The Poetics of Military Occupation: Mzeina Allegories of Bedouin Identity Under Israeli and Egyptian Rule

410 Pages·1990·30.632 MB·English

by  Smadar Lavie

THE POETICS OF
MILITARY OCCUPATION
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THE
Poeties
OF
MILITARY
OCCUPATION
Mzeina Allegories of Bedouin Identity
Under Israeli and Egyptian Rule
Smadar Lavie
UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY
LOS ANGELES
LONDON
This book is a print-on-demand volume. It is manufactured
using toner in place of ink. Type and images may be less
sharp than the same material seen in traditionally printed
University of California Press editions.
We wish to thank the following for
photographs appearing in the book:
p.2 photo is by I.P.P.A.; p. 23 photo is by Shalom Bar-Tal;
p. 44, 88, 152, 220, 236, 339 and the front jacket photos are by
Micha Bar-Am; p. 69 photo is by Israel Sun; p. 79 photo is by
Hertzel Yossef, courtesy of Yedi'ot Aharonot archive.
Maps were drawn by Tim Seymour.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
Copyright © 1990 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lavie, Smadar.
The poetics of military occupation: Mzeina allegories of Bedouin
identity under Israeli and Egyptian rule / Smadar Lavie.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-520-06880-7 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-520-07552-8 (ppb.: alk. paper)
1. Bedouins—Egypt—Janub SInac. 2. Janub Sina' (Egypt)—Ethnic
relations. 3. Storytelling—Egypt—Janub SIna'. 4. Storytelling—
Political aspects—Egypt—Janub SIna'. 5. Israelis—Egypt—Janub
Sina". I. Title.
DSno.5.L2 1990 89-20336
953'.!—dc2o CIP
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication
meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences
—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-I984
A flag loses contact with reality and flies off.
A window display of beautiful women's
Dresses in blue and white. And everything
In three languages: Hebrew Arabic Death.
YEHOUDA AMIHAI
Lamentation for Those Who Die in War
This word: "shame." No, I must write it in its original form,
not in this peculiar language tainted by wrong concepts and the
accumulated detritus of its owners' unrepented past, this Angre/i in
which I am forced to write, and so for ever alter what is written.
SALMAN RUSHDIE
Shame
CONTENTS
Note on Transliteration
ix
ONE
The Poetics of Military Occupation:
From Experience to Text
1
TWO
Bedouin in Limbo, or Developers Observed:
Egyptian and Israeli Policies for the
South Sinai Bedouin
43
THREE
The Sheikh
Al-Sheikh
87
FOUR
The Madwoman
Al-Majnuna
117
FIVE
The Ex-Smuggler
X
151
six
The Old Woman
Al-'Ajuz
185
VII
CONTENTS
SEVEN
The Fool
Al-Ahabal
219
EIGHT
The Symbolic Battle Coordinator
Al-Galid
241
NINE
The One Who Writes Us
DT llli Tuktubna
285
Interlude
31 i
TEN
When Identity Becomes Allegory:
The Poetic Reconstruction of Military Occupation
313
Notes
341
Glossary of Arabic Terms
357
References
361
Acknowledgments
385
Index
391
NOTE ON
TRAHfLITERATION
The Arabic and Hebrew words in the following text are transliter-
ated according to the Mzeina vernacular, not according to Classical
Arabic. I have oriented myself more or less to the standards of the
International Journal of Middle East Studies.
I have used the following system:
ARABIC ENGLISH ARABIC ENGLISH
RADICAL TRAN S LITERATI O N RADICAL TRANSLITERATION
a d
b t
t
Z
th c
j gh
h f
kh
g*
d k
dh 1
r m
z n
s h
sh w
s y
*In the Mzeina Bedouin dialect, the classical "q" becomes a "g.:
IX
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
Here are some suggestions for the pronunciation of the transliterated
Arabic:
th like the th in "thought"
h a gutteral/whispery sound, between h and kh
kh like the ch in "Bach"
dh like the th in "the"
sh like the sh in "shark"
s, d, t, z emphatic consonants
c use the back of the throat
gh like the French r
g like the g in "good"
a, e, I, u, 6 long vowels
The remaining letters are pronounced more or less as in English.
Since Hebrew and Arabic have more or less a similar alphabet, I
have chosen to transliterate the Hebrew letters using the Arabic guide-
lines above.