CIAO DATE: 01/2011
Volume: 40, Issue: 1
Autumn 2010
The Mavi Marmara at the Frontlines of Web 2.0 (PDF)
Diana Allan, Curtis Brown
Within hours of Israeli commandos’ deadly raid on 31 May 2010 on the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish aid ship attempting to break the siege of Gaza as part of a six-ship Freedom Flotilla, the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) official public relations (PR) and media body had uploaded a series of videos of the attack on the flotilla to YouTube. Edited from footage confiscated from professional journalists, pro-Palestinian activists, CCTV cameras onboard, and IDF surveillance, these videos shaped the U.S. media’s understanding of the raid. While the journalists and activists were held incommunicado for days, Israel used the media blackout to present its narrative, justifying the killing of civilian activists by claiming that soldiers were forced to open fire in self-defense. The video footage, we were told, spoke for itself. One clip, “Demonstrators Use Violence against Israeli Navy Soldiers Attempting to Board Ship,” presented a low-resolution aerial view of the melee on deck, looking like an anthill after a stick has been rammed into it.1 Whatever else this video evidence does, it doesn’t speak for itself; rather, the IDF speaks for it. “Tens of rioters hit an IDF soldier and try to kidnap him,” reads one caption. “Stun grenade thrown at soldiers,” reads another, but it is impossible to make out visually who is throwing what toward whom. Another clip clearly shows rappelling IDF soldiers being beaten (and in one case, thrown from the ship’s upper deck), but as the low-resolution fragment is soundless, with its time code removed, there is no way to determine its place in the sequence of the raid, nor—crucially—whether soldiers at that point had already begun shooting passengers. In the pixilated murk and panicky commotion, we were asked to see clear evidence of premeditation and initiation of violence on the part of the activists onboard.
From the Editor (PDF)
Rashid I. Khalidi
The Israeli-Palesti nian conflict has increasingly been defined in terms of the resolution of the question of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967: East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. This purposely short-sighted focus neglects two facts: that the conflict commenced well before 1967, and that the majority of Palestinians live outside these areas. Thus, most discussions of a resolution of the conflict ignore the interests and rights of the 1.5 million Palestinians who live inside the State of Israel and who are vitally affected by issues like the demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Moreover, a majority of Palestinians live outside the boundaries of British Mandatory Palestine. Their interests and rights are similarly overlooked by the ill-informed and illintentioned policy discourse prevalent in the United States and Europe that maintains that the right of return and full compensation for Palestinians made refugees in 1948, most of whom live in the diaspora, is “impossible.” This position is advanced essentially because the alternative would be inconvenient for Israel, which bears the largest share of the responsibility for their expulsion and dispossession in 1948 and which continues to benefit from both acts.
UNRWA and the Refugees: A Difficult but Lasting Marriage
Jalal Al Husseini
Over the last sixty years, UNRWA’s relationship to the Palestinian refugees it serves has undergone profound changes. Faced with the difficult task of adapting a humanitarian regime to a highly politicized environment, the agency has had to thread its way through the diverse and sometimes conflicting expectations of the international donor states, the Arab host countries, and the refugees themselves, who from the start were deeply suspicious of UNRWA’s mandate as inimical to the right of return. Against this background, the article traces the evolution of the agency’s role from service and relief provider to virtual mouthpiece for the refugees on the international stage and, on an administrative level, from a disciplinary regime to emphasis on community participation and finally to the embrace of a developmental agenda. Although UNRWA’s presence, originally seen as temporary, seems likely to endure, the article argues that financial and political constraints are likely to thwart its new agenda. SINCE BEGINNING OPERATIONS in May 1950, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has emerged as the main stakeholder in the Palestinian refugee issue. The traditional provider of education, medical care, relief, and social services to the Palestine refugees (today numbering almost 5 million in UNRWA’s five fields of operation), it has more recently assumed new responsibilities in infrastructure and camp improvement. As the only existing UN agency created to serve a single national refugee population, its main institutional specificity lies in its unparalleled exposure to that population, with the vast majority of its local staff being refugees themselves. UNRWA’s close proximity to Palestinian refugee society has lent itself to controversial and contradictory assessments. On the one hand, it has enabled its staff to adapt efficiently to the refugees’ evolving needs and made for impressive operational achievements, including the spread of literacy throughout the entire refugee population, the absence of epidemics, quick responses to emergency situations, and vocational and other training for tens of thousands of refugees. In so doing, it has actively helped “prevent conditions of starvation and distress among refugees and to further conditions of peace and stability” in the Middle East. On the other hand, this very proximity has led to charges, especially in the United States and Israel, that the agency has become hostage to the refugees’ political claims, thus contributing to perpetuating the problem. UNRWA’s constant efforts to guarantee the politically neutral nature of its activities while adjusting its mandate in keeping with the refugees’ changing needs and aspirations have been a defining characteristic of its sixty years in operation. Over the years, it has gradually endeavored to promote the refugees’ self-reliance either as actors integrated into the host economies or as partners in the delivery of various services, particularly in the refugee camps. More recently, expanding this participatory emphasis, it has started to apply a human development approach to the full range of its activities as a means of helping the refugees achieve their full potential. UNRWA’s programs, as well as the operational norms and regulations it has adopted in order to structure its working relations with the refugees, have been greatly affected by its evolving perceptions of them, as will be seen below. THE POLITICAL LIMITATIONS OF ECONOMIC APPROACHES TO THE REFUGEE ISSUE UNRWA’s approach to the Palestine refugees long bore the stamp of the first phase of its operations in the 1950s, when it endeavored to fulfill the goals ascribed to it by UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949. Article 