Palestinian Politics Research Articles

Immigration, proletarianization, and deproletarianization

The strategy of deproletarianization attempted by groups of immigrants of the First and Second Aliyot was determined by the correspondence of three structures: settler capitalism, proletarianization, and ideology. These provided the realm of opportunities from 1882 to 1914. The Great War, which led to the downfall of the Ottoman empire and the establishment of a British administration, then changed the entire economy and politics of Palestine.

The Palestinian Movement in Transition: Historical Reversals and the Uprising

A persistent dynamic dominating Palestinian political discourse since the beginning of the occupation was the unspoken opposition between the liberationist strategy and the territorial search for statehood. During the 1960s and early 1970s, this dynamic was resolved overwhelmingly in favor of the liberationist strategy of the three main guerrilla contingents of the Palestinian movement-Fateh, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). While a gradual shift away from this position was evident in the resolutions of the Palestine National Council (PNC) as of 1974, the mystique and rhetoric of armed struggle continued to dominate through the rest of the decade. During the 1980s, however, this dynamic shifted steadily towards territorialism (the search for sovereignty) as the movement began to anchor itself less in the diaspora and more in the occupied territories. This shift has had immense consequences for the manner in which the Palestinian movement has articulated its direction over the last decade. The further Palestinian politics has moved from its liberationist-guerrilla dimension, the more it has expressed a political program that reflects the sentiments and needs of concrete social groups rather than a bureaucratic military apparatus. This dynamic has often been described by the popular press as a

The Mufti of Jerusalem: Al-Hajj Amin al-Husayni and the Palestinian National Movement.

Muhammad Amin al-Husayni, the principal leader of Palestinian nationalism during the British mandate, was one of the modern Arab world's most controversial figures. He played a role in the 1992 Wailing Wall disturbance, took part in the Iraqi revolt of 1941, and was the target of British and Zionist assasins during World War II. Philip Mattar now offers the first full-length biography of this intriguing figure, weaving a fresh and objective revisionist account. Mattar clarifies al-Husayni's role in the politics of Palestine in the mandate era and the Palestinian national movement. He describes his rise to religious power as Mufti of Jerusalem and head of the Supreme Muslim Council. He also demarcates two major phases in al-Husayni's career. During his first, between 1917 and 1936, he was a cautious and pragmatic leader who, while opposing Zionism, cooperated with the British mandatory officials. The second phase, however, after 1936, was marked by militancy, frustration, and ultimately failure.

BANDAL? AL‐JAWZ?: PROGRESSIVE PALESTINIAN POLITICS?

The Muslim WorldVolume 79, Issue 3-4 p. 188-204 BANDAL? AL-JAWZ?: PROGRESSIVE PALESTINIAN POLITICS? Tamara Sonn, Tamara Sonn St. John Fisher College Rochester, New YorkSearch for more papers by this author Tamara Sonn, Tamara Sonn St. John Fisher College Rochester, New YorkSearch for more papers by this author First published: October 1989 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.1989.tb02847.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume79, Issue3-4October 1989Pages 188-204 RelatedInformation

In search of leadership: West Bank politics since 1967

For much of the past decade, all diplomatic initiatives designed to advance the Arab-Israeli peace process have had in common a concern for the future of the West Bank. This region, along with the Gaza Strip, has often been discussed, but rarely studied. Palestinians living under occupation were often seen as passive and leaderless. This view is no longer tenable.The uprising, or intifadah, that began in the West Bank and Gaza in late 1987 and continued into 1988 represents a new phase of the Palestinian resistance to occupation and search for self-determination. Palestinians in these areas, especially the youth, are politically mobilized and highly nationalistic. The uprising needs to be seen in perspective. It is the product of profound political, social, and economic changes that have taken place over the past twenty years.Emile Sayliyeh analyzes in detail and with great personal knowledge the internal politics of the West Bank Palestinians and their international implications. Traditionally, West Bank politics had been the domain of elite, prominent families used by the Ottomans, the British, and the Jordanians to control local politics. Recent social changes, such as the growing trend toward higher education, exposure to the mass media, and labor mobility, have coincided with recent political changesthe consolidation of the communist movement, the radicalization of the student population, and the resurgence of Islamto challenge the political order and give more power to the mass-supported local politicians. In Search of Leadership offers the first comprehensive look at the social and political bases of the factions and groups in the West Bank and suggests how they will affect Palestinian politics in the years ahead.

