The Islamic Movement in Israel

LSE Middle East Centre Podcasts

This event was the launch of Tilde Rosmer's latest book 'The Islamic Movement in Israel' published by University of Texas Press. Since its establishment in the late 1970s, Israel’s Islamic Movement has grown from a small religious revivalist organization focused on strengthening the faith of Muslim Palestinian citizens of Israel to a countrywide sociopolitical movement with representation in the Israeli legislature. But how did it get here? How does it differ from other Islamic movements in the region? And why does its membership continue to grow? Tilde Rosmer examines these issues in The Islamic Movement in Israel as she tells the story of the movement, its identity, and its activities. Using interviews with movement leaders and activists, their documents, and media reports from Israel and beyond, she traces the movement’s history from its early days to its 1996 split over the issue of its relationship to the state. She then explores how the two factions have functioned since, revealing that while leaders of the two branches have pursued different approaches to the state, until the outlawing of the Northern Branch in 2015, both remained connected and dedicated to providing needed social, education, and health services in Israel’s Palestinian towns and villages. The first book in English on this group, The Islamic Movement in Israel is a timely study about how an Islamist movement operates within the unique circumstances of the Jewish state. Tilde Rosmer is Assistant Professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. Rosmer’s research on collective identity formation and religious-political movements with a particular focus on Israel-Palestine is published in peer-reviewed journals such as the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies; Journal of Palestine Studies; Die Welt des Islams; Journal of Islamic Studies and Cultural Dynamics. Currently her research in the emerging field of Environmental Humanities focuses on awareness and knowledge of sustainability among Emirati youth. Jeroen Gunning is a Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Center and the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University. His research focuses on political contestation in the Middle East, with a specific focus on the interplay between social movements, religion, electoral politics, repression, violence and structural change.