New Article: Almog-Bar, Policy Initiatives towards the Nonprofit Sector

Almog-Bar, Michal. “Policy Initiatives towards the Nonprofit Sector: Insights from the Israeli Case.” Nonprofit Policy Forum (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/npf-2016-0005

 

Abstract

The article aims to describe and analyze the main processes of policy initiatives towards the nonprofit sector in Israel since 2000, and their implications for the nonprofit sector and civil society. The process started with a review of policies regarding the sector, its roles and relationship with the government conducted by an ad hoc Review Committee established in February 2000. This then developed into few policy initiatives: in the Ministry of Social Welfare; by a governmental committee to review allocations to the nonprofit sector, and another project by the Prime Minister’s Office that attempted to change the relations between nonprofit organizations and the government. These initiatives are analyzed, focusing on the actors and the politics of the process, as well as subsequent changes and their impact on the government and civil society in Israel. The analysis reveals that, while the policy initiatives have created new forms and forums for dialogue and joint work between main-stream nonprofit organizations and the government, it has neither developed nor strengthened such organizations and civil society as an alternative public sphere. The insights obtained from the Israeli case of policy development towards the nonprofit sector points to a need for a more nuanced consideration of partnership policies between the government and the nonprofit sector, and their implications for nonprofit organizations and civil society.

 

 

 

New Article: Farrell & Allan, The Politics of Citizen Videos

Farrell, Nathan, and Stuart Allan. “Redrawing Boundaries: WITNESS and the Politics of Citizen Videos.” Ethnicities (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1742766515606291

 

Abstract

This article engages with several pressing issues revolving around ‘citizen witnessing’, with specific reference to the human rights advocacy group, WITNESS. In the course of tracing WITNESS’ development over the past two decades, it offers an evaluative assessment of the challenges its members have faced in promoting a grassroots, citizen-centred approach to video reportage. More specifically, this advocacy is informed by an ethical commitment to advancing human rights causes by equipping citizens in crisis situations with cameras, and the training to use them, so that they might bear witness to the plight of others. In so doing, this article argues, WITNESS offers a tactical reformulation of the guiding tenets of peace journalism, one with considerable potential for recasting anew its strategic priorities.

 

 

 

 

Thesis: Wilson, African Asylum Seekers in Israeli Political Discourse

Wilson, Ben R. African Asylum Seekers in Israeli Political Discourse and the Contestation over Zionist Ideology, MA Thesis, Temple University, 2015.

URL: http://gradworks.umi.com/15/97/1597134.html

 

Abstract

Since the time of their arrival beginning around 2005, there remain approximately 46,000 African asylum seekers in Israel. The following paper reviews the foundations and implications of Israel’s political discourse in reference to the presence of this community. I situate the treatment of the asylum seekers in their relationship to the Jewish State, Zionist ideology, international refugee law, and Israel’s human rights community. I argue: 1) that the discourse surrounding the asylum seekers reflects larger changes within the ethos of the Jewish State and models of Israeli personhood; 2) that notions of “security” and “threat” in relation to the asylum seekers take on new meanings shaped by Israel’s ongoing demographic concerns; and 3) that the political response to the African asylum seekers sheds light on irreconcilable goals of the Zionist nation-building project seeking to both maintain a Jewish majority and liberate world Jewry from life segregated and isolated in the Diaspora.

 

 

New Article: Waters, The Perils of Positing Civil Society in Conflict and Transition

Waters, Timothy William. “Clearing the Path: The Perils of Positing Civil Society in Conflict and Transition.” Israel Law Review 48.2 (2015): 165-87.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021223715000060

 

Abstract
Can there be a general theoretical perspective on civil society’s involvement in transitional justice? This article considers this question in its application to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Within the study of transitional justice and conflict resolution, civil society – a notoriously plastic concept – can be understood narrowly as rights-oriented groups working ‘for’ peace, but the term is equally available to describe a broader array of communities that can either promote or prevent peace and justice.