7 states that UNRWA was to “carry out in collaboration with local governments the direct relief and works programs as recommended by the Economic Survey Mission (ESM).” The ESM’s recommendations involved giving the refugees, mostly unemployed farmers and unskilled workers, the opportunity to work “where they were” by involving them in a program of temporary small-scale public works (terracing, afforestation, road construction, irrigation works, and other engineering schemes) that would help them become self-reliant. This program, fully funded by UNWRA, was to constitute a first step toward their “reintegration” into the host state economies, according to the ESM; their longer-term integration required large-scale economic development schemes that could only be borne by the interested governments themselves. In the meantime, UNRWA was to consult with these governments “concerning measures to be taken by them preparatory to the time when international assistance for relief and works projects is no longer available.” As early as mid-1951, UNWRA had shifted to a new approach, emphasizing more ambitious development schemes designed in cooperation with the host governments to directly “resettle” or “re-establish” the refugees in those countries. This would be achieved by expanding the latter’s absorptive capacity through various medium- to large-scale housing, agricultural, and infrastructural projects; loans or grants for the establishment of small enterprises; training for occupations where there was a shortage of indigenous trained workers; and assistance for migration abroad. By 1957, however, the failure of the approach was clear: the number of refugees who had become fully self-supportive since 1950 stood at a mere 24,000, whereas 933,000 persons were still dependent on UNRWA services
(In)Security and Reconstruction in Post-conflict Nahr al-Barid Refugee Cam
Ismael Sheikh Hassan, Sari Hanafi
This article examines the intersection of the Lebanese state’s post-conflict security policy in Nahr al-Barid refugee camp and the reconstruction of the camp, which was destroyed in a battle between the Lebanese army and the militant group Fatah al-Islam. The significance of the government’s security focus derives from its intention to make Nahr al-Barid a “model” for all the other camps in the country. After discussing the Lebanese security context, the characteristics of the pre-conflict camp, the arrival of Fatah al-Islam, and the ensuing battle, the authors focus on the urban planning process for a reconstructed Nahr al-Barid, highlighting both the state’s militarization of the process and the local grassroots planning initiative which, in partnership with UNRWA, managed to secure some concessions. Also analyzed is the government plan submitted to donors, which conceives of “governance” as community policing without addressing the status of the Palestinians in Lebanon. IN THE SUMMER OF 2007, the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Barid, the second largest of the fourteen United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) camps in Lebanon, was totally demolished. This was a result of a battle between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam, an Islamist fundamentalist group, predominantly foreign, that had implanted itself in the camp only six months earlier. After its destruction, the camp remained a strict militarized zone, imposing additional hardship on a post-disaster community of refugees struggling to rebuild their lives. Various security-based projects and policies affecting the camp’s urban form, governance structure, and legal status that were planned, negotiated, or approved by the Lebanese government signaled a new era in Lebanese-refugee relations. With the events of Nahr al-Barid, the Lebanese state entered the realm of the camp, and security concerns and practices assumed new forms that would potentially affect the future lives of Palestinian refugees in all Lebanon. The camp remains a military zone to this day. More importantly, the Lebanese government’s plan to make Nahr al-Barid a security model for the other Palestinian refugee camps in the country brings the issue of security more urgently to the forefront of the debate about Palestinians in Lebanon. Nahr al-Barid also fits into a wider security discussion relating to Palestinians in the host countries in the context of the “war against terror,” with issues relating to the status of camps becoming intertwined with the correlative themes of good governance, refugee rights, human security, and integration for the benefit of international donors and development agencies, even as policies on the ground disregard and sometimes contradict these concepts. This article is based on two years of fieldwork and action research in Nahr al-Barid camp. Our involvement included participation in local community post-conflict initiatives, in-depth interviews with Nahr al-Barid residents and community leaders, and up-close observation of various Palestinian and Lebanese actors in the reconstruction planning process. Our aim is to contribute to the debate on the role of “security” in dictating state policy and actions during and after the battle. The fact that government policies are still in flux makes reflection and debate on these events all the more urgent. CONTEXTUALIZING SECURITY WITHIN PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMPS A variety of themes and discourses at the local, regional, and global level intertwine as a backdrop to a discussion of the heightened security measures for Palestinian refugee camps in general and Nahr al-Barid in particular. One of these is the state’s traditional fear of refugees as a potentially threatening and disruptive political force. Ironically, this fear—and the security measures it engenders—is shared by those who produced the refugee problem and the host states that suffered its consequences; indeed, some disturbing parallels have been drawn, mutatis mutandi, between measures against Palestinians enacted by Israel and Arab states in the name of security. Thus, whereas historically the violent conflicts between the Palestinian movement and various Arab regimes were attributed to ideological differences and power struggles, the current situation seems to be heading in new directions. Today, what has become a seemingly universal obsession with security and fighting terror increasingly infiltrates Arab slogans to validate various practices against Palestinian camps and neighborhoods (not to mention against their own citizens). These practices affecting citizens/refugees and cities/camps alike are empowered by largely uncritical international military, financial, and political support for the “war on terror.” As a result, massive urban destruction has been wreaked on densely populated communities with scant consideration for civilian populations, with the suspension of civil liberties and imposition of siege now standard procedures validated by security-based arguments for Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Jenin/Nablus in the West Bank (2002), Lebanon (2006), Nahr al-Barid (2007), Gaza (2008), and Yemen (2009).
