Event

Religion and State among the Palestinian-Arabs in Israel: A Multicultural Entrapment

Date
9 Nov 2021
Time
14:15 UK time
Speakers
Professor Michael Karayanni
Where
St Antony's College, The Board Room, Kirdar Building, Middle East Centre, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Series
Israel Studies Seminar
Organiser contact
Audience
Public
Booking
Not required
Please note that capacity is limited in the venue. As pre-booking arrangements have proved ineffective, we now intend to offer the 10 available seats on a first come, first served basis. Once capacity is reached, additional people will be turned away. Please arrive early to secure your place. All attendees must scan in using the NHS QR code provided by the college. COVID-19 Safety Information: If you have symptoms of COVID-19 or have been in contact with someone with COVID-19, please do not attend this event. We encourage attendees to wear a face covering at all indoor OSGA events unless exempt. We encourage attendees to respect social spacing, by leaving the seat next to them free, where possible and to use handwashing and hand sanitisation facilities regularly. We request that attendees, particularly those who are not double vaccinated, perform LFD tests before attending OSGA events. All attendees at St Antony's College events must: Take a lateral flow test on the morning of the event - if positive, stay at home; Stay home if you feel unwell; Wear a face covering where indicated; Be considerate of other people’s space; Wash your hands regularly with soap or sanitiser. The latest University guidance on the use of face coverings should be checked and followed: unless exempt, you are asked wear one while moving around indoor spaces, and where possible, while seated, particularly during larger events. Attendees are asked to use the official NHS QR code posters displayed throughout the College site. College general COVID guidance can be found here: https://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/staff-update. Attendees need to have one of: Proof of COVID-19 vaccination status; Registration (via NHS app) of a negative Lateral Flow Device test (LFD test) taken in the last 48 hours; or Proof of natural immunity via a positive PCR test taken within 180 days of the event, but following the 10-day isolation period.
The religion-and-state debate in Israel is Jewish centred and systematically disregards the Palestinian-Arab minority. This is rather puzzling. For the religion-and-state debate in many other countries does take up conflicts pertaining to minority religions, and the Palestinian-Arab minority did generate quite a diverse series of questions that could have easily qualified as part of the existing debate. In this article, I decode this anomaly by pointing out the existence of a legal matrix in the Israeli religion-and-state debate. This matrix identifies the recognition accorded to Jewish religious institutions and norms as "public and coercive" but that accorded to the Palestinian-Arabs as "private and liberal". In the second part of this article, I point out some of the legal implications of this matrix as well as critically evaluate if what seems to be "private and liberal" is in fact as such.