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Abstract
In contemporary conversations around Israel/Palestine, the Gaza Strip is construed as a state of exception, rendering the territory either hypervisible or entirely invisible. Through the prism of the Covid-19 pandemic and Israel’s possible de jure annexation of portions of the West Bank, this piece argues that rather than being exceptional, the Gaza Strip represents the very embodiment of Israeli settler colonialism in Palestine. Its isolation and de-development constitute the endpoint of Israel’s policies of land theft and Palestinian dispossession. This endpoint, referred to as Gazafication, entails the confinement of Palestinians to urban enclaves entirely surrounded by Israel or Israeli-controlled territory. The Trump plan, otherwise known as the “deal of the century,” along with the Covid-19 crisis, have inadvertently exposed the reality of Gaza as an enclave of the one-state paradigm.
Notes
1 Al Jazeera, “‘Catastrophe’: Fears over Outbreak of Coronavirus in Gaza,” 26 March 2020, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/fears-outbreak-coronavirus-gaza-200326111450748.html.
2 See, for example, this tweet: The girl of Gaza (@ThegirlofGaza1), “Dear world We are in quarantine since 14 years. Israel has been imposing Blockade on Gaza from 2006. Save us, Save Gaza,” Twitter, 5 August 2020, 5:21 p.m., https://twitter.com/ThegirlofGaza1/status/1291122272921673729.
3 See: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian Territory (UNOCHA), Gaza Strip: The Humanitarian Impact of the Blockade, 21 December 2017, https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-strip-humanitarian-impact-blockade; United Nations Population Fund, Palestine, “Population Matters,” n.d. (includes data up to late 2015), https://palestine.unfpa.org/en/population-matters-0; and United Nations, The Question of Palestine, “Humanitarian Situation in the Gaza Strip Fast Facts—OCHA Factsheet,”
https://www.un.org/unispal/humanitarian-situation-in-the-gaza-strip-fast-facts-ocha-factsheet/#:∼:text=The%20population%20of%20Gaza%20is,%25%20of%20youths%2C%20is%20unemployed. On Gaza’s so-called blockade generation, see Oliver Holmes and Hazem Balousha,
“Gaza’s Generation Blockade: Young Lives in the ‘World’s Largest Prison,’” The Guardian, 12 March 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/12/generation-blockade-gaza-young-palestinians-who-cannot-leave.
4 White House, Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People, January 2020, https://www.whitehouse.gov/peacetoprosperity/. On Israel’s coalition government and its annexationist agenda, see Daniel Levy, “Israeli Annexation in the West Bank: The State of Play, Dynamics and Responses,” U.S./Middle East Project, May 2020, https://www.usmep.us/media/filer_public/7a/31/7a314ad8-49c2-496f-af73-156d2d854612/usmep_briefing_memo_-_israeli_annexation_in_the_west_bank.pdf.
5 The Eropean Union special representative for the Middle East peace process said on 6 July 2020 that annexation would have “very serious implications for EU-Israel relations.” See “AFET Committee
Meeting,” European Parliament, 6 July 2020, https://multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/afet-committee-meeting_20200706-1645-COMMITTEE-AFET_vd. France, Germany, and the United Kingdon have all contacted Israeli government officials to warn about the consequences of annexation. On France, see Lahav Harkov, “France Threatens Israel Ties over Settlement Annexation,” Jerusalem Post, 23 April 2020, https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/eu-west-bank-annexation-would-be-violation-of-intl-law-625660, in which the French ambassador to the UN said that annexation “would constitute a blatant violation of international law, which strictly prohibits the acquisition by force of occupied territories. Such steps if implemented would not pass unchallenged and shall not be overlooked in our relationship with Israel”; on Germany, see Deutsche Welle, “Germany’s Maas Heads to Israel to Lobby against West Bank Annexation,” 10 June 2020, https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-maas-heads-to-israel-to-lobby-against-west-bank-annexation/a-53755541; on the UK, see Peter Beaumont, “Boris Johnson Warns against Annexation in Israeli Newspaper Article,” The Guardian, 1 July 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/01/boris-johnson-warns-against-annexation-in-israeli-newspaper-article.
