Content Type: Journal Article / Political Geography: Israel

401. Settlement Monitor

Author:: Geoffrey Aronson
Publication Date:: 03-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Political Geography:: Washington, Middle East, Israel, and Gaza

402. Congressional Monitor : 111th Congress: January - December 2009

Author:: Paul James Costic
Publication Date:: 03-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Published each spring, the Congressional Monitor provides summaries of all relevant bills and resolutions (joint, concurrent, and simple) introduced during the previous session of Congress that mention, even briefly, Palestine, Israel, or the broader Arab-Israeli conflict. It is part of a wider project of the Institute for Palestine Studies that includes the Congressional Monitor Database available at CongressionalMonitor.org. The database contains all relevant legislation from the 107th Congress through the first session of the 111th Congress (2001–2009) and will be updated on an ongoing basis to include legislation prior to 2001 and after 2009. You'll also find an in-depth set of FAQs which provide a guide to the database, how to use it, and the legislative process. The Monitor helps to identify major themes of legislation related to the Palestine issue as well as initiators of specific legislation, their priorities, the range of their concerns, and their attitudes toward the regional actors. Material in this compilation is drawn from www.thomas.loc.gov, where readers can also find a detailed primer on the legislative process entitled “How Our Laws Are Made.”
Political Geography:: Israel and Arabia

403. Chronology : 16 November 2009 - 15 February 2010

Author:: Michele K. Esposito
Publication Date:: 03-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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 As the quarter opens, Israel's siege of Gaza continues, with Israel barring all exports, all but limited humanitarian imports, and most cross-border transit by individuals (with very limited exceptions for extreme medical cases, VIPs, and international NGO workers). Violence in the West Bank is low and restrictions on Palestinian movement between major population centers have eased noticeably. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are on hold as Palestinian Authority (PA) Pres. Mahmud Abbas refuses to resume negotiations until Israel implements a comprehensive settlement freeze (which Israel rejects).Today in Gaza, 4 Palestinians are injured when a smuggling tunnel under the Rafah border collapses. In the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Tubas, in Bayt Fajjar nr. Bethlehem, and in Qalandia refugee camp (r.c.) nr. Ramallah. Of note, 6 IDF soldiers refuse orders to dismantle structures at an unauthorized settlement outpost; they are relieved of duty pending a court-martial hearing. (NYT 11/17; OCHA, WP 11/18; PCHR 11/19) 17 NOVEMBER The Israeli Interior Min. approves construction of 900 new housing units in Gilo settlement in East Jerusalem, precipitating sharp criticism from the White House not only for the Gilo project but for “the continued pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes” in Jerusalem; UN Secy.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon “deplores” the decision. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Bethlehem, Hebron (evicting 1 Palestinian family from their home, occupying it as an observation post), Jericho, Nablus. In the Jerusalem environs, Israeli forces demolish 2 Palestinian homes (1 in Wadi Qaddum, housing 30 Palestinians; 1 in Bayt Hanina, displacing 11 Palestinians). (IFM, NYT, OCHA, PLONAD, WP, WT 11/18; PCHR 11/19) 18 NOVEMBER New York State assemblyman Dov Hikind leads a delegation of 50 Jewish Americans to lay the cornerstone of a new settlement housing project (Nof Zion) in the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal Mukabir in East Jerusalem (see Quarterly Update for details). Meanwhile, the IDF demolishes a Palestinian home and store in Issawiyya (14 residents) on the outskirts of Jerusalem, 4 Palestinian structures in other Arab areas of East Jerusalem, including Silwan. In the West Bank, the IDF searches greenhouses nr. Jenin, looking for unlicensed wells; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm and nr. Jenin. Also in East Jerusalem, an Israeli youth stabs, wounds a Palestinian laborer in Ramat Eshkol settlement. The IDF also makes 2 incursions into s. Gaza nr. Abasan and Khuza to bulldoze land along the border fence, clearing lines of sight. Late in the day, unidentified Palestinians fire a rocket into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. In response, the IDF makes air strikes on 2 smuggling tunnels along the Rafah border (injuring 1 Palestinian) and on a Hamas training site in Khan Yunis (destroying 2 structures). (NYT, XIN 11/19; PCHR 11/25; JPI 11/27) 19 NOVEMBER In the West Bank, the IDF stages synchronized late-night raids on the homes of 5 PA intelligence officers in villages nr. Nablus and Salfit, detaining the men (including the PA's Salfit regional intelligence cmdr. Lt. Col. Muhammad `Abd al-Hamid Bani Fadil), marking Israel's first arrest of senior PA security officials in 3 yrs.; the IDF also relays to the PA a request to turn over a 6th intelligence officer, but the PA does not comply; the Israeli DMin. confirms the arrests but refuses to comment, with Palestinian security sources speculating (YA 11/20) that Israel was pressuring the PA to back off investigation of a suspected collaborator; all 5 are released on 11/20 after talks between Israel and the PA. The IDF also stages synchronized late-night house searches in 3 villages w. of Jenin, making no arrests. IDF undercover units traveling in a car with Palestinian license plates enter Bil`in village, arrest a Palestinian on an Israeli wanted list. (YA 11/20; OCHA, PCHR 11/25) 20 NOVEMBER In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinians taking part in weekly protests against the separation wall in Bil`in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation) and against Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists taking part in weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in Ni`lin (injuring 3 Palestinians); fires stun grenades and tear gas at Palestinian and international activists taking part in the weekly nonviolent demonstration against the separation wall in al-Ma`sara s. of Bethlehem (injuring 3 Palestinians, including a 9-yr.-old boy); conducts late-night arrest raids on several coffee shops nr. Qalqilya, detaining 3 PA security officers and 3 teenagers (including a 14-yr.-old boy). In Hebron, Jewish settlers fr. Ma'on in Hebron beat 4 Palestinian youths tending sheep nearby, chasing them off the land; Jewish settlers fr. Carmiel attack and vandalize a Palestinian home nearby, attempting to drive the Palestinian family off the land. (OCHA, PCHR 11/25) 21 NOVEMBER In Gaza, unidentified Palestinians fire a rocket into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The IDF retaliates with air strikes on 2 suspected weapons factories and a smuggling tunnel on the Rafah border, injuring 8 Palestinians (2 seriously, 2 moderately, 4 lightly) and damaging another 2 factories and 4 homes nearby. Hrs. later, Hamas announces that it has secured renewed pledges from all Gaza factions to halt all rocket and mortar fire toward Israel, to preserve the stability in Gaza and prevent further Israeli retaliation, though the factions say they will respond to any IDF incursion into Gaza. (YA 11/21; HA, WT 11/22; WT 11/23; OCHA, PCHR 11/25; WJW 11/26) 22 NOVEMBER In the West Bank, the IDF makes a late-night incursion into Bayt Liqiya nr. Ramallah, patrolling the streets and firing rubber-coated steel bullets at stone-throwing youths who confront them, causing no reported injuries; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin, Qalqilya. (OCHA, PCHR 11/25) 23 NOVEMBER Unidentified Palestinians fire a rocket fr. Gaza into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. Late in the evening, the IDF carries out air strikes on smuggling tunnels on the Rafah border in retaliation, causing no reported injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Qalqilya; conducts late-night patrols inside Jenin town. Jewish settlers stone Palestinian vehicles traveling on the Nablus–Qalqilya road nr. Havat Gilad settlement. The UN reports that in the previous wk., 2 Palestinian militants were killed mishandling explosives, and 1 Palestinian was killed and 1 injured in a smuggling tunnel collapse on the Rafah border. (Jewish Telegraphic Agency 11/23; OCHA, PCHR 11/25) 24 NOVEMBER In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Salfit and nr. Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin. (OCHA, PCHR 11/25; PCHR 12/3) 25 NOVEMBER In the West Bank, the IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Qalqilya and nr. Nablus, Salfit. (PCHR 12/3; OCHA 12/9) Netanyahu declares a 10-mo. halt to all new residential housing approvals and construction in West Bank settlements, though building in East Jerusalem and work on 2,900 West Bank housing units currently under construction and any “public buildings essential for normal life” (e.g., schools, synagogues) in West Bank settlements would proceed. The U.S. welcomes this move as “significant.” PA PM Salam Fayyad says that the offer is not enough, the PA insists on a total settlement freeze. (IFM 11/25; NYT, WP, WT 11/26)
Topic:: Diplomacy
Political Geography:: United States, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

