Abstract
The case of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) constitutes a prime example from which to explore and expand the dynamics of contentious politics and social movement theories, both from a historical and contemporary perspective. As an occupied, fragmented, ethnically cleansed, dispossessed, and resilient nation, Palestinians could be seen as part of a social movement society. By resisting different forms of dominance, military occupations, and repressive authorities for several decades, Palestinians accumulated multiple cycles of contention and engaged in contentious collective actions to give birth to the Palestinian revolution (Al-Thawra Al-Filstiniya). This revolution and its characteristics have changed dramatically over the years, particularly with the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993. At that point, the Palestinian liberation movement declared the beginning of the end for the Palestinian national project.1 The revolution’s institutions transformed gradually into the bureaucracy run by the nascent and nonsovereign governing body, the Palestinian Authority (PA).
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O. Khalil, “Oslo’s Roots: Kissinger, the PLO, and the Peace Process,” Al-Shabaka Policy Brief, September 2013. Accessed at: http://al-shabaka.org/sites/default/nles/Khalil_PolicyBrief_En_Sep_2013.pdf
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R. Khalidi and S. Samour, “Neoliberalism as Liberation: The Statehood Program and the Remaking of the Palestinian National Movement,” Journal of Palestine Studies 40, 2 (2011): 6–25.
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A. Hanieh, Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East (London: Haymarket, 2013), 120.
Ibid.; Fawaz A. Gerges,ed., The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
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E. Alimi, “Contextualizing Political Terrorism: A Collective Action Perspective for Understanding the Tanzim,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29 (2006): 263–83;
Eitan Alimi, Israeli Politics and the First Palestinian Intifada: Political Opportunities, Framing Processes and Contentious Politics (London: Routledge, 2007);
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Wendy Pearlman, Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
In the field of Palestinian studies, a stream of critical scholarly literature addresses dimensions of the concepts of economic resistance and steadfastness. It includes the work of F. Al-Naqib, “Al-Mahatat Al-Raisya’ fi Al-Fikr Al-Iqtisadi Al-Nathari Al-Falastini” [The Major Stages of the Palestinian Theoretical Economic Thinking], Paper presented at the annual conference of The Palestine Economic Policy Research institute (MAS), Ramallah, Palestine, December 4–5, 2007;
F. Al-Naqib, Madkhal Nathari: Naho Seyaghat Roya’ Tanmawia Falastinya [Theoretical Introduction: Towards a Palestinian Development Vision] (Ramallah: The Palestine Economic Policy Research institute [MAS], 2003);
Al-Shabaka, “The Palestinian Policy Network,” Economic Issue Al-Shabaka, 2011–2014. Accessed at http://al-shabaka.org/policy-brief/economic-issues; A. Mansour, Eqtisad Al-Sumud [Steadfastness Economy] (Beirut: Al-Mo’asasa Al-Arabeya lliderast wa Al-Nasher, 1984);
G. Kurzom, Towards Alternative Self-Reliant Agricultural Development (Birzeit: Development Studies Programme-Birzeit University, 2001). Accessed at: http://sites.birzeit.edu/cds/research/ publications/2001/5.pdf;
A. Samara, Development under Popular Protection (Ramallah: Al-Mashraq for Economic and Development Studies, 2005);
K. Nakhleh, Globalized Palestine: The National Sell-Out of a Homeland (Trenton: The RedSea Press, 2011);
A. Hanieh, “Development as Struggle: Confronting the Reality of Power in Palestine.” Paper presented at Development in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Workshop, Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University, Ramallah, Palestine, June 23, 2011;
R. Khalidi and Sobhi Samour, “Neoliberalism as Liberation: The Statehood Program and the Remaking of the Palestinian National Movement,” Journal of Palestine Studies 40, no. 2 (2011): 6–25;
A. Tartir, Sam Bahour, and Samer Abdelnour, “Defeating Dependency, Creating a Resistance Economy.” Al-Shabaka Policy Brief, February 2012. Accessed at: http://www.al-shabaka.org/sites/default/files/policybrief/en/ defeating-dependency-creating-resistance-economy/defeating-dependency-creating-resistance-economy.pdf;
A. Tartirand I. Shikaki, ‘Al-Tanmeya ka’ada llimuqawama wa altaharur” [Development as Resistance], in Critical Studies in Development in Palestine, ed. N. Shahin (Ramallah: Bisan Center for Research and Development, 2013), 13–40;
CDS-BZU, Public Debate on Alternatives to Aid and Neoliberal Development in the oPt (Birzeit: Center for Development Studies, 2011);
Dalia Association, An Appeal by Palestinian Civil Society to the International Community to Respect Our Right to Self Determination in the Aid System. Dalia Association, 2011. Accessed at: http://www.dalia.ps/files/pAppealForRights.pdf; Bisan, Drasat Naqdiya Fi Waqi’ Al-Tanmina Fi Filasteen [Critical Studies in Development in Palestine] (Ramallah: Bisan Center for Research and Development, 2013);
and Bisan, Wahm Al-Tanmeya [The Myth of Development] (Ramallah: Bisan Center for Research and Development, 2011).
