post-Oslo Period Research Articles

Exhausted Circulation: The Limits to Cement Transportation and Urban Metabolism in the West Bank

This article looks at cement as a vital material in the process of urbanization. It specifically addresses urban metabolism, examining the intricacies of the cement circulation network in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) during the post-Oslo period. Because of Israel’s near-total control of land and natural resources in the oPt, there is still no fully integrated Palestinian cement plant there, making the Palestinian construction sector highly dependent on imports from Israel’s Nesher cement factory. This article argues that controlling the circulation of cement constitutes sovereignty over the processes of urbanization. In the current context, the cement circulation system that is effectively controlled by Israel is characterized by exhaustion, resulting in Palestinian urban geography’s perennial metabolic insufficiency.

Preserving Palestine: Visual archives, erased curriculum, and counter-archiving amid archival violence in the post-Oslo period

This article tells the story of Palestinian visual archives in the post-Oslo period, specifically the archives of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and their whereabouts following the PLO’s departure from Tunisia in the 1990s. It also narrates the story of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) in the West Bank and Gaza and the challenges it encountered in preserving its visual archive. The article posits that the displacement, loss, and seizure of Palestinian visual archives did not result from the perceived threat they posed to Zionism alone. It underscores that the politics surrounding archives are imbricated in the broader social relations of settler colonialism, neoliberalism, and the neoliberal agendas that bourgeois national interests have produced in Palestine, as well as in the ideological differences between Palestinian political factions. The article then shifts to a discussion of the ways that archival violence maintains Israeli hegemony by erasing and silencing the anti-colonial curriculum and historiography of Palestinians to produce the settler state’s ideology, public memory, and discourses of state formation. The article uses Palestine as a case study to also tell the story of what we conceptualize as an erased curriculum. While Zionism undoubtedly produces both curricular erasures and historical silencing, we underscore how the vested interests of Palestinian political factions, specifically in the post-Oslo period, have contributed to archival violence and silencing as well. We show that despite archival violence, individuals and civil society organizations are enacting a politics of reclamation to trace, preserve, claim, and repatriate Palestinian archives, effectively practising a form of counter-archiving.

Palestinian Refugees of the Oslo Generation: Thinking beyond the Nation?

This article analyzes the political narratives and critiques of young Palestinian refugees who have grown up in the bleak post-Oslo period. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted with refugee youth in Jordan and the West Bank between 2009 and 2014, I show that this generation of refugees endorses a collective Palestinian identity and peoplehood with claims to the (home)land while also narrating their identities and relations to land, nation, state, and rights as complex, multifaceted, and fractured. Their political imaginaries do not limit the political and epistemic project of decolonizing Palestine to the classic paradigm of a territorialized nation-state as enshrined in the Oslo two-state agenda. Rather, they point to a creative and radical, post-nation-statist, translocal politics for Palestine.

How Does Virtual Water Flow in Palestine? A Political Ecology Analysis

There is an exhaustive literature on Israel, Palestine and water, which has documented how the asymmetric power of Israel in the Oslo negotiations ensured its control of land and water over Palestine. Less attention however has been paid on the interface of water, trade and agriculture, and the ways in which controlling trade, Israel controlled the virtual flows of water too. The concept of virtual water makes the water-agriculture-trade relationship visible, shedding light on agricultural trade flows in terms of water. Applying a political ecology approach, this paper shows how socio-ecological conditions are sustained by and organised through both social and metabolic-ecological processes. A biophysical analysis - the agricultural flows of virtual water from and to Palestine in the Post-Oslo period - is combined with the examination of the power relations that governed these flows. The analysis reveals that virtual water flows are not static but instead evolve within the (geo)political-economic context in which they are embedded, bringing to light Israel's control over the flow of Palestinian agricultural virtual water. We argue that a political ecology approach to virtual water offers a theoretical basis to move beyond the currently techno-managerial emphasis in the virtual water literature, illuminating the link between the control of virtual flows and the consolidation of political and economic power.

