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521. Enclave Micropolis: The Paradoxical Case of Ramallah/al-Bireh

Author:
Lisa Taraki
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
Among the consequences of the consolidation of the Israeli closure regime have been the contraction of Palestinians' social worlds and the emergence of new forms of localism. Unlike the more parochial West Bank towns of Nablus, Hebron, and Jenin, Ramallah/al-Bireh has taken on many of the cosmopolitan aspects of larger metropoles-Beirut, Cairo, Tunis-because of a combination of historical influences, present-day migration patterns, and political realities. The result is a paradoxical "enclave city" whose sights are oftentimes more fixed on the global rather than the national level.
Topic:
Migration
Political Geography:
Cairo

522. Palestinian Weddings: Inventing Palestine in New Jersey

Author:
Randa Serhan
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
As the political situation of the Palestinians has changed, so too have the customs and practices of Palestinians in the Diaspora. Using Eric Hobsbawm's concept of "invented tradition" as a point of departure, this article explores the origins, functions, and implications of some of the elements-including dance, song, and costume-of Palestinian-American wedding celebrations in the New York/New Jersey/ Pennsylvania area, which since the first intifada have evolved into occasions for celebrating nationalist as well as communal identity.
Political Geography:
New York, America, Palestine, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey

523. Secrets and Lies: The Persecution of Muhammad Salah (Part I)

Author:
Michael E. Deutsch and Erica Thompson
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
The case of Muhammad Salah, a Palestinian-American grocer and Chicago resident, is the longest-running terrorism case in the United States. He was brought to trial on terrorism-funding charges in October 2006 after a thirteen-year saga that began with his January 1993 arrest in Israel as the "world commander of Hamas" and that continued in the United States following his release from Israeli prison in late 1997. Though acquitted of all terrorism-related charges by a U.S. federal jury in Chicago in February 2007, Salah was convicted on a single count of obstruction of justice. In this exclusive report for JPS, Salah's lawyers recount the unfolding of this landmark and labyrinthine case, analyzing its legal underpinnings and implications. His prosecution served to advance new standards governing the admissibility of coerced confessions at trial and the use of secret evidence, while at the same time establishing new procedures for preventing the cross-examination of key witnesses and closing the courtroom to the press and public during crucial testimony. Even before his U.S. trial, his taped confession extracted under Shin Bet torture served as the linchpin of the U.S. government's investigation and prosecution of persons it suspected of providing material support for Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation. More broadly, the years covered by the case show the erosion of the rule of law in the United States, as well as the melding of the discourses, strategies, tactics, and aims of U.S. and Israeli law enforcement and intelligence bodies long before the post-9/11 launch of the "global war on terror." Part I of this two-part account lays the ground for the 2006-7 Chicago trial, covering the period of Salah's arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment in Israel and the investigations and legal proceedings against him upon his return. Part II will focus on the crafting of the case by the Justice Department under Pres. George W. Bush and the trial itself.
Topic:
Terrorism and War
Political Geography:
United States, Israel, and Chicago

