Normalization and the Erasure of Palestine: Ideology and Myth in Arab Drama Series

Abstract

This article examines recent transformations in Arab drama narratives and TV productions and showcases how two drama series endorse normalization of cultural and social relations between Arabs and Israelis in subtle ways using the experience of Arab Jews. Sponsored by the Arab state, its elite actors, or directors, and disseminated through state-owned media, these drama series, the article contends, aim to conceal the contradictions between Arab governments’ commitment to a free Palestine and their political initiatives against it, alter collective Arab consciousness by de-stigmatizing normalization, and create the illusion of coexistence between Palestinians and Zionist settlers. Drawing on content analysis methodology, the article uncovers the ideology that underpins these drama series. This ideology is premised on the idea that the conflict between Arabs and Israelis is not due to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, but because of complicated flaws in Arab culture and Arabs’ inability to accept Jews as fully human. With attention to nuances inherent in the meanings of indigeneity and belonging, the article explains how the two series falsify history and validate Zionist myths about Palestine.