6 Rami Ayyub and Nidal al-Mughrabi, “Palestinians Shun CIA after Declaring End to Security Coordination with U.S. and Israel,” Reuters, 21 May 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-usa/palestinians-shun-cia-after-declaring-end-to-security-coordination-with-u-s-and-israel-idUSKBN22X1TG; and David M. Halbfinger and Adam Rasgon,
“The Palestinian Plan to Stop Annexation: Remind Israel What Occupation Means,” New York Times, 8 June 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/world/middleeast/palestinian-authority-annexation-israel.html.
7 Adam Ragson, “Palestinians in Jordan Valley Fear Annexation Would Choke Off Their Villages,” New York Times, 24 June 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/24/world/middleeast/israel-annex-jordan-valley-palestinians.html.
8 WHO, “Patients in the Gaza Strip Unable to Obtain Israeli-Issued Permits to Access the Healthcare,” Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, 21 June 2020, http://www.emro.who.int/pse/palestine-infocus/patients-in-the-gaza-strip-unable-to-obtain-israeli-issued-permits-to-access-the-healthcare.html.
9 The term “Gazafication” is often used to invoke a wide range of analogies with Gaza, from the enclosure of populations to the pursuit of of de-development policies. The earliest instance I could find of the term’s use in the context I invoke is in Yousef Munayyer’s “Settlement through ‘Gazafication,’” Massachusetts Daily Collegian, 8 March 2005, https://dailycollegian.com/2005/03/settlement-through-gazafication/.
10 Mark Landler, “Trump Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital and Orders U.S. Embassy to Move,” New York Times, 6 December 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/world/middleeast/trump-jerusalem-israel-capital.html.
11 BBC, “Golan Heights: Trump Signs Order Recognising Occupied Area as Israeli,” 25 March 2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47697717.
12 On the PLO, see Yara Bayoumy, “U.S. State Department Revokes PLO Ambassador Family Visas: Envoy,” Reuters, 16 September 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-palestinians/us-state-department-revokes-plo-ambassador-family-visas-envoy-idUSKCN1LW0RE#:∼:text=Ambassador%20Husam%20Zomlot%2C%20head%20of,set%20to%20expire%20in%202020. On UNRWA, see Foundation for Middle East Peace, “Congressional Attacks on UNRWA: A History,” 10 August 2018, https://fmep.org/resource/congressional-attacks-unrwa-history/.
13 White House, Peace to Prosperity.
14 European Union, “MEPP: Statement by the High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell on the US Initiative,” European External Action Service, 4 February 2020, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/73960/mepp-statement-high-representativevice-president-josep-borrell-us-initiative_en.
15 For more on the United States’ role in mediating around Israel/Palestine, see Rashid Khalidi, Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2014). For contemporary analysis on this, see Noura Erakat, “Israel’s Annexation of Palestinian Land Will Be the Result of U.S. Policy, Not a Betrayal of It,” Washington Post, 19 May 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/19/israels-annexation-palestinian-land-will-be-result-us-policy-not-betrayal-it/.
16 B’Tselem—The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, “Settlements,” https://www.btselem.org/topic/settlements#:∼:text=From%201967%20through%202017%2C%20over,current%20population%20is%20almost%20620%2C000.
17 White House, “Statement by President Trump on Jerusalem,” 6 December 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-jerusalem/.
18 For example, it is accepted practice in peace negotiations to discuss the concept of land swaps to accommodate for the major settlement blocs that have been established in the oPt, even as negotiators speak of it being inconceivable for such communities to be dismantled.
19 Lorenzo Kamel, “The Roots of Israel’s Annexation Policy,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 6 August 2020, https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/82425.
20 Estimates place the total cost of the settlement enterprise at $40 billion, excluding the subsidies and incentives the state offers settlements, including anything from Ministry of Housing grants to discounts on leasing land from Israel’s Land Administration, as well as tax discounts and financial incentives for teachers and social workers based in settlements. See Menachem Klein, The Shift: Israel-Palestine from Border Struggle to Ethnic Conflict (London: Hurst and Company, 2010), pp. 47–54.
21 Jerusalem Post, “Naftali Bennett Closes Bethlehem, Abbas Declares State of Emergency,” 5 March 2020, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-ministry-to-take-action-if-coronavirus-increases-in-israel-619864.