It is, in fact, quite difficult to sustain a theoretical distinction between them, because transitional justice does not escape the dictates of politics – of differing human desires expressed through power. Efforts to memorialise imply conflict over the particular memories to be privileged; claims for reparations are not only demands for justice, but for material redistribution that in turn may promote conflict. A narrow view of civil society problematically assumes we even know – let alone agree on – what constitutes positive change.

It is, in fact, quite difficult to sustain a theoretical distinction between them, because transitional justice does not escape the dictates of politics – of differing human desires expressed through power. Efforts to memorialise imply conflict over the particular memories to be privileged; claims for reparations are not only demands for justice, but for material redistribution that in turn may promote conflict. A narrow view of civil society problematically assumes we even know – let alone agree on – what constitutes positive change.

The real work performed by civil society in promoting agendas of peace and justice cannot properly be understood without locating it in a defensible theoretical and empirical framework. Imagining a narrow civil society risks skewing our analysis of what civil society can do and actually does in relation to conflict. Civil society can clear the path to peace, or can provide the principal obstacles to it – it can simultaneously do both. In this it very much shares the ambiguous, multivalent profile of its classic counterpart: politics in the public sphere.

 

 

 

New Article: Cohen, Israel’s Political Culture and the Public Policy Process

Cohen, Nissim. “Solving Problems Informally: The Influence of Israel’s Political Culture on the Public Policy Process.” In Public Administration and Policy in the Middle East (ed. Alexander R. Dawoody; New York: Springer, 2015), 231-45.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1553-8_13

 

Abstract

This chapter describes and explains the informal influence of Israeli political culture on the public policy process. I will demonstrate how informal elements are rooted in Israeli society and are an integral part of its public policy and administration. Specifically, the chapter explains the impact of a particular type of political culture, called “alternative politics” in the Israeli literature, on public policy and institutional settings. Alternative politics is based on a “do-it-yourself” approach adopted by citizens to address their dissatisfaction with governmental services. When such a mode of political culture is diffused to all sectors and levels of society, all players, including bureaucrats and politicians, are guided by short-term considerations and apply unilateral strategies that bypass formal rules either through illegal activity or by marginalizing formal rules. Hence, the notion of alternative politics is not confined only to the Israeli experience, as elements of this issue emerge as part of the dialogue about political culture in Arab countries, as well as in other societies around the world.

Reviews: Weiss, Conscientious Objectors in Israel

Weiss, Erica. Conscientious Objectors in Israel. Citizenship, Sacrifice, Trials of Fealty. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.

 

Reviews

• Singeisen, David. “Review.” LSE Review of Books, August 2014.
• Shammas, Victor L. “Review.” Social Anthropology 22.4 (2014): 518-519.
• Stern, Nehemia. “Review.” American Ethnologist 42.1 (2015): 181-183.
• Aviram, Hadar. “Review.” Perspectives on Politics 13.2 (2015): 526-8.
• Linn, Ruth, and Renana Gal. “Review.” Israel Studies Review 30.1 (2015): 149-152.

 

 

Reviews: Allen, The Rise and Fall of Human Rights

Allen, Lori. The Rise and Fall of Human Rights. Cynicism and Politics in Occupied Palestine, Stanford Studies in Human Rights. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013.

 

 

Reviews:

• Wright, Fiona. “Review.” Journal of Legal Anthropology 1.3 (2013): 396-398.
• Seidel, Timothy. “Review” H-Net Reviews, February 2014.
• Barbosa, Gustavo. “Review.” Critique of Anthropology 34.3 (2014): 372-374.
• Hurwitz, Deena R. “Review.” Middle East Journal 68.1 (2014): 173-175.
• Kelly, Tobias. “Review.” Allegra – A Virtual Lab of Legal Anthropology, August 11, 2014.
• Smith, Charles D. “Review.” American Historical Review 119.4 (2014): 1399-1400.
• Baruch, Pnina Sharvit. “Review.” Middle Eastern Studies 50.4 (2014): 679-682.
• Hajjar, Lisa. “Review.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 47.1 (2015): 175-176.

