Palestine and the Palestinians in the 21st Century

by Rochelle Davis (Editor), Mimi Kirk (Editor), Steven Gertz (Other), Gabriel Piterberg (Contribution by), Leila Farsakh (Contribution by)

Overview

Recent developments in Palestinian political, economic, and social life have resulted in greater insecurity and diminishing confidence in Israel's willingness to abide by political agreements or the Palestinian leadership's ability to forge consensus. This volume examines the legacies of the past century, conditions of life in the present, and the possibilities and constraints on prospects for peace and self-determination in the future. These historically grounded essays by leading scholars engage the issues that continue to shape Palestinian society, such as economic development, access to resources, religious transformation, and political movements.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253010803
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	10/07/2013
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rochelle Davis is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She is author of Palestinian Village Histories: Geographies of the Displaced.

Mimi Kirk is Editor, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore. She is editor (with Chris Toensing) of Uncovering Iraq: Trajectories of Disintegration and Transformation and (with Jean-François Seznec) of Industrialization in the Gulf: A Socioeconomic Revolution.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Palestine and the Palestinians in the Twenty-first Century        Rochelle Davis

Part I. Colonial Projects and Twentieth-Century Currents
1. The Zionist Colonization of Palestine in the Context of Comparative Settler Colonialism        Gabriel Piterberg
2. Colonial Occupation and Development in the West Bank and Gaza: Understanding the Palestinian Economy through the Work of Yusif Sayigh        Leila Farsakh
3. War, Peace, Civil War: A Pattern?                Tamim al-Barghouti

Part II. Politics, Law, and Society: 21st-century Developments and Paradigms
4. Hamas Following the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Election: A Critical Victory                As’ad Ghanem
5. Before Gaza, After Gaza: Examining the New Reality in Israel/Palestine         Sara Roy
6. The Legal Trajectory of the Palestinian Refugee Issue: From Exclusion to Ambiguity        Susan Akram
7. The Debate on Islamism and Secularism: The Case of Palestinian Women’s Movements        Islah Jad
8. Other Worlds to Live In: Palestinian Retrievals of Religion and Tradition under Conditions of Chronic National Collapse        Loren Lybarger

Part III. Trajectories for the Future, Solutions for a State
9. Palestine in the American Political Arena: Is a “Reset” Possible?        Michael C. Hudson
10. Human Rights and the Rule of Law        Noura Erakat
11. Lessons for Palestine from Northern Ireland: Why George Mitchell Couldn’t Turn Jerusalem into Belfast        Ali Abunimah
12. One State: The Realistic Solution         Saree Makdisi

What People are Saying About This

"Offers a multidisciplinary lens on the past decade and deeply examines the major issues which have blighted negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis over the past 10-15 years: land, water, elections, political leadership, legal paradigms, and the death of the 'two-state' solution. It makes for an exciting, fresh, and timely new text on Palestine and Palestinians."

Dawn Chatty]]>

Offers a multidisciplinary lens on the past decade and deeply examines the major issues which have blighted negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis over the past 10-15 years: land, water, elections, political leadership, legal paradigms, and the death of the 'two-state' solution. It makes for an exciting, fresh, and timely new text on Palestine and Palestinians.

Dawn Chatty

Offers a multidisciplinary lens on the past decade and deeply examines the major issues which have blighted negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis over the past 10-15 years: land, water, elections, political leadership, legal paradigms, and the death of the 'two-state' solution. It makes for an exciting, fresh, and timely new text on Palestine and Palestinians.

Editorial Reviews

"[P]articularly timely . . . ."—The Electronic Intifada

"[P]articularly timely . . . ."—The Electronic Intifada

"Offers a multidisciplinary lens on the past decade and deeply examines the major issues which have blighted negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis over the past 10-15 years: land, water, elections, political leadership, legal paradigms, and the death of the 'two-state' solution. It makes for an exciting, fresh, and timely new text on Palestine and Palestinians."—Dawn Chatty, author of Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East

From the Publisher

08/26/2013
The multidisciplinary essays in this volume portray a nation contemplating the possibility of stalemate, hemmed in, and searching for outlets to express its self-determination. Academics from Palestine, the U.S., and other nations each explore one facet of modern Palestinian society, from the ways that the economy has been engineered to be completely dependent on Israel to women’s rights. Georgetown University anthropologist Davis (Palestinian Village Histories) and Kirk (co-editor of Uncovering Iraq), an editor at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute, divide the book thematically into three sections, focusing broadly on colonialism and its effects, politics and law in the Palestinian territories, and the future of the Palestinian state and its place in the international system. Throughout, the contributors reiterate that Israel imposes its will on the territories through its system of checkpoints and walls, while in the political sphere, “the recognition of the colonial definition of the colonized self the condition for that self’s independence. As in other Arab countries, independence involved the internalization of colonialism.” Many of the contributors, including Saree Makdisi and Ali Abunimah, argue for the establishment of one binational state—a seemingly unlikely prospect, but there are few alternatives for the Palestinians, who are “involuntarily subject to a regime that claim moral and cultural superiority and democratic legitimacy.” (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

[P]articularly timely . . . .

The Electronic Intifada

"Offers a multidisciplinary lens on the past decade and deeply examines the major issues which have blighted negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis over the past 10-15 years: land, water, elections, political leadership, legal paradigms, and the death of the ‘two-state’ solution. It makes for an exciting, fresh, and timely new text on Palestine and Palestinians." —Dawn Chatty, author of Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East

Dawn Chatty