In the Ruins of Nahr al-Barid: Understanding the Meaning of the Camp
Adam Ramadan
The destruction of Nahr al-Barid camp in Lebanon in 2007 was a disaster for the 35,000 people for whom it had become home. To understand what was lost, this article explores what the refugee camp is and what it does, materially and imaginatively, for its residents. Drawing on the words of ordinary Palestinians from Nahr al-Barid and Rashidiyya camps, it describes how the camps are social, cultural, and political refuges from marginalization in exile. While the camps draw meaning from a particular Palestinian time-space that emphasizes displacement and transience, they have also become meaningful places in themselves. Consequently, the loss of Nahr al-Barid and the displacement of its society have been understood as a repetition of the foundational experience of the modern Palestinian nation: the Nakba. IN TRYING TO PORTRAY the disturbed and discontinuous nature of Palestinian existence, Edward Said wrote that Palestinians in exile do not really live, but “linger in nondescript places, neither here nor there.” From this perspective, life in exile is a kind of meaningless purgatory through which Palestinians must pass before the promised future return. Time is privileged over space, and the present comes to be seen as a temporary transition between a meaningful past and a hopeful future. In contrast to Said’s claim, I would argue that the refugee camps in which so many Palestinians live are neither meaningless nor nondescript. They may be temporary spaces in which Palestinian refugees await their right to return, but they have nevertheless become imbued with meaning and significance over decades of Palestinian habitation and place making. As I argue in this essay, the meaning and importance of a camp is perhaps never clearer than when the camp is viewed through the prism of loss. Between May and October 2007, a new chapter was written in the story of the Palestinian people. Nahr al-Barid, a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon home to 35,000 people, was totally demolished first by a 104-day military conflict between two non-Palestinian sides, and then through the actions of the victorious Lebanese army: looting, arson, and vandalism. Nahr al-Barid’s destruction resumed a sequence of erasure of Palestinian camps in Lebanon dating back over three decades to the destruction of Nabatiyya, Tal al-Za`atar, Dikwaneh, and Jisr al-Basha camps in the early years of the 1975–1990 civil war. The Palestinians of Nahr al-Barid were displaced to Biddawi camp and further afield, staying with friends, relatives, and acquaintances, or sheltering in garages, storerooms, and improvised shelters. With the camp destroyed and the Lebanese army refusing to allow people back, the prospect of a quick return faded into a prolonged and uncertain displacement. In order to understand what, besides buildings and property, was destroyed in Nahr al-Barid, it is necessary to ask what a refugee camp is and—more importantly—what it does, both materially and imaginatively, for its Palestinian residents. In this article, I explore how Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon act as social, cultural, and political refuges from marginalization in exile. I do this by looking at two camps: the destroyed Nahr al-Barid in the north and the still “thriving” Rashidiyya in the south. Using 128 semistructured, qualitative interviews conducted with residents of the two camps in 2007 and 2008, I show how the camps draw meaning from a particular Palestinian time-space, which emphasizes displacement and transience, while at the same time becoming meaningful places in themselves. In these interviews, I asked people about life in the camp, the advantages and disadvantages of living there, what the camp means to them, and prospects for the future. Rashidiyya and Nahr al-Barid are quite different places politically, economically, and socially, but my intention here is not a straight comparison between the two. Rather, I have juxtaposed opinions and quotations from residents of the two camps: the residents of Rashidiyya talking of what they have, those of Nahr al-Barid talking of what they have lost. My aim was to understand what the camps mean and do for Palestinian refugees living a marginalized existence in Lebanon. THE PRESENT AS TRANSIENT A refugee camp can be defined as a temporary humanitarian space, usually set up by international humanitarian agencies and designed to meet the basic human needs of displaced people, including shelter, protection, and short-term relief. Palestinian refugee camps have these basic functions, and Palestinians receive relief, welfare, and social services provided by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Palestinian political factions, and various Palestinian and international NGOs, charities, and other groups. In the course of six decades, however, the camps have developed into seemingly permanent features of the landscapes of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, and Gaza. Over the years, the inhabitants themselves replaced their tents first with corrugated iron and then with brick and concrete, and the camps became like small cities. As the built environment was assembled into something more permanent, the slow accumulation of experiences and memories, births and deaths, built up a sense of place and meaning. Alongside the networks of formal institutional support, myriad informal social relations among camp individuals and families formed channels through which help and support are given and received. As much as the material fabric of buildings and streets, these relations between people and institutions constitute the space of the camp, creating a place of refuge from the bewildering disorientation and insecurity of exile.
Inside the Christians United for Israel Summit in Washington, D.C., 20-22 July 2010
Alice Bach
A biblical scholar attends the fifth annual summit of the Christians United for Israel, held in Washington, D.C., from 20 to 22 July 2010, and casts a critical eye on its proceedings, politics, and use of scripture. IT WAS ONE OF the hottest days of the summer. I was walking down K Street toward the Washington Convention Center to attend the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) 2010 summit. Founded in 2006, CUFI after only five years is the largest Christian pro-Israel organization in the United States and is running neck and neck with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in terms of membership. After constant programming in churches and hotel banquet halls, regionally and nationally, it has become a powerful political entity that now claims 428,000 members, holds some 40 events per month nationwide, and boasts a growing network on college campuses, not to mention Hispanic and African American outreach programs. CUFI’s financing and budget are difficult to trace, although its gifts to settlements, particularly the $6 million (CUFI’s figure) to the settlement of Ariel, are widely publicized to indicate the organization’s deep commitment to the expansion of the State of Israel. Over the past year, I had begun to suspect that this group was not just fodder for progressive blogs, so to find out about CUFI and its charismatic founder, preacher, and CEO, John C. Hagee, I came to Washington, D.C., from 20 to 22 July 2010 to attend its fifth annual summit. Passing a Jews for Jesus van illegally parked in front of the convention center, I realized that now was the time to suppress my impulses as a religion professor who has to tell her undergraduates that there is scant historical evidence to support the narratives in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, and Judges, and not more than an inscription or two for the life of King David. Especially, I wanted to avoid the fate of Max Blumenthal, a well-known monitor of CUFI publications and radio shows who has covered the Christian right for nearly a decade and who was thrown out of the 2007 CUFI summit on the very first day. He had seen enough, however, to write that he had “never