The Emergence of a Cosmopolitan Tel Aviv: New Dynamics of Migrations in Israel

During the 90’s, Israel and the Palestinians were unable to reach a Peace agreement and this unsuccessful period led to the production of a new Israeli ethnoscape. With increased Israeli border closures (within the pre-1967 limits) to Palestinian workers, the Israeli government had to authorize the entrance of foreign workers from Eastern Europe (Romania, Poland) but also from Asia (Thailand, the Philippines). These new “faces” of Israel aroused fears concerning their “settlement” and gradually caused a debate, which underlined the social cleavages of Israel. This debate took on more importance as immigrants from West Africa and South America (pushed to Israel by the globalisation) were added to this – first – group of non-Jewish immigrants. These regular and irregular immigrations raised the question about the Jewish identity of the State and at the same time have drawn the limits of an Israeli cosmopolitanism. Using the example of Israel, the aim of this paper is to contribute to knowledge about the forms of emergence of “new cosmopolitanisms” and to critique a concept elaborated to describe the tension existing between national discourse and globalisation