CIAO DATE: 08/2013
Volume: 42, Issue: 3
Spring 2013
Rashid I. Khalidi
In Remembrance: Elias Shoufani, 1932-2013
Rashid I. Khalidi
Aid and Occupation: Maintaining the Status Quo in Palestine
Irene Calis
This article foregrounds how international aid and the Israeli occupation intersect in the historically prosperous West Bank agricultural village of Jayyus; with most of its lands isolated behind the Israeli Wall, Jayyus is now aid-dependent. While material aid plays a larger role in sustaining the village, it is through "advocacy work" (a form of international aid largely unaddressed in the literature) that Jayyusis experience aid on a daily basis. The article examines the paradoxes of dependence and subordination seen from the vantage point of local communities under the jurisdiction of an occupying power and in the absence of a sovereign Palestinian state. Also shown is how the routinization of aid both obscures the ongoing status of occupation and has become an important mechanism that sustains it.
Gas Finds in the Eastern Mediterranean: Gaza, Israel, and Other Conflicts (PDF)
Anais Antreasyan
This article looks at the gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean since the late 1990s and how they have fueled-or otherwise intersected with-the various regional conflicts. About half of the article examines the fate of the 1999 gas discoveries off Gaza (within the maritime space set for the Palestinians by Oslo), and Israel's role in controlling the outcome. The other half is devoted, collectively, to the gas discoveries off Israel, Egypt, and Cyprus, as well as to the ensuing disputes and shifts of alliances involving these three states plus Lebanon and Turkey. Given the state of flux in the region, it is too soon to speculate on the ultimate geopolitical impact of the new finds.
Liberal Colonialism? Israel's 2013 Elections and the "Ethnocratic Bubble"
Oren Yiftachel
Israel's 2013 Knesset elections, in which the incumbent ruling party was returned to power for the first time in a quarter-century, were noteworthy in several respects. The basic divisions of Israeli politics into geopolitical and socioeconomic blocs were unchanged, only small electoral shifts being registered. On the other hand, as this article shows, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu barely achieved an electoral victory despite his overwhelming preponderance in public-opinion polls. Due to the rise of the new, personality-driven Yesh ‘Atid party and the latter's unlikely alliance with the settler-based Jewish Home, which together garnered as many Knesset seats as the winning Likud-Yisrael Beitenu list, for the first time in decades Ultra-Orthodox parties were excluded from the winning governing coalitions for the first time in decades. The elections were marked by the near-invisibility of the Palestinian issue and Palestinian citizens of Israel. The article concludes that the continuing governing consensus in favor of "liberal colonialism" is unsustainable, although exploiting the "cracks" in that consensus is difficult and unlikely in the short term.
Violence's Law: Israel's Campaign to Transform International Legal Norms
George E. Bisharat
Commonly law is seen as an alternative to violence, although it relies on violence or its threat for enforcement. Through a study of Israel's campaign to transform international humanitarian law (IHL) by systematically violating it, this essay considers the possibility that violence precedes and even creates law. Israel has a long history of ad hoc "legal entrepreneurialism," but its current effort, launched during the second intifada, is institutionalized, persistent, and internally coherent. The essay reviews the specific legal innovations Israel has sought to establish, all of which expand the scope of "legitimate" violence and its targets, contrary to IHL's fundamental purposes of limiting violence and protecting non-combatants from it.
Remembering Ghassan Kanafani, or How a Nation Was Born of Story Telling
Elias Khoury
This essay on Ghassan Kanafani-militant, political writer and essayist, literary innovator, and preeminent Palestinian novelist-is another in what JPS hopes will become an ongoing, if occasional, series foregrounding individuals (some known, others unknown to the outside world or forgotten) who embody some dimension of the Palestinian Resistance in the early years of its existence. Several such pieces have appeared in recent issues of JPS, notably "Two Portraits in Resistance," commemorating two remarkable figures who left other lives to serve the movement, published in JPS 164, and the landmark 1996 interview with Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, published in JPS 165.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu: New Arab Legitimacy or Regional Cold War?
