The Hierarchy

The thing that struck me the most while reading Second Person Singular was the hierarchy in which the Arabs in Israel are confronted with and have to navigate daily. I was also fascinated with the very clear intersection of race and class within Jerusalem. Arabs living within Israeli occupy a unique position on the social ladder between Jewish Israelis and Arabs living in occupied territories. The author describes this position as "immigrant in their own land". These themes of race and class hierarchy are carried throughout the entire book and each character shows instances that impacts their life. One clear example of the unique positions of Arabs in Israel is the fact Amir had to assume the identity of an Israeli in order to go to school. While there are many examples of the intersection of race and class I believe that the discussion of the lawyer's daughter's school.

Very early in the novel when the lawyer was dropping his daughter off at school the Arab Israeli parents found themselves in a unique position in regards to the demographics of the school. They did not want any Arabs that were not Israelis but were unable to fill the Arab spots with only Arab Israelis. They were also unable to go to Israeli education authorities because the school and their position politically was already very precarious. Here we see the Arab Israelis are both in a place of being discriminated against while also discriminating against other individuals. There was also a lot of discussion in this section about the status symbol between Jewish and Arab Israelis. The lawyer felt the need to have an expensive car to prove his wealth and stature, while the Jewish Israelis felt no need to prove their status with a material symbol. Not only was this school a unique place for Arab Israelis it also served as a way to bridge the gap between Israelis and Arabs with Arab Israelis acting as "brokers".

I believe the concept of having a broker or mediator is so important in the current very divided situation. We discussed in class about how this frequently seems like a black and white or only two-sided conflict. However, there are many individuals that find themselves in the grey area and are not discussed in the context of the larger issue. There are Arab Isralies and Christian Arabs and many other combinations of identity within this conflict. Frequently these voices get lost. In this article by The Washington Post, the author describes the disillusionment of Arab Israelis that has resulted in their lack of participation in the political system. Due to this, more radical political groups are able to come to power which continues to polarize the conflict. Both this article and the Second Person Singular are great reminders that this is, in fact, a complex and intersectional issue that should not be viewed as one or the other.