524. A Hamas Perspective on the Movement's Evolving Role: An Interview with Khalid Mishal, Part II

Author:
Mouin Rabbani
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
In this second installment of his interview for JPS, Khalid Mishal, Hamas politburo chief since 1996 and head of the movement since the assassination of Shaykh Ahmad Yasin in 2004, continues his discussion of Hamas's evolution and strategy. Whereas the focus of part I was Mishal's personal background, political formation, and the founding of the movement, here Hamas's more recent history is foregrounded. From the unfolding conflict and troubled relations with Fatah since the mid-1990s, Mishal recounts the thinking behind the decision formally to integrate into the Palestinian political system born of Oslo by participating the 2006 legislative elections and joining the Palestinian Authority government. He also delves into the ongoing repercussions of these decisions, including the splits within the Palestinian movement culminating in Hamas's seizure of power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007. In the course of the more than three-hour interview, Mishal's straightforward manner is on display, as well as his willingness to be challenged on matters as sensitive as Hamas's suicide bombings and the targeting of Israeli civilians, the utility of armed resistance, and the morality of the struggle. Two themes underlying the interview were Mishal's preoccupation with the need to repair the intra-Palestinian split ("our greatest priority") and the devastating impact of the ongoing siege of the Gaza. Since our interview in early March 2008, two potentially significant developments with relevance to these concerns have taken place. On the internal Palestinian front, Mishal repeatedly emphasized the need for intra-Palestinian dialogue without preconditions, with all subjects on the table including controversial topics like early elections. A first step toward reconciliation was made on 24 March 2008, when Hamas and Fatah representatives signed the "Sana'a Declaration," negotiated in the Yemeni capital, which outlined points of consensus on various domestic issues including security and political institutions. Though the declaration quickly ran aground, with Fatah demanding that Hamas immediately cede control of Gaza before implementation of other aspects would be discussed, by June 2008, Hamas and Fatah were once again considering national unity talks on the basis of the Yemeni initiative. As for alleviating the extreme external pressures on the Hamas-led Gaza Strip, indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel mediated by Egypt produced a bilateral cease-fire that went into effect on 18 June. Though initially confined to Gaza, the understandings also call for a gradual reversal of the siege as well as renewed negotiations on a prisoner exchange, including the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Hovering over both Hamas-Israel and Hamas-Fatah relations is Washington, which remains opposed to any deals through which the Palestinian Islamists can emerge from their enforced isolation. Yet whatever the ultimate success of either development, the reality is that Mishal and Hamas are increasingly central players in the intra-Palestinian, Israeli-Palestinian, and broader regional equations. Indeed, itwas Mishal, not Abbas, whose movement reached an agreement with Israel before the expiration of the Bush administration.
Topic:
Security and Government
Political Geography:
Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and Egypt

525. Review: Sa'di and Abu-Lughod: Nakba, 1948, and the Claims of Memory

Author:
Saleh Abdel Jawad
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
The work of memory in all its forms-historical essays, personal reminiscences, legal testimonies, imaginative recreation-is not only difficult but inherently contradictory. On the one hand, memory posits "something real outside the person's subjectivities to be . . . re-called." Simultaneously, memory work requires a narrator equipped with the interpretive filters of gender, age, generation, political intentions, and so on, through whom the objective, exogenous "facticity" (as Lena Jayyusi calls it) is to be known. The work of memory, then, must address itself not only to questions of what happened, but to questions of how we know things, whose voices we have heard, and where the silences are located.
Political Geography:
Palestine

526. Review: Falk and Friel: Israel Palestine on Record and Dunsky: Pens and Swords

Author:
Cheryl Rubenberg
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
Israel-Palestine on Record: How the New York Times Misreports Conflict in the Middle East and Pens and Swords: How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict are two tour-de-force works devoted to an analysis of the U.S. media as it reports on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both present devastating critiques of the media in its pro-Israel bias, and both are extensively documented, reflecting analytical scholarship in the finest tradition.
Topic:
Human Rights and International Law
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

527. Review: Khalifeh: The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant

Author:
Hala Halim
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
In awarding Sahar Khalifeh's Sura wa ayquna wa 'ahdun qadim (2002) the American University in Cairo's 2006 Naguib Mahfouz Medal, the jury aptly lauded this "narrative of loss par excellence . . . [as] simultaneously historiciz[ing] for the current Palestinian struggle while summoning a whole array of the symbolic." From its very title, The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant divulges its biblical symbolism, which will be made to bear here further layers of political allusion. Ostensibly the story of a doomed love and the desperate pursuit of its traces decades later, this is a novel of "national allegory," as in Fredric Jameson's formulation.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Brazil, Palestine, and Jerusalem

528. Review: Masalha: The Bible and Zionism

Author:
Marc Chmiel
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archaeology and Post-Colonialism in Israel-Palestine, by Nur Masalha. New York and London: Zed Books, 2007. 321 pages. Notes to p. 335. Bibliography to p. 354. Index to p. 366. $126.00 cloth; $36.00 paper.
Political Geography:
New York, Israel, London, and Palestine