Cengiz Candar, Michel Nawfal
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over which he presides, they call him "Professor" rather than "Mr. Secretary." The same holds true for his colleagues within Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Indeed, he speaks like a professor come to politics and diplomacy from academia. Addressing his interlocutors in a soft voice and modest manner, he reflects the environment of his early childhood in Konya, an environment shaped by the Turkic traditions his family brought with them from Central Asia when they migrated to Anatolia during the sixteenth century.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu carries himself with casual elegance. He is fond of talking about his enchantment with Istanbul and its world, but says he could never loosen the bonds that tie him to his mountainous birthplace in the Konya region. He considers the great Sufi mystic Jalal ad-Din al-Rumi, who ended his days in Konya and whose followers established the Mevlana order there, to be a personal and spiritual bulwark. His father, a pious shopkeeper, moved to Istanbul so that his only son could get a suitable education, going against the current of his traditional and conservative upbringing to enroll the boy in the Istanbul Erkek Lisesi (Istanbul Lycée for Boys), where the language of instruction was German. The young Ahmet was thus exposed from an early age to Western culture, becoming an avid reader of Goethe, Kafka, and Berthold Brecht. A brilliant student, he went on to study at Istanbul's Bosphorus University (originally Robert College), where he received BA and MA degrees in economics and political science and a PhD with honors in political science and international relations in 1989.
Turning down several offers from U.S. universities, Davutoglu accepted a teaching position at the International Islamic University of Malaysia in 1990 so he could pursue his interests in Eastern philosophies (especially Buddhism) and Islamic movements and trends in East Asia. While in Kuala Lumpur, he established and chaired the political science department at the university, which made him associate professor in 1993. Before returning to Turkey, he spent time in Cairo and Amman to perfect his Arabic.
Back in Istanbul, Davutoglu taught at several universities, notably Marmara University and Beykent University, becoming a full professor in 1999. He also established the Institute of Arts and Sciences. A dynamic professor, he attracted an enthusiastic following, especially among Muslim-oriented youth. Later, many of those who studied under him would serve the AKP as a cadre whose Islamic base was cross-fertilized with Western knowledge.
When Recep Tayyip Erdogan became Turkey's prime minister in March 2003 following the AKP's 2002 victory at the polls, he appointed Davuto?lu as his primary foreign policy advisor and ambassador at large. By that time, Davutoglu had already published the influential Strategic Depth (2001) and several other books, including Alternative Paradigms: The Impact of Islamic and Western Weltanschauungs on Political Theory, and Civilizational Transformation and the Muslim World (the latter two published in English). As Erdogan's chief advisor, he played an increasingly prominent role in shaping Turkish policy in the Middle East. He strongly opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq and in general set out to reshape Turkey's Arab diplomacy, including forging a relationship with Hamas. Soon recognized as the principal architect of post-Kemalist Turkish foreign policy, he became a distinguished player in global diplomacy and in May 2009 was appointed minister of foreign affairs. Davuto?lu's trajectory could serve as a model for a new generation of Turks from the Anatolian heartland who want to combine their geohistorical heritage with the Turko-Islamic confluence to restore their ties to the Arab world and the wider Islamic East.
Our interview took place on 13 February 2013. Arriving at the Foreign Ministry at the appointed hour, we were greeted by one of Davuto?lu's aides, who told us, "Normally, the professor's busy schedule does not permit lengthy interviews, but since the topic is Palestine and the organization you represent deals with Palestine, he has given it priority over other pressing concerns." The secretary himself greeted us graciously, and carefully examined the latest issue of our quarterly, Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya, reading the titles on the front cover aloud in Arabic and then turning to skim several abstracts. He had not asked to see the questions beforehand, and after we outlined the main points we wanted to discuss, we began. It is no exaggeration to say that our meeting with Dr. Davutoglu was a lesson in the theory and application of Turkey's foreign policy, particularly its Eastern face, addressing a range of topics from the Arab legitimacy crisis and Turkey's ideas for a new regional system to the problematic relationship with Israel and the future of the Palestinian issue.