Book Review: Palestinian Parties and Politics that Shaped the Old Testament

Book Review: Palestinian Parties and Politics that Shaped the Old Testament

Arab Politics and the Rise of Palestinian Nationalism

In the past, analyses of the development of Palestinian nationalism have tended to overemphasize the role played by Zionism and underrate the internal Arab factors that led to the rise, not only of Palestinian nationalism, but of other local Arab nationalisms as well. In the case of Arab writers, those who embraced nationalism-whether its local (wataniyyah) or pan-Arab (qawmiyyah) variety-were inclined to blame the problems and contradictions of the Arab national movements on the forces of European imperialism. They tended to regard the political forces that emerged in the Arab lands east of Suez after the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire as the result of a struggle with an alien power or movement. On the other hand, Zionist writers, preoccupied as they were with the local Palestinian scene, often overlooked the larger Arab arena in which Palestinian politics evolved. 1 Such interpretations do not stand up to a close examination of the evidence. The political entities that struggled for independence in the territories east of Suez after World War I were new creations, fashioned from the debris of the Ottoman Empire by the statesmen of foreign, colonial powers. After the final defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the old order of political allegiance to the dynastic sovereign of the Islamic state was

Berl: The Biography of a Socialist Zionist; Berl Katznelson, 1887-1944

The biography of Berl Katznelson encompasses the story of a leader and a movement. Berl was present at the birth of the Israeli labour movement, played a major role in the shaping of its ideology and organisational structure and imprinted its collective entity with the mark of his outstanding personality. Born in Russia in 1887, Berl Katznelson emigrated to Palestine in 1909 and died in Tel Aviv in 1944. A major figure in the socialist Zionist movement, Berl's influence on the politics of Palestine and his influence on the future of his chosen land cannot be underestimated. 100,000 people attended his funeral. Anita Shapira's best-selling biography, now translated and adapted from the Hebrew edition, brings to life the history of a man, and a movement.

Divided Loyalties? Syria and the question of Palestine, 1919–39

No event of the 1930s captured the attention of the Arab world as did the Arab Revolt in Palestine. Its progress was eagerly followed in the daily press of Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, and in the capitals of North Africa. It was also carefully monitored by Arab leaders and regimes. On one hand, the revolt aroused Arab nationalist sentiments in ways not witnessed in the region since the days of Faysal's Arab Kingdom; on the other, it alarmed Arab rulers who feared its repercussions on domestic political life in their respective countries. The impact of the revolt on the Arab world differed from country to country. It coincided with and helped to erode Egypt's longstanding political insulation from the Arab nationalist movement (despite Cairo's own central role in the birth of the nationalist idea and as a political asylum for nationalist activists from Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine) and contributed to its new Arab orientation.2 It helped independent Iraq to establish itself as a vital centre of Arab nationalist activity, enhancing Baghdad's political reputation among the Arabs. In Transjordan, the ambitious Amir Abdullah, while not at all pleased by the use of his territory as a conduit for arms and fighters, sought to benefit from the revolt by expanding his influence in Palestinian politics.3 In Syria, the impact of the revolt and the reaction of the political leadership was especially mixed. Syria's involvement in the affairs of Palestine is not only of importance for our understanding of the conduct of the revolt, but it also casts new light on the tensions between the established Syrian framework of political factionalism and new forces trying to break out of that framework; on the tensions between Syrian provincialism and pan-Arabism; and on the different means the imperial powers had at their disposal to bend local elites their way. The major dilemma facing the leadership of the Syrian national independence movement the National Bloc (al-Kutla al-Wataniyya) in 1936 was that as its prospects for getting control of government grew brighter, it encountered a number of obstacles which had the potential to ruin these prospects. A resurgence of pan-Arab sentiment focused on developments in Palestine was one such obstacle. The Bloc leadership could neither avoid involvement in the Palestine question nor allow Palestine to divert it from its quest for

"Man Is a Cause": Political Consciousness and the Fiction of Ghassān Kanafānī

The brief life of Ghassan Kanafani (1936-72) revolved around the politics of Palestine. As a leading intellectual of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and an outstanding writer of fiction, Kanafani has left a remarkable record in his novels and short stories of the evolution of his political consciousness and his desperate attempts to come to terms with the loss of his homeland. This study divides Kanafani's works chronologically into three stages of development. The first phase, 1956 to 1965, during which Kanafani's writings aer uniformly bleak and pessimistic in outlook, reveals the frustration and impotence Kanafani felt as the question of Palestine remained in an uneasy limbo. The second and third stage, 1965 to 1968 and 1968 to 1972, which saw the establishment of the P.L.O., armed resistance, and the emergence of Palestinian guerilla organizations, move Kanafani's work into an exuberant, self-confident optimism. Concise plot summaries and translated extracts, to which the author adds literary and psychological analyses, illustrate the chronological division of Kanafani's literary career and highlight the intellectual and political coming of age of this major Palestinian writer. Through this study of his fiction, the ideological, political, and psychological dimensions of Palestinian nationalism are brought into sharper focus.