S. Roy, Failing Peace, Gaza and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (London: Pluto Press, 2007), 33.
S. Roy, The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-Development (Washington DC: institute for Palestine Studies, 1995), 128.
S, Roy, Foreword, in M, Turner and O, Shweiki, Decolonizing Palestinian Political Economy: De-development and Beyond, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2014), X.
For further reading about the Oslo economic framework, please refer to J. Wildeman and A. Tartir, “Can Oslo’s Failed Aid Model Be Laid to Rest?” Al-Shabaka Policy Brief, September 2013. Accessed at: http://al-shabaka.org/sites/default/files/TartirWilde-man_PolicyBrief_En_Sep_2013.pdf
A. Tartir, The Private Sector and Development in Occupied Palestinian: Who Profits? (Ramallah: Bisan Center for Research and Development, 2012);
Tariq Dana, “The Palestinian Capitalists That Have Gone Too Far,” Al-Shabaka Policy Brief, January 2014. Accessed at: http://al-shabaka.org/sites/default/files/Dana_PolicyBrief_En_ Jan_2014.pdf;
Khalil Nakhleh, “Oslo: Replacing Liberation with Economic Neocolonialism,” Al-Shabaka Commentary, April 2014. Accessed at: http://al-shabaka.org/sites/default/files/Nakhleh_Commentary_En_Apr_2014.pdf
A. Le More, International Assistance to the Palestinians after Oslo: Political Guilt, Wasted Money (London: Routledge, 2008).
S. Hever, The Political Economy of Israel’s Occupation: Repression beyond Exploitation (New York: Pluto Press, 2010).
M. Khan, George Giacaman, and Inge Amundsen, eds., State formation in Palestine: Viability and Governance during a Social Transformation (London: RoutledgeCur-zon, 2004);
Sari Hanafi and Linda Tabar, The Emergence of a Palestinian Globalized Elite: Donors, International Organizations and Local NGOs (Beirut: Muwatin, The Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy and Institute of Jerusalem Studies, 2005);
S. Samour, “The Promises and Limitations of Economic Protests in the West Bank,” in Arab Spring: Uprisings, Powers, Interventions, ed. Kjetil Fosshagen (New York: Berghahn Books, 2014), 68.
Palestinian National Authority, Building a Palestinian State; Towards Peace and Prosperity (Ramallah: PNA, 2007), 18.
I. Shikaki, “Economic and Development Directions That Enhance Resistance and Steadfastness” (paper presented at the Annual conference for Masarat Centre, Ramallah, Palestine, April 2014). Accessed at: http://www.masarat.ps/sites/default/ files/content_files/brhym_lshqqy.pdf
MAS-Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, “Food Security Bulletin,” 6 (Winter 2012). Accessed at: http://www.mas.ps/Newsite/webfm_send/298
R. Khalidi, “Looking Ahead: Developing Sovereign Institutions and Creating a Sustainable Palestinian Economy” (paper presented at the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People, Mobilizing international efforts in support of the Palestinian Government’s State-building programme, Helsinki, April 28–29, 2011.).
R. Khalidi, “Interview: Raja Khalidi on the Neoliberal Consensus in Palestine,” The Electronic Intifada, 2011. Accessed at: http://electronicintifada.net/content/interview-raja-khalidi-neoliberal-consensus-palestine/9870.
S. Abdelnour, Ala’a Tartir, and Rami Zurayk, “Farming Palestine for Freedom,” Al-Shabaka Policy Brief, July 2012. Accessed at: http://al-shabaka.org/sites/default/files/ Abdelnour_et_al_PolicyBrief_Eng_July_2012.pdf
S. Bahour, “Palestine’s Economic Hallucination,” This Week in Palestine, 2011. Accessed at: http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3596&ed=202&edid=202;
UNCTAD, Report on UNCTAD Assistance to the Palestinian People: Developments in the Economy of the occupied Palestinian territory (Geneva: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 2011);
IMF, Recent Experience and Prospects of the Economy of the West Bank and Gaza (Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund, 2013).
