Political Division and Social Destruction

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-104
Author(s):  
Abdalhadi Alijla
Keyword(s):  
Social Trust ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
The Political ◽  
Test Results ◽  
The West ◽  
Generalized Trust ◽  
Palestinian Society ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
High Level

This article discusses the effect of the political division between Fatah and Hamas on the level of generalized trust in Palestine. It argues that the level of trust in Palestinian society has been shaped and influenced by the ongoing political division since 2007. As the level of trust has been declining since 2007, this research suggests that distrust in the political system, the deteriorated healthcare and education services, the high level of unemployment, corruption, and the violation of human rights in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have led to the decline of the level of generalized trust in society at large. This study uses statistical test results to support the main argument. Data available from 2007, 2011, 2014, and 2017 from the Arab Barometer are used to examine how institutional and contextual factors affect the level of generalized trust in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The article discusses the results and how creating a hybrid society has contributed to lowering the level of trust generally. It seeks to understand the change in social trust among Palestinians over the years of the ongoing division, and examines how the political division, directly or indirectly, has led to the current low level of trust that has left remarkable changes and deep polarization in Palestinian society.

A Palestinian Statelet in Gaza

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 109-126
Author(s):  
José S. Vericat
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Palestinian Authority ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The West ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
Palestinian Territory

Fatah leaders routinely accuse Hamas of plotting to establish an “emirate” in the Gaza Strip. Gaza is in fact turning into a statelet separate from the West Bank, but it is Israeli policies that are driving the “Gaza is Palestine” option with a series of measures that have been implemented since the early 1990s to sever Gaza from the West Bank. This development has intensified under the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump. In the White House's vision for Middle East peace, which turns the West Bank into a series of isolated Bantustans enveloped by Israeli territory and shorn of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip becomes the centerpiece of any future Palestinian entity. The international community, laser focused on avoiding another war in Gaza, has prioritized the humanitarian over the political crisis, furthering the excision of the Palestinian territory. As aid flows directly into Gaza, bypassing Ramallah, and Israel and Hamas negotiate a long-term ceasefire, the Palestinian Authority (PA) finds itself increasingly marginalized.

scholarly journals The Legality of Closure on Land and Safe Passage Between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Marco LONGOBARDO
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Local Population ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
The West ◽  
Occupied Territory ◽  
The Gaza Strip

Abstract This paper explores the legality of the land closure imposed upon the Gaza Strip by Israel. After having considered the area under occupation, the paper argues that the legality of the closure must be determined under international humanitarian law, international human rights law, the principle of self-determination of peoples, and the Israeli-Palestinian agreements. In the light of these rules, the arbitrary closure of the Gaza Strip should be considered illegal because it breaches the unity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and because it violates the freedom of movement of the local population. Moreover, the closure breaches the relevant rules pertaining to the transit of goods in occupied territory. The paper concludes that most of the violations caused by the closure affect peremptory rules which produce obligations erga omnes, so that any state in the international community is entitled to react under the law of state responsibility.

Decolonizing Palestine

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Somdeep Sen
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
The West ◽  
Governing Body ◽  
Legislative Council ◽  
Armed Resistance ◽  
Liberation Movements ◽  
The Gaza Strip

This book rejects the notion that liberation from colonialization exists as a singular moment in history when the colonizer is ousted by the colonized. Instead, it considers the case of the Palestinian struggle for liberation from its settler colonial condition as a complex psychological and empirical mix of the colonial and the postcolonial. Specifically, the book examines the two seemingly contradictory, yet coexistent, anticolonial and postcolonial modes of politics adopted by Hamas following the organization's unexpected victory in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council election. Despite the expectations of experts, Hamas has persisted as both an armed resistance to Israeli settler colonial rule and as a governing body. Based on ethnographic material collected in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Israel, and Egypt, the book argues that the puzzle Hamas presents is not rooted in predicting the timing or process of its abandonment of either role. The challenge instead lies in explaining how and why it maintains both, and what this implies for the study of liberation movements and postcolonial studies more generally.

Environmental Aspects of the Cairo Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area

1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 374-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Hirsh
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Basic Fact ◽  
Environmental Resources ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
The West ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Boundaries ◽  
The Gaza Strip

Environmental resources and hazards do not recognize political boundaries. The basic fact that the people of Israel and of the new Palestinian entity in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip share several important natural resources compels the parties to co-operate in the protection of these resources. Neither party is solely able to manage these essential resources (e.g., water) and any attempt to act unilaterally in this sphere might harm the interests of both parties. A quick reading of the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area (“the Cairo Agreement”) shows that the parties were indeed aware of this, and the agreement includes numerous environmental provisions in various sections.

Socio-economic status and chronic disease in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: in and outside refugee camps

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 875-882
Author(s):  
Marie Jonassen ◽  
Amira Shaheen ◽  
Mohammed Duraidi ◽  
Khaled Qalalwa ◽  
Bernard Jeune ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Disease ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
The West ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
The Gaza Strip

Gazan Christians: Pilgrimage Permits, Migration, and the Exchange of Precarity

Exchange ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 316-338
Author(s):  
Kenny Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Geographic Isolation ◽  
The West ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Life Circumstances ◽  
The Gaza Strip

Abstract This study casts light on the dynamics driving Christian migration from the Gaza Strip and its consequences. By analyzing the historical background and institutionalization of Palestinian movement restrictions—specifically the pilgrimage permit regime—the article explores the temporal and spatial entanglements of pilgrimage, migration, and politics. Since 2007, deteriorating conditions have led Gazan Christians to use temporary pilgrimage permits as a pretext to permanently escape the Strip. The article argues that this migration is driven by the overwhelming precarity of Gazan Christians’ life circumstances, a precarity that includes temporal and spatial, political and economic, religious and personal insecurities. Further, those who escape do not find themselves in a better situation; they experience geographic isolation and communal fragmentation within the West Bank. The process of Gazan Christian migration is best understood as the mere exchange of precarity.

Rising Cost of Occupation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Assaf Razin
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Palestinian Authority ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Second Intifada ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
Political Units ◽  
Israeli Economy

Since 1967 when Israel when the West Bank and Gaza Strip occupation begun, there has been increasingly taxing social-economic effects on Israel. The second uprising broke out after the collapse of the OSLO agreements, in the early 2002. The Israeli economy was hit twice. It was first hit by the dotcom crash in the US; second, by the 2000-2005 Palestinian . The drastic effects on the Palestinian economy which shortly after split in to two political units (the West bank, controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and the Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas). Especially the Gaza strip economy got down to the level of humanitarian crisis. that the early 2000s shock had relatively small effect on the long-term trajectory of Israel's real GDP. The effect on the Israeli economy of the second Intifada shock was mild, and short-lived. globalization proved to be a “shield” against the Palestinian-Israeli military conflicts and regional trade obstacles for the Israeli economy. This means, that the Israeli economy is exposed, however, to alarming long run risks. If, and when, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the long occupation of the of the West Bank territory would trigger political conflicts between Israel and its trade-and-finance partners, this “shield”, provided by Israel high level of integration with the global economy, may break down.

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