Invisible disasters: the effects of Israeli occupation on Palestinian gender roles

Women's participation in the First Intifada allowed for increased gender equality in Palestine. However, the weakness of the Palestinian Authority, established by the Oslo Accords, created space for non-state actors (dominated by the Islamist political organization Hamas) to emerge and gain popularity. Likewise, during the post-Oslo period conservative positions on gender resurged. This paper re-examines the structural factors that facilitated increased gender inequality and argues that the nature of the occupation itself serves as the greatest force for gender inequality in Palestine. To develop and test our theory, we draw on original, large-n survey data and in-depth interviews.

Seeking popular participation: nostalgia for the first intifada in the West Bank

This article analyzes Palestinian nostalgia in the West Bank for the first intifada and anxiety over the lack of mass participation in anti-colonial resistance following the Oslo Accords. I attribute three reinforcing components to explain the lack of popular resistance: shifts in the mechanisms of colonial control, structural sociocultural changes, and discursive representations of popular resistance. Understanding the changes in the post-Oslo period in the West Bank can help us to reflect on why the experiences of the first intifada have not effectively informed political resistance practices.

The Palestinian Feminist Movements between Nationalism, Secularism, and Islamic Identity (Nissaa ala taqato Attoroq: Al-Harakaat Al-Niswiya Al-Falastiniya bayna Al-Wataniya, Al-Ilmaniya, wa Al-Howiya Al-Islamiya) (review)

Reviewed by: The Palestinian Feminist Movements between Nationalism, Secularism, and Islamic Identity (Nissaa ala taqato Attoroq: Al-Harakaat Al-Niswiya Al-Falastiniya bayna Al-Wataniya, Al-Ilmaniya, wa Al-Howiya Al-Islamiya) Ashgan Ajour Translated by Aziz Douai (bio) and Mahjoub Berch (bio) The Palestinian Feminist Movements between Nationalism, Secularism, and Islamic Identity (Nissaa ala taqato Attoroq: Al-Harakaat Al-Niswiya Al-Falastiniya bayna Al-Wataniya, Al-Ilmaniya, wa Al-Howiya Al-Islamiya) by Islah Jad. Ramallah, Palestine: Muwatin, Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy, 2008, 246 pp., 30 NIS (in Arabic). In her book, The Palestinian Feminist Movements between Nationalism, Secularism, and Islamic Identity, Islah Jad examines the National Palestinian Authority's (NPA) impact on women and feminist movements from a gender perspective in the post-Oslo period—the era of state building. The study scrutinizes the problems associated with shifting roles of the national liberation movement, from mobilizing society in a historical struggle to becoming a bureaucratic state in need of different roles, structures, and discourses. Further, it studies the challenges facing feminist movements engaged in the tasks of national struggle and nation-building. These movements have to maintain the older agenda of mobilization and liberation, as well as a new agenda that calls on the state to ensure women's rights and equality in conditions that threaten the Palestinian state. Among other arguments that the study makes is the suggestion that secular feminist movements' transformation into nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) has weakened their capacity to recruit and mobilize women. Jad also stresses that the weakening and dismantling of the feminist movement need to be put in the larger context of the formation of the NPA after the Oslo Accord and the dominant belief that it was a period of state-building, despite the Israeli occupation. In consequence, the NPA's failed attempt to establish itself as a state still under occupation, dismantling the political structure of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and its factions while allowing Islamist forces to thrive and gain influence. After the NPA was set up, professional-women NGOs replaced disbanded grassroots organizations. The book addresses the intersections of colonialism, nationalism, Islamism, and the feminist movement in Palestine. It surveys the formation of the feminist movement within the historical context of the nationalist movement with two different sides—one patriarchal and oppressive, while the other was supportive of women's liberation. Support came especially from leftist parties that had provided space for women to demand equality and develop a feminist consciousness regarding social issues. With such support, especially in the mid-1970s, women succeeded in forming an indigenous feminist movement that combined both national and social liberation, bridging the gaps and differences between middle-class urban women and rural women. With regard to the impact of the NPA on the feminist movement, it has weakened organizations supported by the masses in favor of NGOs that concentrate on professionalization and given primacy to funders' agendas rather [End Page 260] than to those of their members. The author criticizes the women NGOs that espouse a discourse of universal rights, stripped of its social context and completely divorced from national rights. This type of discourse has isolated women and dismantled the old forms of grassroots organizations, and it also contradicts the claim that women NGOs are the only ones capable of representing the interests of women. The fact that these NGOs failed to defend women's interests, and failed to engage them in planning and decision making, refutes the claim that these institutions are tools of participatory development. Their development projects are small, time-constrained, and do not create strong ties with the targeted population, and thus are unable to mobilize the masses and lead to sustainable change. Middle-class professional women were recruited to head these organizations, which claim to defend and help marginalized women; divorced from its context, however, it is these NGOs' discourse that created a gap with women from lower classes, a vacuum that the Islamist feminist movement has sought to fill. The book also seeks to provide a critical contribution on the thought and orientations of postcolonialism, as well as the binaries adopted by some of those who study Arab societies, including...

