Ethno-national boundaries and the gendered body: Jewish women as a human shield

Abstract

Through extending feminist insights in the studies of nationalism and boundary work theory this paper asks how the state responds when women cross ethno-national boundaries and act as the enemy's human shield and classifies and discipline citizens who cross ethno-national boundaries according to its internal hierarchy of belonging. By analyzing the state's practices of inclusion and exclusion the aim is to contribute to the understanding of the specific kinds of “state-work” and how the state acts to encourage or codify certain categories of inclusion and exclusions, with regards to gender, ethnicity and class. I apply the case of three Jewish Israeli women, Neta Golan, Angelica Yusupov and Tali Fahima who during the second intifada (2000–2005) used their privileged Jewish body as a human shield to protect Palestinian militant men against the Israeli military.