Based on first-hand accounts and extensive fieldwork, Unfree in Palestine reveals the role played by identity documents in Israel’s apartheid policies towards the Palestinians, from the red passes of ...the 1950s to the orange, green and blue passes of today. The authors chronicle how millions of Palestinians have been denationalised through the bureaucratic tools of census, population registration, blacklisting and a discriminatory legal framework. They show how identity documents are used by Israel as a means of coercion, extortion, humiliation and informant recruitment. Movement restrictions tied to IDs and population registers threaten Palestinian livelihoods, freedom of movement and access to basic services such as health and education. Unfree in Palestine is a masterful expose of the web of bureaucracy used by Israel to deprive the Palestinians of basic rights and freedoms, and calls for international justice and inclusive security in place of discrimination and division.
Beyond Occupation looks at three contentious terms that regularly arise in contemporary arguments about Israel's practices towards Palestinians in the occupied territories – occupation, colonialism ...and apartheid – and considers whether their meanings in international law truly apply to Israel's policies. This analysis is timely and urgent – colonialism and apartheid are serious breaches of human rights law and apartheid is a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The contributors present conclusive evidence that Israel’s administration of the Palestinian territories is consistent with colonialism and apartheid, as these regimes are defined in human rights law. Their analysis further shows that these practices are deliberate Israeli state policies, imposed on the Palestinian civilian population under military occupation. These findings raise serious implications for the legality and legitimacy of Israel's continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories and the responsibility of the entire international community to challenge practices considered contrary to fundamental values of the international legal order.
This book contradicts the dominant myth that incompetent, corrupt, and uncompromising Palestinian decision-makers are responsible for the lasting stalemate in the Middle-East Peace Process. It ...highlights recent political developments in Palestine that fundamentally redefine important parameters of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Contrary to public perception, new political trends in the Palestinian Territories bolster prospects for the realisation of Palestinian national aspirations. Michael Bröning identifies key indicators which fundamentally question dominant Israeli narratives and pose an unprecedented strategic challenge to the Israeli leadership. These include the re-invention of Hamas, the reform of the Fatah movement, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s state-building efforts and the surge of non-violent resistance against Israel. This persuasive book forces us to reconsider the perceived wisdom that the Palestinians are powerless to influence events as they struggle for peace.
The Rise and Fall of Human Rights provides a groundbreaking ethnographic investigation of the Palestinian human rights world—its NGOs, activists, and "victims," as well as their politics, training, ...and discourse—since 1979. Though human rights activity began as a means of struggle against the Israeli occupation, in failing to end the Israeli occupation, protect basic human rights, or establish an accountable Palestinian government, the human rights industry has become the object of cynicism for many Palestinians. But far from indicating apathy, such cynicism generates a productive critique of domestic politics and Western interventionism. This book illuminates the successes and failures of Palestinians' varied engagements with human rights in their quest for independence.
In this ground-breaking authoritative study, a highly documented and incisive analysis is made of the galvanising changes wrought to the people and landscape of British Mandated Palestine ...(1929-1948). Using a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach, the book's award-winning author examines how the British imposed their rule, dominated by the clashing dualities of their Mandate obligations towards the Arabs and the Jews, and their own interests. The rulers' Empire-wide conceptions of the 'White man's burden' and preconceptions of the Holy Land were potent forces of change, influencing their policies.
Lucidly written, Mandated Landscape is also a rich source of information supported by numerous maps, tables and illustrations, and has 66 appendices, a considerable bibliography and extensive index. With a theoretical and historical backdrop, the ramifications of British rule are highlighted in their impact on town planning, agriculture, forestry, land, the partition plans and a case study, presenting discussions on such issues as development, ecological shock, law and the controversial division of village lands, as the British operated in a politically turbulent climate, often within their own administration.
This book is a major contribution to research on British Palestine and will interest those in Middle East, history, geography, development and colonial/postcolonial studies.
This book argues that the causes that led to the Islamization of most of the Holy Land's population from the seventh century onwards, as well as the survival of some religious communities, are ...essentially social and geographic in nature, rather than theological.
Palestinian Civil Society examines the development of civil society in the Arab Middle East and the impact of western donors, with particular reference to the Palestinian case. Looking at the ...evolution of Palestinian civil society organizations from sociological, historical, legal, and institutional perspectives, the book sheds light on the involvement of donors in Palestine, and the effect that aid has had on Palestinian civil society at a social, political and ideological level.
Drawing on Arabic texts, political theory and a detailed survey of donors and local organizations, this book challenges culturalist views that there cannot be a ‘vibrant civil society’ in the Arab world and examines the issues of depoliticization of civil society, the rise of the Islamist sector, and the gradual defeat of the left in the Occupied Territories. The author looks at how the interaction between donors and NGOs is not only centred on a western model of civil society, but also evolves around institutional mechanisms and disciplinary discourses, affecting the ability of local NGOs to adapt to the institutional requirements set by international donors.
Accessible to non-specialists, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, Middle Eastern studies and development studies.
"This book is a masterpiece for understanding the civil society sphere in the Palestinian territory… Benoît Challand presents one of the most important studies in the growing corpus about civil society and NGOs in the Arab World. …. Challand rightly wages a war against culturalist and essentialist discourses, exposing the dominant emphasis on culture and division to explain the supposed civil society deficit in Arab-Islamic areas." - Sari Hanafi, American University of Beirut, Lebanon; International Sociology 2011 26
"Challand’s research is fascinating, and the basic argument is sound. The focus on participation—rather than the devalued and contested concept of "democratization"— is innovative and useful beyond the bounds of Palestine... The intelligent and critical Challand has conducted extensive and thoughtful primary research in the Arabic language... the book advances an important and novel argument about foreign donors exacerbating Palestinian heteronomy. He points the way toward a more critical examination of NGOs and civil society, and his fidelity to on-the-ground fieldwork is well worth emulating." - Laleh Khalili, School of Oriental and African Studies; Perspectives on Politics, September 2009 | Vol. 7/No. 3
"Benoît Challand’s book on Palestinian civil society is an important work for two reasons: first, for the admirable understanding he has of the philosophical literature on civil society, and, second, for his attempt to expand the scope of research on civil society in the Arab Middle East to include international actors." Kevin Gray, Journal of Palestine Studies 40(3) , 125f.
Benoît Challand is a research fellow at the European University Institute in Florence (Italy) and has taught at the universities of Bologna, Bethlehem, Pavia and Fribourg.
1. Introduction: One Civil Society, Two Palestines Part 1: Clearing the Ground 2. Debating Civil Society: Internationally and in the Arab Middle East 3. Setting the Historical Framework on Palestinian NGOs and International Donors Part 2: Civil Society at Work 4. International Donors and the Professionalization of Civil Society Promotion 5. Managing the Discourse of Civil Society 6. The Exclusionary Dimensions of Civil Society 7. Conclusions: Looking ‘Beyond the Pale’