404. Bibliography of Periodical Literature : Spring 2010

Author:: Norbert Scholz
Publication Date:: 03-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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. Reference and General `Abd al-Hay, Hana S. “Parliamentary Quotas for Women: Between International Support and Contradictory Arab Positions” [in Arabic]. MAUS, no. 23 (Sum. 09): 47–70. Abraham, Ibrahim, and Roland Boer. “'God Doesn't Care': The Contradictions of Christian Zionism.” Religion and Theology 16, nos. 1–2 (09): 90–110. Davis, Nancy J., and Robert V. Robinson. “Overcoming Movement Obstacles by the Religious Orthodoxy: The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Shas in Israel, Comunione e Liberazione in Italy and the Salvation Army in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 114, no. 5 (Mar. 09): 1302–49. Hassan, Riaz. “Interrupting a History of Tolerance: Anti-Semitism and the Arabs.” Asian Journal of Social Science 37, no. 3 (09): 453–62. Ouardani, Mohamed. “La religion peut-elle tout expliquer? L'islam comme modèle explicatif des sociétés musulmanes.” CM, no. 70 (Sum. 09): 147–64. Salem, Salah. “The Renovation of Arab Socialist Thought” [in Arabic]. ShA, no. 140 (Win. 09): 118–32. Al-Sayyadi, Mokhles. “Contemporary Islamic Movements” [in Arabic]. MA 32, no. 369 (Nov. 09): 7–27. History (through 1948) and Geography Abisaab, Malek. “Shiite Peasants and a New Nation in Colonial Lebanon: The Intifada of Bint Jubayl, 1936.” CSSAME 29, no. 3 (09): 483–501. Avci, Yasemin. “The Application of Tanzimat in the Desert: The Bedouins and the Creation of a New Town in Southern Palestine (1860–1914).” MES 45, no. 6 (Nov. 09): 969–83. Chazan, Meir. “Mapai and the Arab-Jewish Conflict, 1936–1939.” ISF 24, no. 2 (Win. 09): 28–51. Hirsch, Dafna. “'We are Here to Bring the West, Not Only to Ourselves': Zionist Occidentalism and The Discourse of Hygiene in Mandate Palestine.” IJMES 41, no. 4 (Nov. 09): 577–94. Holmila, Antero. “The Holocaust and the Birth of Israel in British, Swedish and Finnish Press Discourse, 1947–1948.” European Review of History 16, no. 2 (Apr. 09): 183–200. Hughes, Matthew. “From Law and Order to Pacification: Britain's Suppression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–39.” JPS 39, no. 2 (Win. 2010): 6–22. Kabalo, Paula. “Challenging Disempowerment in 1948: The Role of the Jewish Third Sector during the Israeli War of Independence.” ISF 24, no. 2 (Win. 09): 3–27. ———. “The Historical Dimension: Jewish Associations in Palestine and Israel 1880s–1950s.” Journal of Civil Society 5, no. 1 (Jun. 09): 1–19. Kushner, David. “Mussaver Çöl: An Ottoman Magazine in Beersheba toward the End of World War I” [in Hebrew]. Cathedra, no. 132 (Jun. 09): 131–48. Nashif, Taysir. “Educational Background and Elite Composition: Jewish Political Leadership during the British Mandate.” ISF 24, no. 2 (Win. 09): 67–81. Sheffy, Yigal. “Chemical Warfare and the Palestine Campaign, 1916–1918.” Journal of Military History 73, no. 3 (Jul. 09): 803–44. ———. “The Jaffa–Jerusalem Railway Line, the Sejed Station, and British Military Intelligence” [in Hebrew]. Cathedra, no. 131 (Mar. 09): 163–69. Sinanoglu, Penny. “British Plans for the Partition of Palestine, 1929–1938.” Historical Journal 52, no. 1 (Mar. 09): 131–52. Palestinian Politics and Society Abdallah, Hmaidi. “The Prospect of the Intra-Palestinian Dialogue in Egypt” [in Arabic]. Dirasat Bahith 7, no. 27 (Sum. 09): 113–26. Abdallah, Taisir. “Prevalence and Predictors of Burnout among Palestinian Social Workers.” International Social Work 52, no. 2 (Mar. 09): 223–33. Abu Fakhr, Sakr, ed. “Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 79 (Sum. 09): 100–7. Aruri, Naseer, and Hani Fares, eds. “The Boston Declaration on the One State” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 79 (Sum. 09): 124–26. Boulby, Marion. “On Shifting Boundaries: Islamist Women in Palestinian Politics.” BCBRL 4, no. 1 (Nov. 09): 31–32. Braverman, Irus. “Uprooting Identities: The Regulation of Olive Trees in the Occupied West Bank.” Political and Legal Anthropology Review 32, no. 2 (Nov. 09): 237–54. Brom, Shlomo, Giora Eiland, and Oded Eran. “Partial Agreements with the Palestinians.” Strategic Assessment 12, no. 3 (Nov. 09): 67–86. Clarno, Andy. “Or Does It Explode? Collecting Shells in Gaza.” Social Psychology 72, no. 2 (Jun. 09): 95–98. Dana, Seif. “Islamic Resistance in Palestine: Hamas, the Gaza War and the Future of Political Islam.” HLS 8, no. 2 (Nov. 09): 211–28. Fayyad, Salam (interview). “Salam Fayyad Presents his Project of State-Building” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 79 (Sum. 09): 5–20. Harker, Christopher. “Spacing Palestine through the Home.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 34, no. 3 (Jul. 09): 320–32. Hawatmeh, Nayef (interview). “Nayef Hawatmeh: A Comprehensive Interview” [in Arabic]. Dirasat Bahith 7, no. 27 (Sum. 09): 9–32. Ishtiya, Imad, Husni Awad, and Fakhri Dwaykat. “The Reasons behind Fatah's Decline: A Field Study” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 79 (Sum. 09): 27–38. Jokman, Georges. “The Future of Fatah and the Two-State Solution: Power or Resistance” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 79 (Sum. 09): 21–26. Kayyali, Majed. “The Impasse of Efforts for an Internal Palestinian Reconciliation” [in Arabic]. ShA, no. 39 (Fall 09): 14–24. Klein, Menachem. “Against the Consensus: Oppositionist Voices in Hamas.” MES 45, no. 6 (Nov. 09): 881–92. Kuruvilla, Samuel. “The Invention of History: A Century of Interplay between Theology and Politics in Palestine, Report on the International Centre of Bethlehem Conference, 23–29 August 2009.” HLS 8, no. 2 (Nov. 09): 235–38. Kurz, Anat. “The Sixth Fatah Convention: Formal Changes Only.” Strategic Assessment 12, no. 3 (Nov. 09): 51–65. Legrain, Jean-François. “Hamas et Fatah dans leur rivalité médiatique.” CM, no. 69 (Spr. 09): 75–86. Merari, Ariel, Jonathan Fighel, Boaz Ganor, et al. “Making Palestinian 'Martyrdom Operations'/'Suicide Attacks': Interviews with Would-Be Perpetrators and Organizers.” TPV 22, no. 1 (Jan. 10): 102–19. Al-Rimmawi, Hussein. “Spatial Changes in Palestine: From Colonial Project to an Apartheid System.” African and Asian Studies 8, no. 4 (09): 375–412. Salman, Talal. “In Memory of Shafiq al-Hout” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 79 (Sum. 09): 96–99. Shikaki, Khalid. “Fatah Resurrected.” The National Interest, 104 (Nov./Dec. 09), http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=22326. Taha, al-Moutawakkel. “Gaza: The War and the Culture” [in Arabic]. Dirasat Bahith 7, no. 27 (Sum. 09): 67–70. Tawil-Souri, Helga. “New Palestinian Centers: An Ethnography of the 'Checkpoint Economy'.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 12, no. 3 (May 09): 217–35. JERUSALEM Al-`Azaar, Muhammad K. “Jerusalem: 2009 Capital of Arab Culture” [in Arabic]. ShA, no. 140 (Win. 09): 104–16. Dumper, Michael. “'Two State Plus': Jerusalem and the Binationalism Debate.” JQ, no. 39 (Fall 09): 6–15. Dumper, Michael, and Craig Larkin. “UNESCO and Jerusalem: Constraints, Challenges and Opportunities.” JQ, no. 39 (Fall 09): 16–28. Frenkel, Yehoshua. “Praises of Jerusalem and Damascus” [in Hebrew]. Cathedra, no. 131 (Mar. 09): 142–46. Houk, Marian. “A New Convergence? European and American Positions on Jerusalem.” JQ, no. 38 (Fall 09): 88–96. Ju`ba, Nazmi. “Jerusalem: Between Land Settlements and Excavations” [in Arabic]. MDF, no. 79 (Sum. 09): 39–54. Khamaisi, Rassem. “Israel's Policy in Old Jerusalem: The Creeping Domination and Urbanization” [in Arabic]. Idafat, no. 8 (Fall 09): 121–44. Makhoul, Amir. “The Status of Jerusalem in the Palestinian Cause” [in Arabic]. ShA, no. 140 (Win. 09): 92–103. Pullan, Wendy. “The Space of Contested Jerusalem.” JQ, no. 39 (Fall 09): 39–50.
Topic:: Economics and Politics
Political Geography:: America, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia

