Jaffa Shared and Shattered: Contrived Coexistence in Israel/Palestine

by Daniel Monterescu

Overview

Binational cities play a pivotal role in situations of long-term conflict, and few places have been more marked by the tension between intimate proximity and visceral hostility than Jaffa, one of the "mixed towns" of Israel/Palestine. In this nuanced ethnographic and historical study, Daniel Monterescu argues that such places challenge our assumptions about cities and nationalism, calling into question the Israeli state's policy of maintaining homogeneous, segregated, and ethnically stable spaces. Analyzing everyday interactions, life stories, and histories of violence, he reveals the politics of gentrification and the circumstantial coalitions that define the city. Drawing on key theorists in anthropology, sociology, urban studies, and political science, he outlines a new relational theory of sociality and spatiality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253016713
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	08/24/2015
Series:	Public Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Daniel Monterescu is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Central European University. He is author (with Haim Hazan) of A Town at Sundown: Aging Nationalism in Jaffa and editor (with Dan Rabinowitz) of Mixed Towns, Trapped Communities: Historical Narratives, Spatial Dynamics, Gender Relations and Cultural Encounters in Palestinian-Israeli Towns.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Contrived Coexistence: Relational Histories of Urban Mix in Israel/Palestine

Part I. Beyond Methodological Nationalism: Communal Formations and Ambivalent Belonging
1. Spatial Relationality: Theorizing Space and Sociality in Jewish-Arab "Mixed Towns"
2. The Bridled "Bride of Palestine": Urban Orientalism and the Zionist Quest for Place
3. The "Mother of the Stranger": Palestinian Presence and the Ambivalence of Sumud

Part II. Sharing Place or Consuming Space: The Neoliberal City
4. Inner Space and High Ceilings: Agents and Ideologies of Ethnogentrification
5. To Buy or Not to Be: Trespassing the Gated Community

Part III. Being and Belonging in the Binational City: A Phenomenology of the Urban
6. Escaping the Mythscape: Tales of Intimacy and Violence
7. Situational Radicalism and Creative Marginality: The "Arab Spring" and Jaffa's Counterculture

Conclusion: The City of the Forking Paths: Imagining the Futures of Binational Urbanism

Notes
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

"Based on intimate knowledge of Jaffa and its Jewish and Arab communities, and armed with both rich theoretical knowledge and human empathy, Daniel Monterescu goes back to the town of his childhood to tell us on Jews and Arabs who share this mixed town. He touches brilliantly the spaces in which the political and the personal melt into one and moments where the borders between members of national communities mist. This is not another book about "the Other" but rather a book on "Us"—members of two national communities who, during a conflict, willingly or against their will, share one space and create, tell, recreate and retell their own story and their own lives."

Hillel Cohen]]>

Based on intimate knowledge of Jaffa and its Jewish and Arab communities, and armed with both rich theoretical knowledge and human empathy, Daniel Monterescu goes back to the town of his childhood to tell us on Jews and Arabs who share this mixed town. He touches brilliantly the spaces in which the political and the personal melt into one and moments where the borders between members of national communities mist. This is not another book about "the Other" but rather a book on "Us"—members of two national communities who, during a conflict, willingly or against their will, share one space and create, tell, recreate and retell their own story and their own lives.

Salim Tamari]]>

Jaffa is arguably the most lamented and exoticized city of pre-war Palestine. In this extensive investigation into 'the cultural logic of urban mix' in contemporary Jaffa, Daniel Monterescu succeeds in achieving two outstanding objectives: a sober assessment of its imagined past and a provocative vision of the city's 'binational' present and future. This book is essential reading for those who need to understand the processes of gentrification and ethnic conflict in this beleaguered city.

Benoît Challand]]>

A groundbreaking ethnography of hope and despair intertwined. This brilliant book is a rare accomplishment that could have been written only by a participant observer who is intimately familiar with Palestinian and Israeli societies alike. Monterescu's argument proves beyond any doubt that a relational sociology does more justice to the study of ethnically mixed cities and to urbanism at large than traditional methodological nationalism. A major and incisive contribution.

Saskia Sassen

Monterescu has carved out a domain all his own in the scholarship about minorities, ethnic conflict, and inter-ethnic relations. In this great book he once again helps us see dimensions easily overlooked in much scholarship.

Salim Tamari

Jaffa is arguably the most lamented and exoticized city of pre-war Palestine. In this extensive investigation into 'the cultural logic of urban mix' in contemporary Jaffa, Daniel Monterescu succeeds in achieving two outstanding objectives: a sober assessment of its imagined past and a provocative vision of the city's 'binational' present and future. This book is essential reading for those who need to understand the processes of gentrification and ethnic conflict in this beleaguered city.

