ABSTRACT
Another sphere through which Mapai established its political dominance following the War of Independence in 1948 was the physical landscape. The erection of monuments and commemorative plaques marked Mapai, the institutions it controlled, and its supporters as the main contributors to the Independence enterprise. At the same time, it enabled Mapai to exclude from these environmental memory sites associated with the founding of the state those contributions made by its political opponents, Etzel and Lehi. Among these sites were state military cemeteries and cenotaphs. In addition, following Laclau's insightful remark that “the essentially performative character of naming is the precondition of all hegemony and politics”, appellations assigned by the Mapai regime for new settlements, streets and public squares are also noted (see Zizek 1989: xiv).