You are considered the architect of the new Turkish foreign policy. What can you tell us about the achievements related to your vision of Turkey's "strategic depth" and the "zero problem with neighbors policy"?
Max Blumenthal
The Crisis of Zionism, by Peter Beinart. New York: Times/Henry Holt, 2012. 196 pages. Notes to p. 270. Acknowledgements to p. 276. Index to p. 289. $17.33 cloth. $12.88 paper. JSTOR
Bold Proposal
Ali Abunimah
What is a Palestine State Worth? by Sari Nusseibeh. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. 224 pages. Notes to p. 231. Acknowledgement to p. 234. Index to p. 248. $14.95 paper. JSTOR
Biblical Insights
Alexis Wick
River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line, by Rachel Havrelock. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011. xxi + 289 pages. Bibliography to p. 301. Index to p. 320. $40.00 cloth. JSTOR
Global Palestine
Toufic Haddad
Globalized Palestine: The National Sell-Out of a Homeland, by Khalil Nakhleh. Trenton, N.J.: Red Sea Press, 2012. xxviii + 256 pages. Bibliography to p. 263. Index to p. 273. $29.95 paper. JSTOR
Michael Lynk
Beyond Occupation: Apartheid, Colonialism and International Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, edited by Virginia Tilley. London: Pluto Press, 2012. 229 pages. Notes to p. 311. Index to p. 322. $40.00 paper. JSTOR
A Scholar's Struggle
Beshara Doumani
Out of the Frame: The Struggle for Academic Freedom in Israel, by Ilan Pappe. London: Pluto Press, 2010. x + 200 pages. Appendix to p. 220. Glossary to p. 226. Notes to p. 235. Index to p. 246. $80.00 cloth. $17.58 paper. JSTOR
Deconstructing Israeli Schoolbooks
Nubar Hovsepian
Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, by Nurit Peled-Elhanan. London: I.B. Tauris, 2012. x + 235 pages. Notes to p. 250. References to p. 259. Index to p. 268. $66.00 cloth, $29.00 paper. JSTOR
A Rare Account
Saleh Abdel Jawad
A Young Palestinian's Diary, 1941-1945: The Life of Sami 'Amr, Translated, annotated, and with an introduction by Kimberly Katz. (Foreward by Salim Tamari). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. First edition, 2009. xxiv + 154 pages. Appendix 1 to p. 159. Bibliography to p. 167. Index to p. 179. $25.00 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 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. International Crisis Group, Report on Israel's ''Operation Pillar of Defense'' in the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem/Gaza City/Cairo/ Ramallah/Brussels, 22 November 2012 (excerpts)
A2. UN General Assembly, Resolution A/67/19 on the ''Status of Palestine in the UN,'' New York, 29 November 2012
A3. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories (OCHA), East Jerusalem: Key Humanitarian Concerns (update), Jerusalem, 7 December 2012 (excerpts)
A4. International Crisis Group (ICG), ''The Withering of Arab Jerusalem,'' Jerusalem/Brussels, 20 December 2012 (excerpts)
A5. UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Fact-Finding Mission on Israeli Settlements, Geneva, 31 January 2013 (excerpts)
B1. Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Speech to UN General Assembly, New York, 29 November 2012
B2. Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, statement announcing the establishment of Bab Al-Shams Tent Village, East Jerusalem, 11 January 2013
C1. Molad, the Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, ''Israeli Hasbara: Myths and Facts,'' Jerusalem, December 2012 (excerpts)
C2. B'Tselem, ''Crowd Control: Israel's Use of Crowd Control Weapons in the West Bank,'' Jerusalem, December 2012 (excerpts)
C3. Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land (CRIHL), Comparative Study on the Contents of Israeli and Palestinian Textbooks, Jerusalem, 4 February 2013 (excerpts)
D. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, Statement on Palestine's UN Status, New York, 29 November 2012
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 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. 16 November 2012 - 15 February 2013