Taking Space Seriously

The purpose of this book is to explore the different ways in which the state deals with various social groups through the mechanisms of space. It does this by looking at three case studies, involving three social groups within Israel's multicultural society, in which the different roles played by political space in legal analysis are revealed and analysed. The book then proceeds to unearth the unifying logic underlying the disparate legal treatment of political space, brought to light by the three case studies - the Sephardim, the Bedouin-Arab minority, and the ultra-Orthodox community of Jerusalem.;The case studies reveal that courts treat political space differently depending on the social group involved, an attitude which, the author argues, can be traced back to early Zionist thinking. He goes on to argue that a reform of local government law is required, to correct the segregated system of political space and the separate and unequal distribution of political power, and the economic resources that accompany it.