22 Daoud Kuttab, “Palestinian PM’s COVID-19 Response Gets High Marks, but Will It Be Enough?” Al-Monitor, 29 April 2020, https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/04/palestinian-prime-minister-shtayyeh-president-coronavirus.html.
23 On working with Jordan to close borders, see Jerusalem Post, “Palestinian PM: We May Close Border with Jordan in Coming Days,” 10 March 2020, https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/palestinian-pm-coordinating-with-jordan-to-close-border-crossings-620306. On Palestinian labor in settlements, see Rami Ayyub and Ammar Awad, “Palestinians Defy Leaders’ Health Crisis Ban on Work in Settlements,” Reuters, 19 March 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-israel-palestinian/palestinians-defy-leaders-health-crisis-ban-on-work-in-settlements-idUSKBN2162OF.
24 Jack Khoury and Hagar Shezaf, “Palestinian Prime Minister Calls on Israel to Close West Bank Crossings to Curb Coronavirus Spread,” Haaretz, 6 July 2020, https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-palestinian-pm-calls-on-israel-to-close-west-bank-crossings-to-curb-virus-spread-1.8973899. In an attempt to deter the annexation in accordance with the Trump plan, in May the PA suspended security coordination with Israel, removing all signs of “cooperation” between the two sides. Responding to the second outbreak of the virus, the PA was forced to institute checkpoints within Area A, given that it has no access to Area C and could not depend on cooperation. This highlighted the extent of the PA’s jurisdiction (or lack thereof) in the West Bank.
25 The performance of statehood normalizes the occupation and is detrimental to the Palestinian liberation struggle. See Rania Jawad, “Aren’t We Human? Normalizing Palestinian Performances,” Arab Studies Journal 22, no. 1 (Spring 2014), pp. 28–45, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24877898.
26 WHO, Occupied Palestinian Territory COVID-19 Response Plan, 24 April 2020, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/covid-19-response-plan-inter-agency-opt.pdf; and Jerusalem Post, “COGAT Delivers 3,000 Coronavirus Test Kits, 50,000 Masks to PA,” 25 March 2020, https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/cogat-delivers-3000-coronavirus-test-kits-50000-masks-to-pa-622371.
27 UN News, “COVID-19: UN Envoy Hails Strong Israel-Palestine Cooperation,” 28 March 2020, https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1060572; and Rina Bassist, “Israel Outlines Pandemic Cooperation with Palestinians, Warns International Help Needed,” Al-Monitor, 31 March 2020, https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/03/israel-palestinians-reuven-rivlin-mahmoud-abbas-diplomats.html.
28 Human Rights Watch, “Joint Statement on Israel’s Obligation vis-a-vis West Bank and Gaza in Face of Coronavirus Pandemic,” 7 April 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/07/joint-statement-israels-obligation-vis-vis-west-bank-and-gaza-face-coronavirus.
29 See Medical Aid for Palestinians, “New Briefing and Event: COVID-19 and the Systematic Neglect of East Jerusalem,” 14 July 2020, https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/1137-new-briefing-and-event-covid-19-and-the-systematic-neglect-of-east-jerusalem. Also, Adalah—The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel has spearheaded efforts to petition the Israeli government to account for the needs of vulnerable Palestinian communities, including residents of East Jerusalem, Palestinian prisoners, Palestinians in the Naqab, and Palestinians in Gaza. See Adalah, “CORONAVIRUS: Latest Updates on Adalah’s COVID-19 Legal Work,” 10 June 2020, https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9939.
30 Middle East Monitor, “Israel Soldiers Destroy Another Palestinian Coronavirus Testing Centre,” 23 July 2020, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200723-israel-soldiers-destroy-another-palestinian-coronavirus-testing-centre/; Wafa News Agency (@WAFA_PS), “The occupation forces arrested 4 members of the Emergency Committee in the village of Sur Bahir, south of Jerusalem, and seized 300 food parcels,” Twitter, 31 March 2020, 2:09 p.m., https://twitter.com/WAFA_PS/status/1245050482680365057; Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, “Israeli Forces’ Incursions and Soldiers’ Behavior Jeopardize Measures to Prevent Outbreak of COVID19,” 30 March 2020, https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/3459/Israeli-forces–incursions-and-soldiers–behavior-jeopardize-measures-to-prevent-outbreak-of-COVID19; and, B’Tselem, “During the Coronavirus Crisis, Israel Confiscates Tents Designated for Clinic in the Northern West Bank,” 26 March 2020, https://www.btselem.org/press_release/20200326_israel_confiscates_clinic_tents_during_coronavirus_crisis.