405. How worthy Israeli Relations for Turkey?

Author:: Halil Erdemir
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations
Institution:: Center for International Conflict Resolution at Yalova University
Abstract:: Palestine is a crucial and well-known place for humanity in general for the region in particular. The area is important for religious, cultural, political, strategic and economic matters. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are connected with the region. The well-known world empires and cultures left their ethnic, cultural and/or political marks in the life of regional people. The lucrative energy stocks are either located or connected with the region. The strategic location, military and economic capabilities of Turkey and Israel is significant and noteworthy in the region. They have played roles in the recent past and it seems they will continue to play in the near future. The both countries relationship required delicate policies due to their domestic and international sensitivities. There are ethnic and religious rivalries as well as political and economic clash of interests in the region. Alliances and co-operations in various fields shaped the recent history of the region. The region seems to be the most interesting arenas of political, economic, cultural and military manoeuvres of the influential world and regional powers. Turkey and Israel will play their active or passive roles in the wider scenarios accordance with their influences in regional and/or international politics. The relationship will be affected either upwards or downwards depending on their domestic and international perspectives of the issues. Regional and international developments are influential in shaping consistency of bilateral relations and regional peace.
Political Geography:: Turkey and Israel

406. Truman the Politician and the Establishment of Israel

Author:: Lawrence Davidson
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Harry S. Truman was a temperamental and politically ambitious man. Both his sensitivities and ambition influenced his actions during his presidency. This was particularly the case when it came to Palestine because there existed a strong domestic Zionist lobby that played to Truman's wants and needs in order to influence his decision making. This article examines that process of policy formulation and shows how personality played into the president's behavior in ways that allowed the Zionist lobby to accomplish its ends. Though Truman's actions can be seen as a product of his personal sensitivities, his prioritizing of domestic political ambitions with regard to policy on Palestine set a harmful precedent for the future.
Political Geography:: Israel

407. Lawrence Davidson on American Presidents and Israel

Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: No abstract is available.
Political Geography:: America and Israel

408. From the Editor

Author:: Rashid I. Khalidi
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: The role of U.S. presidents in making policy on Palestine is an insufficiently studied topic. Many believe that if the policy of a given administration is particularly favorable to Israel, this is entirely due to the president's predilections. Disappointment with the policies of the Obama administration after the high hopes raised by his initial declarations is based on this belief. Others are convinced that the Israel lobby is and has always been all powerful, imposing its views on different administrations. Neither of these views is correct. There is no question that a president's personal attitude is important, as could be seen during the Eisenhower and other administrations when U.S. policy showed a degree of balance between Israel and the Arabs. At the same time, the Israel lobby has grown much more powerful, especially since the 1980s and especially in Congress, where it initially focused its efforts and where it has virtually unchallenged influence.
Political Geography:: United States and Israel

