A Moroccan History of the Negev: Local Identities and Pioneer Narratives of Israel’s Periphery

• In Event: Storied Journeys: Recovering Agency in Narratives of MENA Jewish Migration

Abstract

Between 1954 and 1956, as part of Israel’s “From Ship to Village Plan” intended to populate the country’s periphery, nearly all new immigrants from North Africa, particularly Morocco, were settled in Moshavim or “development towns”. The history of North African and Middle Eastern (MENA) Jewish migration to Israel’s development towns is almost exclusively studied through the lens of Israel’s nation building project. In particular, narratives tend to either detail Israel’s efforts to marginalize or integrate MENA Jews into an Israeli society and culture characterized by an Ashkenazi hegemony, often understood as suppressing or stripping MENA Jews’ pre-migratory identities. Such narratives, however, fail to include these Jews’ agency, their successes and failures in advocating for themselves, and the ways in which their lives in their countries of origins informed the identities they built in Israel. Taking Moroccan Jewish migration to Negev development towns, Ofakim in particular, as a case study, this paper seeks to problematize our understanding of the history of Israel’s periphery by asking the question “What is Moroccan about the history of the development towns?”
Focusing on local initiatives and narratives, this paper connects Morocco to Israeli development towns through individuals such as Casablanca-born Yehiel Bentov, longtime mayor of Ofakim, who served as a crucial intermediary for settling Moroccan Jews in development towns. Political engagement for local leaders such as Yossi Marciano also formed a continuous thread with Morocco. Additionally, it explores how residents struggled with memories of Morocco and the difficulties of life in the Negev. Finally, it details how locals have crafted pioneer narratives of Moroccans and other MENA Jews as a counternarrative to traditional, Ashkenazi-dominated accounts of Zionist pioneer settlement in Palestine and Israel.
Utilizing new sources drawn from local archives in Sderot, Dimona, Mitzpe Ramon, and Ofakim, documents from the Central Zionist as well as State archives, as well as interviews with local residents, this paper will present a history of Israel’s development towns which focuses on residents’ agency and understanding of their own history, as well as the ways in which their lives in Morocco formed the nucleus of new Israeli and local identities.

Author

• Roy Orel Shukrun, Utrecht University