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Cambridge Cultural Social Studies
Arab Soccer in a Jewish State: The Integrative Enclave
Over the last two decades soccer has become a major institution within the popular culture of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel. They have attained disproportionate success in this field. Given their marginalisation from many areas of Israeli society as well as the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such a prominent Arab presence highlights the tension between their Israeli citizenship and their belonging to the Palestinian people. Bringing together sociological, anthropological and historical approaches, Sorek examines how soccer can potentially be utilised by ethnic and national minorities as a field of social protest, a stage for demonstrating distinctive identity, or as a channel for social and political integration. Relying on a rich combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, he argues that equality in the soccer sphere legitimises contemporary inequality between Jews and Arabs in Israel and pursues wider arguments about the role of sport in ethno-national conflicts. Ideal for researchers and graduate students.
- GenresMiddle EastSports
242 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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December 5, 2014
Tamir Sorek’s primary objective in Arab Soccer in a Jewish State is to demonstrate that, for Arabs living in Israel, soccer is an “integrative enclave”, which he defines as “a social sphere that is ruled by a liberal-integrative discourse of citizenship”. Arguing that their historical narratives make being both Palestinian and Israeli difficult, the author suggests that Arab-Israelis cope using two major strategies: separation, wherein “different dimensions of identification coexist in total separation, and each dimension gains prominence in separate spheres” , and substitution, which involves distancing oneself from, and subsequently replacing, national identifications. Soccer allows Palestinian-Israelis to temporarily eschew identification with their Arab side (separation) while at the same time providing them an opportunity to associate with a team rather than a nationality (substitution). Sorek then conceptualizes sport as an arena that can be symbolic, but whose meanings are constantly contested, in particular over protest and integration in Israel. On one hand, sport can be used to empower someone into a subversive position, but doing so reaffirms the legitimacy of the body that governs the framework (ie. the state). Nonetheless, both the Hebrew media and Arab fans generally conceptualize soccer as an integrative space, as well as a vessel of modernity.
Following this somewhat dense introduction, Sorek’s analysis becomes more accessible, which is surprising considering that he blends the methodologies of both history and sociology to make his arguments. His first body chapter outlines the pre-1948 history of sports clubs in Palestine, arguing that it followed the British and Egyptian models of sport development and that no traces of this infrastructure remained after the war. Chapter three argues that the roots of the integrative enclave can be found in the first two decades of the Israeli state under military rule, which was seeking ways to include the remaining Arabs in the system without integrating them. Sports clubs were an excellent way of achieving this because, unlike the other structures of the nation, there was nothing specifically “Jewish” about them. The government focused on the creation of Arab sports clubs during the 1960s so that Arab sport was dependent on the state and validated the national infrastructure. Independent organizations that attempted to rise were quashed and things changed little after the end of the military government, with teams remaining ethnically homogenous throughout the 1970s. The increasing commercialization of soccer, however, challenged this dynamic by shifting the basis of the clubs’ player selection towards those whose talents were most able to draw crowds and supporters (and therefore money) and away from other considerations such as race. The author’s underlying argument is that when “Arab soccer” was allowed to come to the fore in the 1980s, the exigencies of commercialization required them to integrate talented Jewish team members in order to succeed and gain attention, and thus it could not become a center for nationalist sentiment because an “Arab” soccer team could only survive if it transcended ethnic and local boundaries and became integrated into the system.
After this broad history, Sorek’s next objective is to take a more in-depth look at the intricacies of this “integrative enclave”. The fourth chapter examines Arab municipalities, from which the majority of the budgets of most Arab teams are derived. After outlining numerous factors that might explain why municipalities are so supportive of Arab soccer, the author puts all of his theories to a quantitative test and determines that “while the high investment in sports in general is related to the social marginality of the Arabs in Israel and the ability of sports to promote the town’s prestige, the popularity of soccer is related to its organizational simplicity and low cost”. For those in power, meanwhile, support of soccer is perceived as a way to release energy that has been repressed in youth in a non-harmful manner by taking up their free time with physical activity. It also strengthens ties to the community that help prevent the harmful release of energy and calm internal pressures. The author concludes by demonstrating that spectators are more likely to vote for Zionists (and at all), because mayoral support of sport translates into legitimization of the hegemonic structures and restrains the population from acting upon impulses to resist. In chapter five, meanwhile, Sorek argues that the Arab press had mobilized towards nationalism since the mid-1980s and that national pride is expressed in sports reporting through “an explicit call for solidarity between Arab teams […] emphasis upon the Arab identity of players and teams […] use of botanical and agricultural images in describing Arab athletes; and […] the use of martial metaphors, with specific references to the Arab-Israeli conflict”. There is always a desire to recognize integration in some form, but also hesitance, as integration in soccer can mask inequalities in other spheres. Praise for integration, therefore, goes hand in hand with the fear of assimilation. The Hebrew press, meanwhile, has a wider reach within in the state and, since it espouses an integrative viewpoint, this perspective garners more attention.
