Nohad Ali – författare

In the last two decades the rates of crime and violence among the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel have increased dramatically. This book is the first to describe, analyze and understand this phenomenon.The authors identify the Israeli state policies that have dismantled Palestinian society and show how these have undermined or eliminated the authoritative figures and social structures that once supported and controlled this community. The rising violence in Arab society is depicted as a clear example of the success of Israeli efforts to weaken Arab society from within, where the community has lost its social, legal and political structures and its ability to organize itself or act as a collective. But in making this argument, the book also shows how the Palestinian minority can combat and overcome crime and violence in society, namely by resisting the superstructure of ethnic supremacy and finding new or lost points of reference that can deal with societal challenges.The book is based on the testimonies of activists who have attempted to combat violence worldwide and opinion polls from Palestinians in Israel to determine how they think the violence should be confronted.

Islam is the religion of the majority of Arab citizens in Israel and since the late 1970s has become an important factor in their political and socio-cultural identity. This leads to an increasing number of Muslims in Israel who define their identity first and foremost in relation to their religious affiliation. By examining this evolving religious identity during the past four decades and its impact on the religious and socio-cultural aspects of Muslim life in Israel, Muhammad Al-Atawneh and Nohad Ali explore the local nature of Islam. They find that Muslims in Israel seem to rely heavily on the prominent Islamic authorities in the region, perhaps more so than minority Muslims elsewhere. This stems, inter alia, from the fact that Muslims in Israel are the only minority that lives in a land they consider to be holy and see themselves as a natural.