K. Nakhleh, The Myth of Palestinian Development: Political Aid and Sustainable Deceit (Jerusalem: The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs-PASSIA, 2004);
Khalil Nakhleh, Globalized Palestine: The National Sell-Out of a Homeland (Trenton: The RedSea Press, 2011).
S. Taghdisi-Rad, The Political Economy of Aid in Palestine: Relief from Conflict or Development Delayed (London: Routledge and LMEI, 2011);
Jeremy Wildeman, “Why Aid Projects in Palestine Are Doomed to Fail,” The Electronic Intifada, September 6, 2012. Accessed at: http://electronicintifada.net/content/why-aid-projects-palestine-are-doomed-fail/11642.
The classification of critics and instrumentalists was outlined in D. Mosse’s “Cultivating Development” (D. Mosse, Cultivating Development : An Ethnography of Aid Policy and Practice [London: Pluto Press, 2005] ).
For further elaboration please refer to J. Wildeman and A. Tartir, “Unwilling to Change, Determined to Fail: Donor Aid in Occupied Palestine in the aftermath of the Arab Uprisings,” Mediterranean Politics 19, no. 3 (2014): 431–49. This paper was used for the writing up of this chapter.
Nakhleh, Globalized Palestine; Khalidi and Samour, Neoliberalism as Liberation; R. Khalidi and S. Taghdisi-Rad, The Economic Dimensions of Prolonged Occupation: Continuity and Change in Israeli Policy towards the Palestinian Economy (Geneva: UNCTAD, 2009);
Ala’a Tartir, Sam Bahour, and Samer Abdelnour, “Defeating Dependency, Creating a Resistance Economy,” Al-Shabaka Policy Brief, February 2012. Accessed at: http://www.al-shabaka.org/sites/default/files/policybrief/en/ defeating-dependency-creating-resistance-economy/defeating-dependency-creating-resistance-economy.pdf
J. Zanotti, “U.S. Foreign Aid to the Palestinians,” Congressional Research Service, January 18, 2013. Accessed at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS22967.pdf
Palestinians for Dignity, “Palestinian Youth Shut Down EU Office in Ramallah,” BDS Movement, September 21, 2012. Accessed at: http://bit.ly/lbeCJCK.
Palestinians for Dignity, “Mass March Calling for Social Justice on Tuesday Sept 11 at 5:00 pm in Ramallah,” September 11, 2012. Accessed at: http://on.fb.me/lbeCkQM
and to force the PA to import fuel and electricity from Israel at Israeli consumer prices.’ (Samour 2014:72). For further elaboration, read Hiba I. Husseini and Raja Khalidi, “Fixing the Paris Protocol Twenty Years Later: Frequently Asked Questions for Diehard Reformers,” Jadaliyya, February 6, 2013. Accessed at: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/10023/fixing-the-paris-protocol-twenty-years-later_frequ.
S. Amrov, “From Fayyadism to Resistance Economy: Changing Gears in Occupied Palestine,” An interview with Ala’a Tartir, Kalimat Magazine 3, no. 8 (2013): 43–45.
Palestinians for Dignity, “Mass March Calling for Social Justice on Tuesday Sept 11 at 5:00 pm in Ramallah,” September 11, 2012. Accessed at: http://on.fb.me/lbeCkQM.
O. Barghouti, “Resistance as a Necessary Condition for Development in the Colonial Context: BDS Campaign as an Example,” Working paper, Center for Development Studies- Birzeit University, 2011. Accessed at: http://sites.birzeit.edu/cds/publications/2011/erisistance.pdf
Nakhleh, The Myth of Palestinian Development, Nakhleh, Globalized Palestine; Adel Samara, “Development under Popular Protection” (Ramallah: Al-Mashraq for Economic and Development Studies, 2005);
CDS-BZU, Public Debate on Alternatives to Aid and Neoliberal Development in the OPT (Birzeit: Center for Development Studies, 2011);
Ali Al-Kadri, “An Outline for the Right to Economic Development in the Arab World,” Real World Economics Review, 56, March 11, 2011. Accessed at: http://rwer.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/rwer-issue-56-ali-kadri/;
Ali Al-Kadri, “Security, Sovereignty and De-development in the Arab World,” The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, January 26, 2011. Accessed at: http://english.dohainstitute.org/Home/ Details?entityID=f4cl6d5a–893e–4bl0-bce4-fda7bb6493c7&resourceId=db288f4f-c55c-4e3f-825f-1e9fe6f8578f.
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Tartir, A. (2015). Contentious Economics in Occupied Palestine. In: Gerges, F.A. (eds) Contentious Politics in the Middle East. Middle East Today. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137530868_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137530868_20
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