Palestinian Childhoods: Violent Abduction of Arab-Jewish Children in Israel a Historical Study on the Intergenerational Dynamics of Oppression and Resistance

A comprehensive contextualised understanding of Palestinian childhoods also requires the inclusion of the historical genesis of Arab-Jewish childhoods. It arises from the fact that people of the Jewish faith have lived for centuries as a tolerated religious minority in Arab and Muslim societies and identified with their culture and language. This largely harmonious coexistence was interrupted with the Zionist nationalisation of Judaism and the founding of the State of Israel. It led to a mass exodus of the Jewish minority from Arab countries and to new conflicts in the State of Israel itself, which had also a massive impact on children of this origin. Numerous children who immigrated to Israel at that time with their Jewish parents from Arab countries were kidnapped and disappeared with the secret consent of the Israeli authorities. Some of these children were adopted by wealthy people in Europe and the USA, while others remained missing. The paper reconstructs the efforts to clarify the fate of these children. Their disappearance is analysed in the context of the Zionist founding myth and the colonial genesis of the State of Israel and interpreted as an early form of bio-politics with racist connotations. Particular attention is paid to the traumatic consequences of this practice for the people affected and the psycho-structure of Israeli society and its relationship to the Palestinian people. Finally, the question is posed as to how today’s young generation of descendants of Arab-Jewish immigrants is coming to terms with the history of their ancestors and what consequences this could have for the future identity of Israeli society and its peaceful coexistence with the Palestinian neighbours.