Citizen Strangers

Since its establishment in 1948, the state of Israel has had a significant Arab minority population. For the founders of the state, this presented a conundrum. On the one hand, they intended Israel to be the homeland of the Jewish people, but on the other, they wanted it to be a liberal state, which by definition meant that residents had to be enfranchised. To that end, the Palestinian Arabs who remained in Israel were immediately granted citizenship and the right to vote, but their civil rights, employment, and movement were restricted under military law until 1966. The long-term effects of Israel’s policies and attitudes toward its Palestinian minority citizens are still felt today.
 
In her new book, Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Birth of Israel’s Liberal State, Shira Robinson traces how the leaders of the nascent state struggled with the contradiction between advancing the project of building a state for the Jews, while finding a way to ostensibly share political power with its Palestinian citizens, even as the government expropriated Palestinian lands and limited their participation in Jewish society.
 
The New America Foundation is pleased to welcome Robinson, and Yousef Munayyer, the Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund and the Palestine Center in Washington, DC, for a discussion about her book and the legacy of these conflicting policies.
 
Copies of Robinson’s book will be available for purchase by cash, check, or credit card.
 
Join the conversation online using #citizenstrangers and following @NatSecNAF.

If you are unable to join us in person, please tune in to the live webcast. No sign up is required to view the streaming video, which will appear on this page the day of the event.

Participants
Dr. Shira Robinson
Author, Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Birth of Israel’s Liberal State
Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University
 
Yousef Munayyer
Executive Director, Jerusalem Fund and the Palestine Center 

Moderator
Lisa Goldman
Director, Israel-Palestine Initiative, International Security Program, New America Foundation