The road to Israeli citizenship

The case of the South Lebanese Army (SLA)

Bibliographic Data

ID4525321
AuthorsBen Herzog (0000-0002-6397-6284, Yale University, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume13
Issue6
Pages575-592
Publication date2009-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCitizenship Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-1025 • E-ISSN: 1469-3593
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13621020903309573
OpenAlexW2095076655
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited18

The symbolic economy of refugeeness is interconnected with wider discourses on demography, citizenship, and nationality in the complexity of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. By restructuring their image, elites in Israel were able to ‘neutralize’ the South Lebanese Army (SLA), changing the perception of them from aggressors to victims. Israel could justify the absorption of Muslim Arabs if they were refugees. However, the close propinquity to the ‘Palestinian Refugee Problem’ compelled this label to be removed from the SLA. Rather than an essential description of a social situation, the notion of refugees is a symbolic signifier added and removed in line with its political resonance. The road to Israeli citizenship was mediated through the symbolic construction of the SLA as refugees. Thus, citizenship in each country is not a constant ideal as it is influenced by both global trends and internal social structures

Citizenship · Immigration · Nationality · Perception · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Restructuring · Sociology · The Symbolic · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology

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