New Book: Ginsburg, Ye may be to us instead of eyes. Israel Human Rights Organizations in the Occupied Territories through the Camera Lens (Hebrew)

גינזבורג, רותי. והייתם לנו לעיניים. ארגוני זכויות אדם ישראלים בשטחים הכבושים מבעד לעין המצלמה. תל אביב: רסלינג, 2014.

 

URL: http://www.resling.co.il/book.asp?series_id=3&book_id=789

Abstract

What do human rights activists see? What do their organizations show in their reports? How do the choices of visual images report on the conflict? What kind of gaze does human rights discourse produce? How does the universal discourse meet with local discourse in visual documentation? How does the citizenry of activist framework their field of view, and how does the universal discourse do this? In Ruthie Ginsburg’s book, Ye may be to us instead of eyes, the visual plane is not merely a representation added to the verbal one, it is instrumental in designing the questions.

The book offers a theoretical space and historic mapping of Israeli human rights organizations. A discussion of the discourse of local human rights organizations active in the occupied is through interdisciplinary study that combines analysis of photographs, interviews with key individuals in these organizations and a close reading of their reports is offered here for the first time. The different chapters offer a comparative examination of three major human rights organizations operating in Israel: B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, and Machsom Watch. By studying the archives created in each of these organizations, the material and emotional conditions that shape the reports, along with spatial and political relations produced in their activity can be examined. The Analysis of the activists’ gaze strives to understand the practice of these organizations, located amidst a polarized system between occupier and occupied, perpetrator and victim.

This book joins pioneering studies conducted worldwide that examine visual, aesthetic, and sensory elements that shape civil negotiations and visual aspect which it designs.

New Article: Lavie, The Knafo Chronicles

Lavie, Smadar. “The Knafo Chronicles: Marching on Jerusalem With Israel’s Silent Majority.” Affilia 27.3 (2012): 300-315.

 

URL: http://aff.sagepub.com/content/27/3/300

https://www.academia.edu/2021590/The_Knafo_Chronicles_Marching_on_Jerusalem_With_Israels_Silent_Majority
Abstract

In summer 2003, Vicky Knafo marched 125 miles from her desolate development town to the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem to protest welfare cuts for Israel’s single mothers. Single mothers from all parts of Israel joined her. Most of the mothers were Mizrahim—Jews with origins in the Arab and Muslim World. They constitute 50% of Israel’s citizenry. But like the 20% Palestinian Israeli citizens, they are treated as a racinated minority by the ruling 30% Ashkenazim (European Jews of Yiddish-speaking origins). This article consists of diary fragments recording the author’s participation in the protest as a single welfare mother, ethnographer, and Mizrahi feminist.

New Article: Rosmer, Israel’s Middle Eastern Jewish Intellectuals

Rosmer, Tilde. “Israel’s Middle Eastern Jewish Intellectuals: Identity and Discourse.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 41.1 (2014): 62-78.

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13530194.2014.878507

 

Abstract

The intellectual movement HaKeshet HaDemokratit HaMizrahit (The Eastern Democratic Rainbow) was established in 1996 by second and third generation Middle Eastern and North African Jewish immigrants who are faculty members, graduate students, actors, artists, educators, businessmen and women, and media workers. These self-identified Mizrahi Israeli intellectuals aimed to initiate new debates in Israeli society with their criticism of Zionist narrative and policies by applying post-colonial theory to expose the construction of social categorisation among Jewish Israelis. In their discursive contribution they addressed several issues of historical and contemporary inequality between groups of Israeli citizens. By examining the motivation behind this intellectual activism, the present article asks what the Mizrahi identity means to people labelled as Mizrahim and why it is important.

New Book: Weiss, Conscientious Objectors in Israel

Weiss, Erica. Conscientious Objectors in Israel. Citizenship, Sacrifice, Trials of Fealty. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.

