CIAO DATE: 09/2012
Volume: 39, Issue: 2
Winter 2010
From the Editor (PDF)
Rashid I. Khalidi
IN THIS ISSUE, JPS addresses many elements of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestine question that appeared to be immutable certainties but have recently come into question. One such element is the feasibility, and indeed the desirability, of a two-state resolution to the conflict. Many of those who feel that such an outcome is desirable have come to the conclusion that it has been rendered moot by Israel’s ceaseless creation of facts on the ground in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. This growth of new thinking about Palestine and Israel is reflected in this issue’s Open Forum section, which contains two pieces, one by a Swedish diplomat and another by an Israeli academic, that offer new alternatives and modifications to the well-known one- and two-state models for a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
From Law and Order to Pacification: Britain's Suppression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936-39 (PDF)
Matthew Hughes
This article examines British human rights abuses against noncombatants during the 1936–39 Arab Revolt in Palestine, contextualizing brutality in Palestine within British military practice and law for dealing with colonial rebellions in force at the time. It shows that the norms for such operations, and the laws that codified military actions, allowed for some level of systemic, systematic brutality in the form of “collective punishments” and “reprisals” by the British army. The article also details the effects of military actions on Palestinian civilians and rebels and describes torture carried out by the British on Palestinians. Finally, it highlights a methodological problem in examining these sorts of abuses: the paucity of official records and the mismatch between official and unofficial accounts of abuse during counterinsurgency.
Reflections on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in U.S. Public Discourse: Legitimizing Dissent (PDF)
Sara Roy
This essay argues that the climate of intimidation and fear surrounding a more critical discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the United States has begun to change. Despite the obstacles that still remain, a counterdiscourse challenging dominant conceptualizations and understandings of the conflict, particularly Israel’s role, has not only emerged but also gained growing legitimacy and weight. These changes can be found in academia (at all levels of the educational hierarchy), civil society, and policy circles. Some of the most dramatic changes have occurred within the U.S. Jewish community in which an oppositional movement—in part, generational—has grown increasingly strong and well organized, ending any notion of a Jewish consensus on Israel
One Land, Two States? Parallel States as an Example of "Out of the Box" Thinking on Israel/Palestine (PDF)
Mathias Mossberg
JPS has always sought to provide a forum for discussion and productive debate on emerging trends in thought regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict and its peaceful resolution. It is in this light that JPS offers the following two pieces, without comment or endorsement, in the hope that they might inspire serious academic discussion, perhaps even within the pages of JPS. The editors welcome responses (they may be sent to jps@palestine-studies.org), although for space reasons we cannot guarantee that all of them will be published.
The Israeli-Palestinian Union: The "1-2-7 States" Vision of the Future (PDF)
Lev Grinberg
JPS has always sought to provide a forum for discussion and productive debate on emerging trends in thought regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict and its peaceful resolution.It is in this light that JPS offers the following two pieces, without comment or endorsement, in the hope that they might inspire serious academic discussion, perhaps even within the pages of JPS. The editors welcome responses (they may be sent to jps@palestine-studies.org), although for space reasons we cannot guarantee that all of them will be published.
"Quo Vadis Israel?" The Second IPS-Mansour Armaly MESA Conference Panel, 2009 (PDF)
This November, the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) was privileged to host the second IPS–Mansour Armaly panel on Palestine at the annual conference of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) held in Boston. Dr. Armaly (1927–2005) was a world renowned pioneer in the treatment of glaucoma; according to the Archives of Ophthalmology, he “substantially changed the way glaucoma is conceptualized, evaluated and treated,” with his contributions having become “such an integral part of medical practice that their revolutionary nature may no longer be apparent.” Though the recipient of the medical field’s highest honors, he never forgot his roots in Shafa ‘Amr, Palestine. In the last few years of his life, he was the chairman of the Friends of the Institute for Palestine Studies. Dr. Armaly’s family decided to honor his commitment to Palestine through these panels. This year’s panel, planned in the wake of Israel’s December 2008–January 2009 Operation Cast Lead against the Gaza Strip, elected to look at Israel from various perspectives at what appears to be a pivotal moment in its history. More specifically, the panel proposed to explore various aspects of the Israeli society and polity, and their intersection with recent developments, in order to shed light on future directions. Though the topics addressed by the four panelists were diverse—Israeli political and legal discourse, its national security doctrine, the Palestinian factor in Israeli decision making, and the Jewish question at the current juncture—all revealed to a greater or lesser extent the existence of a deep crisis simmering below the surface of Israeli society. The panel was chaired by Nadim Rouhana, professor of international negotiation and conflict studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. The following are summaries of the four presentations.
The Goldstone Report: Excerpts and Responces (PDF)
Whatever the ultimate fate of the Goldstone report’s recommendations, the report itself, in the fierce emotions and controversy it has unleashed, will stand as a fitting coda to the event it investigates. Operation Cast Lead (OCL), Israel’s military assault on the Gaza Strip launched 27 December 2008 with the avowed intention of stopping Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel, left some 1,400 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and 13 Israelis (including 3 civilians) dead. In the weeks and months that followed the operation’s end on 18 January 2009, numerous human rights organizations published investigations of violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the conflict, principally on the Israeli side, but none was awaited with such anticipation or attracted such attention as the report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, otherwise known as the Goldstone report.