Prisoners of war: a report

Al-Ansar is a large prison camp built by the Israelis in southern Lebanon (near Nabatiyeh) to house the thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese the Israeli ar my rounded up during its occupation of the South. In mid-September, after the Israelis invaded Beirut, in breach of their international commitment not to do so, thousands more were seized by the Israeli Defence Forces. In these mass ar rests, the Israelis targeted all Palestinian men between the ages of 14 and 60, but they also arrested many Lebanese and anyone else suspected of a connection to a Palestinian political or service organisation, including foreigners working in hospitals, schools and other social service institutions. The exact number of those arrested is not known, but according to Red Cross officials, 15,000 is a 'very realistic' figure.1 A I-A nsar is but one Israeli prison camp. There are others in undisclosed loca tions in northern Israel. The following report by an Israeli soldier stationed at the Ansar camp gives a vivid description of the inhumane conditions existing at the camp. There are other frequent reports, appearing even in the Israeli press, that prisoners are routinely beaten, denied basic needs and kept in degrading and overcrowded conditions. 2 Repeated efforts by international agencies to ob tain a complete list of prisoners from the Israeli authorities have been unsuc cessful. Israel also refuses to grant prisoner-of-war status to its detainees, in de fiance of international law.3

Islamic Culture and Political Pratice in British Mandated Palestine, 1918–1948

The starting point for explaining modern Palestinian political history is the assumption that Palestinians failed to organize adequately during the British Mandate (1918–1948), were defeated by the Zionist movement, and consequently dispersed from their homeland. That Palestinians did not unite politically during this crucial period in their history, nor cooperate economically, nor even band together militarily is considered corollaries of this organizational incapacity and reasons enough for their failure to achieve a national sovereignty of their own. Thus Porath notes that ultimately no Palestinian political organization could bridge the divisions of region, family, and narrow economic or political interest which encouraged the proliferation of parties and weakened the drive against Zionism. Ann Mosely Lesch calls her book on Arab politics in Palestine, “the frustration of a nationalist movement.”

The Palestine Problem

The contradiction between Israeli and Palestinian goals and Israel's refusal to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization have caused a profound diplomatic impasse. Moreover, the PLO's dependence on Arab hosts has embroiled it in secondary-level conflicts with Arab states. Although the PLO has gained their moral, diplomatic, and financial support, it has posed a threefold challenge: rulers resent the military cost of confronting Israel; Palestinian raids precipitate Israeli retaliatory actions against host territories; and the presence of autonomous Palestinian political and military forces undermines the host regimes' sovereignty and legitimacy. The review essay explores the ramifications of these Palestinian-Israeli and Palestinian-Arab dilemmas, and assesses the likelihood of a compromise settlement by creating a Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Arab Politics in Palestine, 1917-1939: The Frustration of a Nationalist Movement

Arab Politics in Palestine, 1917-1939: The Frustration of a Nationalist Movement

West Asia: Joel S. Migdal, (Ed.): Palestinian Society and Politics. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1980, xvi, 290p., $25.

WEST ASIA: JOEL S. MIGDAL, ( Ed.): Palestinian Society and Politics.