409. Under a Cloud of Uncertainty: AIPAC's 2010 Policy Conference, 21--23 March

Author:: Cléa Thouin
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: ON THE SECOND DAY of the 2010 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual policy conference, Eric Cantor, the Republican Whip for the 111th U.S. Congress, declared, “We gather today under a dark cloud of uncertainty.” Cantor may have been referring to most participants' favorite subject, the Iranian “nuclear threat,” but his statement proved an apt description of the overall atmosphere at this year's conference. The conference came in the midst of unusually fraught public tensions between the United States and Israel over the announcement two weeks earlier of new settlement construction in East Jerusalem. The dispute over an issue as important to the United States as the peace process, against the background of recently revealed statements by the U.S. military high command that the nonresolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was negatively impacting U.S. security and military operations elsewhere in the world, directly challenged AIPAC's fundamental founding premise: the identity of U.S. and Israeli interests. As a result, the conference was colored by a palpable level of uncertainty about the way forward for the pro-Israel community in the United States. TELLING THE STORY AIPAC's fifty-first annual conference, which took place from 21 to 23 March in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., was billed as the largest ever, with 7,500 delegates. The size itself posed challenges. To accommodate such numbers, the plenary sessions were held in a 780-foot-long conference hall—more than twice the size of a U.S. football field. This meant that despite the extravagant 500-foot split screen, the crowd on one side of the hall could not see what was happening at ground level on the other side, sometimes resulting in serious confusion. On more than one occasion, for example, half the audience, spontaneously joining with commotion on the other side of the hall without being able to see the source, unwittingly applauded pro-Palestinian activists protesting speeches, particularly by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Middle East Quartet envoy (and former British prime minister) Tony Blair. These were two of the main speakers, the other most highly anticipated speaker at this year's conference being U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Besides four plenary sessions (and a gala dinner) that featured the main speakers, the program consisted of approximately one hundred “breakout sessions”—focused panels, university-type seminars, and advocacy training sessions led by scholars, professionals, or lobbyists. These took place concurrently before or after the plenary sessions, and most were repeated more than once in the course of the conference (sometimes with different speakers). There were also luncheons and dinners with distinguished guests, most of which (as well as some panels) were “by invitation only,” restricted to select AIPAC members. Only one plenary session was held on the last day of the conference, as most of the morning was dedicated to training workshops in preparation for AIPAC's traditional day of lobbying on Capitol Hill. These workshops were organized by region, with participants attending lobbying sessions for their specific region so as to receive targeted training on their congressional representatives. The overall conference theme, “Israel: Tell the Story,” represented AIPAC's effort to redirect the increasingly negative public narrative on Israel that has emerged since Israel's winter 2008–2009 assault on Gaza. This was part of a broader attempt to shift from a defensive campaign aimed at refuting criticism of Israel to an offensive campaign focused on advancing a positive picture of Israel, that of “an innovator, a Jewish homeland, an open society, a light unto the nations.” AIPAC executive director Howard Kohr outlined in broad strokes the new strategy, expressly calling on his audience to shed their “defensive mentality,” which he argued focused “all too often on the slights Israel faces,” and instead “tell the story of Israel's hand extended in peace . . . Israel's example of freedom and democracy.” The results of the conference fell short of this goal. The only successful “storytelling” took place at the opening plenary session titled “Innovation Nation,” which framed Israel's modern technological entrepreneurship as a continuation of early Zionist settlers' alleged ability to “make the desert bloom,” and in a video (one of many screened on the conference hall's mega screen) that depicted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a humanitarian vanguard without ever hinting at the possibility of improper conduct during Operation Cast Lead (OCL). Only four “breakout” panels addressed the Israel-as-innovation-nation theme—two on Israel's economic and technological achievements, the other two on its military innovation. Moreover, most panels on Israel throughout the conference could be seen as “defensive,” for example, “Singled Out: Delegitimizing Israel at the United Nations,” “Mainstream to Fringe: Reality of Anti-Israel Effort in America,” or “Tough Questions: Answering Israel's Detractors.” Similarly, although a number of secondary speakers, from a Paraguayan entrepreneur to a Nigerian doctor, were tasked with “telling Israel's story” during the conference's plenary sessions, they were never the focus of the sessions at which they spoke and instead seemed to be no more than fillers before anticipated speakers like Clinton and Netanyahu. Even main speakers like Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz inevitably found themselves defending Israel's policies—whether on settlements or on the IDF's conduct during OCL—rather than actually telling the story of what Kohr called the “small miracle we know as Israel.”
Topic:: United Nations
Political Geography:: America and Israel

410. The Power of Inclusive Exclusion: Anatomy of Israeli Rule in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, edited by Adi Ophir, Michal Givoni, and Sari Hanafi. New York: Zone Books, 2009. 641 pages. $38.95 cloth.

Author:: Roger Heacock
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: This book is largely the fruit of a research effort sponsored by the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem, involving around twenty Israeli and three Palestinian contributors (one a coeditor), and comes highly praised on the jacket by sometime Van Leer visiting professor Ann Stoler.
Political Geography:: New York and Israel

411. Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine since 1989, by Mark LeVine. London and New York: Zed Books, 2009. xii + 182 pages. Notes to p. 208. Bibliography to p. 215. Index to p. 222. $25.95 paper; $85.95 cloth. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A People's War, by Beverley Milton-Edwards. London and New York: Routledge, 2009. xii + 205 pages. Chronology to p. 209. Bibliography to p. 222. Index to p. 228. $39.95 paper; $140.00 cloth.

Author:: Helena Cobban
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Pity the poor writer who sets out to write a book about the “recent” history of the Palestine question, because this question continues to be dynamic and, like time and tides, stands still for no one. In the first sentence of Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine since 1989, cultural historian Mark LeVine tells us, “As I began writing this book, the Israel Defense Forces had just removed the last Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip,” placing it in September 2005. The writing evidently took some time because in later chapters LeVine refers (albeit in a less than satisfactory way) to events of 2007 and early 2008. For her part, political scientist Beverley Milton-Edwards brought her historical survey up only to 2005. Both books were published in 2009, in the aftermath of yet another landmark regarding the Palestine question: the lethal assault that Israel launched on Gaza in late 2008 and, even more significantly, the ability that Gaza's elected Hamas rulers evinced to survive that assault.
Political Geography:: New York, Israel, and London

412. The Arab Lobby and US Foreign Policy: The Two-State Solution, by Khalil Marrar. London and New York: Routledge, 2009. xii + 149 pages. Appendices to p. 164. Notes to p. 220. Bibliography to p. 254. Index to p. 269. $140.00 cloth; $39.95 paper.

Author:: Steven Salaita
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Khalil Marrar's The Arab Lobby and US Foreign Policy: The Two-State Solution is a provocative and comprehensive monograph that surveys and analyzes the role of Arab and Arab American activist and political organizations—together comprising what Marrar calls the “pro-Arab lobby”—in the policy discourses of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Marrar is concerned in particular with the now-widespread one-state/ two-state debate and its influence on both pro-Arab and pro-Israel lobbying efforts. He asks, “[W]hy has the US shifted away from an 'Israel only' position toward the Israeli- Palestinian conflict to supporting an 'Israel and Palestine' formula for peace?” (p. 3)
Topic:: Foreign Policy
Political Geography:: New York, America, Israel, London, and Arabia

413. Arab Views (cartoons from al-Hayat)

Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Political Geography:: Israel, Palestine, and Arabia

414. Selections from the Press

Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Political Geography:: Israel, Palestine, and Arabia

415. Quarterly Update on Conflict and Diplomacy-16 February–15 May 2010

Author:: Michele K. Esposito
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Political Geography:: United States, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia

416. Settlement Monitor

Author:: Geoffrey Aronson
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Political Geography:: Middle East, Israel, Jerusalem, and Gaza