witnessed any spectacle as politically extreme, outrageous, or bizarre as the one Christians United for Israel produced last week in Washington.” ARISE AND GO TO NINEVEH Inside the blessedly air-conditioned convention center, I walked up to the uniformed guards armed with airport-like security equipment. “Your bag please,” one uniform said politely while another stepped forward and wanded me. I passed, got my bag back, and was handed over to two smiling young women who showed me where to register and wished me a “blessed day.” Five people were set up to provide us with registration packets. There were no lines of impatient people. I handed the woman tagged “Rosie” my acceptance letter and she slipped the bar code under an OCR reader. Smiling, she pointed to a large printer behind her. “We’ll have you set in just a minute, Alice. Here is your packet, with all the study materials you will need to get up to CUFI speed!” The bulging packet also contained a complete spiral-bound list of political Washington: descriptions and all-important addresses and phone numbers of all members of Congress, the top administrators of the executive branch, and other assorted Washington pols. There were bumper stickers, tickets to the Holocaust Museum and a map showing how to get there, lists of restaurants, and advertisements for the publications of Pastor Hagee. Rosie tapped the packet. “Now you be sure to watch the DVD from Zion Oil. It might just change your life.” As it turned out, Zion Oil and Gas, Inc. was not discussed in any of the conference plenaries or breakout sessions. But delegates, especially those from Texas, knew all about the company and some had even invested in it as a kind of protection for Israel. As a Christian Zionist and New Covenant believer, John Brown, founder and chairman of Zion Oil and Gas, had received the calling to help the nation of Israel restore the land by providing the oil and gas necessary for maintaining political and economic independence. His testament and vision statement appeared on the cover of the Zion Oil and Gas packages that the Texas delegates were only too glad to share
Tamari: Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture (PDF)
Ellen Fleischmann
UNFULFILLED MODERNITY Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture, by Salim Tamari. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009. xi + 189 pages. Notes to p. 214. Bibliography to p. 222. Index to p. 237. $34.95 hard. Reviewed by Ellen Fleischmann Salim Tamari, professor of sociology at Birzeit University and the director of the Institute of Jerusalem Studies, has produced an erudite, entertaining, and engrossing study of Palestinian society and culture. More than once in the text, he admiringly describes educator Khalil Sakakini’s “crisp” writing in Arabic (p. 2). In this volume of essays, many of which have been previously published, Tamari often writes pretty “crisply” himself, honing in on themes that define Palestinian history, social fabric, and experience. He is concerned, above all, with modernity, and the elements that have contributed to the making of an “unfulfilled” (p. 3) Palestinian modernity. Situating Palestinian urban life, society, intelligentsia, and culture within an eastern Mediterranean context, he examines how Palestine fit into this milieu, yet, ultimately was “set[] apart,” due to its being “forcibly separated from that context” (p. 4) in 1917. Although most of the essays are historical or have a strong historical bent, they also include material on contemporary Palestinian society, integrating it within its historical background and tracing historical influences that have shaped contemporary phenomena. The book showcases a valuable and rich treasure trove of Palestinian historical and literary material, including personal memoirs and diaries produced by an interestingly diverse sample of Palestinian intellectuals from the late Ottoman period. Tamari, in collaboration with other scholars such as Issam Nassar, has performed a real service in recovering, publishing, and utilizing this material.
Zeitoun: Power and Water in the Middle East: The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian-Israeli Water Conflict
Jan Selby
Power and Water in the Middle East: The Hidden Politics of the Palestinian- Israeli Water Conflict, by Mark Zeitoun. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2008. xvi + 164 pages. Appendices to p. 178. Notes to p. 190. Bibliography to p. 208. Index p. 214. $89.00 cloth.
Kattan: From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1891-1949
Diana Buttu
From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Confict, 1891–1949, by Victor Kattan with foreword by Richard Falk. New York and London: Pluto Press, 2009. ix + 261 pages. References to p. 367. Select bibliography to p. 387. List of individuals to p. 395. Glossary to p. 402. Index to p. 416. $54.95 paper; $149.50 cloth.
Becker: Palestine, Israel, and the U.S. Empire (PDF)
Joel Kovel
Richard Becker’s Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire is a succinct yet ambitious study of the conquest of Palestine eventuating in the formation of the State of Israel, and of the history of Palestinian resistance to this development. The narrative covers the whole twentieth century and extends to the present, and its point of view is strongly pro-Palestinian and politically alert. Its chief merit is an uncompromising look at the potent role played by U.S. imperialism in the history and behavior of the State of Israel. This is refreshingly different from customary views of the Jewish state that regard Zionism and its triumph in Palestine through the lens of Jewish history and abstract from the great power relations that necessarily condition the fortunes of a settler-colonial society like Israel. I have already endorsed Becker’s book for this reason. But I had to set aside some qualms in doing so; and while I would not change my overall assessment, I welcome this opportunity to correct the balance.
Feingold: Jewish Power in America: Myth and Reality
Lenni Brenner
Jewish Power in America: Myth and Reality, by Henry L. Feingold. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2008, xiv + 159 pages. Index to p. 164. $39.95 cloth.
Breitman, McDonald Stewart, and Hochberg: Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald 1935-1945
Michael Fischbach
Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald 1935–1945, edited by Richard Breitman, Barbara McDonald Stewart, and Severin Hochberg. Published in association with the United States Holocaust Museum, Washington, D.C. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2009. x + 338 pages. Index to p. 359. $29.95 cloth.
Grondahl: Gaza Graffiti: Messages of Love and Politics (PDF)
Toufic Haddad
Swedish photojournalist Mia Gröndahl complements her thirty-year history of documenting the Palestinian experience in this beautiful, illustrated book exploring the rich and colorful world of Gaza’s graffiti. But this work is more than just a collection of images suitable as a gift for urban art aficionados. It equally provides insightful commentary on Gaza’s graffiti culture and the society that produced it, demonstrating the acumen of a veteran investigative journalist. Images and commentary combine to guide readers into a world they would otherwise have little exposure to, allowing them to assess Gaza’s graffiti both as free-standing works of art and as objects of propaganda.
Salaita: The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan
Sinan Antoon
The Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaan, by Steven Salaita. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2006. ix + 182 pages. Notes to p. 208. Bibliography to p. 220. Index to p. 234. $34.95 cloth; $16.95 paper
Arab Views (cartoons from al-Hayat)
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
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
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:16 May - 15 August 2010
Michele K. Esposito
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
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.