 
URL: http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15212.html

 

In Conscientious Objectors in Israel, Erica Weiss examines the lives of Israelis who have refused to perform military service for reasons of conscience. Based on long-term fieldwork, this ethnography chronicles the personal experiences of two generations of Jewish conscientious objectors as they grapple with the pressure of justifying their actions to the Israeli state and society—often suffering severe social and legal consequences, including imprisonment.

While most scholarly work has considered the causes of animosity and violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Conscientious Objectors in Israel examines how and under what circumstances one is able to refuse to commit acts of violence in the midst of that conflict. By exploring the social life of conscientious dissent, Weiss exposes the tension within liberal citizenship between the protection of individual rights and obligations of self-sacrifice. While conscience is a strong cultural claim, military refusal directly challenges Israeli state sovereignty. Weiss explores conscience as a political entity that sits precariously outside the jurisdictional bounds of state power. Through the lens of Israeli conscientious objection, Weiss looks at the nature of contemporary citizenship, examining how the expectations of sacrifice shape the politics of both consent and dissent. In doing so, she exposes the sacrificial logic of the modern nation-state and demonstrates how personal crises of conscience can play out on the geopolitical stage.

Erica Weiss teaches anthropology at Tel Aviv University.

 

New Article: Davis, Israeli–Palestinian Healthcare Partnerships

Davis, Ryan G. “Israeli–Palestinian Healthcare Partnerships: Advancing Multitrack Peacework After the Arab Spring.” Peace & Change 39.2 (2014): 190-221.

 

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pech.12064/abstract

 

Anstract

Israeli–Palestinian cooperation on healthcare initiatives demonstrates the potential for progress toward peace through nongovernmental partnerships while formal government negotiations falter. Health interventions create space for opposing groups to engage peacefully and collaboratively, but disagreement persists about the politicization of humanitarian assistance. Together with other sectors of society, the healthcare community can contribute to achieving and maintaining peace between Israelis and Palestinians as part of a multitrack peacework strategy. The Arab Spring’s revitalization of democracy and civil society throughout the region creates opportunities for broad-based, civilian-motivated movements for change. Drawing on events during the 2008–2009 Gaza War and experiences with various healthcare programs, I describe three mechanisms by which peace can be advanced through health initiatives and review what evidence is available to support this approach.

Dissertation: El-Dandarawy, Evaluating the nature of civil military relations in Israel

El-Dandarawy, Obaida A. Evaluating the nature of civil military relations in Israel. Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, 2010.

 

URL: http://search.proquest.com/docview/861744285

 

Abstract

Noting the unique case study that Israel presents, the following dissertation aims at answering the central research question of whether or not civil military relations in the Israeli state are consistent with that of a liberal-democratic model as Israel is self-described, and whether or not that relationship has changed or evolved over time. The hypothesis adopted at the outset is that civil military dynamics in Israel are not consistent with those of traditional liberal democracies and that Israel’s security concerns, and its particular societal make up has ensured a certain preeminence of the military in politics that goes beyond what would be acceptable in classic liberal democratic models. A two pronged literature review is utilized; the first focusing on civil military relations in general, and the second on Israel specifically. Through the first review a spectrum of civil military relations was plotted and a set of criteria established through which to assess the data collected. The second review provided the necessary understanding and contextual framework within which to evaluate the data on civil military relations taking into account that larger picture of Israeli politics. Three time periods are discussed (1948-1967, 1968-1981, 1982-Present) and researched using the above framework and a particular focus is given to a critical event that occurred within each of the three time periods (1967 War, 1973 War, 1982 Invasion respectively). The final chapter contains the conclusions reached which reaffirm that civil-military relations in Israel are still very much a work in progress.

