Historical Transformations of the Palestinian Civil Society: The Case of Sports Clubs in the West Bank

Abstract

Palestinian sports clubs offer compelling material for analyzing the historical transformation of Palestinian civil society in rural, urban and camp communities of the West Bank. For decades preceding the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in 1994, sports clubs were among the very few community-based organizations where Palestinians living in the West Bank could openly and legally participate. Other than providing sport, cultural and social activities to local populations, many developed into spaces for community organizing and political action. Establishment of the PNA triggered significant transformations in the Palestinian civil society. The majority of research on these transformations focus on the so-called professional NGOs, while dynamics of the more traditional forms of associational life in Palestine, such as the sports clubs, remain largely understudied. To fill this gap, this article analyzes the social, political and economic factors that shaped the West Bank sports clubs as civil society institutions, and traces their changing roles from spaces of self-reliance and local autonomy towards increasingly professionalized and commercialized sports organizations.