Book reviews

Maori Origins and Migrations by M. P. K. Sorrenson. Auckland: Auckland University Press/Oxford University Press, 1979. Pp. 102, illus.; £4.50. Historic Architecture of the Caribbean, by David Buisseret. London: Heinemann, 1980. Pp. xviii + 93, illus.; £4.90. Micmacs and Colonists: Indian‐White Relations in the Maritimes, 1713–1867 by L. F. S. Upton. Vancouver : University of British Columbia Press, 1979. Pp. xvi + 243 ; illus. Perak, the Abode of Grace: A Study of an Eighteenth‐Century Malay State by Barbara Watson Andaya. Oxford University Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1979. Pp. xviii + 444; £14.95. Pierre Sonnerat, I748–1814 by Madeleine Ly‐Tio‐Fane. Mauritius: for the author, 1976. Pp. 157. Colonial Eve. Sources on Women in Australia 1788–1914 edited by Ruth Teale. Melbourne, Oxford, Wellington, New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Pp. XI+ 288; £5.75. Trade and Finance in the Bengal Presidency, 1793–1833 by Amales Tripathi. Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1979. Pp. xvi & 340; Rs 100. Survey our Empire! Robert Montgomery Martin (18017–1868). A Bio‐Bibliography by Frank H. H. King, with the assistance of Sara Joynes. Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong, 1979. Pp. xxl + 443; HK $80.00 (paperback); HK $100.00 (hardback). The Grand Expedition: the British Invasion of Holland in 1809 by Gordon C. Bond. Athens, Ga. : University of Georgia Press, 1979. Pp. viii, 232, maps, appendices; $17 (U.S.). Economic Foundations of British Overseas Expansion, 1815–1914 by P. J. Cain. London: Macmillan, 1980. Pp. 85; £1.95. The Upper Canada Trade 1834–1872. A Study of the Buchanans ‘ Business by Douglas McCalla. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1979. Pp. viii + 231, maps, tables; £12.25. The Paramount Power and the Princely States of India. 1858–1881 by Ajit K. Neogy. Calcutta: K. P. Bagchi & Company, 1979. Pp. x + 323, appendices, bibliography. Christianity and Traditional Religion in Western Zimbabwe, 1859–1923 by Ngwabi Bhebe. London: Longman, 1979. Pp. xiv+ 190, maps; £7.95. Newfoundland in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Essays in Interpretation edited by James Hiller and Peter Neary. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980. Pp. viii+291; £4.50. The Scramble for Southern Africa, 1877–1895: the Politics of Partition Reappraised by D. M. Schreuder. Cambridge: University Press, 1980. Pp xiv + 384; £13.50. The Diplomacy of Partition: Britain. France and the Creation of Nigeria, 1890–1898 by Claire Hirshfield. The Hague: Mārtinus Nijhoff, 1979. The Ordeal of Love: C. F. Andrews and India, by Hugh‐Tinker. Delhi; Oxford University Press, 1979. Pp. xxi + 321, illus.; £9.75. The Leo Amery Diaries, Vol. 1 1896–1929 edited by John Barnes and David Nicholson with an introduction by Julian Amery. London, Hutchinson, 1980. Pp. 653‐, £27.50. Watershed in India 1914–1922 by Sir Algernon Rumbold, London: Athlone Press, 1979. Pp. 325; index; maps. £14.00. Political Identity in South Asia edited by David Taylor and Malcolm Yapp. Collected Papers on South Asia, No. 2. Centre of South Asian Studies, London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Curzon Press, 1979. Pp. 266; £4.50. Arab Politics in Palestine, 1917–1939 by Ann Mosley Lesch. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1979. Pp. 257, maps; £10.50. Origins of the Israeli Polity by Dan Horowitz and Moshe Lissak. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Pp. xii + 272; £13.30. The District Officer in India, 1930–1947 by Roland Hunt and John Harrison. London: Scolar Press, 1980. Pp. xxii + 255, maps; £17.50. British Policy and Malay Politics During the Malayan Union Experiment 1942–1948 by A. J. Stockwell. Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Monograph No. 8, 1979. Pp. xvi + 206; photographs, appendices, index. Carving the Path to the Summit by Ahmad Boestamam. Translated with an introduction by William R. Roff. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1979. Pp. xxxii+ 149; £3.30 paper, £7.20 cloth. Constitutional Relations between Britain and India: The Transfer of Power 1942–7 edited by Nicholas Mansergh and Penderei Moon. Vol. IX, The Fixing of a Time Limit. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1980. Pp. cxxvi+ 1053, illus.; £55. Decolonisation and After: the British and French Experience edited by W. H. Morris‐Jones and Georges Fischer. (Studies in Commonwealth Politics and History, No. 7). London: Frank Cass, 1980. Pp. xvii+ 369; £15.00.

The Earlier Palestinian Resistance: Arab Politics in Palestine, 1917-1939: The Frustration of a Nationalist Movement. . Ann Mosely Lesch.

The Earlier Palestinian Resistance: Arab Politics in Palestine, 1917-1939: The Frustration of a Nationalist Movement. . Ann Mosely Lesch.

Arab Politics in Palestine, 1917–1939: The Frustration of a Nationalist Movement

Journal Article Arab Politics in Palestine, 1917–1939: The Frustration of a Nationalist Movement Get access Arab Politics in Palestine, 1917–1939: The Frustration of a Nationalist Movement. By Ann Mosely Lesch. Ithaca, London: Cornell University Press. 1979. 257 pp. £10.50. J. C. B. Richmond J. C. B. Richmond Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar International Affairs, Volume 56, Issue 3, Summer 1980, Pages 516–517, https://doi.org/10.2307/2617419 Published: 01 July 1980

Palestinian Society and Politics

Palestinian Society and Politics

Palestinian Society and Politics

Palestinian Society and Politics