In his sixth chapter, Sorek examines why Jewish teams are able to attract attention and support from Arab citizens, focusing primarily on the case of Maccabi Haifa. His two main arguments in this section return to the concepts of separation and substitution: soccer’s apolitical image allows Arab-Israelis an access point for integrating into the state without having to renounce their Palestinian identity (separation) and similarities between soccer fandom and national ceremonies allow the former to act as an alternative when the latter is absent (substitution). The author then examines the counterexample of the Islamic League, a fundamentalist soccer organization that insists upon distance from Israeli identity. This chapter begins with a look at the complex relationship between sport and religion in general, in which the former can be a competitor to the latter or a force that can be coopted for the latter’s cause. It then delves into the history of the Islamic League, which understood that soccer, even though it was a “western” product, was too powerful to be attacked and thus had to be coopted. In the organization’s view, Islam is seen as taming soccer’s use as an outlet for violent urges, which leads to a dialectical tension between rejecting soccer for its violence and accepting it as having converted under the aegis of the Islamic League’s regulations. Soccer thus becomes a test of faith because one must restrain themselves for engaging in its tendency to be violent and uncouth. The Islamic League is seen as a way to spread Islamic knowledge (because it can reach people who would not otherwise engage with the movement) and as a moral alternative to other forms of soccer, yet it is also a dangerous tool that must be carefully watched lest its purpose be forgotten or subverted.
Finally, Sorek examines the case Ittihad Abnaa Sakhnin and describes it as having a dual Arab-Israeli identity. On one hand, the town’s history of hardship and struggle against land seizures, which are connected strongly to the foundation of “Land Day”, gives it a reputation as the bearer of a heroic narrative of Palestinian nationalist resistance. On the other, the municipality’s economic foundations are based on cooperation with the state, and thus the village strives to downplay the nationalist narrative and replace it with an integrative one to ensure its prosperity. In using soccer to achieve this aim, it demonstrates its integrative qualities through “the exclusion of Palestinian national symbols, extensive use of Hebrew, an ungrudging attitude towards Jewish players, and selective and cautious reactions to provocations launched by opposing Jewish fans”.
As mentioned above, Sorek combines sociological and historical frameworks to build his case, producing an interdisciplinary masterpiece with a fluid narrative. The sociological evidence can become somewhat technical, while the historical sections can present a theoretical rush, but these issues never overwhelm the narrative or disrupt it as a whole. Instead, these methodologies serve to elucidate the evidence or provide a conceptual context that can be illuminating, but could also be skipped without detracting from the argument or the reader’s understanding. Having said that, it is obvious that he is a sociologist first and a historian second, and many of the elements that one would expect from a work of “pure” history are present in forms that suggest that the author knew that they were supposed to be present and how to utilize them, but did not grasp entirely the nuances that make them effective rhetorical tools. Another issue that becomes more problematic is the fragmentation of the chapters, all of which do connect in some way to idea of soccer as an integrative enclave, but rarely explicate that link and often leave the reader to figure it out on their own. This is often not overly onerous, but does make it difficult to tie everything together in one’s mind, or even in a summary such as this, and would certainly deter a casual reader. It also has a tendency to read like a series of articles and essays that have been pieced together to form a monograph but, of all the works I have read that attempt this, this one is the most successful and least obvious in its approach. Overall, these issues should not deter anyone from picking up this work; considering the immensity of the project that Sorek takes on, these shortcomings can be forgiven. Arab Soccer in a Jewish State is one of the most engaging works on any academic subject and, considering how complex and multifaceted the author’s approach is, it is impressive that it manages to remain accessible to scholars from different backgrounds. I recommend this to anyone interested in either issues of identity and nationalism, particularly if they are skeptical about the field of sports history in general, as this book is almost certain to make them a believer.
