Debating Islam in the Jewish State: Formative moments in the Development of Policy towards Islamic Institutions in Israel

How did Muslim communal institutions develop in Israel? Did Israel formulate a distinct "Islamic policy" towards shari'a courts, religious endowments (awqaf), holy places and religious education? What role did the Muslim community play in the establishment and administration of these institutions? How did Islam come to challenge secular nationalism as a focus for minority political mobilization by the 1980s? These are the principal questions addressed in this dissertation.

Using newly available sources, I argue that, following years of bitter interministerial debate, Israel adopted a fragmented policy towards Muslim communal institutions, which divided jurisdiction among several ministries with highly divergent agendas. Developed in fits and starts, mainly as "temporary" measures which eventually became permanent, the policy took shape through an informal system of checks and balances between the involved government authorities: the Ministries of Minority Affairs (1948-1949), Religious Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Education and the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Arab Affairs.

The policy debate was dominated by a dichotomy between a benevolent approach emphasizing cultural autonomy and a preoccupation with security considerations. The state supported communal autonomy in perceived religious realms such as personal status and freedom of worship. At the same time, the government suspected an intrinsic link between Islam and Arab political nationalism, its greatest fear. Thus, a system of strict central controls was implemented to prevent the emergence of a national Muslim leadership or an independent religious education system. Israeli policy also had a financial dimension: the mobilization of vast resources through control of the Muslim awqaf. The final motive in this mosaic was a quest to highlight Israel's enlightened treatment of Muslim holy places in order to broaden international support for the fledgling state.

By 1967, a crisis of succession developed as the demise of Muslim religious instruction in the state resulted in the collapse of the Muslim intelligentsia. In the absence of qualified personnel to succeed the first-generation Muslim establishment, subsequent appointments were made more on political than religious grounds, leading to a coopted religious establishment lacking popular support. In part as a consequence, since the 1980s, a national grassroots Islamist Movement has emerged to fill this leadership vacuum and challenge the official religious establishment created by the state.