Palestinian Case Research Articles

Loneliness as lack of solidarity: The case of Palestinians standing alone.

This paper explores the notion of loneliness as lack of solidarity in relations to Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Israel, and the diaspora. Loneliness as lack of solidarity is defined as lacking someone to identify with and/or lacking someone who is willing to assist while carrying a burden. We describe the mechanism of lack of identification using the concept of epistemic injustice. The paper suggests that art may serve as a way to mitigate this kind of loneliness, and focus on the Freedom Theater, which was operating in Jenin Refugee Camp until recently.

The Palestinian Curriculum and European Foreign Aid: The Challenges to Preserve National Content

The continuous and controversial arguments about any relationship between foreign aid and the national content of the learned curricula in new and emerging entities in post-conflict areas in general, and in the Palestinian case in particular, have been a source of apprehension for many educators, stakeholders, educational experts, and even school children’s parents. This study aims at investigating the challenges to preserve authentic national and historical content in the light of receiving European foreign aid, taking Palestine as a case. The researcher adopted a mixed-methods approach to achieve the study’s goals. The national content of the school textbooks of the lower basic stage was analysed as a purposive sample of the Palestinian national curriculum. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a) curriculum professionals and policymakers from the Ministry of Education to find out the direct impact of European aid on the national content of the Palestinian curriculum, and b) with Palestinian teachers to investigate their attitudes towards the adequacy and efficiency of the national and historical content of the Palestinian curriculum. The results of the content analysis present many national themes and values, yet with diverse dominance and distribution. The semi-structured interviews revealed the continuous pressure on the Ministry of Education to change the content of Palestinian curricula, and its impact on the national content. As for the teachers’ interviews, the results demonstrate that Palestinian teachers do not have positive perspectives on the national and historical content and look forwards to fundamental improvements in the national and historical curriculum.

Ghassān Kanafānī’s Children: Agency and Contingency

Abstract One of the major premises of Arab (post)colonial modernity is that the child could be a key bearer of change for a better future for the society. For the child to be successful as a bearer of change, she must first be transformed into a modern subject. In this article, I present the Palestinian case to explore this premise, examining the nature of the child as a modern subject with a particular type of agency. Specifically, I will focus on how Ghassān Kanafānī’s literary works represent the child as a sociopolitical agent. I analyze several literary genres, including dedications, letters, short stories, and novels. The article concludes by suggesting that this particular agency is a hybrid of child-adult agency, bounded by intergenerational succession in the context of patriarchal-colonial Palestine of the post-Nakbah era.

Activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome 2 associated with Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease: a rare Palestinian case report.

We present a unique case of a 7-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome 2 (APDS 2) associated with KFD, a HNL during a workup for fever without a focus and cervical lymphadenopathy. Highlighted the unique relationship between two uncommon conditions and stressed the significance of adding KFD to the list of possible diagnoses for lymphadenopathy in APDS 2. Furthermore, we demonstrate that patients with APDS 2 may exhibit low immunoglobulin M levels.

Analyzing verbal and pictorial Arab’s Facebook posts During the Israeli attack on Gaza Strip in 2021

Arab users of social media could express their political views regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict between March and June 2021 amid the repressive policies adopted by social networking sites during that period (see e.g., Rayhan-uddin, 2021; Al-Grtly, 2021). In order to evade such policies, Arab users have used some tricks that are worth analysis from a linguistic perspective. The current study analyzes verbal and pictorial Arab’s posts circulated on Facebook during the Israeli attack on Gaza Strip in 2021, and it investigates the attitudes of Facebook Arab users regarding the Palestinian case. The data of the current study consisted of (55) written posts and (47) visual posts collected from the accounts of selected Arab caricaturists and activists. The model of analysis, which was adopted from Kress and van Leeuwen's social semiotic approach, clarifies different messages in visual posts that are categorized according to Kress and van Leeuwen’s representational process types. This study asserts that visual encoding can carry implicit messages that require analysis to uncover the hidden symbolic meanings as well as the interactions between the various signs in caricatures and their ideological and social impacts. The study highlights an ignored part of visual communication in the Arab world and presents novel implications for the domains of semiotics and discourse analysis. Furthermore, this study pursued to provide the field of semiotics with new insights through examining how signs, (e.g., in verbo-pictorial images), can participate in denoting meaning pertinent to the social and political standards of a specific community.

