Sport, Politics and Society in the Land of Israel
The state of Israel is a home for a widely diverse population from many different ethnic, religious, cultural and social backgrounds; a new society with ancient roots, which is still coalescing and developing today. Israeli sport, maybe more than any other cultural phenomenon, has changed radically since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Over the past six decades, Israeli sport has evolved from an amateur hobby of a few sports freaks, to a passion of the masses. This transformation to a major cultural phenomenon is the result of general developments in Israeli and international society. The aim of the book is to shed light on those processes that shaped the Israeli sport arena.
Following the steps of numerous research perspectives that consider sports as text within a socio-historical context, this book deals with the development of Israeli sports in Palestine and later, the State of Israel, as a text (or a narrative) which is contingent on the socio-historical context.
In seeking to comprehend these processes, this book is divided into three parts. The Palestine period, the early stage of statehood, and the mature period which began in and around the early 1980s. Each period is narrated by the major participants and the major political-economical parameters which, as it is argued, shaped Israeli sport.
This book was originally published as a special issue of Israeli Affairs.
Yair Galily is a sport sociologist and holds academic degrees from universities in Israel, the USA and Great Britain. He teaches at Zinman College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the Wingate Institute and is founder and head of the Research Unit of the Israeli Football Association (IFA).
Amir Ben-Porat is a professor of sociology at the College of Management in Rishon LeZion and is the author of five books on soccer and society in Israel.
Sport, Politics and Society in the Land of Israel
Past and Present
Edited by Yair Galily and Amir Ben-Porat
First published 2009 by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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2009 Edited by Yair Galily and Amir Ben-Porat
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN10: 0-415-47927-4
ISBN13: 978-0-415-47927-1
Yair Galily and Amir Ben-Porat
The historical narrative of sport in Palestine and Israel parallels the history of the process of nation and state building as well as the ongoing conflict between Arabs and Jews over domination. In fact, it parallels the domination of politics and its replacment by the domination of the economy. This narrative involves three major participants: the Arab-Palestinians, the Jews living in Palestine, and the British Mandate. The Arab-Palestinians and the British Mandate played important roles in the making of history up to 1948, the year the State of Israel was established. The British Mandate terminated in 1948, the Arab-Palestinians lost the Israel war of independence and most were forced to emigrate during and after the war. Those who remained citizens were allowed to participate in politics, but were subject to the authority of the military administration and their moves were restricted. The reconstruction of sports after 1948 was controlled by the Jewish majority; though Arab-Palestinians had already become involved in sport in the 1950s, their impact upon its management, expansion, international relations etc., was negligible. In fact, during a relatively long period sport in Palestine and in Israel was virtually political: it revolved around the ethno-political and ideological particularities of Arab-Palestinian nationalism and Zionist nationalism.
The British Mandate Period
In 1920, the Great Powers, in their conference in San Remo (April-May) granted the British a Mandate over Palestine which was ratified by the Permanent Mandate Commission of the League Nations on July 22nd 1922. Palestine was ruled by the British until May 1948 and in some critical aspects the Mandate shaped the form and content of Palestine, including sport.
Arabs and Jews played soccer and arranged athletic competitions prior to the First World War. Soccer was imported by Jewish immigrants from Europe and by Arab-Palestinian students who studied in Damascus or Beirut. In addition to soccer, the British encouraged the natives to organize sport competitions in western sports such as athletics, boxing etc.
However, during the Mandate rule of Palestine, sport in the Jewish and Arab communities developed almost independently of each other and of the British rulers. From its very beginning sport was heavily tied to nationalistic policy, and considered as part of an open competition over Palestine. Ongoing cooperation between the three participants in Palestine was almost impossible1. However on a few occasions the British rulers forced the two communities to cooperate in sport, such as when the Palestine Football Association was established in 1928, and when in the 1930s the Palestine selection took part in the preparatory round of the World Cup games. The British tried to convince the Arab-Palestinians to participate, but they refused. The British anthem and the Jewish one (Hatikva) were played before these international games.
Jews, Arabs and Politics
For many reasons the development of the Jewish community in Palestine during the British Mandate was much more intensive and extensive than that of the Arab community. This was also relevant to sports: sport in the Jewish community was far more developed that in the Arab community, but sport was present also in the latter.
Arabs established their Palestinian Sport Association in 1934. This Association included soccer and a few other sports. The Palestinian Sport Association was liquidated by the British rulers in 1936 (as retribution for an Arab revolt against the British Rule). In 1944 The General Palestine Sport Association was renewed and was active until 1947 towards the end of the British Mandate over Palestine. In 1947 the Association ceased its activities and in fact was liquidated. In this context, Tamir Soreks article in this volume analyzes the discourse of the sport columns of Filastin, a major Arab newspaper from the British Mandate period in Palestine. Between 1944 and 1947, Filastin published a sport column almost daily that was dedicated to spreading a nationalist ideology. During this period, Filastin strove to promote the idea of a cross-religious modern national identity and its writing drew a direct line between the strengthening of the individual body and the strengthening of the national body. It described sports as an integral part of Arab heritage, and called on the Palestinian leaders to adopt the Egyptian, Zionist and Western attitudes toward sports in order to make it a tool of modernization and nation building.
