scholarly journals On Political Islam in Palestine

2015 ◽  
pp. 168-172
Author(s):  
E. A. Stepkin
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Central Government ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The West ◽  
Palestinian Territories

Abstract: This article deals with analyzing the place and the political Islam occupies on the Palestinian territories. The author tries to prove that despite the “Arab spring” and growing popularity of Islamism in the neighbor Arab countries its popular support among Palestinians is low. The main reason for this is Israeli total control of political, economic and - partially - social processes taking place in the West Bank. Position of the officials in Ramallah who together with Tel-Aviv strictly contain spread of Islamism throughout the West Bank also has a strong suppressing effect. Central Palestinian leadership may be called one of the few secular political establishments that are still in power in the Arab countries. The main explanation for this is the desire to make a positive effect on the international community, which Palestine totally depends on in political and financial terms. Also one should keep in mind secular beliefs of the current political elite in Palestine. President Mahmoud Abbas with his counterparts from FATAH and PLO represent old type of Arab nationalist politicians, almost all of who were stripped from power after the beginning of “Arab spring” in 2011. Finally, Palestinian society itself still feels united by the idea of national liberation from the Israeli occupation. This helps Palestinians to put aside the issue of religious self-identification. According to the surveys, most of Palestinians still rank their national identity number while describing their identity, while religion comes only second (despite the strong stable tendency for growing Islamization of their views). The only Palestinian enclave where political Islam has gained ground is isolated Gaza Strip. However ruling there “Islamic Resistance Movement” (HAMAS), despite declared anti-Zionism and Islamism, in reality show pragmatic readiness for certain coordination of its actions with Israel and central government in Ramallah. Nowadays one can witness the deepening conflict within the Islamist camp - between HAMAS and more radical Salafists, who support “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria. In the final end the fate of Political Islam in Palestine will depend on the success of Middle East peace process.

scholarly journals Palestinian Refugees: A Gendered Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-112
Author(s):  
Nof Nasser Eddin ◽  
Nof Nasser-Eddin
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Feminist Perspective ◽  
The West ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Palestinian Women ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
West Bank And Gaza

This article argues that the situation of Palestinian refugees is still relevant till this day. There are around five million refugees living in neighbouring Arab countries, such as Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Egypt, as well as neighbouring areas in Palestine itself, like the West Bank and Gaza Strip, under very precarious conditions. Their situation is extremely unstable as any changes in the region can influence them directly. The need to address this issue is particularly important because Palestinian refugees (as well as internally displaced Palestinians) have been both historically and politically marginalised. In particular, I will argue for a need to gender the debate around the Palestinian refugees, because the distinct experience of women Palestinian refugees has been overlooked within this context. Most literature has focused on the Palestinian refugees as a holistic population, which assumes all refugees share the same struggle. However, understanding the position of women within the context of the refugees and the unique struggles they face is essential to understanding their particular experiences as refugees and in highlighting their differential needs; this is why a feminist perspective is needed within the field of refugee studies. This article is based on a feminist journey drawing on research interviews with female Palestinian refugees in camps in Jordan, and with Syrian Palestinian women in Turkey, Jordan and Europe.

Independence, Cantons, or Bantustans: Whither the Palestinian State?

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Farsakh
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
Shed Light

The Palestinian state remains an internationally endorsed project, yet an increasingly difficult one to implement. By analyzing the territorial, legal, and demographic developments that took place in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip over the past ten years, this article assesses the extent to which the prospective Palestinian state has become unattainable. A comparison between the South African apartheid experience and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is made to shed light on the ways in which the Palestinian territories are becoming analogous to Bantustans. While historical comparisons are never exact or prescriptive, they raise interesting parallels whose implications need to be considered, if not altered, in any attempt to materialize the project of viable Palestinian independence.

Internal Displacement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Politics and the Loss of Livelihood

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maher Anawati Bitar
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Internal Displacement ◽  
The West ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
East Jerusalem

Between December 2008 to January 2009, the Israel militaries assaulted the Gaza Strip displacing over 50,000 people. This assault accentuated the already long history of Palestinian forced migration. It created ‘internally stuck persons’ (ISPs) who were no longer able to flee conflict areas to safer grounds. For the ISPs, the Gaza Strip has become a prison which is controlled by outside force. Within the context of open-air prison, the ISPs have become ‘internally displaced persons’ because they are compelled to remain within this circumscribed boundary. IDPs receive less assistance and protection than refugees. This chapter discusses the scope, extent and repercussions of the involuntary migratory movements within the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It focuses on the physical barrier created by the Government of Israel (GoI) within the oPt. Although the displacement in Gaza, the East Jerusalem, and the West Bank is often triggered by similar and indirect factors, the latter two areas face a distinct set of triggers. A review of the preliminary displacement patterns have shown that forced displacement is both a result of and a means by which the GoI has expanded its hold of East Jerusalem and the prime areas of the West Bank. This review thus asserts that displacement cannot be simply viewed as a humanitarian crisis or a consequence of conflict or Israel’s security needs.

scholarly journals The Empty Square of the Occupation

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-411
Author(s):  
Marcelo Svirsky
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
The West ◽  
Related Function ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The Gaza Strip ◽  
Israeli Occupation

This paper is an attempt to implement Gilles Deleuze's theory of the series and the event, and the related function of the empty square (as formulated primarily in The Logic of Sense), in relation to the geopolitical regime comprising ‘Israel proper’ and the system of occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The purpose of this exercise is to help establish a practical access to Deleuze's philosophies, and to offer a clinical account of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Rethinking Palestine: settler-colonialism, neo-liberalism and individualism in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamil Hilal
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Palestinian Authority ◽  
The West ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
West Bank And Gaza ◽  
Settler Colonization ◽  
The Impact

The 1967 occupied Palestinian territories have undergone three major types of development since the Oslo agreement between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel was signed in 1993 and the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994. These developments have brought far-reaching structural changes in Palestinian politics and society. They have rendered Palestinian communities – inside historic Palestine and outside - very vulnerable, and made collective action against collective colonial repression (including a third intifada) more difficult. The three developments are identified as: the emergence of a political discourse that evicts Palestinians from history and geography and denies them a national identity; the escalation of collective repression, and settler-colonization; and the localization of Palestinian politics and the atomization of Palestinian society (in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and probably elsewhere) under the impact of settler-colonialism and neo-liberalism.

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.

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