Subject: Middle Eastern Studies; International Relations; Military studies

Classification: 0555: Middle Eastern Studies; 0601: International Relations; 0750: Military studies

Identifier / keyword: Social sciences, 1967 war, 1973 war, 1982 Lebanon invasion, Civil-military relations, Egypt, Israel

Number of pages: 428

Publication year: 2010

Degree date: 2010

School code: 0930

Source: DAI-A 72/06, Dec 2011

Place of publication: Ann Arbor

Country of publication: United States

ISBN: 9781124556093

Advisor: Shultz, Richard

Committee member: Fawaz, Leila, Hess, Andrew

University/institution: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University)

Department: Diplomacy, History, and Politics

University location: United States — Massachusetts

Degree: Ph.D.

Source type: Dissertations & Theses

Language: English

Document type: Dissertation/Thesis

Dissertation/thesis number: 3449123

ProQuest document ID: 861744285

New Article: Beeri and Saad, Minorities-within-Minorities in Israeli-Arab Mixed Municipalities

Beeri, Itai and Mansur Saad. “Political Participation Unconditioned by Inequality and Discrimination: The Case of Minorities-within-Minorities in Israeli-Arab Mixed Municipalities.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (online first).

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.2013.871490

 

Abstract

Against the backdrop of rising migration rates, the number of mixed communities in Western states has been growing. Such communities are populated not only by members of a national majority and national minority, but often, also by minorities-within-minorities. This study examines perceptions towards the equitableness of local policy, feelings of discrimination and participation in local politics among minorities and minorities-within-minorities in Israeli-Arab mixed municipalities comprised of Muslims, Christians or Druze, where most of the surrounding population is Jewish. The results confirm that among Israeli-Arabs in general, a perception of local policy as highly inequitable and a strong sense of local discrimination are both related to increased participation in local politics. However, among minorities-within-minorities this relationship did not obtain. Implications of the findings are developed and discussed in the context of local governance, communal abstention from local decision-making processes and the danger of illegitimate political behaviour.

New Article: Ben-Ze’ev, Civil Associations in Mandatory Haifa

Ben-Ze’ev, Na’ama. “Civil Associations in Mandatory Haifa: A New Perspective on Palestinian-Arab Political Life.” Middle Eastern Studies 49.6 (2013): 958-972.

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00263206.2013.836498

 

Abstract

The article explores the potential of local civil associations for the study of power relations within Palestinian society during the Mandate. It argues that civil associations substituted political institutions and procedures serving functions that, in a sovereign state, would have been fulfilled by governmental authorities. Civil society organizations enabled democratic elections, mobilizing popular support and the establishment of hegemonic structures. The discussion begins with a survey of organizations that may have inspired Palestinian civil associations, and then considers the rise of mass politics in Ottoman provinces and its consequences for civil associations. By examining two Arab civil associations established in Haifa during the British Mandate, the article shows how this framework served the political aspirations of individuals and groups from various social strata.

ToC: Israel Studies 19.1 (2014)

1. Special Section—Arabs as Israeli Citizens
   1. Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon and the Arab Draft That Never Was (pp. 1-23)

      Randall S. Geller

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.1

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.1
   2. The Contemporary Historiographical Debate in Israel on Government Policies on Arabs in Israel During the Military Administration Period (1948–1966) (pp. 24-47)

      Arik Rudnitzky

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.24

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.24
   3. The Politization of History and the Negev Bedouin Land Claims: A Review Essay on Indigenous (In)justice (pp. 48-74)

      Seth J. Frantzman

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.48

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.48
   4. Increased Constructive Engagement Among Israeli Arabs: The Impact of Government Economic Initiatives (pp. 75-97)

      Robert Cherry

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.75

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.75
   5. Democracy, Clan Politics and Weak Governance: The Case of the Arab Municipalities in Israel (pp. 98-125)

      Yakub Halabi

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.98

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.98
   6. The Quest for Identity in Sayed Kashua’s Let It Be Morning (pp. 126-144)

      Michael Keren

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.126

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.126
2. Articles
   1. From Peace in the South to War in the North: Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, 1977–1983 (pp. 145-165)

      Yechiam Weitz

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.145

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.145
   2. Societal Values: Impact on Israel Security—The Kibbutz Movement as a Mobilized Elite (pp. 166-188)

