The Gaza Freedom Flotilla: Human Rights, Activism and Academic Neutrality

Abstract

This article addresses two ethical challenges that, over the past decade, have become particularly prominent for any scholar conducting fieldwork research in contested spaces or on contested research themes. These are, first, the role researchers choose to adopt in the field and, second, the ways in which research is theoretically positioned. This article contributes to these debates by looking at binary constructs in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the consequences on both substantive analysis and claims of academic neutrality. I will propose that theoretical positioning and the role of a researcher are not separate aspects within the ethics debate but instead should be approached as a dynamic process which requires continuous critical reflexivity. Discussing the political discourse of joint Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent activists, I argue that the participants of the nonviolent struggle do not ‘merely’ strive for peace but rather aim to transform the perception of the current situation from binary conflict into a ‘classic’ human rights struggle. Through a brief genealogy of writings on Israel–Palestine I will connect the practical positioning of the activists to academic analyses. Depicting the contemporary situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as ‘binary conflict’ with the desired solution ‘peace’ is not academically neutral but rather entails a paradigm that encourages binary categories which are a poor reflection of the reality, distort unequal power relations and ignores the lived experience of violence. The far-reaching consequences of the peace and conflict paradigm on academic analyses are then illustrated through a critical exploration of the ‘war of narratives’ surrounding the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla. In conclusion, I will connect the ethics of theoretical positioning and the role of a researcher by elaborating on my personal motivation to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. I demonstrate how my research experience shaped my theoretical framework and how my theoretical framework subsequently significantly altered my perception of the appropriate role of a researcher. In other words, how my research results directly led to the conscious decision to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla as an activist exactly because I am dedicated to academic research.