ABSTRACT
This chapter follows the trajectory of minority patriotism from the time of the Nakba until today by exploring the changes in the objectives of attachment of the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel. Examining the meaning and objectives of attachment in relation to the Arab-Palestinian minority mirrors the thorough and deep changes taking place in the political consciousness of this minority, and involves studying the differences between majority and minority patriotism. It is assumed that emotional attachment has connotations that raise substantive questions about a society's identity, its goals and its interaction with its surroundings. It directs our attention to the primordial aspects of this society, touching on the notions of citizenship and the shared public good in multinational societies (Blattberg 2000). The major questions in this chapter ask: what are the objects of patriotic attachment for minorities and what draws their loyalty? They are of special scholarly relevance in contexts where minorities are excluded from state identity and from equal access to state institutions. Such a situation exists in the case of the Arab minority in Israel. The state is defined as a Jewish state and is viewed by the Jewish majority as articulating the right of self-determination of the Jewish people. Under these circumstances, where is Arab patriotism directed and how does it relate to the Israeli state? This chapter seeks to answer these questions by examining the Arab-Palestinian political discourse with regard to patriotic attachment. The rising tension between the state and its Arab minority makes such an endeavor of empirical as well as theoretical importance. Before exploring the dynamics of Arab patriotism in Israel, it is necessary to reframe the epistemological and the theoretical discussion of patriotism in general.