529. Review: Parsons: The Politics of the Palestinian Authority

Author:
Jamil Hilal
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
The Politics of the Palestinian Authority: From Oslo to al-Aqsa, by Nigel Parsons. New York and London: Routledge, 2005. xxx + 319 pages. Appendices to p. 341. Notes to p. 394. Bibliography to p. 411. Index to p. 429. $95.00 cloth.
Political Geography:
Palestine

530. Review: Honig-Parnass and Haddad: Between the Lines

Author:
Elaine C. Hagopian
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
Between the Lines: Readings on Israel, the Palestinians, and the U.S. War on Terror, edited by Tikva Honig-Parnass and Toufic Haddad. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2007. 335 pages. Notes on contributors to p. 341. Endnotes to p. 387. Index to p. 405. $17.00 paper.
Political Geography:
Israel and Palestine

531. Review: Auerbach and Sharkansky: Politics and Planning in the Holy City

Author:
Michael Dumper
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
Politics and Planning in the Holy City, by Gedalia Auerbach and Ira Sharkansky. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2007. 127 pages. Appendix to p. 136. Index to p. 138. $39.95 cloth.
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
New Jersey

532. Review: Brecher: A Stranger in the Land: Jewish Identity Beyond Nationalism

Author:
Oren Ben-Dor
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
A Stranger in the Land: Jewish Identity beyond Nationalism, by Daniel Cil Brecher, trans. Barbara Harshav. New York: Other Press, 2007. xiii + 366 pages. Bibliography to p. 372. $15.95 paper.
Political Geography:
New York and Morocco

533. Review: Sufian and LeVine: Reapproaching Borders: New Perspectives on the Study of Israel-Palestine

Author:
Lori Allen
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
Reapproaching Borders: New Perspectives on the Study of Israel-Palestine, edited by Sandy Sufian and Mark LeVine. Lanham, MD: Rowman Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007. x + 311 pages. Index to p. 319. $80.00 cloth; $29.95 paper.
Political Geography:
Israel and Palestine

534. Review: Efrat: The West Bank and Gaza Strip

Author:
Mark LeVine
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
The West Bank and Gaza Strip: A Geography of Occupation and Disengagement, by Elisha Efrat. Oxon, U.K.: Routledge, 2006. xi + 206 pages. Glossary to p. 208. Bibliography to p. 212. Index to p. 216. $34.95 paper.
Political Geography:
Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

535. Arab Views

Publication Date:
06-2008
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 Palestine

536. From the Hebrew Press

Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
This section includes articles by Israeli journalists and commentators that have been selected for their frank reporting, insightful analyses, or interesting perspectives on events, developments, or trends in Israel and the occupied territories.
Political Geography:
Israel

537. Photos from the Quarter

Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
This small sample of photos, selected from hundreds viewed by JPS, aims to convey a sense of the situation on the ground in the occupied territories during the quarter.

538. Quarterly Update on Conflict and Diplomacy

Author:
Michele K. Esposito
Publication Date:
06-2008
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.
Topic:
Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Palestine

539. Settlement Monitor

Author:
Geoffrey Aronson
Publication Date:
06-2008
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, Jerusalem, and Gaza

540. International A1. John Holmes, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Briefing to the Security Council on the Situation in the Middle East, Geneva, 26 February 2008 (excerpts)

Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
InternationalA1. John Holmes, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Briefing to the Security Council on the Situation in the Middle East, Geneva, 26 February 2008 (excerpts)Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 37, no. 4 (Summer 2008), p. 159Documents and Source Material John Holmes's briefing emphasizes the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza resulting from Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods. Holmes was appointed Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in January 2007 by UN Secy.-Gen. Ban Kimoon. The full text is available online at www.ochaonline.un.org.
Topic:
Security, Humanitarian Aid, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Geneva and Middle East