Elizabeth Faier
Mixed Towns, Trapped Communities: Historical Narratives, Spatial Dynamics, Gender Relations and Cultural Encounters in Palestinian-Israeli Towns, edited by Daniel Monterescu and Dan Rabinowitz. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2007. viii + 311 pages. Index to p. 327. $124.95 cloth. Elizabeth Faier, an independent scholar formerly with the University of Richmond and Zayed University, is the author of Organizations, Gender, and the Culture of Palestinian Activism in Haifa (Routledge, 2004), and with Rebecca Torstrick of Cultures and Customs of the Arab Gulf States (Greenwood, 2009).
Yacobi: The Jewish-Arab City: Spatio-Politics in a Mixed Community (PDF)
Nimer Sultany
The Jewish-Arab City: Spatio-Politics in a Mixed Community, by Haim Yacobi. New York: Routledge, 2009. xi + 118 pages. Notes to p. 121. Bibliography to p. 140. Index to p. 148. $140.00 cloth. Nimer Sultany is a doctoral candidate at Harvard Law School.
Seward: Jerusalem's Traitor: Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Judea (PDF)
Keith W. Whitelam
Jerusalem's Traitor: Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Judea, by Desmond Seward. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2009. xvi + 275 pages. Notes to p. 291. Select Bibliography to p. 300. Index to p. 314. $28.00 cloth. Keith W. Whitelam is emeritus professor of biblical studies at the University of Sheffield, U.K.
Schanzer: Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine (PDF)
Khaled Hroub
Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine, by Jonathan Schanzer. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. x + 197 pages. References to p. 235. Index to p. 239. $27.00 cloth. Khaled Hroub, director of the Cambridge Arab Media Project, Cambridge University, is the author of Hamas: A Beginner's Guide (Pluto Press, 2006) and Hamas: Political Thought and Practice (Institute for Palestine Studies, 2000).
Azani: Hezbollah: The Story of the Party of God: From Revolution to Institutionalization (PDF)
Kristian P. Alexander
Hezbollah: The Story of the Party of God; From Revolution to Institutionalization, by Eitan Azani. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xix + 248 pages. Notes to p. 285. Bibliography to p. 290. Index to p. 293. $95.00 cloth. Kristian P. Alexander is assistant professor at the College of Arts & Sciences, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Hoffman: My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet's Life in the Palestinian Century (PDF)
Khaled Furani
My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet’s Life in the Palestinian Century, by Adina Hoffman. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2009. vii + 405 pages. List of Illustrations to p. 409. Notes to p. 442. Acknowledgments to p. 445. Index to p. 447. $27.50 cloth; $20.00 paper. Khaled Furani is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University.
Laidi-Hanieh: Palestine, rien ne nous manque ici (PDF)
Sarah A. Rogers
Palestine: Rien Ne Nous Manque Ici, edited by Adila Laïdi-Hanieh. Paris: Editions Cercle d’Art, 2008. 374 pages. n.p. Sarah A. Rogers works on modern and contemporary art of the Arab world and is a 2009 Terra Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution.
Isaksen: Literature and War: Conversations with Israeli and Palestinian Writers (PDF)
Lital Levy
Literature and War: Conversations with Israeli and Palestinian Writers, by Runo Isaksen, translated by Kari Dickson. Northampton, MA: Olive Branch Press, 2009. 224 pages. Biographical notes to p. 212. Bibliography to p. 222. $18.00 paper. Lital Levy, assistant professor of comparative literature at Princeton University, works on modern Hebrew and Arabic literature and specializes in writings from Israel/Palestine.
Arab Views (cartoons from al-Hayat) (PDF)
This section aims to give readers a glimpse of how the Arab world views current events that affect Palestinians and the Arab-Israeli conflict by presenting a selection of cartoons from al-Hayat, the most widely distributed mainstream daily in the Arab world. JPS is grateful to al-Hayat for permission to reprint its material.
Selections from the Press (PDF)
This section includes articles and news items, mainly from Israeli but also from international press sources, that provide insightful or illuminating perspectives on events, developments, or trends in Israel and the occupied territories not readily available in the mainstream U.S. media.
Photos from the Quarter (PDF)
This small sample of photos, selected from hundreds viewed by JPS, aims to convey a sense of the situation on the ground in the occupied territories during the quarter.
Quarterly Update on Conflict and Diplomacy (PDF)
Sasha Heroy
The Quarterly Update is a summary of bilateral, multilateral, regional, and international events affecting the Palestinians and the future of the peace process. More than 100 print, wire, television, and online sources providing U.S., Israeli, Arab, and international independent and government coverage of unfolding events are surveyed to compile the Quarterly Update. The most relevant sources are cited in JPS's Chronology section, which tracks events day by day.
Settlement Monitor (PDF)
Geoffrey Aronson
This section covers items—reprinted articles, statistics, and maps—pertaining to Israeli settlement activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Unless otherwise stated, the items have been written by Geoffrey Aronson for this section or drawn from material written by him for Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories (hereinafter Settlement Report), a Washington-based bimonthly newsletter published by the Foundation for Middle East Peace. JPS is grateful to the foundation for permission to draw on its material.