Following this somewhat dense introduction, Sorek’s analysis becomes more accessible, which is surprising considering that he blends the methodologies of both history and sociology to make his arguments. His first body chapter outlines the pre-1948 history of sports clubs in Palestine, arguing that it followed the British and Egyptian models of sport development and that no traces of this infrastructure remained after the war. Chapter three argues that the roots of the integrative enclave can be found in the first two decades of the Israeli state under military rule, which was seeking ways to include the remaining Arabs in the system without integrating them. Sports clubs were an excellent way of achieving this because, unlike the other structures of the nation, there was nothing specifically “Jewish” about them. The government focused on the creation of Arab sports clubs during the 1960s so that Arab sport was dependent on the state and validated the national infrastructure. Independent organizations that attempted to rise were quashed and things changed little after the end of the military government, with teams remaining ethnically homogenous throughout the 1970s. The increasing commercialization of soccer, however, challenged this dynamic by shifting the basis of the clubs’ player selection towards those whose talents were most able to draw crowds and supporters (and therefore money) and away from other considerations such as race. The author’s underlying argument is that when “Arab soccer” was allowed to come to the fore in the 1980s, the exigencies of commercialization required them to integrate talented Jewish team members in order to succeed and gain attention, and thus it could not become a center for nationalist sentiment because an “Arab” soccer team could only survive if it transcended ethnic and local boundaries and became integrated into the system.
After this broad history, Sorek’s next objective is to take a more in-depth look at the intricacies of this “integrative enclave”. The fourth chapter examines Arab municipalities, from which the majority of the budgets of most Arab teams are derived. After outlining numerous factors that might explain why municipalities are so supportive of Arab soccer, the author puts all of his theories to a quantitative test and determines that “while the high investment in sports in general is related to the social marginality of the Arabs in Israel and the ability of sports to promote the town’s prestige, the popularity of soccer is related to its organizational simplicity and low cost”. For those in power, meanwhile, support of soccer is perceived as a way to release energy that has been repressed in youth in a non-harmful manner by taking up their free time with physical activity. It also strengthens ties to the community that help prevent the harmful release of energy and calm internal pressures. The author concludes by demonstrating that spectators are more likely to vote for Zionists (and at all), because mayoral support of sport translates into legitimization of the hegemonic structures and restrains the population from acting upon impulses to resist. In chapter five, meanwhile, Sorek argues that the Arab press had mobilized towards nationalism since the mid-1980s and that national pride is expressed in sports reporting through “an explicit call for solidarity between Arab teams […] emphasis upon the Arab identity of players and teams […] use of botanical and agricultural images in describing Arab athletes; and […] the use of martial metaphors, with specific references to the Arab-Israeli conflict”. There is always a desire to recognize integration in some form, but also hesitance, as integration in soccer can mask inequalities in other spheres. Praise for integration, therefore, goes hand in hand with the fear of assimilation. The Hebrew press, meanwhile, has a wider reach within in the state and, since it espouses an integrative viewpoint, this perspective garners more attention.
In his sixth chapter, Sorek examines why Jewish teams are able to attract attention and support from Arab citizens, focusing primarily on the case of Maccabi Haifa. His two main arguments in this section return to the concepts of separation and substitution: soccer’s apolitical image allows Arab-Israelis an access point for integrating into the state without having to renounce their Palestinian identity (separation) and similarities between soccer fandom and national ceremonies allow the former to act as an alternative when the latter is absent (substitution). The author then examines the counterexample of the Islamic League, a fundamentalist soccer organization that insists upon distance from Israeli identity. This chapter begins with a look at the complex relationship between sport and religion in general, in which the former can be a competitor to the latter or a force that can be coopted for the latter’s cause. It then delves into the history of the Islamic League, which understood that soccer, even though it was a “western” product, was too powerful to be attacked and thus had to be coopted. In the organization’s view, Islam is seen as taming soccer’s use as an outlet for violent urges, which leads to a dialectical tension between rejecting soccer for its violence and accepting it as having converted under the aegis of the Islamic League’s regulations. Soccer thus becomes a test of faith because one must restrain themselves for engaging in its tendency to be violent and uncouth. The Islamic League is seen as a way to spread Islamic knowledge (because it can reach people who would not otherwise engage with the movement) and as a moral alternative to other forms of soccer, yet it is also a dangerous tool that must be carefully watched lest its purpose be forgotten or subverted.
