Book Review: Arab Soccer in a Jewish State
December 9, 2008 – 9:23 amMiddle Eastern Quarterly, Fall 2008 Volume XV: Number 4
Book Reviewed: Arab Soccer in a Jewish State, the Integrative Enclave by Tamir Sorek
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 239 pp. $91
Review by: Sol Schindler (U.S. Foreign Service officer, ret.)
Sorek, an Israeli social scientist (as his prose can attest), finds in soccer a rich opportunity to study Arabs living and coping in the Jewish state. He calls the world of Israeli soccer an “integrative enclave” because it is free of the interethnic animosity he finds in so much of the rest of the country.
Soccer is immensely popular in Israel, just as it is in most of the world, and the Israeli government early on recognized the merits of sports programs for Arab youths as a vehicle for promoting the constructive integration of Arabs and Jews. Israel today is crisscrossed with leagues and teams, all of which enjoy fervent local support. The use of Arabs as starters on Israeli teams—some have even become stars—has had a social effect similar to that of lifting the color ban in American professional sports. The minority player gains self-confidence, considerably more money, and perhaps most important of all, the respect and admiration of the larger community, which itself learns a vital lesson in pluralism.
Entire article.
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