https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9516-6550
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Abstract
This article critically re-examines the narrative that the Israeli system of spatial control has an exclusive negative impact on the West Bank economy. It focuses on the burgeoning fuel smuggling industry, which grew to constitute nearly one-third of the total consumed fuel in the West Bank by 2018. The article posits that the impacts of Israeli control on West Bank-Israeli economic relations involve an interplay between structural top-down imposition and Palestinian agency exerted from below. Drawing from documentary evidence and semi-structured interviews conducted with smugglers, Israeli, and Palestinian policymakers, the research reveals a paradox, finding its theoretical explanation in borderland studies. The barriers and fragmentation meant to oppress Palestinians create opportunities for new Palestinian economic beneficiaries. The article traces the emergence of smuggling networks that expand Palestinian-Israeli connections and cooperation. It concludes considering how the structure-agency interplay, which characterizes the Israeli colonial structure, affects the study of Palestinian political economy under Israeli occupation. This includes the influence of smuggling on supply, demand, pricing, and power hierarchies within the West Bank’s fuel sector.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 These studies distinguish between legal/illegal or licit/illicit trade. Although the definitions are not normative and vary according to the social and political context, some scholars suggest that (il)legality is a political designation that depends upon the obedience of political or economic norms set by state authorities (fuel smuggling). Whereas (il)licitness concerns the social/ethical acceptance of the commodity (drugs, weapon); see, for instance (Roitman Citation2005), Although such categories overlap, this article is not interested in categorizing fuel smuggling as much as it is interested in showing that part of the Palestinian economy rests on ‘informal’ (whether legal/illegal or licit/illicit) and that this informality is induced by the contradictions of the Israeli colonial structure, as much as it is interrelated to the ‘formal’ Palestinian economy.
2 Side corridors are potential passages that can be used by people crossing the border, and they do not comply with the official and statutory function of borders.
3 Foad Shobaki, former head of the Palestinian Petroleum Authority, interviewed by Walid Habbas, March 10, 2021.
4 Shadi Alrageb, Lieutenant in the Palestinian Custom Police, interviewed by Walid Habbas, October 10, 2020.
5 Shobaki, interviewed by Walid Habbas, March 10, 2021.
6 S., interviewed by Walid Habbas, September 30, 2020.
7 R., interviewed by Walid Habbas, February 20, 2021.
8 Atarot Industrial Park is located in Area C, which has been annexed to Jerusalem. It is a legal industrial park but some of its facilities are used ‘illegally.’ Inside Atarot, some factories own giant mixing jots that can be utilized, again ‘illegally,’ to adulterate diesel. From an ethical point of view, my interviewees agreed to refer to this location, especially because it has been mentioned repeatedly in different journalistic reports.
9 A., interviewed by Walid Habbas, June 13, 2020.
10 S., interviewed by Walid Habbas, September 30, 2020.
11 S., interviewd by Walid Habbas, September 30, 2020.
12 Shobaki, interviewed by Walid Habbas, March 10, 2021.