Finally, Sorek examines the case Ittihad Abnaa Sakhnin and describes it as having a dual Arab-Israeli identity. On one hand, the town’s history of hardship and struggle against land seizures, which are connected strongly to the foundation of “Land Day”, gives it a reputation as the bearer of a heroic narrative of Palestinian nationalist resistance. On the other, the municipality’s economic foundations are based on cooperation with the state, and thus the village strives to downplay the nationalist narrative and replace it with an integrative one to ensure its prosperity. In using soccer to achieve this aim, it demonstrates its integrative qualities through “the exclusion of Palestinian national symbols, extensive use of Hebrew, an ungrudging attitude towards Jewish players, and selective and cautious reactions to provocations launched by opposing Jewish fans”.
As mentioned above, Sorek combines sociological and historical frameworks to build his case, producing an interdisciplinary masterpiece with a fluid narrative. The sociological evidence can become somewhat technical, while the historical sections can present a theoretical rush, but these issues never overwhelm the narrative or disrupt it as a whole. Instead, these methodologies serve to elucidate the evidence or provide a conceptual context that can be illuminating, but could also be skipped without detracting from the argument or the reader’s understanding. Having said that, it is obvious that he is a sociologist first and a historian second, and many of the elements that one would expect from a work of “pure” history are present in forms that suggest that the author knew that they were supposed to be present and how to utilize them, but did not grasp entirely the nuances that make them effective rhetorical tools. Another issue that becomes more problematic is the fragmentation of the chapters, all of which do connect in some way to idea of soccer as an integrative enclave, but rarely explicate that link and often leave the reader to figure it out on their own. This is often not overly onerous, but does make it difficult to tie everything together in one’s mind, or even in a summary such as this, and would certainly deter a casual reader. It also has a tendency to read like a series of articles and essays that have been pieced together to form a monograph but, of all the works I have read that attempt this, this one is the most successful and least obvious in its approach. Overall, these issues should not deter anyone from picking up this work; considering the immensity of the project that Sorek takes on, these shortcomings can be forgiven. Arab Soccer in a Jewish State is one of the most engaging works on any academic subject and, considering how complex and multifaceted the author’s approach is, it is impressive that it manages to remain accessible to scholars from different backgrounds. I recommend this to anyone interested in either issues of identity and nationalism, particularly if they are skeptical about the field of sports history in general, as this book is almost certain to make them a believer.
April 14, 2018
Tamir Sorek mencoba membedah sepakbola sebagai satu medium dimana masyarakat Arab yang tinggal di dalam Israel mengekspresikan dirinya. Walau di permukaan terlihat kontradiktif, namun patut dipahami bahwa ekspresi identitas ini memiliki lapisan sendiri: di satu titik mereka mengekspresikan bahwa masyarakat Arab memiliki hak yang sama dengan warga Israel lainnya; di sisi lain ada kesadaran bahwa identitas Palestina patut disambut dalam kadar-kadar tertentu dan didengungkan. Menjadi semakin menarik bahwa Tamir sebagai seorang Yahudi masuk ke dalam masyarakat yang dalam gambaran umum saling bermusuhan, padahal ada sambutan, keramahan yang disatukan dalam bahasa bernama sepakbola.
Isi buku ini cukup menjelaskan bagaimana sepakbola hadir dan bernapas semenjak Inggris masih hadir di wilayah ini sebagai protektorat dan perkembangannya hingga di era modern dalam masyarakat Arab - Israel. Menjadi kelebihan tersendiri bahwa buku ini memadukan penelitian kuantitatif bersama kualitatif dan menjadikan materi yang ada dipersembahkan secara unik karena memadukan sepakbola sebagai satu ruang apolitik serta politik di saat bersamaan. Bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa terjemahan dari materi asli bagi saya sudah mampu menyampaikan makna yang ingin disampaikan buku ini, makna bahwa sepakbola bisa menjadi ruang ekspresi yang dapat dieksplorasi sesuai keinginan pelakunya yang dipengaruhi sistem kekuasaan yang ada.