31 Lucy Garbett, “Palestinian Workers in Israel Caught Between Indispensable and Disposable,” Middle East Research and Information Project, 15 May 2020, https://merip.org/2020/05/palestinian-workers-in-israel-caught-between-indispensable-and-disposable/. See also Middle East Monitor, “Palestinian Dumped by Israelis at Checkpoint for Exhibiting Coronavirus Symptoms,” 24 March 2020, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200324-palestinian-dumped-by-israelis-at-checkpoint-for-exhibiting-coronavirus-symptoms/; and I-24 News, “Palestinian PM Accuses IDF of Spreading Virus,” 29 March 2020, https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/1585501392-palestinian-pm-accuses-idf-of-spreading-virus.
32 Tareq Baconi, “Israel’s Annexation Plan, A New Era in Palestinian Resistance,” New York Review of Books, 2 July 2020, https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/07/02/israels-annexation-plan-a-new-era-in-palestinian-resistance/.
33 International Crisis Group, The Gaza Strip and COVID-19: Preparing for the Worst, Middle East and North Africa briefing no. 75, 1 April 2020, https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/israelpalestine/b75-gaza-strip-and-covid-19-preparing-worst.
34 Gisha—Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, “Crossings Update: Travel through Erez and Rafah Crossing Severely Limited; Kerem Shalom Crossing Working as Usual,” 16 March 2020, https://gisha.org/updates/11008.
35 Many of the supplies needed for medical purposes fall under dual-use restrictions according to Israeli standards. See Gisha, “The Dual Use List Finally Gets Published but It’s the Opposite of Useful,” 20 April 2017, https://gisha.org/en-blog/2017/04/20/the-dual-use-list-finally-gets-published-but-its-the-opposite-of-useful/. For more on Gaza’s de-development, see Sara Roy, The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-Development, 3rd ed. (Washington, D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, 2016).
36 B’Tselem, “Israeli Soldiers Deliberately and Fatally Shot Palestinian Paramedic Rozan a-Najar in the Gaza Strip,” 17 July 2018, https://www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20180718_paramedic_rozan_a_najar_killed_by_deliberate_fire.
37 UNOCHA, “Gaza Health Sector Still Struggling to Cope with ‘Great March of Return’ Injuries,” Monthly Humanitarian Bulletin, May 2019, https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-health-sector-still-struggling-cope-great-march-return-injuries; and WHO and Health Cluster, Emergency Trauma Response to the Gaza Mass Demonstrations 2018–2019, May 2019, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WHO_Report_Web_Version_27-5-2019.pdf.
38 Gaza has fewer than twenty-five hundred hospital beds available for a population of almost two million. For more on the passage of medical supplies, see Adel Zaanoun and Joe Dyke, “Gaza: Uniquely Shielded, Yet Ultra-Vulnerable to Corona,” Yahoo News, 19 March 2020, https://news.yahoo.com/gaza-uniquely-shielded-yet-ultra-vulnerable-corona-012842770.html.
39 Adnan Abu Amer, “Rocket Fired toward Israel amid Coronavirus Outbreak in Gaza,” Al-Monitor, 3 April 2020, https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/04/gaza-rocket-israel-hamas-pressure-siege-coronavirus.html.
40 Reuters, “Israel Links Coronavirus Aid for Gaza to Recovering Soldiers,” 1 April 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-israel-gaza/israel-links-coronavirus-aid-for-gaza-to-recovering-soldiers-idUSKBN21J5ZC?il=0.
41 In late August 2020, when Hamas was in the midst of truce negotiations with Israel, the health authorities detected a Covid-19 outbreak. In the ensuing days, Hamas officials and local media reporting on the truce discussions repeatedly referenced the notion of Gaza “dying” as a result of the pandemic. The territory would not go down quietly or “die” without a fight, they said, integrating the language around the pandemic into local resistance rhetoric.
42 Anna Ahronheim, “Will Coronavirus Cause a Ceasefire between Israel And Gaza?” Jerusalem Post, 23 March 2020, https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/gaza-news/will-coronavirus-cause-a-ceasefire-between-israel-and-gaza-622027.
