The Palestinian-Israeli market: ‘feels like somewhere else’

Abstract

This article explores the relations between Israel’s Mizrahi Jews (Middle East and North African countries’ descendants) and Palestinian citizens as manifested in the popular open-air market of Kafr Qasim, a Palestinian town in central Israel. The town’s market is a unique space where Jews and Palestinians work, shop, and hang out side by side. This article argues that visitors, vendors, and market owners perceive the market as a space offering an alternative social and political order for various groups suffering from oppression within Israeli society. Specifically considering settler colonialism implications and the status of Mizrahi Jews in Israeli society. Following findings from an ethnography conducted in Kafr Qasim between 2016–2019, it is argued that the town’s market carries elements such as perceptions of shared cultural space and elsewhereness that allow both Mizrahi Jews and Palestinian citizens to feel more comfortable than in other public places in Israel.