Abstract

This presentation will deal with the practices of surveillance and control at the individual level, intended to affect the ways in which Palestinians formed their views and attitudes through formal education and informal learning during the first two decades of Israel’s existence. Educational institutions have been widely regarded in modern times as the appropriate settings through which certain ideas become hegemonic by acquiring a status akin to the laws of nature. Schools, colleges and universities are particularly situated to institutionalize certain notions given their structure and socio-political status.  Daily, students spend long hours in these settings under the constraints of specific rules and regulations, while occupying a mostly inferior position without the ability to formulate intellectually critical and coherent positions counter to the lessons they are taught. Furthermore, these educational institutions are surrounded by well-established myths and rituals which are essential for the success of their social and political roles. Such myths, for example, include imparting objective knowledge and meritocracy as the overriding principles for ranking students of the same level or the idea of the educational institution as the primary gateway for future success.

Intellectual captivation of citizens is considered to be the preferred method of social control. It is more efficient, benign and enduring than force. Moreover, it is unlikely to stir up much direct resistance.  Antonio Gramsci argues that ruling elites achieve a degree of hegemony when in certain formation they succeed in translating their interests into widely upheld and presumably universal notions. Yet, hegemony cannot always be sought. In the case of Israel, it cannot possibly promulgate Zionism as an ideology for the Palestinians. Moreover, the methods of surveillance and political control it has used were incompatible with notions of meritocracy and universalism. Given these limitations, Israel developed a “minimal hegemony” for the Palestinians, which emphasizes personal success within, rather than beyond, the particularistic group of affiliation (e.g. proclamations about the first Bedouin doctor, or Druze diplomat, etc.). This presentation will illustrate how the Arab educational system was integrated into the state’s surveillance and control scheme with the intent of fostering a level of minimal, but effective, hegemony over the Palestinian population.