Chronology: 16 May - 15 August 2010
Michele K. Esposito
16 May–15 August 2010
This section is part 107 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, and regional and international developments related to the peace process, see the Quarterly Update on Conflict and Diplomacy in this issue.
PURCHASE FULL
16 MAY
As the quarter opens, Israel’s siege of Gaza continues, with Israel barring all exports, most imports except limited humanitarian and consumer goods and small amounts of construction materials for UN-supervised projects, and most cross-border transit by individuals (with very limited exceptions for extreme medical cases, VIPs, and international NGO workers). The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) enforces a 300-meter-deep no-go zone inside the full length of the Gaza border and limits the Palestinian fishing zone off Gaza to 500–1,000 m off the immediate Bayt Lahiya and Rafah coasts, and 3 nautical miles elsewhere. In the West Bank, the IDF raids Palestinian municipal inspector offices in al-Gazzazin in Hebron’s old city, sealing the office and evicting the staff (unarmed police who maintain public order); fires tear gas to disperse Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists conducting a nonviolent march to the separation wall outside Bayt Jala nr. Bethlehem, arresting 8 demonstrators. In Gaza, baton-wielding, Hamas-affiliated police beat and evict Palestinians fr. at least 25 homes in s. Rafah before bulldozing the houses, saying they were built illegally on government land; 31 families (190 individuals) are rendered homeless. (WT 5/17; NYT 5/19; OCHA, PCHR 5/20)
17 MAY
IDF troops make a brief incursion into the 350-m-deep no-go area inside the s. Gaza border e. of Khan Yunis leveling land to clear lines of sight. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Nablus, Ramallah. Israeli border officials bar renowned American scholar and political activist Noam Chomsky fr. entering the West Bank via Jordan to give a lecture at Birzeit University, citing security concerns. (NYT 5/18; OCHA, PCHR 5/20; Znet 7/30) (see Quarterly Update for details)
18 MAY
Israel seals the West Bank and Gaza completely through 5/19 for the Shavuot holidays. For a 2d day, IDF troops make a brief incursion into Gaza e. of Khan Yunis to level land in the no-go zone to clear lines of sight. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinian, international activists who stage a nonviolent march to the border fence n. of Bayt Lahiya to protest Israel’s imposition of a no-go zone, causing no injuries. The UN reports that in the previous wk., a Palestinian teenager was seriously injured when he accidentally triggered unexploded IDF ordnance while working his family’s farm nr. the Gaza border fence. Hamas-affiliated police in Gaza execute 3 Palestinians convicted of murder. Jewish settlers who recently took possession of a Palestinian home in Bayt Safafa in East Jerusalem after winning a 12/09 court verdict beat a 90-yr.-old Palestinian woman and her 4-yr.-old grandson passing nr. the house. The Palestinian Authority (PA) circulates a list of 500 products made in Jewish settlements, saying anyone caught selling the goods will be fined and jailed; Israel threatens to confiscate VAT taxes collected on the PA’s behalf (transferred to the PA monthly) to compensate boycotted companies. (JTA 5/18; NYT 5/19; PCHR 5/20; OCHA 5/21)
19 MAY
Ansar al-Sunna, a Salafist militant group opposed to Hamas, fires a Qassam rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF responds with air strikes on 2 open areas along the s. Gaza border and on a Hamas training site in central Bayt Hanun in n. Gaza; no casualties are reported, but significant damage to surrounding civilian buildings is noted in Bayt Hanun. The IDF also conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around East Jerusalem and nr. Bethlehem, Ramallah. (JP 5/19; PCHR 5/20; AFP, JP 5/21; OCHA, PCHR 5/27)
U.S. special envoy George Mitchell arrives in the region for 2 days of indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks, marking the first full round of “proximity talks” since their launch on 5/9. The sides continue to differ on the agenda for talks and which issues should be negotiated first. (CSM, IFM, WP 5/20; WSJ 5/21) (see Quarterly Update for details)
20 MAY
Israel releases Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Council (PC) mbr. Muhammad Abu Tir, who was among 60 Hamas-affiliated elected officials arrested by Israel after the 6/06 capture of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit (of the 60 at least 10 are still in custody). Hrs. later, Israeli security forces raid his home in Umm Tuba village s. of Jerusalem and order him to refrain fr. any public celebration of his release. The IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin, Jericho. (AFP 5/20; OCHA, PCHR 5/27)
21 MAY
IDF troops on the s. Gaza border fatally shoot 2 armed Palestinian teenagers who infiltrate the border fence nr. Abasan; the IDF claims they are mbrs. of Hamas’s armed-wing, the Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades (IQB). The IDF sends troops 800 m into Abasan to raze a Palestinian house under construction, a poultry farm, and 2 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of agricultural land planted with olive and palm trees to clear lines of site. Later, IDF troops and armed Palestinians exchange fire across the Gaza border, leaving 1 IDF soldier wounded. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Ramallah. Palestinians (sometimes accompanied by Israeli and international activists) hold weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall and land confiscations in Bil`in and Ni`lin nr. Ramallah, Dayr Nizam/al-Nabi Salih in the north central West Bank, and Bayt Jala and al-Ma`sara nr. Bethlehem. IDF soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at the protesters, leaving scores suffering tear gas inhalation, injuring 5 Palestinians, and arresting 11 Israelis and internationals (including an Israeli journalist). (NYT 5/22; OCHA, PCHR 5/27)
