Overlooking Nazareth : The Ethnography of Exclusion in Galilee

A sophisticated and engaging ethnographic account of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and the first since the 1970s, Overlooking Nazareth examines specific situations of friction, conflict and co-operation in Natzerat Illit.

This Israeli new town is built on formerly Palestinian land, just outside the biblical town of Nazareth, and has a population of 25,000 Jewish Israelis and 3,500 Palestinians.

Dr Rabinowitz has written widely on the current political situation in Israel and has conducted extensive fieldwork in Galilee, and he describes his study as a guided walk along a border, a sketch of interfaces 'where the complex, often paradoxical aspects of the border situation are negotiated and acted out most vividly'.

He highlights the extent to which anti-Palestinian sentiments for which the town is known actually reflect widespread views of most Israelis.Selected case studies investigate the real-estate market in the town, the ways in which both Israelis and Palestinians view issues of territory and territorial control and segregated education, and there are detailed biographical accounts of three Palestinian residents - a medical doctor, a basketball coach and a local politician.

This is a major contribution to our understanding of the confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians, in which the grand causes and effects have been transposed to a more intimate as well as pragmatic level.

On a wider theoretical level, it offers powerful critique of reflexive anthropology and offers fresh insights into notions of ethnicity and identity, nationalism and liberalism.