Palestinian artist Suleiman Mansour’s video piece The Mondial in Me’eliya addresses the place of the Arab-Christian minority in Israel. It shows how the Christian minority forms its cultural identity by documenting the inhabitants of the village of Me’eliya in northern Israel during the World Cup. The Roman Catholic inhabitants of the village identify mainly with football teams from the ”Western” world, accordingly hanging the flags of their respective nationalities and painting their faces and houses in matching colors. The flags of Middle Eastern, North African, and East Asian countries are conspicuously absent. The uniqueness of the Christian-Arab community in Israel as a Christian minority within an Arab minority, challenges the sustainability of the nation-state as a cultural phenomenon, introducing the volatile affinity between culture and nationality. Through a socio-graphic prism, many minority groups try to find their place within the national ”collective memory.” This is particularly evident in Israel, where classifying thought processes and enforcement of non-hybrid orders are the norm.
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