Shifting boundaries: The 1967 war in Israeli children's magazines
2009; Routledge; Volume: 28; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13531040903169701
ISSN1744-0548
Autores Tópico(s)Social Movements and Cultural Identity
ResumoAbstract This article examines Israeli children's magazines that were published in the weeks preceding and following the 1967 war in order to show the ways in which the war and its consequences were presented to the children. As common in times of war, the magazines' editors aimed to mobilize their readers to the national effort, establishing role models such as children living in settlements near the battlefront. Alongside the national jubilation that followed the war, children were exposed to the complex issues it had engendered: the hundreds of fatalities on the Israeli side and the condition of the refugees on the Palestinian side. Nevertheless, the meanings of the change in Israel's borders were not explained to the young readers. Keywords: 1967 warIsraeli children's magazines Davar il-Yeladim Mishmar li-Yeladim Ha'aretz Shelanu territorial bordersethnic boundariesredemptionoccupationliberation Notes 1. According to Yuval Purtugali Portugali, Yuval. 1993. Implicate Relations: Society and Space in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Implicate Relations, during the two decades when Palestinian refugees resided in Egyptian and Jordanian territories, a clear decision concerning the rival sides' right to the controversial territories was postponed. In 1967 the demand for a clear-cut solution increased. 2. On the human need to define and categorize, see Zerubavel Zerubavel, Eviatar. 1993. The Fine Line: Making Distinctions in Everyday Life, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [Google Scholar], The Fine Line. 3. Ha-Tzofeh li-Yeladim ceased publication in 1964. For the attitude of Ha'aretz during the prewar "waiting period," see Chazan Chazan, Meir. 2006. Me'oravuto shel iton Ha'aretz ba-ma'arakhah ha-politit bi-tkufat ha-hamtanah" (Ha'aretz during the waiting period). Israel, : 74–115. [Google Scholar], "Me'oravuto shel iton Ha'aretz." 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National Education through Mutually Supportive Devices: A Case Study of Zionist Education Bern: Peter Lang [Google Scholar], introduction to idem, ed., National Education. 28. This approach characterized textbooks until the 1960s as well; see Podeh Podeh, Elie. 2002. The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Israeli History Textbooks, 1948–2000, Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. [Google Scholar], The Arab-Israeli Conflict. In 1967 Ha'aretz Shelanu published two stories in installments about "Juha" the Bedouin and about the encounter between an Arab prince and a farmer, both adapted by Amos Dvir. 29. Ha'aretz Shelanu, 13 June 1967, 2. The phrasing was similar in other instances as well. See Davar li-Yeladim, 13 June 1967, 978; Ha'aretz Shelanu, 4 July 1967, 2. 30. On the perception of the enemy in Israeli society, see Podeh, The Arab-Israeli Conflict. On visual images of war, see Sela Sela, Rona. 2007. Shishah yamim: Ve-od arba'im shanah (Six days plus forty years), Petah Tikvah: Petah Tikvah Museum. 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The war was present in other, unexpected, parts of the magazines. For instance, a week after the battles subsided, the magazine's section devoted to exercises in English was also dedicated to the theme of the war: ibid., 20 June 1967, 1012. Thirty days after the war, the war was summarized and also allegorized in the form of a story about a goose fight: ibid., 11 November 1967, 1070, 1076. 41. See Oren Oren, Michael B. 2003. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, New York: Ballantine Books. [Google Scholar], Six Days, esp. 170–256. See also Ziv Ziv, Ilan. 2007. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East (a documentary series), Israel, USA, France: Alma Films, Instinct Films, Point du Jour. [Google Scholar], Six Days (TV documentary series). 