A history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Preface to the Second Edition Preface A Note on Transliteration Part I. Jews and Arabs Before the Conflict: The Congruent Origins of Modern Zionism and Arab Nationalism 1. Jewish History and the Emergence of Modern Political Zionism 2. Arab History and the Origins of Nationalism in the Arab World Part II. Emergence and History of the Conflict to 1948 3. The Conflict Takes Shape 4. The Dual Society in Mandatory Palestine Part III. Routinization of the Conflict, 1948-1967 5. The Palestinian Disaster and Basic Issues after 1948 6. Israel and the Arab States through June 1967 Part IV. The Palestinian Dimension Reemerges: From the June War through Camp David 7. Postwar Diplomacy and the Rise of the Palestine Resistance Movement 8. Israel, the Palestinians, and the Occupied Territories in the 1970s Part V. The High Price of Stalemate and Futile Diplomacy in the 1980s 9. Violent Confrontations in the Early 1980s 10. Futile Diplomacy in the Mid-1980s Part VI. Efforts to Break the Stalemate: From the Intifada through the Oslo Peace Process 11. The Intifada and Beyond 12. The Oslo Peace Process Epilogue: The Post-Oslo Period

The continued de-development of the Palestinian economy in the post-Oslo period

The de-development of the Palestinian economy began in 1967, following Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS). Following the Oslo Accords of 1993, this de-development has continued. The WBGS remained dependent on the Israeli labor market for jobs until 2000, when Israel curtailed the flow of Palestinian labor to Israel following the 2000 intifada. This curtailment has resulted in sharp increases in unemployment and poverty rates in the WBGS. Closures and other actions taken by the Israeli government since 2000 have led to further de-development of the Palestinian economy. Although the WBGS has received substantial foreign aid in the post-Oslo period, the positive economic impact of such aid has been more than offset by the punitive measures taken by Israel in this period. It is highly unlikely that the Israeli government will allow the number of WBGS workers in Israel to return to its pre-2000 level. Hence, the revitalization of the Palestinian economy will require huge private investment. Such investment cannot be expected without a permanent settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that includes a Palestinian state with control over its borders and a strong link with diaspora Palestinians.

Post-Oslo Palestinian (un)employment: A gender, class, and age-cohort analysis

A strong Palestinian economy in the aftermath of the 1993 Oslo agreement has not materialized. This has had serious implications for employment outcomes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A number of authors have analyzed Palestinian labor markets during this period, but have focused almost exclusively on men's employment. This article examines changes in both women's and men's employment patterns in the post-Oslo period. It finds considerable shifts in the types of work that are available, with more educated, older men in particular gaining at the expense of youth, women, and less educated men. This, it is argued, is a function of Israeli, Palestinian, and U.S. policies. Economic ties between Israel and the Palestinian territories have been severed, to the detriment of less educated Palestinian men and women in search of employment. U.S. policies no doubt exacerbated this result, granting Jordan more favored trade status as part of the peace plan, thus contributing to the decline in the Palestinian textiles and apparel industries. The creation of a Palestinian public sector has led to some job creation, but primarily for more educated individuals, not those who were most likely to have lost their jobs in recent years.

