Palestinian Resistance Research Articles

Colonial Interactions

Abstract This research article analyses the complex interplay between international law and Islamic law in shaping the possibilities for Palestinian (armed) resistance against Israeli occupation. It uses “interaction” (between two legal systems with much epistemological overlap) as a lens with which to ground this meta-analysis, understanding international law and Islamic law as necessarily co-constitutive. Following a historical and macro-scale examination of this relationship, the research article then applies the analysis to Mandate Palestine, identifying a Palestinian “state of exception” that excludes Palestinians from international law’s ‘protective jurisdiction’. As such, the article situates Palestinian (armed) resistance within the gap that emerges between international law’s colonial reverberations and Islamic law’s emancipatory potential.

Fire as Elemental Intifada in Colonized Palestine

In August 2021, wildfires erupted in the southwestern hills of Jerusalem, engulfing and ultimately destroying up to 20,000 dunums of pine forests planted by Israeli settlers. The burned landscape revealed a stunning vista of terraced hillsides, a visual testament to the existence of Palestinian land-based relations hidden under the camouflaging foliage. In this experimental visual essay, fire is postulated as an elemental force of Indigenous Palestinian resistance to the ongoing conditions of environmental and human Nakba imposed on Palestinian lands and bodies under Zionist settler colonialism. Fire, as a transformative and atmosphere-altering medium, is thus theorized and visualized as elemental intifada.

ВТОРАЯ ПАЛЕСТИНСКАЯ ИНТИФАДА (2000–2005)

The Arab-Jewish conflict is the longest and most complex international conflict in recent history. At the center of this conflict is the Palestinian problem, which has deep historical roots. In its development, it has gone through a number of stages, one of which is the two intifadas of the Arab population of Palestine. The article examines the events of the second intifada (2000–2005). The author indicates the reasons, considers the course and results of the second intifada. The article examines the activities of various Arab organizations during the first intifada in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The program settings of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Fatah and other organizations of the Palestinian Resistance Movement (PRM) are analyzed. The designated period is also key in the history of Islamic organizations participating in the intifada (Hamas, Islamic Jihad). The author examines their program documents and practical participation in the uprising. Attention is focused on the surge of terror on their part and the reciprocal brutal repressions of the Israeli army against the Arab population of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan River.

The Articulation of Counter-Resistance in Muin Bseiso’s “Footsteps”

The present paper argues that Bseiso’s “Footsteps” is a counter-hegemonic ideological poem. Bseiso employs powerful rhetorical patterns in order to subvert the hegemonic and ideological concepts practiced and promulgated by the Zionist occupation. It also proves that “Footsteps” challenges Zionist colonial and imperial narratives and instills the Palestinian resistance poetry into the core of the national struggle against the Zionist tyranny and injustice. It also proves Bseiso is an organic intellectual in Gramscian terms.

Bleeding Forms

This essay considers the war in Gaza from the perspective of resistance as an anticoncept. It draws inspiration from the notion of the informe (formless) as described by Georges Bataille to understand how resistance acts as a formless operation that deforms the colonial structure. It argues that resistance overflows the condition it seeks to dismantle and bring down in the world. The essay explores the difference between Bataille's account of the operation of the formless and Frantz Fanon's understanding of the tabula rasa, highlighting how resistance can break down, deform, and distort following this capacity to deform historically. However, the Palestinian resistance did not achieve the radical break, or what Frantz Fanon describes as the minimum demand of the colonized, the clean slate from which a genuine decolonization can ensue. The essay explores how the Palestinian resistance initiated on October 7 a meticulously orchestrated offensive maneuver that surpassed the spontaneous uprisings of previous intifadas. It was a calculated decision to deform the existing order. The essay points to the novel development in Palestinian resistance where the decision to instigate this process of decomposition has become wedded to a decider and a locus, while highlighting some of the pitfalls of this development. It argues that the current moment is marked by a decomposition of the colonial order without decolonization.

Forging Alternative Resistance Through Empathy in Sahar Khalifeh's Wild Thorns

Until recently, Palestinian nonviolent resistance has historically been overshadowed by the narrative of armed and violent resistance. This article contends that the reality of Palestinian resistance is relatively nonviolent and explores alternative nonviolent approaches drawing on Sahar Khalifeh's novel Wild Thorns. Originally published in 1976 and translated into English in 1985, Khalifeh's novel serves as a blueprint for nonviolent resistance, emphasizing empathy. This research demonstrates how interethnic connections between antagonistic groups, particularly in workplace settings, can mitigate violence by humanizing the face of the perceived enemy. Through documenting the violence of imperial imposition and scrutinizing the means by which a nation can resist its occupier nonviolently, Khalifeh creates a readership that is ready to empathize by acknowledging the trauma experienced by the Other.