The Youngest Palestinian Case of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children (MIS-C)

The multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) considers a post-infectious immunological response to coronavirus illness (COVID-19) that was originally identified in the United Kingdom and later identified in other countries. A previously healthy 3-month-old boy was admitted to hospital context with -5-day history of fever, gastrointestinal symptoms [diarrhea, vomiting of normal gastric contents], hypoactivity, and poor oral intake, but so far no history of covid-19 active disease. The infant was dehydrated, with macular non-blanching skin rash everywhere over his body and widespread non-pitting edema. With supportive measures, methylprednisolone and IV immunoglobulin, the child improved, with his fever, skin rash, and laboratory tests returning to normal. On the seventh day of hospitalization, he was discharged. This is identified as the youngest reported case of MIS-C since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic

Erratum to “Cultural factors that influence the adoption of e-commerce: A Palestinian case study”

Erratum to “Cultural factors that influence the adoption of e-commerce: A Palestinian case study”

Israeli Territorial Annexation in Occupied Palestinian Territory: The Ambivalence of International Law

The enactment of Israeli policy on the occupied Palestinian territory has shown the development of the annexation of Israel—from the “de facto” annexation, which seized and occupied the Palestinian territory, to “de jure” annexation by enacting legislations. The dispute between these two entities arises the question of the role of international law, including the position of international law in protecting the right to self-determination and sovereignty of the annexed Palestinian territory. Hence, it is crucial to understand the Israeli practice in the matter of territorial annexation to picture the legal framework provided under international law regarding such issue, within the historical and legal context of the Palestinian case. This research argues that the international law is ambivalent. While many United Nations resolutions and legal scholars, including the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, have concluded the wrongfulness of the annexation of the Palestinian territory, the recognitions of other states and the difficulty in requesting state responsibility disable the access of Palestinians to justice. As such, it is necessary to focus on the tools provided by the international criminal law to prosecute war criminals and perpetrators of crimes against humanity against the Palestinian people from the Israeli political and military elites.

What Happens to Peace When the Process is Stalled: Competing International Approaches to the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict, 1996–2021

Abstract Does an ongoing stalemate in a peace process affect the international agenda toward the conflict and international perceptions about policies that should be adopted to resolve it? We provide a tentative answer to this question by drawing insight from analysis of developments and trends in international media attention to key terms and concepts in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict during cycles of violence, as well as periods of rapprochement and peace negotiations, in the last two and half decades (1996–2021). We find that although attention to the Israeli–Palestinian peace process has been declining over the years, much of the international discussion continues to be devoted to relaunching a negotiation process leading to a two-state solution. The ongoing stalemate in such “process,” we show, provides ample opportunities for alternative approaches to emerge advocating alternative endgames (e.g., one-state), international pressure (e.g., Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions), or unilateral steps (e.g., annexation). Each of these approaches promotes an alternative vision and provides a different path and employs its own terminology and vision of the future. The Israeli–Palestinian case study helps illustrate what may happen to peace when the process is stalled, and how a stalemate can produce change in the international debate on the conflict and push for the emergence of new policy directions and agendas.

Tracking of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) in Palestine.