BOOK REVIEW | Media Politics and Democracy in Palestine: Political Culture, Pluralism, and the Palestinian Authority

Media Politics and Democracy in Palestine, by Amal Jamal, provides a thorough examination of the “interdependence between institutional and cultural developments in Palestinian society” during the post-Oslo period. Relying primarily on discourse analysis, Jamal does a superb job of both describing and critiquing the institutional power structure of the Palestinian Authority (PA) between 1994 and 2000. He then goes on to investigate the effect of this regime on the emerging public sphere, ultimately exploring the relationship between the dominant political elite of the PA and social movements within Palestinian society, including NGOs, the women’s movement, and the Islamic movement. Although Jamal uses media as a common thread to connect these examples, only one chapter of the book is devoted specifically to discussing the role of the Palestinian communications regime in shaping political developments. While he provides several other examples of how media are used by different social movements, he does not produce any real thesis or conclusions about the role of media in Palestinian politics and democracy. In addition, Jamal’s focus on the 1994-2000 period may only be of interest for historical reasons since it fails to lend insight into more recent developments—the second Intifada, the death of Yasser Arafat, and the election of Hamas. These developments have arguably altered the politico-cultural scene beyond comparison. In addition, Jamal fails to adequately discuss the influence of satellite media as a major source of news and information in the Palestinian Territories. Thus, while Media Politics and Democracy in Palestine is useful as a constructive critique of the Palestinian Authority’s relationship with the public sphere in the post-Oslo period, its narrow conceptual and historical focus limits its value as a resource for practitioners and theorists interested in media politics and Palestinian democracy today.

Palestinian Political Identities during the Post-Oslo Period: A Case Study of Generation Effects in a West Bank Refugee Camp

English The first Intifada (1987-1993) split Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza Strip into two camps, one secular-nationalist, the other Islamist. The author examines the new identities that formed as a result of this split in a Bethlehem-area refugee camp. Drawing on the concepts of event as structurally transforming process, socio-political milieu, and Mannheimian generation units, he shows how the first Intifada gave rise to a generational dialectic that in turn produced new religio-political orientations. He concludes by suggesting an extension of the Mannheimian framework to take into account the dynamic effects of generation-unit tensions for collective solidarities. French Depuis la première Intifada (1987-1993), les Palestiniens se sont divisés en nationalistes et islamistes. Dans une étude d'un camp de réfugiés à Bethléem, l'auteur analyse les nouvelles identités qui sont apparues à la suite de cette division. Il explique la déstabilisation de ces identités en s'appuyant sur le concept d'événement comme processus de transformation structurelle du milieu sociopolitique et des unités générationnelles comprises au sens de Mannheim. Il montre comment la première Intifada a engendré une dialectique générationnelle, laquelle a produit des orientations religieuses et politiques nouvelles. Il termine en suggérant une extension du cadre théorique de Mannheim qui permette de prendre en compte les effets dynamiques de ces tensions dans une perspective de maintien des solidarités.

The Politics of Virtue: How Globalization Affects Peacebuilding in Israel/Palestine (1994–2000)

ABSTRACT The Oslo Peace Accords are widely regarded as having yielded particular negative socio-economic effects in and on the Palestinian territories. Indeed, the post-Oslo period (1994–2000) is dominated by the economic and political policies and prescriptions of the international donor community and its financial institutions, which tend to assume primary ownership and authorship of the peace process. This paper will explore the link between the globalizing agendas of international donors in post-Oslo Israel/Palestine and the reproduction of structural violence endemic to cultures of violence and conflict. The globalization-as-peacebuilding agenda of the post-Oslo period is shown to rearticulate the asymmetrical relationship between Israel and Palestine.

The politics of deteriorating health: the case of Palestine.