43 International Crisis Group, Averting War in Gaza, Middle East and North Africa briefing no. 60, 20 July 2018, https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/israelpalestine/b60-averting-war-gaza#:∼:text=The%20only%20viable%20exit%20from,to%20govern%20the%20Gaza%20Strip.
44 International Crisis Group, Rebuilding the Gaza Ceasefire, Middle East and North Africa report no. 191, 16 November 2018, https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/israelpalestine/191-rebuilding-gaza-ceasefire#:∼:text=A%20ceasefire%20agreement%20has%20brought,has%20killed%20thousands%20since%202007.
45 Times of Israel, “Qatari Official Said to Arrive in Gaza to Deliver Cash Payments,” 25 October 2019, https://www.timesofisrael.com/qatari-official-said-to-arrive-in-gaza-to-deliver-cash-payments/#gs.fp587m.
46 Tareq Baconi, Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018).
47 In allowing the transfer of medical equipment to the territories, COGAT’s spokesperson said: “Once more COGAT is cooperating closely with the World Health Organization to make assistance possible in the Palestinian Authority’s struggle against the coronavirus outbreak. I commend the teamwork of the international organizations in this important shared endeavor.” See Jerusalem Post, “COGAT Delivers 3,000 Coronavirus Test Kits.” For more on the politics of humanitarianism, see Ilana Feldman, “Difficult Distinctions: Refugee Law, Humanitarian Practice, and Political Identification in Gaza,” Cultural Anthropology 22, no. 1 (February 2007): pp. 129–69, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4124731?seq=1.
48 Ariella Azoulay and Adi Ophir, The One-State Condition: Occupation and Democracy in Israel/Palestine (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012).
49 Alexandre Kedar and Oren Yiftachel, “Land Regime and Social Relations in Israel,” in Realizing Property Rights, ed. Hernando de Soto and Francis Cheneval (Zurich: Ruffer and Rub Publishing House, 2006), pp. 129–46. See also Tareq Baconi, “Land Consolidation and the One State Reality,” POMEPS Studies 41, July 2020, https://pomeps.org/land-consolidation-and-the-one-state-reality.
50 Adalah, “Adalah’s Objections to Discriminatory ‘Kaminitz Bill’ for Harsh Enforcement of Planning and Building Law in Israel,” 30 March 2017, https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9068.
51 The state’s privileging of Jewish settlement is clearest in the Galilee and the Negev. See “Israel: Discriminatory Land Policies Hem In Palestinians,” Human Rights Watch, 12 May 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/israel-discriminatory-land-policies-hem-palestinians.
52 International Crisis Group, Reversing Israel’s Deepening Annexation of Occupied East Jerusalem, Middle East and North Africa report no. 202, 12 June 2019, https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/israelpalestine/202-reversing-israels-deepening-annexation-occupied-east-jerusalem#:∼:text=12%20June%202019,Reversing%20Israel’s%20Deepening%20Annexation%20of%20Occupied%20East%20Jerusalem,These%20schemes%20could%20spark%20conflict.
53 On announcing the disengagement plan, Sharon noted, “Israel will initiate the unilateral security step of disengagement from the Palestinians. . . . Israel will strengthen its control [of other areas] in the Land of Israel which will constitute an inseparable part of the State of Israel.” See Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Address by PM Ariel Sharon at the Fourth Herzliya Conference,” 18 December 2003, http://www.israel.org/MFA/PressRoom/2003/Pages/Address%20by%20PM%20Ariel%20Sharon%20at%20the%20Fourth%20Herzliya.aspx. For more on Israel’s practice of separating and isolating the Gaza Strip, see José Vericat, “A Palestinian Statelet in Gaza,” JPS 49, no. 4 (Summer 2020), pp. 109–26, https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2020.49.4.109; and Henriette Chacar, “‘Gaza Is a One-Way Ticket’: How Israel’s Relocation Policy Is Separating Palestinian Communities,” +972 Magazine, 30 June 2020, https://www.972mag.com/gaza-movement-separation-policy/.
54 For more on Gaza as a laboratory, see Eyal Weizman, The Least of All Possible Evils: A Short History of Humanitarian Violence (London: Verso, 2012).
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Tareq Baconi
Tareq Baconi is an analyst with Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. He is the author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018).