scholarly journals The Empty Square of the Occupation

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-411
Author(s):  
Marcelo Svirsky

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.

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Farsakh

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.


Author(s):  
Maher Anawati Bitar

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.


Author(s):  
Marco LONGOBARDO

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.


Author(s):  
Somdeep Sen

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.


1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 374-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Hirsh

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 875-882
Author(s):  
Marie Jonassen ◽  
Amira Shaheen ◽  
Mohammed Duraidi ◽  
Khaled Qalalwa ◽  
Bernard Jeune ◽  
...  

Exchange ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 316-338
Author(s):  
Kenny Schmitt

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.


Author(s):  
Assaf Razin

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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