Instruments of resilience: cultural tourism in Palestinian resistance

ABSTRACT Tourism in Palestine functions as a potent instrument of political resistance, serving to counter the dominant narratives imposed by the Israeli occupation and to reinforce Palestinian claims to self-determination and sovereignty. Through deliberate engagement with cultural and historical sites, we contend that tourists become active participants in a form of resistance that celebrates and preserves Palestinian identity. We maintain that each act of cultural consumption – be it visiting a historical landmark, participating in traditional storytelling, or purchasing local handicrafts – serves not just as an economic transaction but as a political gesture that asserts Palestinian narratives and resists cultural erasure. We further argue that the global spread of Palestinian cultural tourism, facilitated by the diaspora, functions as a strategic form of international advocacy that situates the Palestinian struggle within a broader context of global awareness and solidarity. Palestinian tourism is a vital channel through which the political reality of Palestinian life is communicated and understood, forming an essential component of the broader campaign for Palestinian rights and recognition on the world stage.

Palestinian resistance poetry - Praise of the High Shadow by Mahmoud Darwish as an example - A study in light of cultural criticism

كان شعر المقاومة الفلسطينية يشكل ركناً أساسياً من أركان الثقافة العربية، إلا أنَّ السنوات الأخيرة شهدت إهمالاً غير مسبوق له، سواء على مستوى تلقيه وانتشاره أم على مستوى دراسته، وذلك بسبب التحولات السياسية التي طالت المنطقة، إذ خمدت جذوة الصراع العربي الإسرائيلي حتى أصبح صراعاً محلياً، بينما شهدت المنطقة صراعات عربية عربية وانقسامات طائفية، كما شهدت تسابقاً على التطبيع، فضلاً عن أسباب أخرى أسهمت بانحسار هذا النمط الشعري، واليوم نجد من الأهمية بمكان إعادة الاعتبار له انتصاراً لما يعانيه شعبنا الفلسطيني العربي في غزة من ويلات الإبادة الجماعية، وما يشهده العالم من صحوة بإزاء الحق الفلسطيني، ووجدنا أنَّ قصيدة(مديح الظل العالي) لحمود درويش أفضل ما يمثل شعر المقاومة لما انطوت عليه من دلالات وصور تتطابق حرفياً مع ما يحدث اليوم في غزة، وقد درست هذه القصيدة بمقاربات نقدية متعددة، إلا أنَّها لم تدرس ثقافياً، فاتخذنا منها أرضية للبحث في سياقاتها وأنساقها الثقافية.

War and Self-Defense: Some Reflections on the War on Gaza

Abstract This paper reflects on the current war on Gaza in 2024 that followed the Hamas attack on October 7th 2023, reading the events is a wider historical context. The paper has three main parts. In the first part, the paper argues against the fragmentation of the question of Palestine historically and geographically, arguing instead for the importance of the overall context of the conflict. The second part considers the issue of Palestinian resistance. How can the Palestinians resist occupation? This part is mainly descriptive and indicates the impasse that the Palestinians found themselves in it after the Oslo accords in 1993. The third and last part moves to normative questions regarding the question of self-defense both on the part of the Palestinians and on the part of Israel and tries to outline the ways these arguments can develop.

The Role of the Palestinian Resistance in Invoking Yemeni Military Thought to Strike Israeli Strategies in the Southern Red Sea 1971-1973

The Role of the Palestinian Resistance in Invoking Yemeni Military Thought to Strike Israeli Strategies in the Southern Red Sea 1971-1973

Transformative incrementalism: Palestinian women’s strategies of resistance and resilience amid gendered insecurity and neoliberal co-optation

Palestinian women have envisioned and enacted resistance and resilience in different ways throughout the long-running Palestinian resistance movement. Strategies have ranged from direct collective actions to the resolute maintenance of everyday life in the face of ongoing occupation, settler-colonialism, displacement and violence. Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank have begun to develop tactics that attempt to negotiate a widespread aversion to ‘illegitimate’ and aid donor-prescribed actions, as well as to the gendered risks with which politically active women must contend. While this approach once encompassed the principle of resilience, recent times have seen the growing rejection of neoliberal resilience narratives in the belief that they normalize and entrench an oppressive status quo. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the West Bank, this article explores how women’s search for legitimate and feasible modes of resistance and resilience has generated tactics characterized by incrementalism, but which form part of a transformative social change strategy. In so doing, it reveals the dynamic ways in which women constantly renegotiate resistance to violence in Palestine. It also demonstrates how development models based upon neoliberal understandings of resilience exacerbate gendered impacts of insecurity while eroding women’s capacities to withstand them.