Saskia Sassen]]>

Monterescu has carved out a domain all his own in the scholarship about minorities, ethnic conflict, and inter-ethnic relations. In this great book he once again helps us see dimensions easily overlooked in much scholarship.

Zygmunt Bauman]]>

Jaffa is a phenomenal laboratory for recycling human diversity into human togetherness, and Monterescu's study is a phenomenal account of this in many ways unique experience: a thought-provoking, faithful portrayal of tensions, trials, and tribulations, but also the joys of conviviality and the unbridled creative potential of a multicultural and multiethnic city.

Jennifer Robertson

Monterescu elaborates in nine eloquent chapters how retaining Jaffa's distinctive Arabness has been a century-long dialectical struggle at five key junctures for Palestinian residents. The present juncture, characterized by "creeping gentrification," perhaps poses the most incommensurable challenges yet. As Monterescu argues, the Israeli state's neo-liberal urban planning policy might appropriate the rhetoric of "binationality" and "mutual recognition," but in practice involves the collusion of "Jewish gentrifiers and Palestinian capitalist agents" that perpetuates a homogenizing, "relational system of reciprocal oppositions." This book sets a high bar for future analyses of the politics of "coexistence" in Israel/Palestine.

Jennifer Robertson]]>

Monterescu elaborates in nine eloquent chapters how retaining Jaffa's distinctive Arabness has been a century-long dialectical struggle at five key junctures for Palestinian residents. The present juncture, characterized by "creeping gentrification," perhaps poses the most incommensurable challenges yet. As Monterescu argues, the Israeli state's neo-liberal urban planning policy might appropriate the rhetoric of "binationality" and "mutual recognition," but in practice involves the collusion of "Jewish gentrifiers and Palestinian capitalist agents" that perpetuates a homogenizing, "relational system of reciprocal oppositions." This book sets a high bar for future analyses of the politics of "coexistence" in Israel/Palestine.

Benoît Challand

A groundbreaking ethnography of hope and despair intertwined. This brilliant book is a rare accomplishment that could have been written only by a participant observer who is intimately familiar with Palestinian and Israeli societies alike. Monterescu's argument proves beyond any doubt that a relational sociology does more justice to the study of ethnically mixed cities and to urbanism at large than traditional methodological nationalism. A major and incisive contribution.

Zygmunt Bauman

Jaffa is a phenomenal laboratory for recycling human diversity into human togetherness, and Monterescu's study is a phenomenal account of this in many ways unique experience: a thought-provoking, faithful portrayal of tensions, trials, and tribulations, but also the joys of conviviality and the unbridled creative potential of a multicultural and multiethnic city.

Benoît Challand

A groundbreaking ethnography of hope and despair intertwined. This brilliant book is a rare accomplishment that could have been written only by a participant observer who is intimately familiar with Palestinian and Israeli societies alike. Monterescu's argument proves beyond any doubt that a relational sociology does more justice to the study of ethnically mixed cities and to urbanism at large than traditional methodological nationalism. A major and incisive contribution.

Hillel Cohen

Based on intimate knowledge of Jaffa and its Jewish and Arab communities, and armed with both rich theoretical knowledge and human empathy, Daniel Monterescu goes back to the town of his childhood to tell us on Jews and Arabs who share this mixed town. He touches brilliantly the spaces in which the political and the personal melt into one and moments where the borders between members of national communities mist. This is not another book about "the Other" but rather a book on "Us"—members of two national communities who, during a conflict, willingly or against their will, share one space and create, tell, recreate and retell their own story and their own lives.

Editorial Reviews

" The book's analysis of the relations between the political, the cultural, and the neoliberal economy through a historical engagement with the city of Jaffa is a significant contribution to understanding the complexity of life for Jaffa's residents."—Journal of Levantine Studies

"Anybody with an interest in the politics and sociology of Israeli/Palestinian relations needs to read this book. Daniel Monterescu provides a rich and theoretically sophisticated account of urban politics in Jaffa."—Perspectives on Politics

"In showing how Jaffa is both shared and shattered, the book is an important and timely contribution to ongoing debates about mutual relations between Palestinians and Israelis in the context of recurring conflict, entrenched inequality and ongoing colonisation. It is essential reading for everyone interested in contemporary Palestinian–Israeli relations and should be of particular interest to political and urban anthropologists."—Social Anthropology