Isi buku ini cukup menjelaskan bagaimana sepakbola hadir dan bernapas semenjak Inggris masih hadir di wilayah ini sebagai protektorat dan perkembangannya hingga di era modern dalam masyarakat Arab - Israel. Menjadi kelebihan tersendiri bahwa buku ini memadukan penelitian kuantitatif bersama kualitatif dan menjadikan materi yang ada dipersembahkan secara unik karena memadukan sepakbola sebagai satu ruang apolitik serta politik di saat bersamaan. Bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa terjemahan dari materi asli bagi saya sudah mampu menyampaikan makna yang ingin disampaikan buku ini, makna bahwa sepakbola bisa menjadi ruang ekspresi yang dapat dieksplorasi sesuai keinginan pelakunya yang dipengaruhi sistem kekuasaan yang ada.
August 30, 2013
Every now and then I come across a sports studies book that makes me stop and rethink a bunch of other much bigger issues; sometimes it is a methodological thing, sometimes a new geographical area I knew little about, sometimes it is about the links with a bigger global issue. I read this (it has been in the must-get-to-pile for several years) in the midst of other reading about Palestine & Israel, and an attempt to think through some of the key issues the regions cultural politics in the context of a paper I am/was working on about cultural and sports boycotts.
Israel is a paradox; it presents itself as a ‘democracy’ but at its very heart is an ethno-nationalist definition that by definition excludes just under 20% of its population (its Palestinian citizens) from full equality; as non-Jews they have a fundamentally different ontological status than Israel’s Jewish citizens. As a result, it is becoming increasingly clear that Israel meets the UN definition of an apartheid state. This is seen in the case of nationality – there is no Israeli nationality, there is Israeli citizenship but nationality is listed in ethno-national terms – Jewish, for instance. This leaves Palestinian citizens of Israel in an ambiguous position – descendants of a colonised people, born in their country of citizenship, one of three components of the Palestinian population (the others living in exile of under occupation). It is into this problem that Tamir Sorek steps, a Jewish Israeli sociologist of sport now living and working in the USA. I have read some of his other work in scholarly journals so the argument he makes here did not come as all-new.
The argument is clear and simple, although nuanced and subtle. Palestinian footballers and football supporters in Israel are well aware of the complexities of playing the game with all its political, national(ist) layers. This has become even more so as teams become increasingly mixed, so Palestinian/Arab teams include Jewish players and vice verse (leaving aside Beitar Jerusalem which has never signed Palestinian players, and its only Muslim players have been two Cechens). It is here that the ‘integrative enclave’ label becomes important; Sorek argues, eloquently and powerful, that football is important for two reasons. First, it is one of the few places where Palestinian citizens of Israel engage with Jewish citizens and Israel’s Zionist institutions on close to equal footing – that is, it is integrative. Second, it is so markedly distinctive that it is the only place where there close to full integration, and there is enormous effort expended by both non-Jews and Jews to maintain its distinctiveness and ensure that it does not seep into other spheres further politicising the game – that is, it is an enclave.
The book eloquently blends historical, in tracing the development of football in mandatory and occupied Palestine, and sociological analysis unravelling the contemporary aspects of Arab football in Israel. He considers, in one of the most insightful discussions I have read of the contradictions of sport in colonised populations, the experiences of Arab fans of Jewish teams – by looking at Maccabi Haifa, where Haifa has always been one of the most mixed urban areas in Israel. He also looks at football in the Islamic League – a league outside the formal structures of Israeli football – as well as Arab teams in the Israeli league. There is also extremely rich analysis football reporting in the Arabic language press.
The evidence for the analysis is superb – Sorek interviewed sports leaders, club functionaries and fans, conducted ethnographic work in the Palestinian town Sakhnin whose team won the Israel State Cup in 2004, while also providing ‘martyrs’ to the Palestinian struggle, and conducted a large scale national survey. This is a genuine mixed methods study and Sorek’s mastery of the data and the methods means that he is able to point to surprising political and cultural correlations as well as draw some causal conclusions, while providing rich humanistic sociological analyses of people’s experiences unattainable from things like surveys. All this adds up to make this a compelling argument.
Now, I know that no study can do everything, but this could have done with some reflection on a gender analysis. Sorek makes a powerful case for this as a male enclave yet does not do much to point to the gender-as-social relations aspect of these politics of Arab football in Israel. This is surprising given that he interviews several women Arab fans of Maccabi Haifa, and among his wide group of informants relies heavily on one – a young lawyer he calls Suzanne – as one of several key informants for his analysis of the experience of club fandom. In doing so, he contrasts her experiences with at least one of his male key informants (known as Salman) in a way that suggests a rich gender frame. To do, of course, would have made this a different book.
