CIAO DATE: 06/2013
Volume: 42, Issue: 2
Winter 2013
Rashid I. Khalidi
AT FIRST GLANCE the contents of this issue of the Journal appear disparate, ranging as they do over the Israeli settlement project, Tony Blair's tenure as Quartet Middle East representative, the role of Islamic Jihad, and the effect of recent upheavals in the Arab world on the Palestinian issue. But taken as a whole they show how much the contemporary Middle East-with the Palestine question at its center-is in dialogue with its history. Although history may not repeat itself, there are nevertheless striking parallels and linkages between past and current events.
The Zionist Disinformation Campaign in Syria and Lebanon during the Palestinian Revolt, 1936-1939
Mahmoud Muhareb
Based on declassified reports in the Central Zionist Archives, this article brings to light a virtually unknown disinformation project implemented by the Jewish Agency (the governing body of the Yishuv before 1948) in the Arab world during the 1936-39 Palestinian revolt. Operating via a JA front organization—an Arabic-language news agency set up in Cairo—and out of the Jerusalem-based JA Political Department’s intelligence services, the project involved inter alia the planting of fabricated articles in the Lebanese and Syrian press with the aim of influencing public opinion. Whatever the project’s impact, the article provides insights into the Zionist leadership’s thinking, internal debates, and operating methods, and shows the degree of corruption that existed in certain segments of the Arab elite.
The Other Shift: Settler Colonialism, Israel, and the Occupation
Lorenzo Veracini
This densely argued essay offers an original approach to the study of Israel-Palestine through the lens of colonial studies. The author's argument rests, inter alia, on the distinction between colonialism, which succeeds by keeping colonizer and colonized separate, and settler colonialism, where ultimate success is achieved when the settlers are "indigenized" and cease to be seen as settlers. Referring to the pre-1948 and post-1967 contexts, the author shows how and why Israel, itself a successful settler colonial project emerging from the British mandate, has failed to create a successful settler project in the occupied territories; indeed, and paradoxically, the occupation's very success (in terms of unassailable control) renders the project's success (in terms of settler integration/indigenization) impossible. Also addressed are the consequences of occupation, particularly what the author calls Israel's "recolonization," and the implications of the approach outlined for the Israel-Palestine conflict and its resolution.
Tony Blair's Tangled Web: The Quartet Representative and the Peace Process (PDF)
Jonathan Cook
Tony Blair stepped down as British prime minister in 2007 and immediately assumed the position of representative to the Quartet, the international body overseeing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Against the background of mounting criticism at home over his role in the 2003 Iraq War, this profile examines the record of Blair's activities in the Middle East over the past five years. The picture that emerges is one of rapid self-enrichment through murky consultancies and opaque business deals with Middle East dictators, and an official role (formally dedicated to Palestinian state-building) whose main results appear to be an unhappy Palestinian Authority and the perpetuation of the status quo.
Between Hamas and the PA: An Interview with Islamic Jihad's Khalid al-Batsh
Mouin Rabbani
Khalid al-Batsh, a senior official of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Gaza chair of the “Freedom Committee,” established under the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement of May 2011, was interviewed in Cairo by Mouin Rabbani on 11 July 2012. The interview from which the following excerpts were taken covered a range of issues, including the impact of the “Arab Spring” on the Palestinians, the situations in Egypt and Syria, Islamic Jihad’s relations with Fatah and Hamas, and prospects for reform of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The excerpts below directly concern Islamic Jihad and Palestine. The complete interview in Arabic was published by JPS’s sister journal, Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya, no. 93 (Winter 2013), pp. 122–37.
The Palestine Question Amid Regional Transformations
For some time, the Journal of Palestine Studies’ sister quarterly, Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya (MDF), has held small, open-ended roundtable discussions at the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) headquarters in Beirut to address issues of importance to Palestine and the Arab world, with a view to publishing the proceedings. On 15 December 2012, JPS followed suit, and in cooperation with MDF organized an English-language roundtable at the IPS Beirut headquarters to consider the impact, on Palestine, of the regional changes subsumed under the “Arab Spring” rubric. Participants ranged over an array of topics, including geopolitical changes at the global and regional levels; political, social, and intellectual trends from the Maghrib to the Gulf; and internal developments in several states, as well as within Palestinian communities in historic Palestine and the Diaspora. Especially noteworthy is the grounding of current developments in a historical framework evolving since World War I. The roundtable was transcribed by JPS Editorial Assistant Linda Khoury and the transcript edited by JPS Associate Editor Linda Butler.