"For anyone who would like to understand the experience of living as a member of the minority Arab population in a 'mixed' city in Israel, then Jaffa is both the place and the study to read. . . [T]his is a well-researched, very worthwhile excursus into a complicated societal problem. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice

"Jaffa Shared and Shattered is a rich and provocative addition to the scholarly literature on Palestine/ Israel and urban studies."—American Ethnologist

"A groundbreaking ethnography of hope and despair intertwined. This brilliant book is a rare accomplishment that could have been written only by a participant observer who is intimately familiar with Palestinian and Israeli societies alike. Monterescu's argument proves beyond any doubt that a relational sociology does more justice to the study of ethnically mixed cities and to urbanism at large than traditional methodological nationalism. A major and incisive contribution."—Benoît Challand, author of Palestinian Civil Society:Foreign Donors and the Power to Promote and Exclude

"Jaffa is arguably the most lamented and exoticized city of pre-war Palestine. In this extensive investigation into 'the cultural logic of urban mix' in contemporary Jaffa, Daniel Monterescu succeeds in achieving two outstanding objectives: a sober assessment of its imagined past and a provocative vision of the city's 'binational' present and future. This book is essential reading for those who need to understand the processes of gentrification and ethnic conflict in this beleaguered city."—Salim Tamari, author of Jerusalem 1948: The Arab Neighbourhoods and Their Fate in the War

"Jaffa is a phenomenal laboratory for recycling human diversity into human togetherness, and Monterescu's study is a phenomenal account of this in many ways unique experience: a thought-provoking, faithful portrayal of tensions, trials, and tribulations, but also the joys of conviviality and the unbridled creative potential of a multicultural and multiethnic city."—Zygmunt Bauman, author of Modernity and Ambivalence

"Monterescu elaborates in nine eloquent chapters how retaining Jaffa's distinctive Arabness has been a century-long dialectical struggle at five key junctures for Palestinian residents. The present juncture, characterized by "creeping gentrification," perhaps poses the most incommensurable challenges yet. As Monterescu argues, the Israeli state's neo-liberal urban planning policy might appropriate the rhetoric of "binationality" and "mutual recognition," but in practice involves the collusion of "Jewish gentrifiers and Palestinian capitalist agents" that perpetuates a homogenizing, "relational system of reciprocal oppositions." This book sets a high bar for future analyses of the politics of "coexistence" in Israel/Palestine."—Jennifer Robertson, author of Native and Newcomer:Making and Remaking a Japanese City

"Monterescu has carved out a domain all his own in the scholarship about minorities, ethnic conflict, and inter-ethnic relations. In this great book he once again helps us see dimensions easily overlooked in much scholarship."—Saskia Sassen, author of Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy

"Based on intimate knowledge of Jaffa and its Jewish and Arab communities, and armed with both rich theoretical knowledge and human empathy, Daniel Monterescu goes back to the town of his childhood to tell us on Jews and Arabs who share this mixed town. He touches brilliantly the spaces in which the political and the personal melt into one and moments where the borders between members of national communities mist. This is not another book about "the Other" but rather a book on "Us"—members of two national communities who, during a conflict, willingly or against their will, share one space and create, tell, recreate and retell their own story and their own lives."—Hillel Cohen, author of Good Arabs: The Israeli Security Agencies and the Israeli Arabs, 1948-1967

From the Publisher

For anyone who would like to understand the experience of living as a member of the minority Arab population in a 'mixed' city in Israel, then Jaffa is both the place and the study to read. . . [T]his is a well-researched, very worthwhile excursus into a complicated societal problem. . . . Highly recommended.

Choice

Jaffa Shared and Shattered is a rich and provocative addition to the scholarly literature on Palestine/ Israel and urban studies.

American Ethnologist

Anybody with an interest in the politics and sociology of Israeli/Palestinian relations needs to read this book. Daniel Monterescu provides a rich and theoretically sophisticated account of urban politics in Jaffa.

Perspectives on Politics

In showing how Jaffa is both shared and shattered, the book is an important and timely contribution to ongoing debates about mutual relations between Palestinians and Israelis in the context of recurring conflict, entrenched inequality and ongoing colonisation. It is essential reading for everyone interested in contemporary Palestinian–Israeli relations and should be of particular interest to political and urban anthropologists.

Social Anthropology

The book's analysis of the relations between the political, the cultural, and the neoliberal economy through a historical engagement with the city of Jaffa is a significant contribution to understanding the complexity of life for Jaffa's residents.

Journal of Levantine Studies