In Jerusalem, Israeli police inform 4 PC mbrs. fr. the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform party—Khalid Abu `Arafa, Muhammad Abu Tir, Ahmad Atwan, and Muhammad Totah (all arrested in 6/06 as part of Israel’s round-up of Hamas-affiliated PC mbrs. and recently released after completing their sentences)—that Israel’s High Court has upheld a 9/09 ruling revoking their permanent Jerusalem residency status because their participation in 1/06 Palestinian elections constituted disloyalty to the state, warning that they will be deported to Gaza if they do not leave Jerusalem voluntarily (Abu Tir by 6/19, the others by 7/3). (NYT 5/22; PCHR 5/27; PCHR 6/7)
22 MAY
IDF troops on the Gaza border nr. the Erez crossing fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging for construction materials fr. destroyed buildings in the Erez industrial zone, wounding 1 Palestinian. The IDF shoots and wounds a 2d Palestinian in a similar incident on the n. Gaza border nr. Bayt Lahiya. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Birzeit, nr. Bethlehem. (OCHA, PCHR 5/27)
23 MAY
Based on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s 5/20 meeting with Mitchell (see 5/19) and a meeting today between Israeli and PA security officials, Israel announces plans to relax some restrictions on West Bank movement and access over the next 2 wks. as a goodwill gesture to support proximity talks. The promised moves include: removing 60 roadblocks (around 10% of total) across the West Bank, various steps to improve Palestinian tourism and trade, and lifting some restrictions on Israeli Palestinians access to the West Bank. (IFM 5/23; JTA 5/24; OCHA, WJW 5/27) (see Quarterly Update for details)
In Gaza, around 20 armed Palestinians vandalize and set fire to an United Nations Relief and Works Agency¬ (UNRWA) beachside summer camp for refugee children under construction w. of Gaza City, binding the caretaker and leaving him with a letter threatening UNRWA senior staff; Hamas denounces the attack; no group takes responsibility, but previously Islamist extremists have condemned UNRWA for corrupting Gazan youths by introducing them to activities they deem at odds with Islam. The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging construction materials fr. former settlement sites nr. Bayt Lahiya, wounding 1 Palestinian. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids in and around Hebron and neighboring al-`Arub refugee camp (r.c.), in Jenin and Qalqilya, nr. Jericho and Ramallah. (IFM 5/23; NYT 5/24; OCHA, PCHR 5/27; NYT 6/29)
Israel begins a 5-day nationwide civil defense exercise to test the preparedness of civilians, emergency services, local authorities in case of war. Netanyahu stresses that the drill does not mean Israel is expecting or planning a major security engagement. (NYT 5/24)
24 MAY
IDF troops on the n. Gaza border nr. the Erez crossing fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging construction materials fr. destroyed buildings in the Erez industrial zone, causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF enters Bayt Umar village nr. Hebron late in the evening, raiding and searching houses and randomly checking Palestinian IDs, firing rubber-coated steel bullets at stone-throwing Palestinians who confront them, injuring 4; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Dahaysha r.c. nr. Bethlehem, nr. Hebron. (OCHA, PCHR 5/27)
25 MAY
Unidentified Palestinians fire 4 mortars fr. Gaza toward Israel; 3 land inside Israel, causing no damage or injuries, while 1 lands harmlessly in Gaza. Late in the evening, the IDF responds with air strikes on a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border and on the destroyed Dahaniyya airport site in s. Gaza (causing no injuries), as well as on a Hamas building in Bayt Hanun (destroying it, damaging 26 houses, 23 shops, a clinic, the local municipal building, and a sports club nearby, injuring 15 Palestinian bystanders, and knocking out electricity to some areas). Unidentified Palestinians detonate a bomb hidden in a donkey cart by the Gaza border fence as an IDF border patrol unit on the Israeli side of the border passes, killing the donkey but causing no IDF injuries. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging construction materials fr. former settlement sites nr. the border twice during the day, causing no injuries; also fire warning shots at farmers who stray nr. the border fence nr. Bayt Lahiya, causing no injuries. Later, IDF troops make an incursion into the n. Gaza buffer zone nr. Bayt Lahiya to search the area, opening fire but causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Tubas and nr. Hebron, Nablus. Israel’s Jerusalem District Court upholds a decision to evacuate and seal the Beit Yonatan building in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem, built without a permit in 2004 by the right-wing group Ateret Cohanim and housing 8 settler families. Hamas-affiliated police in Gaza say they have arrested several suspects in the 5/23 UNRWA arson. (HA, JP, JTA, UPI 5/25; JP, YA 5/26; OCHA, PCHR 5/27)
26 MAY
Unidentified Palestinians fire 1 Qassam rocket, 2 mortars fr. Gaza toward Israel, causing no damage or injuries; the mortars land inside Gaza. The IDF responds with air strikes on the abandoned Dahaniyya airport site and a target in Bayt Hanun in the n. (seriously injuring 2 Palestinians). The Israeli navy fires on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire warning shots at Palestinians scavenging construction materials in former settlement sites nr. the border (wounding 1) and in the former Erez industrial zone (wounding 2). In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Bayt Jala, nr. Hebron. (OCHA, PCHR 5/27; NYT, WP 5/30; PCHR 6/3; OCHA 6/4)
27 MAY
Israel warns that it will not allow passage to a flotilla of 8 boats organized by the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) and a Turkish organization, Humanitarian Relief Fund (going by the acronym IHH), currently en route to Gaza in an effort to defy Israel’s siege and deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid, saying it will send Israeli naval commandos to intercept the boats and escort them to Ashdod port, where the 100s of activists onboard would be deported. The U.S. urges restraint. (NYT, WP, WT 5/28) (see Quarterly Update for details)