417. Chronology

Author:: Michele K. Esposito
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 16 February–15 May 2010 This section is part 106 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 FEBRUARY As the quarter opens, Israel's siege of Gaza continues, with Israel barring all exports, all but limited humanitarian imports, 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 along 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 conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in and around Hebron, nr. Tubas. (PCHR 2/18) 17 FEBRUARY IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire on Palestinians scavenging building materials fr. destroyed buildings n. of Bayt Lahiya, forcing them to flee but causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF demolishes a livestock pen nr. Kiryat Arba settlement after the settlers filed a petition with the IDF asking for it to be removed; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in al-Am`ari refugee camp (r.c.) nr. al-Bireh and nr. Hebron, Jenin, Nablus. (PCHR 2/18, 2/24; OCHA 2/25) 18 FEBRUARY The IDF makes a day-long incursion into c. Gaza to level land inside the no-go zone e. of al-Maghazi and al-Musaddar, demolishing 3 Palestinian homes (displacing 13 residents), leveling 17 dunams (d.; 4 d. = 1 acre) of agricultural land, exchanging gunfire with armed Palestinians throughout the day (no injuries reported). In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Bayt Sira village w. of Ramallah in the evening, firing rubber-coated steel bullets at stone-throwing youths who confront them, causing no injuries; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Jenin, Ramallah. (OCHA 2/18; PCHR 2/24; OCHA 2/25) 19 FEBRUARY Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. In the West Bank, the IDF fires rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists (including Palestinian Authority [PA] PM Salam Fayyad, PA communications advisor Sabri Saydam, Fatah Central Comm. mbr. Nabil Shaath, PLO Exec. Comm. mbr. Taysir Khalid, Palestinian National Initiative party head Mustafa Barghouti, and the mayor of Geneva), some of whom throw stones at IDF troops, taking part in a nonviolent march to the separation wall in Bil`in (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); fires rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas at Palestinian and international activists, some of whom throw stones at IDF troops, taking part in protests against the separation wall in Ni`lin (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); fires rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, stun grenades at Palestinians staging a nonviolent march to land located between Dayr Nizam and al-Nabi Salih recently confiscated for the expansion of Halamish settlement (10s suffer tear gas inhalation); conducts late-night patrols in Rumana village w. of Jenin. Hamas accuses Fatah of links to the 1/20/10 assassination of Izzeddin al-Qassam Brigades founder Mahmud al-Mabhuh, saying that 2 Palestinian suspects in custody in Dubai in connection with the assassination, Anwar Shhaybar and Ahmad Hassanayn, were former Fatah security officers and current employees of a senior Fatah official. Fatah denies the accusation. (NYT 2/20; PCHR 2/24; OCHA 2/25) 20 FEBRUARY In Gaza, IDF troops on the s. Gaza border e. of al-Qarara exchange cross-border fire with armed Palestinians, causing no reported injuries; Israeli naval vessels then shell the area, injuring 3 armed Palestinians, damaging a mosque. IDF troops in observation towers on the Gaza border e. of Jabaliya fire on Palestinian farmers working land 400 m fr. the border (outside Israel's no-go zone), forcing them to leave. Israeli naval vessels fire on Palestinian fishing boats off the n. Gaza coast, forcing them to return to shore. Late in the evening, IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire at Palestinian homes in Bayt Hanun for 40 mins., causing no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF opens fire on a Palestinian vehicle driving nr. Husan village w. of Bethlehem, wounding 3 Palestinians (ages 17–21), claiming they fired on an IDF patrol; fires tear gas, stun grenades at Palestinians attempting to reach their agricultural land inside a closed military zone nr. Hebron, injuring an 8-yr.-old Palestinian boy; raids and seals (until 2/28) 2 Palestinian organizations in Sur Bahir nr. Jerusalem; imposes a late-night curfew on, conducts house searches in al-Zubaydat village nr. Jericho. Jewish settlers fr. Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron throw stones and bottles at Palestinian houses in nearby Wadi Husayn, injuring a 7-yr.-old Palestinian boy. Jewish settlers fr. Shilo settlement n. of Ramallah seize 10 d. of Palestinian agricultural land to expand their settlement. (PCHR 2/24; OCHA 2/25) 21 FEBRUARY IDF troops on the n. Gaza border fire on Palestinians scavenging construction material from destroyed buildings 400 m fr. the border, forcing them to flee; no injuries are reported. Shortly after, the same IDF unit shells the area where the Palestinians had been scavenging as well as a Palestinian home in Bayt Lahiya, causing damage but no injuries. In the West Bank, the IDF patrols in Bayt Rima nr. Ramallah during the day; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron. Some 50 Jewish settlers break into the ancient Na'aran synagogue in Palestinian-controlled area A in Jericho to hold religious services, declaring their hopes of “renewing Jewish settlement in Jericho” (see Quarterly Update for details); the IDF removes the settlers, arresting at least 35. Jewish settlers escorted by IDF troops enter Kafr Haris village n. of Salfit to perform Jewish prayers at monuments in the village. (HA 2/22; PCHR 2/24; OCHA 2/25) Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu adds 2 key West Bank Jewish shrines, the Tomb of the Patriarchs (known as al-Ibrahimi Mosque to Palestinians) in the center of Hebron and Rachel's Tomb just inside Bethlehem, to Israel's national heritage sites, allocating $1 m. for their maintenance and repair as part of a $100 m. project to refurbish and link 150 national heritage sites, creating a “historical biblical trail [to] educate the next generation about Jewish and Zionist history.” The PA condemns the action. (IFM 2/21; PCHR, WT 2/22; NYT 2/23; JPI 3/4) (see Quarterly Update for details) 22 FEBRUARY Palestinians protesting Netanyahu's 2/21 decision to add sites in Bethlehem and Hebron to Israel's national heritage roster clash with IDF troop in Hebron; no serious injuries are reported. IDF troops conduct late-night arrest raids, house searches in al-Fara`a r.c. s. of Tubas and nr. Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah. In Gaza, the IDF makes a day-long incursion to level land along the n. Gaza border nr. Bayt Lahiya to clear lines of sight. Jewish settlers fr. Yitzhar settlement nr. Nablus uproot 45 Palestinian olive trees in nearby Burin village; the IDF imposes a curfew on the village while the settlers work. Palestinians report (PCHR 2/24) that in the previous wk. Israel's Jerusalem planning comm. convened to discuss a plan to build 549 settlement housing units on 153 d. of Bayt Safafa land s. of Jerusalem as part of a 4-stage settlement expansion plan, though no decisions were taken; the plan (several parts of which were approved before Netanyahu declared a temporary settlement freeze in 11/09; see Quarterly Update for background) is aimed at reinforcing the separation of Jerusalem from the s. West Bank. (NYT, WT 2/23; PCHR 2/24; OCHA 2/25) 23 FEBRUARY In the West Bank, low-level clashes between Palestinian protesters and the IDF continue in Hebron for a 2d day, with no serious injuries reported. The IDF conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches in Tulkarm. The UN reports that in the previous wk., the IDF demolished 1 Palestinian home nr. Hebron; 1 Palestinian died of electrocution in a smuggling tunnel nr. the Rafah border. (PCHR 2/24; OCHA 2/25; NYT 2/26; PCHR 3/4) 24 FEBRUARY The IDF makes a brief incursion 700 m into the al-Fukhari area of s. Gaza to level 60 d. of agricultural land. In the West Bank, low-level clashes between Palestinian protesters and the IDF continue in Hebron for a 3d day, with no serious injuries reported. The IDF demolishes 6 wells w. of Jenin that provide water to 47 greenhouses and 456 d. of agricultural land; conducts late-night arrest raids, house searches nr. Hebron, Ramallah. (NYT 2/26; OCHA, PCHR 3/4).
Topic:: Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:: Middle East and Israel

