The balancing act of minority cultural identity expression policy: palestinian cultural struggles at the Israeli local government level

Minority Cultural Identity Expressions (MCIE), for instance the use of minority language or celebration of minority culture, could be promoted by government at different levels. We focus on local government support for MCIE under circumstances in which central government is unsupportive of, and even suppresses, such expressions. Specifically, we ask how local minority leaders in minority-dominated towns approach the issue of MCIE: do they use their powers to fill the policy void left by central government or do they conform to its policies? Based on a survey of 335 participants in local council meetings, and interviews with the heads of, 22 Palestinian local authorities in Israel, we find that local leadership is in principle supportive of MCIE. However, in practice, heads of Palestinian local authorities avoid MCIE fearing both Israeli central government retaliation and that local business would lose Jewish majority consumers. Thus, political and economic pressures suppress local-level MCIE.