Half-Statelessness and Hannah Arendt’s Citizenship Model: The Case of Palestinian Citizens of Israel

ABSTRACT

This article explores Hannah Arendt’s conceptualization of half-statelessness, theorized as the partial invasion of citizenship by characteristics of statelessness. It is a process of dehumanization, since according to Arendt, human beings can realize their humanness only within the confines of genuine citizenship. Explicating Arendt’s conceptualization of half-statelessness helps us better understand her dynamic citizenship theory and better explain contemporary developments, characterizing ethnic national states in which populist trends lead to gradual substantial revocation of national minorities’ citizenship status. We illustrate the analytical advantages of Arendt’s conceptualization and demonstrate the meaning of dehumanization by examining the reaction of Palestinian citizens of Israel to recent radicalization of state policies towards them.

KEYWORDS:

• Hannah Arendt
• citizenship
• half-statelessness
• dehumanization
• israel
• palestinian minority

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Indeed, in our post-modernist world, ‘the state’ is an opaque and non-monolithic entity; nonetheless, for the purposes of this discussion we view the state as an autonomic and potent agent.

2. Arendt’s perception of man as a political creature (‘Zoon Politikon’) rests on Aristotle’s view of political participation as the highest form of human existence. Arendt differs from Aristotle in broadening the view on what is considered participation, the realm for participation and the issues it concerns.

3. Although Arendt’s perception of ‘being-in-the-world’ draws on Heidegger’s definition, she means by it ‘being-with-others’ – the existence of mutual conditioning between the person and his surroundings. For Arendt, ‘being-in-the-world’ is ‘being part of the world’, and ‘taking part in the world.’ Kattago and Hayden (2014).

4. The video of the prime minister’s comments was posted on his official Facebook page on Election Day for the 20^th Knesset 17/3/2015. See: Ishaan Tharoor, (March 17^th, 2015), “On Israeli Election Day, Netanyahu Warns of Arabs Voting in ‘Droves’“, The Washington Post, retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/03/17/on-israeli-election-day-netanyahu-warns-of-arabs-voting-in-droves/

5. For Netanyahu’s comments see: Lis, (November 16^th, 2019), “Netanyahu Warns of ‘Unprecedented Emergency’ if Gantz Forms Government Backed by Arab Party’, Haaretz, retrieved from: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-netanyahu-warns-of-unprecedented-emergency-in-gantz-gov-t-backed-by-joint-list-1.8133161

6. It should be noted that the recent governmental attempt to include the Arab citizens in the economic sphere do not reflect any substantive integration of Arab representatives in the political sphere or in decision making.

7. Gantz’s full speech is available at Haaretz, (January 29^th, 2019) “Full text of Benny Ganz’s speech: Peace, dazzle, and transportation on the Sabbath – and etiquette of the French royal family, retrieved from: https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/elections/1.6892427.