As surges of the COVID-19 pandemic continue globally, including in Palestine, several new SARS-CoV-2 variants have been introduced. This expansion has impacted transmission, disease severity, virulence, diagnosis, therapy, and natural and vaccine-induced immunity. Here, 183 whole genome sequences (WGS) were analyzed, of which 129 were from Palestinian cases, 62 of which were collected in 11 Palestinian districts between October 2020 and April 2021 and sequenced completely. A dramatic shift from the wild type to the Alpha variant (B 1.1.7) was observed within a short period of time. Cluster mapping revealed statistically significant clades in two main Palestinian cities, Al-Khalil (Monte Carlo hypothesis test-Poisson model, P = 0.00000000012) and Nablus (Monte Carlo hypothesis test-Poisson model, P = 0.014 and 0.015). The phylogenetic tree showed three main clusters of SARS-CoV-2 with high bootstrap values (>90). However, population genetics analysis showed a genetically homogenous population supported by low Wright's F-statistic values (Fst <0.25), high gene flow (Nm > 3), and statistically insignificant Tajima's D values (Tajima's test, neutrality model prediction, P = 0.02). The Alpha variant, rapidly replaced the wild type, causing a major surge that peaked in April 2021, with an increased COVID-19 mortality rate, especially, in the Al-Khalil and Nablus districts. The source of introduction remains uncertain, despite the minimal genetic variation. The study substantiates the use of WGS for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance as an early warning system to track down new variants requiring effective control.

Building Capabilities of Youth Through Participatory Oral History Project: The South Hebron Hills, a Palestinian Case Study

ABSTRACT Drawing from the capabilities approach (Sen 1999; Nussbaum 2000) and reflecting on Fricker’s (2007) epistemic (in)justice, this paper seeks to explain how a participatory oral history project enabled youth researchers in Palestine to increase their capabilities to participate in political and social life in their communities by fostering their attachment to the land and by increasing understanding of their cultural heritage. Due to the occupation, Palestinian youth researchers have been exposed to epistemic inequalities. They have been systematically prevented from exercising their political functionings; they cannot voice their ideas on freedom, heritage and land. Findings show that through participatory research, the youth researchers took an active role in their communities to cultivate their epistemic abilities to be the narrators of their own stories and to create public advocacy. Whilst acknowledging the intersectional power dynamics and oppression that govern their lives, the paper explores the possibility of participatory research in redressing epistemic injustices caused by structural inequalities and in disrupting colonial relations of domination. The research indicates that even in politically fragile contexts, participatory research can promote critical reflection, challenge the social imaginaries stigmatising the youth, and provide opportunities to develop political capabilities for social and public advocacy.

Review: The Palestinian Idea: Film, Media and the Radical Imagination, by Greg A. Burris

Review: The Palestinian Idea: Film, Media and the Radical Imagination, by Greg A. Burris

Conflict and cooperation in the age of COVID-19: the Israeli–Palestinian case

Abstract How do disasters influence conflict and diplomacy in conflict areas? The scholarship shows that while they can provide opportunities for cooperation and ‘disaster diplomacy’ between parties to a conflict, they can also intensify tension and hostility. This article uses the Israeli–Palestinian conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study, exploring the impact of the crisis on relations between the rival parties and examining the conditions under which an ongoing pandemic might lead to either conflict or cooperation in a conflict area. The research is based on within-case analysis, comparing three conflict arenas: Israel–Palestinian Authority relations in the West Bank; relations between Israel and the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem; and Israel–Hamas government relations in the Gaza strip. The article outlines the possibilities and limitations of ‘disaster diplomacy’ in intractable conflicts and contributes to the literature by identifying how different contexts, relations and actors in each conflict arena affect the development of patterns of conflict and cooperation with regard to the pandemic. The study analyses the factors that shape how the pandemic affects the conflict, and the COVID-19-related diplomacy, in each sub-case, with attention to three main variables: the structure of the conflict arena, domestic politics and the developments in the pandemic. The analysis addresses the unique conditions of an ongoing global pandemic, as opposed to an isolated disaster event, and traces the changing impact of the pandemic on the conflict and on disaster-related cooperation at various stages.

The Impact of Capital Flight on Economic Growth and Financial Stability in Palestine

This study examined the impact of Capital Flight on Economic Growth and Financial Stability in Palestine from the period (2000-2020). The time series data of Capital Flight, Foreign Exchange Reserves, Foreign Debt, and Real GDP used in the study, and the use of ordinary least squares estimation technology to analyze the research data. Carried out Johansen co-integration and error correction mechanism. The evidence of the research results shows that there is a co-integration relationship between the research variables, and Capital Flight has harmed the Economic Growth of the Palestinian case. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the government should provide a favorable investment environment to encourage investment and prevent Capital Flight from Palestine. In addition, the Palestinian Government should also prevent Capital Flight because these Infrastructure Projects/Programs will reduce the country’s production costs. The government should create a suitable investment environment for foreign investment and encourage entrepreneurs and equity owners to invest these funds domestically. In addition, the government should use all Foreign Aid funds in appropriate places to increase the Economic Growth Rate and create job opportunities for the unemployed, thereby increasing the National Economic Growth Rate.

Measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in Palestine

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the evolution of anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) procedures in Palestine since 2004 in accordance with the standards issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).Design/methodology/approachThis study is qualitative in nature and involves studying the most important improvements made by Palestinian authorities in the state’s legislative and institutional frameworks to enhance the AML/CFT regime.FindingsPalestine has established the necessary legal basis to combat money laundering and terrorist financing crimes. At the institutional level, the Financial Follow-up Unit was granted all the required powers of Financial Intelligence Units. The National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism has also played a vital role in issuing policies and plans to respond to the outcomes of the National Risk Assessment process. In contrast, a number of challenges still exist mainly with respect to the political factors and their expected consequences on the process of preparing for and conducting the mutual evaluation process for Palestine.Originality/valueThis study focusses on the AML/CFT efforts in Palestine owing to the nature and specificity of the Palestinian situation, as Palestine’s AML/CFT procedures have not been subject to any previous mutual evaluation process by the MENAFATF. Such efforts have rarely addressed the Palestinian case, making this study important to researchers and those interested in this field.

أنمــاط العنف السیاسی فی الشعر المعاصر نمـــاذج مخـــتارة

يمثل العنف ظاهرة سلبية داخل المجتمعات الإنسانية بصفة عامة، والمجتمع العربي بکل أطيافه وترکيباته الدينية بصفة خاصة والشاعر جزء من هذا المجتمع، يؤثر فيه ويتأثر به، يبرز همومه ومشاکله، والشعر مرآة عصره ومجتمعه، ومن هذا المنطلق کان موضوع البحث أنماط العنف السياسي في الشعر العربي المعاصر نماذج مختارة وسيقتصر هذا البحث على إبراز القصائد الشعرية المتعلقة بالقضية الفلسطينية، نظرا لأنها شغلت حيزا في النص الشعري المعاصر، وما کانت هذه النصوص إلا شکلا من التعبير عن المعاناة الإنسانية التى فرضتها القيود الاستعمارية مما ولد عنفا أظهرته أقلام الشعراء، وعبرت عنه شعرا ، وعليه فقد قسم البحث إلي ما يلي - العنف لغة واصطلاحا – أسباب العنف ونتائجه - أنماط العنف. فالعنف داخل ذات الفرد يخرج للتعبير عن ظروف سياسية أو اجتماعية محيطة بالفرد ويعمل الجانب النفسي على تحريک أسباب وجودها من خلال سلوکيات معينة. Types of Political Violence in Modern Poetry Selected models Hoda Othman Hassan Department of literary Studies Dept Dar al- Ulum College - Minia University. E-mail: Hoda.hassanI@mu.ed.eg Abstract : Violence is considered as a negative inside the human societies in general, and the arab society with all its classes and religious layers in particular. The poet is a part of this society, affecting and affected by his society. The poet shows its cares and problems. Poetry is the mirror of his age and society. Consequently, the subject of this research Types of Political Violence in Modern Poetry. Selected models This research is limited to highlight the poetical poems concerned with the Palestinian Case because they took up space in the poetical modern text. These texts are forms of human suffering obliged by the colonial forces resulting in violence showed by the poets in their poetry. Thus the research is divided into - Violence in language and in idiom - Reasons for violence and results - Types of violence Violence inside the individual is expressed as political and social circumstsnces surrounding him. The psychological factors seek to move the reasons for their existence through particular behaviors.