Notes on the ‘Exceptionalism’ of the Israeli Settler-Colonial Project

Israel’s settler-colonial project stands as a peculiar instance of colonial domination in the modern era, distinguished by its ideological roots in Zionism, a potent blend of mythological narratives, militaristic nationalism, and expansionist aspirations. Unlike traditional colonial powers, Israel operates without a conventional metropole, instead leveraging strategic alliances with Western powers, particularly the United States, to sustain its colonial enterprise. The endurance of this project is inextricably linked to the subjugation and fragmentation of the Arab world, which serves as a wellspring of resistance against Israel’s colonial ambitions, as evidenced by the normalization of relations between Israel and various Arab regimes. Yet, Palestinian resistance has proven resilient and adaptive, persistently asserting its rights, identity, and connection to the land, while exposing the moral bankruptcy of Israel’s colonial dominance. To fully grasp the complexities of Palestine’s past, present, and future, it is imperative to employ a settler-colonial framework, which not only illuminates the specific dynamics at play but also sheds light on the broader implications for understanding and challenging similar structures of oppression worldwide.

Politics of phygital protests: Palestinian #GreatMarchofReturn discourse on Twitter

Twitter aids public discourse, hashtag activism and sociopolitical advocacy. In terms of Palestinian resistance discourse against Israel, the hashtag #GreatMarchofReturn represents a peaceful digital protest by the Palestinian refugees based in Gaza. We identified 13,000 tweets related to #GreatMarchofReturn, which we analysed using content analysis and descriptive analysis, followed by a visualization of the findings. We argue that hashtag activism facilitates the collective Palestinian protest discourse on Twitter about Israel’s oppressive diplomacies in Palestine. The activism endorses Palestinian nationalism and the mobilization of civilian rights. Moreover, the micro-blogging site becomes a significant platform for politicizing Israel’s punitive populism and subsequent subjugation of Palestinian refugees, especially in Gaza. The psycho-politics of phygital protests affects the socio-emotional mobilization of the Great March of Return in both virtual and physical public spheres.

قصيدة أحمد الزعتر للشاعر محمود درويش دراسة تداولية

يضم هذا البحث بين دفتيه دراسة لقصيدة أحمد الزعتر للشاعر محمود درويش وفق المنهج التداولي ، وقد ركز البحث على جوانب مهمة في هذه القصيدة التي تعد من غرر شعر المقاومة الفلسطينية ؛ وقد اعتمدت على صوتين ، صوت الشاعر ، وصوت البطل الشهيد ( أحمد ) ، الذي منحه الشاعر صفات الفدائي الذي حمل همومه وهموم شعبه ، فعانى من الغربة واللجوء كما عانى شعبه ، وكان النموذج الأسمى للمقاتل الفلسطيني .
 وتكون هذا البحث من مقدمة موجزة لمفهوم التداولية وتاريخ ظهورها ، ونموها ، وأشهر روادها ، وعلاقتها بالعلوم الأخرى ، وكذلك المذاهب الأدبية ، ثم تليها فقرات البحث على النحو الآتي : 1- الإشاريات 2- الأفعال الكلامية التي تتكون من 1- التعبيريات 2- الإخباريات 3- التوجيهيات 4- التكرار ، ثم الثنائيات.

The Resistance Narrative in Arabic Science Fiction: Azem’s The Book of Disappearance (2014)

This paper aims to analyze the mode of resistance narrative in Ibtisam Azem’s The Book of Disappearance (2014), which is read within the frame of Arabic Science Fiction. The study answers the following questions:(1) What are the Arabic Science Fiction tropes in Azem’s novel? (2) How does ASF subserve resistance narratives in Azem’s novel? (3)Why does Azem utilize the Dystopian Narrative for resistance narratives? The study examines the structure and themes of Azem’s The Book of Disappearance in terms of postcolonial and science fictional theories. The study’s methodology considers Kanafani’s resistance narrative, Morrison’s rememory, and Hochberg’s archival imagination in exploring the historical frame in Azem’s The Book of Disappearance. The analysis of Azem’s The Book of Disappearance interconnects the Palestinian resistance literature and the postcolonial writing to the ASF tropes and techniques. The alternative history closely examines the controversy between Israeli utopia and Palestinian dystopia. The study concludes that in Azem’s novel, the 1948 Nakba is recreated in the future through the imaginative incident of the Palestinian disappearance. As Palestinian novels often grapple with the complex question of identity in the face of displacement, occupation, and cultural pressures, Azem’s novel inspects the question of identity through a simulation of history in Alaa’s diary and through the gaze of Arial, the Israeli journalist. Azem’s novel confronts this trauma, giving voice to the pain and suffering of the Palestinian people through the Arabic Science Fiction frame of a dystopian narrative that dismantles the Zionist ideology and Israeli oppressive regime.