This article reviews the deteriorating health situation of the Palestinian population during the post-Oslo period of the Palestinian Authority and during the current Intifada. It seeks to record findings obtained through primary participants and documents and from personal observations in the field that situate Palestinian health conditions within their political framework. The ongoing crisis highlights longstanding problems in the Palestinian health infrastructure, which make it more vulnerable to Israeli policies, especially the movement restrictions and closures. Efforts by Palestinian professionals and the international health community to provide health services have been constantly thwarted. The Israeli authorities' disregard for Palestinian health care has escalated since 2000 and is directly responsible for a vast number of Palestinian deaths. Israel's indiscriminate obstructions to the coordinated functioning of a health care system in Palestine increase morbidity, degrade health, promote premature deaths, and damage the medical infrastructure. Moreover, the Israeli actions transgress international law and, ultimately, make peace in the region much less likely. This analysis provides further evidence of the social justice violations and the wide-ranging effects on health experienced daily by the Palestinian people as a direct result of the Israeli military occupation.

The Christian Churches of Jerusalem in the Post-Oslo Period

This article surveys the main trends in the relations of Jerusalem's historic churches with Israel and the Palestinians since the 1967 occupation and especially since Oslo. It examines the shift from cooperation with the Israeli state in the early period to a closer identification with the Palestinian nationalist position under the impact of Israeli actions and other factors, including pressures from the laity and an increasingly "Palestinianized" higher clergy, and details the growing cooperation among the churches themselves. The article ends with an examination of the various options for a future church role, especially in the light of the churches' proposal for a "special statute" for Jerusalem, and concludes that a holy places administrative regime under Palestinian sovereignty would be more likely to protect long-term Christian interests.

Invention, Memory, and Place

Over the past decade, there has been a burgeoning interest in two overlapping areas of the humanities and social sciences: memory and geography or, more specifically, the study of human space. Both of them have spawned an extraordinary amount of interesting work, work that has in effect created new fields of study and inquiry. The concern with memory, for example, has branched out to include such increasingly prevalent forms of writing as personal memoirs and autobiography, which nearly every fiction writer of note has attempted, to say nothing of the outpourings of academics, scientists, public figures, and so forth. The national fixation on recollection, confession, and witness has run the whole gamut from public confession-as in the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal-to various studies of the meaning of collective memory, extended reflection and analyses of instances of it, plus numerous chronicles embodying it. I shall have more to say about that later. In addition, and somewhat on the margins, has been a serious, sometimes bitter inquiry into the authenticity of certain memories, as well as, at the other, calmer end of the spectrum, a remarkable academic analysis of the role of invention in such matters as tradition and collective historical experience. Some examples of intense and even anguished controversy are the following: Was Anne Frank's diary really hers, or was it so altered by publishers, members of her family, or others in its published form so as to conceal the disturbances in her domestic life? In Europe there has been a great and often acerbic debate over the meaning of the Holocaust, with a whole range of opinions as to what happened, why it happened, and

De-development Revisited: Palestinian Economy and Society Since Oslo

The years since the Oslo agreement have seen a marked deterioration in Palestinian economic life and an accelerated de-development process. The key features of this process have been heightened by the effects of closure, the defining economic feature of the post-Oslo period. Among its results are enclavization, seen in the physical separation of the West Bank and Gaza; the weakening of economic relations between the Palestinian and Israeli economies; and growing divisions within the Palestinian labor market, with the related, emerging pattern of economic autarky. In the circumstances described, the prospects for sustained economic development are nonexistent and will remain so as long as closure continues.

Searching for Answers: Gaza's Suicide Bombers

This article focuses on two young men from Gaza's al-Shati refugee camp who were among the first Palestinians to "martyr" themselves in suicide attacks against Israeli soldiers following the Oslo agreement. The story of the two friends, culled from conversations with their families, neighbors, and friends, traces a common itinerary from early Fatah militancy and intifada activism through progressive disillusionment with the peace process toward withdrawal into radical Islam. In the course of the author's inquiry, a window on life in Gaza in the post-Oslo period emerges.