Israeli and Arab studies

276 | Definizioni concettuali In ingegneria dei trasporti una connessione è l’intersezione tra due infrastrutture della stessa modalità (ad esempio una strada locale che si immette su una strada regionale), mentre una interconnessione è una “connessione intermodale” ovvero il punto di contatto tra due infrastrutture di diversa modalità (tipicamente una stazione ferroviaria o una stazione marittima). Il concetto di interconnessione complessa, invece, così come definito circa un decennio fa da Dematteis nell’ambito della ricerca SLoT (Sistemi Locali Territoriali)1, introduce caratteri esterni alla tecnicalità trasportistica, ponendo l’attenzione sulla capacità dello spazio annesso al nodo infrastrutturale di generare relazioni plurime con altre reti (non più e non solo infrastrutturali) tipiche del funzionamento socioeconomico del territorio. Il concetto di multiconnessione, infine, come rinvenuto in alcune recenti ricerche2, attiene alla condizione di un luogo di intrattenere (contem...

Based on a wide array of archival sources of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI), the article explores the historical relationship between the Party, Israel and the Jew and focuses on the real motivations behind the current divide between Israel and the European (Communist or former Communist) Left. The articles argues that Communism for Israel has not been lost for the presumed discriminatory attitude of the Jews in the Communist world, nor for historical growing Communist support of Palestinian guerrilla groups, but because of the increasing militarism and nationalism of the Zionist Left and the erosion of Communist and pacifist ideals.

Seven years after the 2011 uprisings, the Egyptian military shows no evident signs of internal cracks. This article argues that the Egyptian army’s unrivalled dominance, both in politics and within the security apparatus, could be explained as the result of three combined factors: substantial economic interests, a long-time legitimacy buttressed by the army’s active involvement in welfare and development initiatives, and the reliance on universal conscription as the main avenue for the successful accommodation of class and social cleavages—key elements underpinning the army’s status of supreme political arbitrator in Egyptian politics.

t h e f o l l ow i n g s t u dy a d d r e s s e s from an historical perspective the changes that have occurred in the Israeli perception of war in the last 40 years and the transformation of the conflict itself from an inter-state to a two-people war, in which the two parties are reciprocally hostile but so interdependent that the conflict is about to take on the features of a civil war. The siege-mentality perspective, launched by the pioneer studies combining politics and psychology carried out by Bar-Tal and Antebi (1992), reveals itself to be a useful and overarching hermeneutical category able to order and explain the multifold aspects related to war and peace perception in Israel. A premise to this work is the belief that the siege-mentality is not only a successful academic tool to penetrate the content and summarize some trends of the Israeli internal debate, but also to explain the major shifts in Israeli politics and to reveal the powerful forces active in society’s aware...

In Morocco, the new Constitution promised by King Mohammed VI in 2011 has raised high expectations regarding the improvement of socio-economic standards in the country and the possible redistribution of national wealth in a more transparent and democratic way. Just like Tunisia and Egypt, Moroccan demonstrators of the 20 February Movement had taken to the streets to ask for more freedom and democracy, but also to call for social equality and an end to corruption. Many of the grievances and the claims raised by demonstrators fell within the domain of socio-economic rights. Even though it might still be early to take stock, five years down the road, it is possible to provide a fist assessment of the major changes in Morocco in the socio-economic area. The attempt is to analyse whether the improvements introduced by the new Constitution have met the expectations of the people standing up for their rights in the wake of the Arab Spring, or whether the Kingdom of Morocco has fallen short...

The Ashdod Port Strikes of 1960s: The cleavage between Ashkenazi Histadrut workers and unorganized Mizrahi Jews The paper focuses on the labour tensions setting out at the aftermath of the Great 'Aliyah in Israel, incorporating more than 300.000 Jews from Arab Countries (Mizrahi Jews) over a few years after Israel's independence. At the time, Israel displayed a socialist government and its workers were highly organized in a single, centralized, state-led union. However, the latter was not eager to welcome new members and by large new immigrants were left out of its ranks. This created a situation where veteran "elite" workers opposed themselves to newcomers, unorganized workers deprived of both social capital and protection. The exclusive and patronizing character of the then Histadrut was at play in one of the main labour strikes of the early State of Israel, that of the 1956-60 Ashdod Port strikes. The massive employment of Mizrahi Jews in the construction of the Ashdod Port-then deemed one of the key infrastructural and engineering efforts in building a modern country-was not acknowledged as an act responding to the pioneering ethos dominant at that time. To the contrary, the effort of hundreds of Mizrahi masons and carpenters was regarded as a duty in exchange of the public help received by new immigrants. Once the harbour completed, the non-Histadrut workers were neither hired nor compensated, instead being replaced by Histadrut ones. Therefore, a cleavage between the Ashkenazi protected group and the Mizrahi-unskilled workers ushered in, which bear long-term consequences for inter-Jewish relation to nowadays. By exploring social and labour marginality in Israel's past, this paper proposes a framework for studying Israeli society from the vantage point of its social subgroups, providing an historical example that could shed light on the political grievances of today.