418. John Mearsheimer on the State of the Israel Lobby

Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Cléa Thouin: The Journal of Palestine Studies summer 2010 issue includes a report on the annual conference of the leading pro-Israel lobby , the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, as well as excerpts from a congressional letter to President Obama sponsored by J Street, a new pro-Israel group. I'm Cléa Thouin, assistant editor for the Journal of Palestine Studies.
Political Geography:: United States, Israel, and Palestine

419. Frederic Wehrey, Theodore Karasik, Alireza Nader, Jeremy Ghez, Lydia Hansell, Robert Guffey, Saudi-Iranian Relations since the Fall of Saddam

Author:: Raymond Hinnebusch
Publication Date:: 10-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: This slim volume examines a relationship that is pivotal for the stability of the Gulf and the wider Arab world and has major implications for Lebanon, Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the position of the US in the region.
Topic:: War
Political Geography:: Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia

420. Attack on the Gaza Flotilla: An Eyewitness Account

Author:: Iara Lee
Publication Date:: 07-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Palestinians in Gaza have suffered under an illegal siege—first imposed by Israel in 2005 and strictly enforced since early 2009—which Amnesty International has called “a flagrant violation of international law.” Hundreds of civilians, the representatives from dozens of countries, attempted to deliver much-needed material to the Gazan people by the Gaza flotilla. The passengers on board—including elected officials, diplomats, media professionals, and other human rights workers—joined the flotilla as an act of civil disobedience and because they believe there is no decent justification for preventing shipments of humanitarian aid from reaching people in crisis. Israeli military launched a nighttime assault with heavily armed soldiers who shot and killed nine civilians and seriously injured dozens more. What happened to the flotilla is happening to the people of Gaza on a daily basis. It will not stop until international law is applied to all countries, Israel included.
Topic:: Diplomacy and Law
Political Geography:: Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

421. Turkey, Israel and the US in the Wake of the Gaza Flotilla Crisis

Author:: Taha Özhan
Publication Date:: 07-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Insight Turkey
Institution:: SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:: Palestinians in Gaza have suffered under an illegal siege—first imposed by Israel in 2005 and strictly enforced since early 2009—which Amnesty International has called “a flagrant violation of international law.” Hundreds of civilians, the representatives from dozens of countries, attempted to deliver much-needed material to the Gazan people by the Gaza flotilla. The passengers on board—including elected officials, diplomats, media professionals, and other human rights workers—joined the flotilla as an act of civil disobedience and because they believe there is no decent justification for preventing shipments of humanitarian aid from reaching people in crisis. Israeli military launched a nighttime assault with heavily armed soldiers who shot and killed nine civilians and seriously injured dozens more. What happened to the flotilla is happening to the people of Gaza on a daily basis. It will not stop until international law is applied to all countries, Israel included.
Topic:: Humanitarian Aid and Law
Political Geography:: United States, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

422. The Union for the Mediterranean: Views from the Southern Shores

Author:: Kamleh Khatib
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The International Spectator
Institution:: Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:: Through a series of open-question interviews carried out with those responsible for the UfM file between late 2008 and early 2009, some undeniable and unanimously accepted merits were voiced. However, views from the southern shores of the Mediterranean appear to be multifaceted and not uniform with only one dominant common trait echoing in all interviews and shaping negative perceptions, namely, the weight the Arab-Israeli conflict exerts in hampering the initiative. While a Union of projects could "address the architectural deficit that has prevented the Mediterranean from becoming a coherently functional economic regional space", high politics emerge, yet again, as an inescapable reality that demands prioritisation.
Topic:: Economics
Political Geography:: Israel and Arabia

423. Palestine: From the Rubble, Life

Author:: Eman Mohammed
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: World Policy Journal
Institution:: World Policy Institute
Abstract:: GAZA, Palestinian Territories—Between the shattered memories of the past and an unknown future lies a pile of rubble that is called home. Mohammed Khaderi, his wife Ebtesam and the 22 members of their family live here, in the heart of Gaza. Their house was targeted by Israeli field operations and all but leveled during the last incursion into the Gaza Strip—the 2008-2009 war. Ever since, the Khaderi family has lived beneath a makeshift tent attached to what remains.
Political Geography:: Israel and Gaza

424. The Musician

Author:: Asaf Avidan
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: World Policy Journal
Institution:: World Policy Institute
Abstract:: I was born in a nation of immigrants. Over the 62 years of its existence, Israel has become a melting pot of social and cultural exchange. Poles, Germans, Yemenites, Moroccans, Egyptians, Russians and more— all foreigners that have unintentionally contributed their traditions to the biological and cultural composition of Israel.
Topic:: Immigration
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Europe, Israel, and Egypt

425. Censorship: Might vs. Right

Author:: David A. Andelman
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: World Policy Journal
Institution:: World Policy Institute
Abstract:: We hit the road before dawn on May 14, 1982, headed for Israel's northern border with Lebanon. There were four of us in the car—our two-man CBS News crew (cameraman and soundman), the Tel Aviv bureau producer and me. Tensions were mounting with Lebanon, which was then serving as the sanctuary for the leadership and many followers of the Palestine Liberation Organization [plo]. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was already looking for a reason to send forces in, to discredit and destroy the plo. But the plo had maintained a ceasefire for nearly a year, and appeared to be pursuing a diplomatic strategy. Its tactics were frustrating Begin's plans. Still, we'd had reports of Israeli forces on the move, massing on their side of the frontier. So we were heading north to shoot a segment.
Political Geography:: Israel and Palestine

426. US-Southeast Asia Relations

Author:: Sheldon W. Simon
Publication Date:: 07-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Comparative Connections
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: In mid-May, long-simmering political tension in Thailand between the Bangkok elite establishment and urban lower classes as well as those in northern Thailand who feel ignored by the center erupted in the worst political violence in decades. Tentative US efforts to mediate were rejected by the Thai government, though the opposition appeared to welcome a US role. A tense calm has been restored, but the prospect for renewed violence is palpable. While the Indonesian government expressed understanding for President Obama's second postponement of a visit to his childhood home because of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, opposition Muslim politicians claimed the real reason for the postponement was the Israeli attack on a Turkish flotilla running Israel's Gaza blockade. A number of Muslim leaders stated that Obama wished to avoid encountering Indonesian ire for his country's pro-Israeli stand. The election of Benigno Aquino III as the Philippines' 15th president was greeted by international observers as a generally fair and transparent process. The president-elect has stated he plans to review the country's Visiting Forces Agreement with the US to modify its pro-US bias. Washington continues to criticize Burma's preparations for elections scheduled for October as marginalizing the political opposition. The US is also concerned that Burma may be clandestinely importing materials from North Korea for a nascent nuclear weapons program.
Political Geography:: United States, Indonesia, Israel, North Korea, Philippines, Burma, Mexico, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Bangkok

427. Should Israel Become a "Normal" Nation?

Author:: Barbara Slavin
Publication Date:: 10-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Washington Quarterly
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust amid violent rejection from its neighbors, Israel has long insisted on extraordinary freedom of action to defend its existence as a Jewish majority state. But external pressures are rising, creating a diplomatic crisis that may constrain Israel's tendency to use massive military force against adversaries. Increasingly, questions are being raised even by those sympathetic to Israel about whether its military conduct and unresolved conflict with the Palestinians are impinging on the U.S. ability to fight wars in two Muslim nations and to counter anti-U.S. sentiment in the wider Muslim and developing world. There is also an emerging debate about the wisdom and feasibility of Israel refusing to acknowledge its arsenal of nuclear weapons, while demanding that other countries in the Middle East foreswear them.
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Israel, and Germany

