“Perceived neighbourhood” and tolerance relations: the case of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa, Israel

Abstract

This paper examines the complex social reality of mixed ethnic residential areas, as reflected in drawn perceived neighbourhoods of Jews and Arabs living in homogenous and mixed neighbourhoods in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Through in-depth interviews conducted among 89 Jaffa's residents, it illustrates how different perceptions about the residential area and its residents (including attitudes, emotions, feeling of fear/safety, collective identity and tolerant relations) are reflected in the form, size and consensus area of residents' perceived neighbourhoods. The study finds a clear association between tolerant attitudes and the size and consensus area of the perceived neighbourhoods. Arabs perceive their neighbourhood as significantly larger than Jews do and are characterised by a larger consensus area. These findings are explained by the Arab's strong social cohesion, common national identity, rootedness in Jaffa, as well as by tolerant attitudes towards Jaffa's Jewish population. The study demonstrates the interrelation between the spatial, social and perceptual dimensions associated with the mixed residential area, and illustrates how these dimensions are reflected in drawn perceived neighbourhoods.

Keywords:

• perceived neighbourhood
• mixed neighbourhood
• tolerance relations
• functional space
• Jaffa

Notes

1. It should be clarified that in this research, we focus on the mixed residential area of Jaffa and not on the unified city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, in which the Arab population comprises a minority of 4.4% of the total population.

2. The interviews were conducted between October 2012 and May 2013.

3. Due to difficulty of finding younger participants willing to be interviewed in the Arab neighbourhoods, the mean age of the AA group interviewees is a bit higher than the median age of these neighbourhood's residents (44.4 versus 30.5, respectively).

4. Examples of expressions used for classifying the respondents’ attitudes\feelings to the three groups are provided in the attached supplementary data.