This is an unashamedly academic piece of work, but clearly and lucid developed and written it should be widely read. I’d urge people in Palestinian solidarity campaigns to take a look, because along with Dan Rabinowitz’s and Khawla Abu-Baker’s Coffins on Our Shoulders this book explores a group we in Palestine solidarity politics tend to gloss – Israel’s Palestinian citizens. It is also one of the best scholarly analyses of sport I have read.
Israel is a paradox; it presents itself as a ‘democracy’ but at its very heart is an ethno-nationalist definition that by definition excludes just under 20% of its population (its Palestinian citizens) from full equality; as non-Jews they have a fundamentally different ontological status than Israel’s Jewish citizens. As a result, it is becoming increasingly clear that Israel meets the UN definition of an apartheid state. This is seen in the case of nationality – there is no Israeli nationality, there is Israeli citizenship but nationality is listed in ethno-national terms – Jewish, for instance. This leaves Palestinian citizens of Israel in an ambiguous position – descendants of a colonised people, born in their country of citizenship, one of three components of the Palestinian population (the others living in exile of under occupation). It is into this problem that Tamir Sorek steps, a Jewish Israeli sociologist of sport now living and working in the USA. I have read some of his other work in scholarly journals so the argument he makes here did not come as all-new.
The argument is clear and simple, although nuanced and subtle. Palestinian footballers and football supporters in Israel are well aware of the complexities of playing the game with all its political, national(ist) layers. This has become even more so as teams become increasingly mixed, so Palestinian/Arab teams include Jewish players and vice verse (leaving aside Beitar Jerusalem which has never signed Palestinian players, and its only Muslim players have been two Cechens). It is here that the ‘integrative enclave’ label becomes important; Sorek argues, eloquently and powerful, that football is important for two reasons. First, it is one of the few places where Palestinian citizens of Israel engage with Jewish citizens and Israel’s Zionist institutions on close to equal footing – that is, it is integrative. Second, it is so markedly distinctive that it is the only place where there close to full integration, and there is enormous effort expended by both non-Jews and Jews to maintain its distinctiveness and ensure that it does not seep into other spheres further politicising the game – that is, it is an enclave.
The book eloquently blends historical, in tracing the development of football in mandatory and occupied Palestine, and sociological analysis unravelling the contemporary aspects of Arab football in Israel. He considers, in one of the most insightful discussions I have read of the contradictions of sport in colonised populations, the experiences of Arab fans of Jewish teams – by looking at Maccabi Haifa, where Haifa has always been one of the most mixed urban areas in Israel. He also looks at football in the Islamic League – a league outside the formal structures of Israeli football – as well as Arab teams in the Israeli league. There is also extremely rich analysis football reporting in the Arabic language press.
The evidence for the analysis is superb – Sorek interviewed sports leaders, club functionaries and fans, conducted ethnographic work in the Palestinian town Sakhnin whose team won the Israel State Cup in 2004, while also providing ‘martyrs’ to the Palestinian struggle, and conducted a large scale national survey. This is a genuine mixed methods study and Sorek’s mastery of the data and the methods means that he is able to point to surprising political and cultural correlations as well as draw some causal conclusions, while providing rich humanistic sociological analyses of people’s experiences unattainable from things like surveys. All this adds up to make this a compelling argument.
Now, I know that no study can do everything, but this could have done with some reflection on a gender analysis. Sorek makes a powerful case for this as a male enclave yet does not do much to point to the gender-as-social relations aspect of these politics of Arab football in Israel. This is surprising given that he interviews several women Arab fans of Maccabi Haifa, and among his wide group of informants relies heavily on one – a young lawyer he calls Suzanne – as one of several key informants for his analysis of the experience of club fandom. In doing so, he contrasts her experiences with at least one of his male key informants (known as Salman) in a way that suggests a rich gender frame. To do, of course, would have made this a different book.
This is an unashamedly academic piece of work, but clearly and lucid developed and written it should be widely read. I’d urge people in Palestinian solidarity campaigns to take a look, because along with Dan Rabinowitz’s and Khawla Abu-Baker’s Coffins on Our Shoulders this book explores a group we in Palestine solidarity politics tend to gloss – Israel’s Palestinian citizens. It is also one of the best scholarly analyses of sport I have read.
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