      Zeev Drory

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.166

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.166
   3. Postsecular Jewish Theology: Reading Gordon And Buber (pp. 189-213)

      Hagar Lahav

      DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.189

      Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.189
3. Notes on Contributors (pp. 214-215)

   DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.214

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.214
4. Guidelines for Contributors (pp. 216-218)

   DOI: 10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.216

   Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/israelstudies.19.1.216

Cite: Golan and Orr, Israeli NGOs Defending Palestinian Rights

Golan, Daphna and Zvika Orr. “Translating Human Rights of the ‘Enemy’: The Case of Israeli NGOs Defending Palestinian Rights.” Law & Society Review 46.4 (2012): 781-814.

 

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2012.00517.x/abstract

 

Abstract

This article explores the practices, discourses and dilemmas of the Israeli human rights NGOs that are working to protect and promote the human rights of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. This case can shed light on the complex process of “triangular translation” of human rights, which is distinct from other forms of human rights localization studied thus far. In this process, human rights NGOs translate international human rights norms on the one hand, and the suffering of the victims on the other, into the conceptions and legal language commonly employed by the state that violates these rights. We analyze the dialectics of change and reproduction embedded in the efforts of Israeli activists to defend Palestinian human rights while at the same time depoliticizing their work and adopting discriminatory premises and conceptions hegemonic in Israeli society. The recent and alarming legislative proposals in Israel aimed at curtailing the work of human rights NGOs reinforce the need to reconsider the role of human rights NGOs in society, including their depoliticized strategies, their use of legal language and their relations with the diminishing peace movement.

Cite: Levy and Massalha, Alternative Educational Initiatives in the Arab Society in Israel

Levy, Gal and Mohammad Massalha. "Within and beyond Citizenship: Alternative Educational Initiatives in the Arab Society in Israel." Citizenship Studies 16.7 (2012): 905-917.

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URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/ccst/2012/00000016/00000007/art00004

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Abstract

In recent years, Arab-Palestinian citizens in Israel are in search of ‘a new vocabulary of citizenship’, among other ways, by resorting to ‘alternative educational initiatives’. We investigate and compare three alternative schools, each challenging the contested conception of Israeli citizenship. Our findings reveal different educational strategies to become ‘claimants of rights’, yet all initiatives demonstrate the constraints Arab citizens face while trying to become ‘activist citizens’.

Reviews: Hermann, The Israeli Peace Movement. A Shattered Dream

Hermann, Tamar S. The Israeli Peace Movement. A Shattered Dream. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

 

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Reviews

Steinberg, Gerald M. “Review.” Middle East Quarterly 17.3 (2010): 81.

Gidron, Benjamin. “Review.” Shofar 29.3 (2011): 180-182.

Darweish, Marwan. “Review.” Peace Review 23.1 (2011): 123-126.

Hrynkow, Christopher. “Review.” Peace & Change 37.4 (2012): 609-611.

Cite: Hatuka, Transformative Terrains: Counter Hegemonic Tactics of Dissent in Israel

Hatuka, Tali. “Transformative Terrains: Counter Hegemonic Tactics of Dissent in Israel.” Geopolitics – ahead of print.

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URL:  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14650045.2012.659298

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Abstract

What makes citizens choose a particular mode of protest? This paper discusses the role of space in recent protests by three Israeli groups, Machsom Watch, Anarchists Against the Wall, and Women in Black, in Israel/Palestine. It looks at the way groups protest state violence (i.e., the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the construction of the separation wall) by initiating counter hegemonic strategies and tactics, and by creating new terrains of opposition. More specifically, I elaborate on their model of action and its function within a range of spheres (physical, geographical and virtual), supported by four key principles (difference, decentralisation, multiplicity and informal order). I argue that unlike more conventional protest rituals, often led by the dominant political parties, contemporary dissent takes place in parallel spheres constructing what I call transformative terrain – a social platform that challenges bounded politics by using imagination and space in creating new possibilities.