IDF troops on the Gaza border nr. the former Nahal Oz crossing fire on armed Palestinians laying a roadside bomb nr. the border fence, injuring 7; the Palestinians respond with mortar fire, causing no injuries. The IDF also makes air strikes, directs tank fire at an area s. of Qarni crossing in response to mortar fire fr. the area; 2 Palestinian civilians, no Israelis are injured in the exchange. In the West Bank, the IDF makes a predawn raid on a Palestinian home in `Arab al-Ramadin village nr. Hebron, firing tear gas in the home (8 family mbrs. are evacuated to a medical center for treatment); conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron (including arresting a 12-yr.-old boy, who is released on 5/28). (YA 5/28; PCHR 6/3; OCHA 6/4)
Israel charges 2 Israeli Palestinians, Ameer Makhoul (dir. of Ittijah, a union of Arab organizations in Israel) and Omar Said (also a pro-Arab advocate), with espionage for allegedly passing information on the location of IDF facilities to Hizballah, a charge the men deny. (WP, WT 5/28)
28 MAY
Late at night, unidentified Palestinians fire 2 Qassam rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, causing damage but no injuries. The IDF retaliates with 5 air strikes on the Dahaniyya airport site (hitting previously destroyed buildings, causing no injuries) and on a suspected weapons factory in the al-Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City (destroying it but causing no injuries). In the West Bank, the IDF partly opens Route 443 between Jerusalem and Ramallah to Palestinian traffic for the 1st time in 8 yrs., but Palestinians will still have to go through several checkpoints and will not be allowed to take the road all the way into Ramallah (see Quarterly Update in JPS 155 for background). Palestinians (sometimes accompanied by Israeli and international activists) hold weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the separation wall and land confiscations in Bil`in, Ni`lin, and Dayr Nizam/al-Nabi Salih. IDF soldiers fire rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades at the protesters, leaving scores suffering tear gas inhalation, injuring at least 2 Palestinians, and arresting 4 Israelis. Jewish settlers fr. the unauthorized outpost of Beit Yonatan nr. Silwan retaliating for the 5/25 Jerusalem District Court decision harass a group of Palestinian women, sparking a stone throwing clash between the settlers and local Palestinians; the IDF intervenes, firing tear gas and beating back the Palestinians, including a pregnant Palestinian woman who miscarries as a result. Jewish settlers fr. Karnei Shomron nr. Qalqilya stone Palestinian vehicles on the Qalqilya–Nablus road, breaking the windows of 1 car, injuring 4 Palestinians. (YA 5/28; NYT, WP 5/29; JP 5/30; PCHR 6/3; OCHA 6/4)
29 MAY
In response to the 5/28 rocket fire, the IDF carries out 2 air strikes on a suspected weapons factory in n. Gaza and a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border, causing no reported injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas at Palestinians staging a nonviolent march protesting settlement expansion, injuring 2 Palestinians (one a journalist). For a 2d day, Jewish settlers fr. Beit Yonatan harass a group of Palestinian children, sparking a stone throwing clash; the IDF intervenes, beating back Palestinians, moderately injuring 2. (JP 5/30; PCHR 6/3; OCHA 6/4)
30 MAY
Three Israeli navy missile ships make first contact with 6 boats fr. the FGM-IHH flotilla late at night in international waters, warning them that they are approaching Israeli waters and must either turn around or divert to Ashdod port; the activists respond that they will continue on to Gaza, stating they are unarmed civilians. (The other 2 boats remain in Cyprus because of poor weather.) In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Ramallah. (NYT, WT 5/31; PCHR 6/3; OCHA 6/4)
Bibliography of Periodical Literature
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. PURCHASE FULL BIBLIOGRAPHY (excerpt below) REFERENCE AND GENERAL Luyendijks, Joris. “Beyond Orientalism.” International Communication Gazette 72, no. 1 (Feb. 10): 9–20. HISTORY (THROUGH 1948) AND GEOGRAPHY Abbasi, Mustafa. “The Fall of Acre in the 1948 Palestine War.” JPS 39, no. 4 (Sum. 10): 6–27. Aytürk, Iker. “Revisiting the Language Factor in Zionism: The Hebrew Language Council from 1904 to 1914.” British Society of Oriental and African Studies 73, no. 1 (Feb. 10): 45–64. Blakely, Jeffrey A. “A Note on Henry Timberlake’s Route from Gaza to Beersheba to Hebron in 1601.” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 142, no. 1 (Mar. 10): 64–68. Davidson, Lawrence. “Truman the Politician and the Establishment of Israel.” JPS 39, no. 4 (Sum. 10): 28–42. Fleischmann, Ellen L. “Lost in Translation: Home Economics and the Sidon Girls’ School of Lebanon, c. 1924–1932.” Social Sciences and Missions 23, no. 1 (10): 32–62. Kark, Ruth, and Seth J. Frantzman. “Bedouin, Abdül Hamid II, British Land Settlement, and Zionism: The Baysan Valley and Sub-district 1831–1948.” IsS 15, no. 2 (Sum. 10): 49–79. Krampf, Arie. “Reception of the Developmental Approach in the Jewish Economic Discourse of Mandatory Palestine, 1934–1938.” IsS 15, no. 2 (Sum. 10): 80–103. Rose, John. “In Praise of the Sun: Zodiac Sun-Gods in Galilee Synagogues and the Palestinian Heritage.” HLS 9, no. 1 (May 10): 25–49. Segev, Tom (interview). “The Israeli Memory Begins in 1917” [in Arabic]. QI 9, no. 36 (09): 76–84. Shehory-Rubin, Zipora, and Shifra Shvarts. “Teaching the Children to Play: The Establishment of the First Playgrounds in Palestine during the Mandate.” IsS 15, no. 2 (Sum. 10): 24–48. PALESTINIAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY Abu `Amra, Rana. “UNRWA in Crisis” [in Arabic]. SD 48, no. 181 (Jul. 10): 186–89. AbuZayd, Karen. “UNRWA and the Palestinian Refugees after Sixty Years: Assessing Developments and Marking Challenges.