428. The Mavi Marmara at the Frontlines of Web 2.0

Author:: Diana Allan and Curtis Brown
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Topic:: Cold War
Political Geography:: United States, Turkey, and Israel

429. From the Editor

Author:: Rashid I. Khalidi
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: The Israeli-Palestinian 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.
Political Geography:: Israel and Jerusalem

430. Inside the Christians United for Israel Summit in Washington, D.C., 20-22 July 2010

Author:: Alice Bach
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Political Geography:: Washington and Israel

431. Becker: Palestine, Israel, and the U.S. Empire

Author:: Joel Kovel
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Political Geography:: United States, Israel, and Palestine

432. Grondahl: Gaza Graffiti: Messages of Love and Politics

Author:: Toufic Haddad
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Topic:: Politics
Political Geography:: Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

433. Arab Views (cartoons from al-Hayat)

Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Political Geography:: Israel and Arabia

434. Selections from the Press

Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Topic:: Development
Political Geography:: United States and Israel

435. Quarterly Update on Conflict and Diplomacy:16 May - 15 August 2010

Author:: Michele K. Esposito
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Topic:: Government
Political Geography:: United States, Israel, and Arabia

436. Bibliography of Periodical Literature

Author:: Norbert Scholz
Publication Date:: 09-2010
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: 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.
Topic:: International Relations and Economics
Political Geography:: Israel, Asia, and France

437. Wanted: A War on Terrorist Media

Author:: Mark Dubowitz
Publication Date:: 10-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:: Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:: No abstract is available.
Topic:: Government and War
Political Geography:: Iraq, Europe, and Israel

438. The Making of a Martyr

Author:: Matthew Levitt
Publication Date:: 10-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:: Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:: In the annals of daring intelligence operations, Israel's Mossad stands alone. Most recently, the Israeli spy agency is suspected of pulling off the identification and penetration of a nearly-completed Syrian nuclear reactor previously unknown to Western intelligence services, as well as the assassination of Hezbollah arch terrorist Imad Mughniyeh.
Political Geography:: Israel and Syria

439. A Zero-Sum Game

Author:: Daniel Diker
Publication Date:: 10-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:: Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:: In the nearly seventeen years since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, radical Islamic terror and failed Middle East peace processes have claimed the lives of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians. Ironically, one of the greatest casualties of this conflict has been diplomatic creativity.
Topic:: Islam
Political Geography:: Middle East, Israel, and Gaza

440. A Failure of Intelligence

Author:: Joshua Goodman
Publication Date:: 10-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Journal of International Security Affairs
Institution:: Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs
Abstract:: The Duke of Marlborough once said, "No war can be conducted successfully without early and good intelligence, and that such advices [sic] can't be had but at a very great expense." While popular culture, and Hollywood in particular, has romanticized the role of intelligence in wars, the simple fact remains: one must know the enemy one is fighting for victory to be possible.
Topic:: Intelligence
Political Geography:: United States and Israel

441. Tom Farer's Crisis of U.S. Liberalism

Author:: Paul Taylor
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Human Rights and Human Welfare - Review Essays
Institution:: Josef Korbel Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
Abstract:: Confronting Global Terrorism is an account of the agenda for dealing with terrorism as it faces a concerned liberal in the early twenty-first century. The response to the appearance of terrorism, and the role of the U.S. Neo-Conservatives (Neocons) in determining how this response was made, and how badly, correctly heads the list of agenda items for Farer. But it is also necessary to deal with some of the other causes of the increasing problem of terrorism. One problem is that of how to deal with minorities in developed democracies—not much more to be said on this in these comments, except that Farer's judgments are profound and absolutely correct. Another is the problem of the Middle East, which must be seen as being at the core of the problems surrounding global terrorism facing us all, including the Neocons. Farer has produced a profound and courageous chapter on Palestinian-Israeli relations, since what he has to say is bound to irritate the more blinkered pro-Israelis in the U.S. For them, it should be required reading. The points made seem incontestable: that the balance of guilt for the awful situation is at least as much that of the Israelis as the Palestinians, and that there can be no solution unless Israel returns to the pre-1967 frontiers and accepts the internationalization of Jerusalem. All of this is backed up with detailed evidence and strong legal argument. I doubt, however, whether the Neocons will be persuaded.
Political Geography:: Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

442. Editorial

Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Abstract:: For many years I taught a Seminar on the legal aspects of the Arab–Israeli conflict at Harvard Law School. It was unlike any other of my courses or seminars. The participants, students and researchers, were more passionate and engaged than normal. As expected, there was always a group of passionate pro-Israelis (mostly but not exclusively Jewish). There was always a group of passionate pro-Arabs, or, at times it felt, anti-Israelis (mostly but, of course, not exclusively Jewish). Sure, they came to learn, but mostly they came to learn how to sharpen the arguments for ' their ' side in the conflict. ' Lawfare ' – the continuation of warfare through other means – well describes the gestalt . There were, of course, also a few who came to learn, understand, disentangle myth from reality, sort out the facts and, normatively, seek a modicum of truth and justice in a conflict which often seems to pit right against right, and wrong against wrong. But not once did this latter group constitute a critical mass.
Political Geography:: Israel and Arabia

443. The 2009 Israeli Election: A Bump in the Road to Peace?

Author:: Jonathan Marcus
Publication Date:: 07-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Washington Quarterly
Institution:: Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:: Israeli voters went to the polls in February 2009 for the fifth time in a decade. The campaign was overshadowed by the December 2008 Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip: air operations beginning just two days after Christmas and Israeli ground operations following during the early days of the New Year. Israeli troops pulled out of the Gaza Strip some three weeks later but sporadic Palestinian rocket fire continued even after the election during the ensuing weeks of coalition formation. Inevitably an election which might have focused on the future path toward peace, or perhaps the onset of the economic crisis, was dominated by traditional concerns about security. The outcome enabled both the centrist Kadima party leader and outgoing foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the standard bearer of the right, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu, to claim victory. Kadima won the most seats in the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, while the political right as a whole emerged with the best chance of forming the next governing coalition.
Topic:: Security
Political Geography:: Israel

444. The Palestinians in Israel and Operation Cast Lead: A View from Haifa

Author:: Hisham Naffa'
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: A Few Hours After Israel launched its assault on the occupied Gaza Strip on Saturday, 27 December 2008, two large crowds of angry demonstrators set out from different points of the Galilee town of Nazareth, the “Capital of the Arabs in Israel.” Supporters of the Communist party and affiliated coalitions carried red banners along with Palestinian flags, while the Islamist demonstrators carried green banners interspersed with the national flag. Both loudly proclaimed their identification with Gaza and their rejection of Israel's military crimes against the Palestinian people of Gaza. Eventually the two demonstrations converged on Nazareth's main street at the very spot where, a few years earlier, a bitter controversy with sectarian overtones had raged over the Muslim shrine of Shihab al-Din, adjacent to the Basilica of the Annunciation. But on this evening in late December, when the two groups commingled, memories of ideological difference and controversy were swept aside by feelings of solidarity and common purpose. Leaders from the various parties took turns addressing the demonstration, and their message was the same as the shouts that went up from the crowd: “Stop the massacre against our people in Gaza!”
Political Geography:: Israel and Arabia