The Palestinian Operation on October 7 Between International Legitimacy and Criminalization

This study delved into the operation of Palestinian resistance on the seventh of October, navigating the realms of legitimacy and criminalization within the framework of international law. The researcher examined the historical evolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, revealing a continuous onslaught, occupation, and killing endured by the Palestinian people for over 70 years. The legal foundation of the Palestinian resistance's legitimacy on the seventh of October was explored in light of international law, with the researcher concluding that the resistance exercised its right to legitimate defense in accordance with the United Nations Charter against ongoing aggression by the Israeli occupation. Furthermore, the researcher found that the resistance's actions were consistent with its exercise of the right to self-determination, as endorsed by numerous United Nations resolutions on the Palestinian issue. Finally, the study addressed Israeli allegations of massacres committed by the Palestinian resistance on the seventh of October, presenting evidence that the resistance adhered to international law in its operation and did not violate its provisions. The researcher urged the United Nations to take stricter measures, particularly through its Security Council, by activating Chapter Seven of the Charter to compel Israel to implement international resolutions. Additionally, the researcher also calls on international organizations to morally and materially support the legitimacy of Palestinian armed resistance to exercise its right to self-determination against Israeli occupation and settlement. The researcher recommended that global media listen to both sides of the conflict's narrative for journalistic credibility.

Operation al-Aqsa Flood: A Rupture in the History of the Palestinian Resistance and Its Implications

This paper argues that the al-Aqsa Flood operation launched by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades –the military wing of Hamas– on the morning of October 7 has led to a psychological and epistemological rupture in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Middle East politics as the operation marked a paradigm shift in the philosophy of the resistance. The infiltration of al-Qassam into the occupied territories by land, sea, and air was a clear sign of a change in the strategy of the resistance to continue the active struggle against the aggressive expansionism and aggression of the Zionist Israeli government. In this context, the study tries to frame Operation al-Aqsa Flood and analyze the dimensions of the rupture. Besides this, it will also outline the possible impact of the operation on global and regional politics, considering that the ongoing process will change the political balance in the Middle East.

In Honor of Khader Adnan: The Hungry Revolutionary

This essay honors Khader Adnan’s life and martyrdom in May 2023 following eighty-seven days of hunger strike in protest against his illegal administrative detention by the Israeli regime. Adnan is an important figure of Palestinian resistance who, in 2012, revived waves of mass Palestinian hunger strikes in Israeli prisons. Through these hunger strikes, Adnan aspired to a life of dignity, and sacrificing his body was not about death as much as it was about life and freedom. As Adnan’s story shows, through the embodied praxis of hunger striking, Palestinian prisoners assert ownership over their bodies and fates, deciding when and how to die in the face of the Israeli carceral regime that keeps them confined indefinitely.

“to stop the earthquake”: Palestine and the Settler Colonial Logic of Fragmentation

AbstractFragmentation is a key colonial strategy to which Palestinians enact resistance, evident most prominently in the 2021 Unity Intifada. In this article, I take inspiration from such Palestinian resistance to theorise fragmentation as a central logic of Zionist/Israeli settler colonialism. I make three related points. First, I employ the metaphor of the earthquake to consider the fractality of settler colonial fragmentation across the dimensions of land, time, and bodies. Second, understanding the settler colonial logic of elimination as ultimately attempting to extinguish a Palestinian Indigenous sovereignty, I argue that the logic of fragmentation drives towards elimination. Finally, I demonstrate that, in fragmenting Palestine, Zionism seeks to render Israel a coherent entity. Ultimately then, the Zionist project works to fragment Palestine to eliminate Palestinian bodies from land and time, to render Israel a seamless nation across these dimensions. However, Palestinian Indigenous sovereignty is not something that can be broken or extinguished.

Occupied Joy: The Politics of Skateboarding in Palestine

Abstract: The tangible project of decolonization requires revolutionary hope to sustain it. Quite often, studies surrounding oppressed populations largely tend to theorize from a point of death, contributing to a culture of hopelessness and pessimism. This essay explores what happens when we theorize from a point of life and joy, specifically theorizing Palestinian resistance and place-claiming through the embodied sport of skateboarding—not in hopes of erasing death, but in hopes of providing a fuller view, and looking for ruptures wherein quotidian life seeps through coloniality as a form of resistance itself. Thinking through skateboarding as a subculture, I analyze a nonprofit organization, SkatePal and its media presence, using my theory and analytic: occupied joy. I argue that the skate scene in Palestine functions as a site of quotidian anticolonial and anti-imperialist resistance through reclaiming freedom of movement, resisting multiple effects of military occupation, and unsettling trauma spectacle through the play and joy associated with the immediate act of skating. In theorizing from life and bearing witness to the sense of agency that skateboarding restores in Palestinian youth, there is hope that the theory of occupied joy can do the same for other oppressed peoples, bringing us all tangibly closer to a more liberated world.