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 227–28. Agha, Hussein (interview). “Interview: Hussein Agha.” MEP 17, no. 2 (Sum. 10): 142–51. Bartholomeusz, Lance. “The Mandate of UNRWA at Sixty.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 452–74. Bisharat, George. “Mobilizing Palestinians in Support of One State” [in Arabic]. MA 33, no. 375 (May 10): 95–111. Bocco, Riccardo. “UNRWA and the Palestinian Refugees: A History within History.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 229–52. Chatty, Dawn. “Palestinian Refugee Youth: Agency and Aspiration.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 318–38. De Cesari, Chiara. “Hebron, or Heritage as Technology of Life.” JQ, no. 41 (Spr. 10): 6–28. Fahs, Hani. “The Palestine That Brought Us Together: Mahboub Omar—A Story and a Message” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 82 (Spr. 10): 70–79. Farah, Randa. “UNRWA: Through the Eyes of Its Refugee Employees in Jordan.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 389–411. Harding, Jeremy. “At the Allenby Bridge: Crossing the Jordan.” LRB 31, no. 12 (Jun. 09): 30. Hogan, Elena H. “Jewels of the Occupation: Gold Wedding Jewelry in the West Bank.” JPS 39, no. 4 (Sum. 10): 43–59. Al Husseini, Jalal, and Riccardo Bocco. “The Status of the Palestinian Refugees in the Near East: The Right of Return and UNRWA in Perspective.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 260–85. Imad, Jad. “The Palestinian State between Negotiations and International Resolution” [in Arabic]. SD 48, no. 181 (Jul. 10): 20–23. Jibril, Amjad. “Initiatives for Palestinian Reconciliation Following the Gaza War” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 82 (Spr. 10): 115–29. Kagan, Michael. “Is There Really a Protection Gap? UNRWA’s Role vis-à-vis Palestinian Refugees.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 511–30. Khouri, Rami G. “Sixty Years of UNRWA: From Service Provision to Refugee Protection.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 438–51. Lavie, Ephraim. “Between Settlement and Crisis: The Next Round of the Palestinian Issue.” Strategic Assessment 12, no. 4 (Feb. 10): 73–90. Manor, Yohanan, and Ido Mizrahi. “Hamas’s Web School for Suicide Bombers.” MEQ 17, no. 2 (Spr. 10): 31–40. Mardam Bey, Farouk. “Nostalgic for the Sixties: ‘Be Realistic and Ask for the Impossible’” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 82 (Spr. 10): 46–53. Milstein, Michael. “The Challenge of al-Muqawama (Resistance) to Israel.” Strategic Assessment 12, no. 4 (Feb. 10): 57–71. Misselwitz, Philipp, and Sari Hanafi. “Testing a New Paradigm: UNRWA’s Camp Improvement Programme.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 360–88. Morris, Nicholas. “Towards a Protection Strategy for UNRWA.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 550–60. Mozes, Tomer, and Gabriel Weimann. “The E-Marketing Strategy of Hamas.” SCT 33, no. 3 (10): 211–25. Mustafa, Mohammad (interview). “The Weakness of the Palestinian Economy” [in Arabic]. MDF, nos. 80¬–81 (Fall–Win. 09–10): 45–57. Pappé, Ilan. “The One-State Solution” [in Arabic]. MA 33, no. 375 (May 10): 149–63. Rabinowitz, Dan. “The Right to Refuse: Abject Theory and the Return of Palestinian Refugees.” Critical Inquiry 36, no. 3 (Spr. 10): 494–516. Rempel, Terry. “UNRWA and the Palestine Refugees: A Genealogy of ‘Participatory’ Development.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 412–37. Røislien, Hanne E., and Jo Røislien. “The Logic of Palestinian Terrorist Target Choice? Examining the Israel Defense Forces’ Official Statistics on Palestinian Terrorist Attacks 2000–2004.” SCT 33, no. 2 (10): 134–48. Rosenfeld, Maya. “From Emergency Relief Assistance to Human Development and Back: UNRWA and the Palestinian Refugees, 1950–2009.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 286–317. Rueff, Henri, and Alain Viaro. “Palestinian Refugee Camps: From Shelter to Habitat.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 339–59. Sayre, Edward A. “Relative Deprivation and Palestinian Suicide Bombings.” Asian Journal of Social Science 38, no. 3 (10): 442–61. Shaw, Martin. “Palestine in an International Historical Perspective on Genocide.” HLS 9, no. 1 (May 10): 1–24. Strazzari, Francesco, and Simone Tholens. “Another Nakba: Weapons Availability and the Transformation of the Palestinian National Struggle, 1987–2007.” International Studies Perspectives 11, no. 2 (10): 112–30. Takkenberg, Lex. “UNRWA and the Palestinian Refugees after Sixty Years: Some Reflections.” RSQ 28, nos. 2–3 (10): 253–59. Zomlot, Husam. “Building a State under Occupation” [in Arabic]. MA 33, no. 375 (May 10): 112–30. ———. “Building a State under Occupation: The Palestinians and the Living Legacy of Oslo.” CAA 3, no. 2 (Apr. 10): 180–92.
A1. Parties to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, Final Document of the 2010 Review Conference, New York, 28 May 2010 (excerpts)
A2. The Truman Institute and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Press Release on Joint Israeli-Palestinian Poll, Jerusalem and Ramallah, June 2010 (excerpts)
A3. The 36th World Zionist Congress (WZC), Resolution on Settlements, Jerusalem, 17 June 2010
B1. PA Pres. Mahmud Abbas, Remarks on National Reconciliation and Security to PBS, New York, 9 June 2010
B2. Hamas Leader Khalid Mishal, Remarks on Hamas's Policies, Al-Sabeel, Amman, July 2010
B3. PLC Member Mustafa Barghouti, "The Slow Death of Palestinian Democracy," Foreign Policy, 21 July 2010
C1. Ir Amin, Analysis of the Jerusalem Master Plan 2000, Jerusalem, June 2010
C2. Israeli Security Cabinet, Decision on Easing the Blockade against the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, 20 June 2010
C3. Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (GOGAT), List of Controlled Items to the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, 5 July 2010
C4. B'Tselem, "By Hook and By Crook: Israeli Settlement Policy in the West Bank," Jerusalem, 6 July 2010
D1. University of Maryland and Zogby International, Arab Public Opinion Poll, College Park and Utica, 5 August 2010 (excerpts)