FENCING THE LAST SKY: EXCAVATING PALESTINE AFTER ISRAEL'S ““SEPARATION WALL””

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER LAGERQUIST

Since 2002, the ““Separation Fence”” has emerged as Israel's most defini-tive effort at reshaping the West Bank to date. Surveying the project's genealogy, ideological underpinnings, and diplomatic context, the article maps its concomitant implications: the bantustanization of the West Bank and any Palestinian state on some 50 percent of the territory; the fragmentation of Palestinian society and economy; the expansion and consolidation of Israeli settlement; and the physical and ““virtual”” transfer that looms as its conclusion. The author argues inter alia that the project has thus rendered irrelevant the current international ““me-diations”” in the conflict and terminally threatens also the idea of a two-state solution to the conflict.

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Leech

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) imposition of order after the end of the al-Aqsa Intifada has been generally interpreted as a success. Not only did the PA consolidate its power in the West Bank and restore good relations with Israel and the West, it also appeared to obtain popular legitimacy by cracking down on its political opponents. This paper discusses the impact of the PA’s imposition of order in Nablus, a town which had endured lawlessness and disorder under an Israeli siege (2001-7) and had been the focus of the PA’s security agenda. It argues that, though the PA’s security agenda initially enjoyed popular consent, this does not demonstrate public endorsement of the PA’s legitimacy. Rather the consent that such measures produced was superficial and, in the long term, the acceleration of the PA’s shift towards authoritarianism is likely to be profoundly debilitating for Palestinian society in general. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Avi Bitzur

One of the major problems that the hague international court of law is trying to deal with is the question about the legality of the jewish settelments at the west bank of the Jorden river-one of the outcomes from the 1967 war.   Throughout history, the treatment of non-combatant civilian populations has been examined from various angles, most prominently with respect to the issue of the displacement of those on the losing side of a conflict, while the victorious party often settles the seized land with "less desirable" elements within its own population.[1]This phenomenon is repeated in the exile of the Jewish people throughout history; the exile of criminals from England to Australia between 1788 and 1868; and in the appalling efforts of ethnic cleansing pursued by the Nazis in the Second World War, the Soviet Union's purge in Eastern Europe the 1950s, or the French rule of Algeria.[2]This has been the case in countless wars and conflicts worldwide, one of the most prominent of which is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here, the issue at heart is Jewish settlement in an area the Palestinians call the "West Bank" of the Jordan River and that Jews refer to as "Judea and Samaria" and see as an inextricable part of their ancestral homeland, of which they had been robbed and which they liberated.On November 18, 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced an announcement that in this article I wish to examen as a reflection to the major problem that the hague court of law call that this is "a crime of war" and Israel call it "our legal right"-who is on the right side?   At first glance, this statement seems to contradict everything that has been said, done statement? Or is it that the concept of "illegal settlements" is a distortion of the Geneva Convention?[3]The first chapter of this essay focuses on international law and whether it is a doctrine set in stone or a mutable fabric of woven conventions, including some that may be politically motivated or biased with respect to a certain issue, namely, populating disputed areas with the people of a party perceived as an occupying force.The second chapter of this essay focuses on the dispute over the settlement enterprise in the Israeli-Palestinian case and how it is viewed from a number of completely different perspectives.The third chapter of this essay focuses on the circumstances and motives that drove the latest American administration to make such a controversial statement.the big question is are these circumstances still valid under a new American regime? how such statement affects the Hauge court decisions about investigate the so called war crimes made in Israel?The final chapter of this essay will summarize and attempt to predict the future results of this move: Whether Israel — as the Palestinians have already warned[4] — plans to exploit the court move in favor of annexing areas it perceives as a bulwark against threats to its sovereignty, such as the Jordan Valley; or whether this move will brace the parties' ability to, for example, explore a land swap, and will this render the two-state solution[5] upon which the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been so far based invalid.This paper will try to outline the possibilities this decision of the court may herald, and delve into its implications, reasoning, and potential consequences. On this days that we make the scope on the Hague court to check Israel crime of war this essay will try to open another scope to events that occurred only three years ago.[1] Morgenthau, H. J. (1948). Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, p.50[2] Barclay, F (2017). "Settler colonialism and French Algeria" in Settler Colonial Studies, Vol. 8, no.2, pp.115-130[3] Baker, Alan (2019). "The Legality of Israel’s Settlements: Flaws in the Carter-Era Hansell Memorandum," Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs[4] Kuttab, Daoud (2019). "Pompeo's gift to Netanyahu might bring about new Israeli annexation," Al-Monitor.com[5] The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisages an independent Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River. It is at the core of the 1993 Oslo Accords signed between the parties.


Author(s):  
Charles D. Freilich

Chapter 4 argues that diplomatic and demographic challenges are almost as dangerous to Israel’s future as military threats. Efforts to isolate and delegitimize Israel and constrain its freedom of military action have had mixed success. Israel has broader ties than ever, sanctions and boycotts have achieved little, and it continues to act militarily. Nevertheless, Israel’s international standing has deteriorated severely, and the nature and outcome of military operations have been affected. No issue has undermined Israel’s standing more than the settlement policy. Inexorable demographic trends, stemming from the control of the West Bank, threaten Israel’s Jewish and democratic character. Already today only a small majority of Israel and the West Bank are Jewish. Ongoing settlement undermines the viability of the “two-state solution” and the point of no return may be nearing. Demography also explains Israel’s reluctance to conduct ground maneuver, undermining its ability to achieve military decision.


Significance Encouraged by a supportive US administration, Israel is pressing ahead with plans to expand existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank and even to regularise outposts established without the government’s sanction. Palestinians complain that this policy is steadily eroding the prospects for a two-state solution. Impacts Rising despair and internal divisions could stoke a new round of violent Palestinian protest. The dispute over the legitimacy of settlements could assist right-wing efforts to limit the power of Israel's Supreme Court. Controversy over settlements may undermine US attempts to forge an alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia against Iran.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-104
Author(s):  
Abdalhadi Alijla

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 525-545
Author(s):  
Mohammed Hamdan

AbstractThis paper investigates the contemporary phenomenon of smuggling sperm from within Israeli jails, which I treat as a biopolitical act of resistance. Palestinian prisoners who have been sentenced to life-imprisonment have recently resorted to delivering their sperm to their distant wives in the West Bank and Gaza where it is then used for artificial insemination. On the level of theory, my analysis of this practice benefits from Jacques Derrida's commentary inThe Post Cardon imaginative postal delivery of sperm to distant lovers. I use Derrida's heteronormative implication to examine how Palestinian prisoners defy the Israeli carceral system via the revolutionary act of sperm smuggling. The article then argues that smuggling sperm challenges the conventional gender codes in Palestinian society that see women in passive roles. Drawing on Derrida's metaphorical connection between masturbation and writing, I problematize the perception of speech/orality as primary in traditional Palestinian culture. Women, who mostly act as smugglers, become social agents whose written stories of bionational resistance emerge as a dominant mode of representation.


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