’. These are in essence pre-conditions without the presence of which group accommodations, even if granted based on group membership, should not be considered as multicultural in nature. With multicultural theory as a backdrop, this article intends to identify such multicultural qualifications. The Palestinian-Arab minority in Israel is studied in its constellation as both a national minority group and as a religiously diverse group as an object for testing the application of the identified multicultural qualifications.

The “Other” Religion and State Conflict in Israel: On the Nature of Religious Accommodations for the Palestinian-Arab Minority

Israel is a diverse country. Nearly one-fifth of the total population, composing about 1.2 million of its citizens, are Palestinian-Arabs - the rest of the population being predominantly Jewish.1 The religious composition of the non-Jewish population is made up of Muslims, Christians and Druze.2 Moreover, this multiplicity is evident within the different religious groups themselves. The Jewish community is divided into secular, traditional and religious groups,3 the latter containing a well defined Ultra-Orthodox camp.4 In addition, Reform and Conservative Judaism have gained force recently, creating new challenges to the dominant Orthodox establishment.5 The Christian population is divided into ten recognized religious congregations,6 each with its own body of institutions that include a court system and in some cases even have substantial ties to foreign governments.7