Israelis in Conflict: Hegemonies, Identities and Challenges

Issues of identity and citizenship have become increasingly complex. Traditional boundaries linking place of residence with a single national identity have broken down. Boundaries have become permeable, with greater movement of people, goods and ideas. Intra-state, local and regional identities have come to the fore in tandem with global identities which traverse state boundaries. The result is greater social and cultural diversity within states as notions of multiculturalism and national identity take on new meanings. Globalization and increased cultural heterogeneity have had a major impact on states whose identity has been defined in terms of a single, often socially constructed, allegiance to the state and a single hegemonic ideology. Nowhere are changing notions of identity more prevalent than in Israel, a country whose dominant (Western-Jewish) society has been subject to understanding their past and present in terms of a single ideology of state formation Zionism. Recently thi