Passing and telling: Israeli Arabized soldiers

Abstract

This article analyzes the public performance of Arabized soldiers in Israel, Mista’arvim, who pass as Palestinians in order to operate in Palestinian communities in the occupied territories and Israel. These undercover units whose operatives disguise themselves as Arabs to gather intelligence, infiltrate protests, rescue hostages, and engage in counterterrorism operations are a key element of Israel’s control strategy, aimed at managing the Palestinian population and preventing Palestinian life from achieving sense of normalcy. In order to analyze state control through passing, I focus on two main issues. First, I apply Goffman’s notion of passing in order to introduce sojourner passing – that is, abrupt passing limited in time and space. Second, by applying Michel Foucault’s notion of governmentality and biopolitic, I analyze the ways by which the colonizer imitates the colonized as a governance strategy to achieve control and compliance.