42. See Segev, 1967 Segev, Shemuel. 1967. Sadin adom (Red Sheet: The Six Day War), Tel Aviv: N. Tverski. [Google Scholar], esp. 351–65; Feige Feige, Michael. 2003. Shtei mapot la-gadah: Gush Emunim, Shalom Akhshav ve-itsuv ha-merhav be-Yisra'el (One space, two places: "Gush Emunim," "Peace Now" and the construction of Israeli space), Jerusalem: Magnes/ Hebrew University. [Google Scholar], Shtei mapot, 11–162. For the power attributed to a return to a place as a parallel of a return to a historical period, see Zerubavel Zerubavel, Eviatar. 2003. Time Maps: Collective Memory and the Social Shape of the Past, Chicago: University Press of Chicago. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Time Maps, 37–54. 43. Ha'aretz Shelanu, 30 June 1967, cover page; ibid., 20 June 1967, 12–13; Mishmar li-Yeladim, 20 June 1967, cover and page 650. 44. The changing of Arab place-names into biblical or modern Hebrew names was common in Israel. See Benvenisti Benvenisti, Meron. 2000. Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948, Berkeley: University of California Press. [Google Scholar], Sacred Landscape. 45. Ha'aretz Shelanu, 20 June 1967, 3–4. 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"Har habayit beyadenu!": Kravot ha-tzanhanim be-milhemet sheshet ha-yamim, 26–28 Iyar 1967 ("The Temple Mount is in our Hands!": The Paratroopers' battles during the Six Day War, 26–28 Iyar 1967), Tel Aviv: Ma'arachot. [Google Scholar], "Har ha-bayit be-yadeinu", 317. 49. Bar-Zohar Bar-Zohar, Michael. 1968. Ha-hodesh ha-arokh beyoter, (The longest month) Tel Aviv: Lewin-Epstein. [Google Scholar], Ha-hodesh, 263–64. Such historical associations were typical of the commanders of the Six Day War. See, for example, General Ezer Weizmann's comment to Prime Minister Eshkol (1 June 1967) about "the best army since the kingdom of David" (ibid., 176); also the order of the day given by the commander of the air force, General Mordechai Hod, who described the pilots as followers of Joshua bin Nun. See Oren, Six Days of War, 170. 50. See Halbwachs, On Collective Memory. 51. Ha'aretz Shelanu, 27 June 1967, 4–5. 52. Davar li-Yeladim, 27 June 1967, 1037. A similar testimony was written by a 13-year-old boy living in an agricultural community: "I did not cry when the radio announced that the entire city of Jerusalem was in our hands. I am not a son of Jerusalem. I've never seen the Western Wall before but I realized in the depth of my soul that Jerusalem is still our eternal city." Glick, "Sirtatnu mapot," in Shabtai, ed., Anahnu ha-lohamim, 196. 53. Davar li-Yeladim, 4 July 1967, 1047. 54. Davar li-Yeladim, 20 June 1967, 1007; ibid., 18 July 1967, 1106 (Mount Hermon and the Golan Heights), 1014 (Suez Canal); Mishmar li-Yeladim, 27 June 1967, cover. 55. The children's confusion might be comprehended in the context of Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia (see Foucault Foucault, Michel. October 1984. Des espaces autres. Architecture, Mouvement, Continuité, : 46–49. [1967] [Google Scholar], "Des espaces autres"). See also Bakhtin Bakhtin, Michail. 1996. 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Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition, Chicago: Chicago University Press. [Google Scholar], Recovered Roots. 64. Ze'ev Tzahor points to recurring tendencies in the historiography of the first three wars (1948, 1956, 1967): the theme of the few against the many, the glorification of victories and charismatic commanders, the scant historical documentation. The accepted pattern in scholarly writing may have penetrated into writing for children. See Tzahor Tzahor, Ze'ev. 2007. Itzuv ha-yi'sre'eliyut (The shaping of the Israeli ethos), Tel Aviv: Am Oved. [Google Scholar], Itzuv ha-yisre'eliyut, 171. 65. Davar li-Yeladim, 20 June 1967, 1003. 66. Glick, "Sirtatnu mapot," 196.
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