Protest and Class in Be’er Sheva, 1948-1963

Abstract

On July 20, 1959 Be’er Sheva was shaken by a mass protest. The ‘Be’er Sheva riots’ were silenced and the city’s leaders attended to the problems that incited the demonstration. This article addresses the social and historical background to the protest, the subsequent silencing of the protestors, and the city’s socioeconomic structure with its reestablishment in 1948.

The article begins with a description of the 1959 riots and the authorities’ response. The main section discusses the polarized society that emerged in Be’er Sheva in its formative first decade. This consisted of first, an elite group that formed the fledgling city’s power center which became the object of the protest; second, a group of immigrants who were integrated in the local economy and who cooperated in silencing the protest; and third, the marginalized group, the reserve army of labor, comprised of mostly immigrants from North Africa who dwelt in the city’s transit camp. It was this last group that protested their lowly status and relegation to the social periphery.