Cultural factors that influence the adoption of e-commerce: A Palestinian case study

The objective of this study is to explore the impact of various cultural dimensions on the acceptance of E-commerce in the Palestinian context. The developed theoretical framework is a modified version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), wherein the trust, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use act as mediators for the intention to use E-commerce. As such, five cultural dimensions were employed in the proposed model. These are; uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity, collectivism, and long-term orientation. Data was collected from a non-probabilistic sample of 418 participants using a pre-tested and validated questionnaire. Findings demonstrate that the hypothesized model was able to explain 62% of the variability of the intention towards the use of E-commerce. In particular, they signify a strong correlation between acceptance of E-commerce and the domestic culture of consumers, where uncertainty avoidance and power distance are the most vital cultural dimensions influencing the decision to transact online.

THE PALESTINIAN CASE AND ITS PLACE ON RUSSIA’S FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA

The events of the “Arab spring” and its consequences as well as the “Iranian threat”, which became a key security challenge for the Gulf States, not without the efforts of Benjamin Netanyahu and supported by the pro-Israel Trump administration (2016-2020), seemed to have removed the Palestinian case from the priority list of Middle East issues. The role of Russia, the traditional partner of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since Soviet times, also looked more low- key after the collapse of the Soviet Empire, especially amid resolution of the military-political crisis in Syria. Russian diplomacy on the Palestinian track remained unnoticed compared to the activity in the region of Donald Trump’s envoys, who promoted a peace plan for settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict known as the “deal of the century”. Having failed to achieve the main goal, the White House contributed to the signing of the “The Abraham Accords”, which was a breakthrough given that the Arab states declared the solution of the Palestinian issue as precondition for formal relations with the Jewish state. If Arab-Israeli normalization continues, Israel will have peace treaties with more than half of the Arab and Muslim states despite the deadlock in the peace process with the Palestinians. Based on the analysis of political processes amid the unresolved Palestinian problem, and above all, Russia’s attempts as a mediator to achieve a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the author suggests that the Palestinian issue has not lost its political significance and relevance as much as the Israeli government under Netanyahu tries to sell it.

Can the Court normalize the exception in non-emergency cases? Palestinian cases before the Israeli Supreme Court

Abstract The leading legal literature published after 9/11 recognizes the exception only in emergency. These writings follow the concept that “necessity knows no law” and, as Manin puts it, “security is the only acceptable principle” which justifies arbitrary coercion in liberal theory. Although Carl Schmitt criticized such liberal legal writing, including Hobbes’s sovereign, in that it does not recognize the power of the political identity, Schmitt’s sovereign also appears to decide on the exception only in “extreme emergency.” Accordingly, the judiciary’s political role is marginalized as the court always arrives too late, due to the urgent need to respond immediately. Based on this literature, court decisions always fall within the realm of legality, especially in non-emergency cases. In this article, I argue that the exception also appears in non-emergency cases and that the judiciary plays a serious role in normalizing the exception when the government acts without any legislative authorization. I further argue that these judicial decisions tell us about the very essence of the state’s political identity as it is linked to the authorities’ understanding of the state’s sovereignty. The case study that I examine is Israeli Supreme Court decisions that deal with cases brought by Palestinian citizens of Israel concerning territoriality claims, such as the right of property and the right to live in specific places with basic services. These cases were decided after the enactment of the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty in 1992, which is considered to be part of the “constitutional revolution” in Israeli legal discourse.

Currency and settler colonialism: the Palestinian case

This paper aims to shed new light on the international dimension of monetary power by exploring currency policy as a systematic tool of settler colonialism. The latter is defined as a mode of domination whereby an exogenous hegemonic power aims to displace and dispossess the native society in order to establish a new permanent homeland. These arguments are developed by exploring the case of Israeli currency circulation in the occupied Palestinian territories. To this purpose, the heterodox critique of the classical theory of money is employed to provide a fresh geopolitical reading of the origins, evolution, implications, and continued viability of a so-called ‘settler currency.’ It is found that Israel’s settler colonial project has been expedited by the enforced shekelization of the oPt, in that the latter not only acts as a barrier to industrialization and economic liberation in line with other hegemonic institutions, but also offers a sophisticated tool for coercion that directly assists the hegemon’s political ends. It follows that a settler colonial currency represents a multifaceted vehicle that facilitates the settler state’s reproduction.