An Arab ‘Spring’ of a Different Kind? Resilience and Freedom in the Case of an Occupied Nation

Abstract

Inspired by the on-going uprisings and revolutions across the Arab world, Palestinians used social media to call for mass protests throughout the Occupied Territory and their ‘host’ countries in the Arab world on 15 May 2011. Their underlying frustrations, however, have been of a different nature to those of their Arab brethren. The literature on the persistence of authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the debates on transitions to democracy have failed to shed light on the emergence of the cleavage within the two main rival factions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and on the impact of the enduring Israeli occupation on the Palestinians' political identity. This article aims to fill in this gap.

Notes

¹ In Arabic, Yawm an-Nakbah, meaning ‘day of the catastrophe’, is generally commemorated on this date. For the Palestinians it is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement that followed the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948.

² Many Palestinians as well as Arab populations across the MENA read Egypt's Camp David peace treaty with Israel as an attempt by Egypt to give the illusion that peace would be possible without justice to the Palestinians (see Shehadeh, 2012).

³ However, there are also specific policy areas where Hamas and Fatah coordinate the provision of social welfare services. Thus, despite the deep rivalry between the two main protagonists on the PT political scene, the technical staff in the respective ministries in Gaza and Ramallah have coordinated the provision of health and educational services successfully (Hovdenak, 2010: 5).

⁴ Author's interview with Dr Sabri Saidam at the Centre for Continuing Education (CCE), BirZeit University, Ramallah, 15 September 2007.

⁵ This unwritten understanding is what Shaul Mishal and Nadav Morag (2002) refer to as the nature of what they call ‘networked states’ where expectations are based on trust. This contrasts with the expectations of hierarchical states which are based on contracts.

⁶ This category captures voter participation/turn-out for national elections, the extent to which ethnic, religious and other minorities have a reasonable degree of autonomy and voice in the political process, percentage of women in parliament, extent of political participation (membership of political parties and political non-governmental organizations), citizens' engagement with politics, the preparedness of population to take part in lawful demonstrations, the extent to which adult population shows an interest in and follows politics in the news, the extent to which the authorities make a serious effort to promote political participation, amongst other considerations).

⁷ Author's interview with Mrs Haitham Arar, Ministry of Interior, Democracy and Human Rights Division (Fatah), Ramallah, 5 September 2007.

⁸ Hamas's emergence from the 2006 elections as the successful majority party led to increasing strife between the two factions, culminating in a military conflict between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza between 7 and 15 June 2007 after which Hamas took control of the territory. Since then, the West Bank and Gaza have operated as separate political entities.

⁹ Author's interview with Dr Ahmed Yousef, Political Adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, Office of the Prime Minster, Gaza Strip, 11 September 2007.

¹⁰ In hindsight, Obama's shift in position and response to the Arab ‘Spring’ was very short-lived!

¹¹ As Larbi Sadiki (2011) argues, the Arab Spring gives Hamas the opportunity ‘to explore the new geography of freed Arab peoples endorsing justice for the Palestinian cause and lasting peace for all. The Arab Spring geography will be largely populated by Islamist power brokers whose value-systems place the Palestinian cause amongst their political concerns, if not priorities’.

¹² Author's discussions with a Palestinian intellectual, February 2012.

¹³ The UNRWA report stipulates that 45.2 per cent of Gazans of working age are unemployed, with the number employed dropping by 5,900 to 190,365 in the second half of 2010 (Ajluni, 2011).

¹⁴ Mahmoud Abbas's speech calling for Palestinian recognition by the UN was met with applause (see Adams, 2011; BBC News, 2011).

¹⁵ It is worth bearing in mind here though that all Israeli governments have negotiated the release of soldiers, dead or alive. On the day of the swap, Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike for 23 days decided to suspend their strike after Israel stopped using its solitary confinement policy against them.

¹⁶ The swap did not take place without criticism, however. Noticeably missing from the list of freed detainees are the highest profile Palestinians, namely Ahmad Saadat, Head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. According to Hamas sources, Barghouti's name was originally on the list but was rejected by Israel at the last minute.

¹⁷ The Quartet on the Middle East, sometimes called the Diplomatic Quartet or Madrid Quartet or simply the Quartet, is a foursome of nations and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Quartet members are the UN, US, the EU and Russia.

¹⁸ The prisoners, most of whom have been serving life sentences, included six Palestinians from inside Israel and 16 from East Jerusalem. President Mahmoud Abbas greeted the West Bank prisoners at his presidential compound in Ramallah and with a rare show of Hamas and Fatah leaders side-by-side. Hamas leader Hasan Yousef and Legislative Council speaker Aziz Dweik, also Hamas, stood next to Abbas in his welcome speech, grasping hands in a sign of victory (see Miftah, 2011).

¹⁹ See the Palestine Centre for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) (2011) for more on this. See also Napolitano (2011).

²⁰ Interviews conducted by the author with groups of young protestors in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, May 2011. (See also Carbajosa, 2011.)