445. Operation Cast Lead in the West Bank

Author:: Robert Blecher
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Palestinians Were Glued to al-Jazeera during the three weeks of Operation Cast Lead, which had killed 1,430 Gazans and wounded another 5,300 by the time Israel and Hamas declared cease-fires on 18 January 2009. The television screen was about as close as most West Bankers got to entering the fray. Despite the ferocity of the assault, the Jewish state's eastern flank remained largely quiet, if tensely so. The West Bank saw a single daylong strike (a second followed in East Jerusalem), a series of demonstrations in the larger cities, and a few scattered clashes with Israeli troops, which resulted in a handful of deaths. But security coordination between the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel continued apace, and while diplomatic negotiations formally were suspended “in light of the circumstances,” as a senior PA official put it, they were not severed.
Political Geography:: Israel

446. Made in the U.S.A.: American Military Aid to Israel

Author:: Frida Berrigan
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Enforcement of U.S. law concerning weapons exports and the disbursement of military aid are subject to highly politicized interpretations of concepts like "legitimate self-defense" and "safeguarding internal security." As illustrated by Israel's July 2006 war in Lebanon and its 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Washington has essentially allowed Israel to define "self-defense" however it chooses. This overview of U.S. military aid to Israel, including weapons sales and related support of its domestic military industrial complex, examines in detail the mechanisms through which aid is funneled, the restrictions on aid that do exist, and the uses to which U.S. military aid has been put-particularly in terms of Israel's military operations and its exports abroad. Frida Berrigan is senior program associate of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC.
Topic:: Law
Political Geography:: United States, America, Washington, Israel, and Gaza

447. Israel's Assault on Gaza: A Transformational Moment? An Interview with Azmi Bishara

Author:: Mouin Rabbani
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Azmi Bishara (b. 1956 in Nazareth), an Israeli Arab politician and academic, earned a doctorate in philosophy from Humboldt University in Berlin in 1986 and for the next ten years was professor of philosophy at Birzeit University; he was also associated with the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem as a senior researcher. Politics, however, occupied him from an early age. In 1974, while still in high school, he established the first National Committee of Arab High School Students; two years later he was instrumental in founding the first National Arab Student Union, which he represented in the Committee for the Defense of Arab Lands when it declared Land Day in 1976. Bishara has been a dominant force in Israeli Arab politics since 1995, when he was a principal founder of the National Democratic Assembly (Tajamu` in Arabic, Balad in Hebrew), a "democratic progressive national party for the Palestinian citizens of Israel." He was elected to the Israeli Knesset for the first time in 1996-and in all subsequent elections through 2006-under the banner of the National Democratic Assembly, which soon became the spearhead of the national movement for the Palestinian community in Israel with its demands for cultural autonomy, recognition as a national minority, and equal rights. Within a few years, the slogan Bishara coined, "Israel as a state for all its citizens," had become a mainstream demand and the rallying cry of Israel's Palestinian community. A self-described Arab nationalist, Bishara has long been a thorn in the side of the Israeli establishment. Attempts to rein him in began in earnest in November 2001, when, following a visit to Syria and speeches supporting the right of people under occupation to resist, the Knesset revoked his immunity as a member of the Knesset, opening the way for a criminal indictment against him. The Israeli High Court dismissed the indictment in April 2003 and Bishara's parliamentary immunity was restored, but other actions followed. The National Democratic Assembly, was twice banned (in 2003 and 2006) from participating in parliamentary elections by Israel's Central Elections Committee. (The ban was lifted both times by the High Court, and both times the party won three seats.) Following Israel's 2006 Lebanon war, Bishara became the subject of a high-level security probe. Although he vigorously rejected allegations of "passing information to the enemy at time of war" as politically motivated fabrications, he resigned his Knesset seat and went into exile in April 2007. In spring 2009, a bill was introduced in the Knesset that, if passed, will allow the state to strip him of his citizenship. Since leaving Israel, Bishara divides his time between Amman, Jordan, and Doha, Qatar. In addition to writing (he has published three books in recent years), he is a prominent commentator on regional and international affairs in the Arab media and satellite TV and holds the Gamal Abdel Nasser Chair for Arab Thought at the Center for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut. He was interviewed in English in Doha on 17 February 2009 by Mouin Rabbani, an Amman-based independent analyst and a senior fellow of the Institute for Palestine Studies.
Political Geography:: Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

448. Voting for Apartheid: The 2009 Israeli Elections

Author:: Oren Yiftachel
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Focusing primarily on Israeli voter attitudes with respect to the Zionist-Palestinian conflict, this paper argues that the results of the 2009 elections highlight the structural entanglement of Israeli politics within a colonialist process of "creeping apartheid" not only in the West Bank but in Israel proper. The elections also demonstrated the continuing relevance of identity and class politics among Israeli voters and the trend among culturally and economically marginalized groups to support the colonialist agendas set mainly by the settlers, the military, and parts of the globalizing economic elites. In parallel, election results among Palestinians in Israel reflect their growing alienation from a political system that structurally excludes them from political influence. Oren Yiftachel is professor of political geography, urban planning, and public policy at Ben-Gurion University, Beersheba, and the author of a number of books, including Ethnocracy: Land and Identity Politics in Israel/Palestine (Penn Press, 2006).
Topic:: Economics
Political Geography:: Israel

449. Shooting Gaza: Photographers, Photographs, and the Unbearable Lightness of War

Author:: Peter Lagerquist
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Barred entry to Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, Western photojournalists and TV crews found themselves confined to the Israeli side of the border during the assault, peering along the barrels of IDF artillery. The following essay reflects on what was said and heard among them on a sunny day in January 2009, how they and local Israeli spectators related to the violence, and how these two perspectives were tacitly elided in photographs of the war.
Topic:: War
Political Geography:: Israel and Gaza

450. Lead-Up to Cast Lead: Gaza at a Glance

Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:: Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:: Inhabited from the 4th millennium B.C., and later a strategic and commercial crossroads linking Egypt and Mesopotamia (and Africa and the Arabian Peninsula), Gaza became the center of one of the 16 districts of Mandate Palestine under British rule in 1922. The Gaza Strip constitutes that part of Palestine held by the Egyptian forces at the end of the 1948 Palestine war and then administered by Egypt from the signing of the 1949 Egyptian-Israeli Armistice Agreement to the June 1967 war. The Strip comprised 1.3% of Mandate Palestine, 27% of the Mandate's Gaza district. Israel occupied the Gaza Strip during the June 1967 war. In 1994, the Palestinian Authority assumed territorial and civilian jurisdiction over the Gaza Strip (except for the settlements and military areas) under the Gaza-Jericho agreement, signed that year by Israel and the PLO. Israel unilaterally withdrew all military installations and settlements from the Gaza Strip in August–September 2005, but retained control of airspace, territorial waters, and entry and exit points; consequently, it remains the occupying power.
Political Geography:: Israel and Egypt

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