A1. The Geneva Initiative, Security Annex to the Geneva Accord, Geneva, 15 September 2009 (excerpts) (PDF)
On 15 September 2009, the private Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative known as the Geneva Initiative published 13 detailed annexes to the Geneva Accord, the draft framework for a nal status agreement between Israelis and Palestinians unveiled in 2003. The Geneva Initiative was launched by former Israeli justice minister Yossi Beilin and then Palestinian Authority (PA) minister Yasir Abid Rabbuh in their private capacities in 2001. The original accord, while immediately rejected by then Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, was met with considerable international backing, but never formed the basis of any ofcial negotiations.
For the first time in nearly two decades, the IAEA passed a resolutionin September 2009 expressing concern about Israeli nuclear capabilities and urging Israel to accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Israel is one of three countries in the world (India and Pakistan being the other two) that have not signed the NPT.
The OECD opened membership discussions with Israel in May 2007, and in November of that year approved a road map for accession involving a process of review by a number of OECD committees, including the Employment, Labor, and Social Affairs Committee for which this report was written. While Israels admission, which ultimately requires the approval of all member states, is expected to be voted on in May 2010, OECD ofcials never committed to an ofcial deadline.
This 112-page report by human rights NGO Amnesty International examines the main patterns and trends affecting Palestinians access to water in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, highlighting the extent to which Israels discriminatory policies affect their rights in this area. Parts of the report not reproduced here include detailed chapters on the water resources available in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), the water crisis in Gaza, water-related expulsions of Palestinians, the effects of military attacks on water resources, and Palestinian mismanagement of water resources.
The following report, covering the period from September 2008 to August 2009 and submitted to the UN General Assembly, provides an overview of key aspects of the humanitarian and human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, such as the Israeli blockade on Gaza, the firing of rockets against Israeli civilian areas, restrictions on freedom of movement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and house demolitions and forced displacement in area C and East Jerusalem. The excerpts below focus on Palestinian child prisoners in Israel.The full 15-page report, titled "Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Includ- ing East Jerusalem," can be found online at www.unispal.un.org. Footnotes have been omitted for space considerations.
The International Crisis Group's (ICG) 39-page report in the wake of Fatahs 6th General Conference examines the state and future of the movement, focusing on the role played by the conference, the changes it brought, and the challenges Fatah still faces in its quest for internal reform.
B1. Five Points of Clarification on the Fatah Political Program, Ramallah, 16-19 October 2009 (PDF)
A major question in developing Fatahs political program at the sixth General Conference, which took place in Aug 2009, was how to treat Fatahs historical commitment to armed struggle.
While Prince Turki al-Faisal currently holds no high government ofce (he is a former director of Saudi Arabias intelligence services and a former ambassador to the United States, and now heads the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh. The United States and other Western powers have for some time been pushing Saudi Arabia to make more gestures toward Israel.
C1. PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Speech to the UN General Assembly, New York, 24 September 2009 (excerpts) (PDF)
Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before the UN General Assembly condemned Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejads statement delivered to the same assembly the day before and called on the international community to thwart the Iranian regimes alleged quest for nuclear weapons.
C2. B'Tselem and HaMoked, The Internment of Unlawful Combatants, Jerusalem, October 2009 (excerpts) (PDF)
An 80-page report by two Israeli human rights NGOs is offered. The report provides a detailed overview, accompanied by illustrative cases, of administrative detention of Palestinians in Israel under three different laws.
Excerpts from a summary of a 45-page study in Hebrew conducted by Ono Academic College, an Israeli university known for relatively high enrollments of ultra-Orthodox Israelis, are offered. They examine the presence of Israelis of Ethiopian descent, Israeli Arabs, and ultra-Orthodox Israelis in quality professions in Israel capital markets; banks; advertising, media, law, and accounting rms; and the public sector.
Pres Obama's first speech before the UN General Assembly laid out four pillars of international diplomacy: nonproliferation and disarmament; peace and security promotion, in which he addressed the Arab-Israeli conflict; ecological preservation; and the global economy.
Since 1999, the State Departments Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor has submitted an annual International Religious Freedom reportto Congress. Excerpts are offered.
Chronology: 16 August - 15 November 2009 (PDF)
Sasha Heroy
This section is part of a chronology begun in JPS 13, no. 3 (Spring 1984). Chronology dates reflect Eastern Standard Time (EST). For a more comprehensive overview of events related to the al-Aqsa intifada and of regional and international developments related to the peace process, see the Quarterly Update on Conflict and Diplomacy in this issue.
Bibliography of Periodical Literature (PDF)
Norbert Scholz
This section lists articles and reviews of books relevant to Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Entries are classified under the following headings: Reference and General; History (through 1948) and Geography; Palestinian Politics and Society; Jerusalem; Israeli Politics, Society, and Zionism; Arab and Middle Eastern Politics; International Relations; Law; Military; Economy, Society, and Education; Literature, Arts, and Culture; Book Reviews; and Reports Received.