Rochelle Davis
Year of the Locust: A Soldier's Diary and the Erasure of Palestine's Ottoman Past, by Salim Tamari. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011. x + 160 pages. Notes to p. 185. Index to p. 201. $35.00 cloth. JSTOR
Teaching Palestine
Matthew Abraham
The Politics of Teaching Palestine to Americans: Addressing Pedagogical Strategies, by Marcy Jane Knopf-Newman. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. xxvi + 196 pages. Notes to p. 235. Bibliography to p. 247. Index to p. 265. $85.00 cloth. JSTOR
Noura Erakat
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, by Omar Barghouti. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarkis net Books, 2011. 225 pages. Appendices to p. 262. Bibliography and Index to p. 312. $16 paper. JSTOR
Memoir As Pedagogy
Anna Bernard
The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, by Miko Peled. Charlottesville: Just World Books, 2012. 223 pages. $20.00 paper. JSTOR
Noura Erakat
Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights, by Omar Barghouti. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarkis net Books, 2011. 225 pages. Appendices to p. 262. Bibliography and Index to p. 312. $16 paper. JSTOR
Memoir As Pedagogy
Anna Bernard
The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine, by Miko Peled. Charlottesville: Just World Books, 2012. 223 pages. $20.00 paper. JSTOR
Theorizing Palestinian Decolonization
Steven Salaita
The Palestine Nakba: Decolonising History, Narrating the Subaltern, Reclaiming Memory, by Nur Masalha. London: Zed Books, 2012. 257 pages. Bibliography to p. 278. Index to p. 288. $34.95 paper. JSTOR
Gender and Citizenship
Leena Dallasheh
Women in Israel: Race, Gender and Citizenship, by Nahla Abdo. London: Zed Books, 2011. ix + 203 pages. References to p. 218. Index to p. 227. $125.95 cloth, $34.95 paper. JSTOR
Zionism and It's Aftermath
Michael Fischbach
Might Over Right: How the Zionists Took Over Palestine, by Adel Safty. Reading: Garnet Publishing, 2009. xx + 293 pages. Index to p. 300. $49.95 cloth, $29.99 paper. JSTOR
An Impassioned Account
Edward Sayre
The Punishment of Gaza, by Gideon Levy. Brooklyn: Verso Books, 2010. xii + 145 pages. $15.95 paper. JSTOR
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.
Update on Conflict and Diplomacy (PDF)
Ben White
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. United Nations Agencies in the Occupied Territories, "Gaza in 2020: A Liveable Place?" Jerusalem, 27 August 2012 (excerpts)
A2. Coalition of European NGOs, "Trading Away Peace: How Europe Helps Sustain Illegal Israeli Settlements," Brussels, October 2012 (excerpts)
B1. Al-Haq, "Pillage of the Dead Sea," Ramallah, September 2012 (excerpts)
B2. Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, "Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Prison," Ramallah, September 2012 (excerpts)
B3. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Address to the UN General Assembly, New York, 26 September 2012 (excerpts)
B4. PA President Mahmud Abbas, Address to UN General Assembly, New York, 27 September 2012 (excerpts)
C1. B'Tselem, Report on Israel's Separation Barrier and the Seam Zone, West Jerusalem, October 2012 (excepts)
C2. Adalah, "New Discriminatory Laws and Bills in Israel," 2009-2012, Haifa, October 2012 (excepts)
C3. Breaking the Silence, "Children and Youth: Soldiers' Testimonies 2005-2011," West Jerusalem, October 2012 (excerpts)
D. Director of the Central Intelligence, National Intelligence Estimate on Israel (sanitized/redacted), Washington, D.C., 11 April 1968
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.
Chronology (PDF)
Ben White
This section is part 116 of a chronology begun in JPS 13, no. 3 (Spring 1984). Chronology dates reflect North American Eastern Standard Time. 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.