Racism, Militarisation and Policing: Police Reactions to Violence Against Palestinian Women in Israel

The author moves beyond the discussion of police racism to a broader account of the militaristic racism of policing in Israel. The highly permeable boundaries between the military, society, and the political conflict all affect how violence against women is policed. The author focuses on case studies of police officers’ perceptions of abused Palestinian Israeli women as members of an ethnic and indigenous minority. The findings indicate that while some aspects of cultural difference between the indigenous ethnic group and the majority are relevant to policing, focusing predominantly on the ‘cultural characteristics’ or ‘ethnic traditions or rituals’ of the policed population and denying the effect of the political conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as a factor in the militarization of policing can reinforce rather than ameliorate ethnic prejudice, racism and discrimination.