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Abstract
This paper will seek to address a new and vibrant development within the field of Israeli–Palestinian socio-politics and social movement studies. By interrogating the received wisdom surrounding social movements as agents bearing collective claims as expressed by Charles Tilly (Citation2004), this paper will suggest that the joint activism around the building of the Wall sees Israeli and Palestinian activists move beyond the traditional liberal/Marxist paradigm of counter-hegemonic action (Gramsci, Citation1971). Instead, understanding the activism of these activists belongs more within the field of post-structuralism where power is contested from all angles and its networks, extensions and connections identified (Foucault, Citation1980, p. 145). The activists' actions and motives revitalise the theories of protest-anarchism (Braidotti, Citation2002) with their insistence on creating change through direct action. They do not act to be granted emancipation by their oppressors (Day, Citation2005, p. 89), but their actions seek to bring about their own liberation. The Palestinians act on their own terms to ensure the survival of their communities while the Israelis, since they share nationality with the more powerful and repressive actor, the Israeli state, through their actions break down the theoretical barriers that see grass-roots activism as the preserve of the ‘have-nots’. By combining post-structuralist notions of networks of power with anarchist ideas privileging pre-figurative forms of struggle over the politics of demand; the Israeli and Palestinian activists of the ‘intifada of the fence’ offer a break with traditional methods of theorising social movements and asks the question how relevant is much social movement theory today?
Notes
1. I choose to use the term ‘separation Wall’ or ‘Wall’ as opposed to other terms such as ‘separation barrier’ or ‘fence’ as this is the term utilised by those engaged in the struggle.
2. From the CitationAnarchists Against the Wall website: http://awalls.org/about_AAtW – it has also gone under the name of Anarchists Against the Fence, Anarchists Against Walls and Jews Against Ghettos.
5. This article recognises that much direct action is not necessarily confrontational and protest orientated. Direct action can mean the creating of an autonomous social space or the recycling of waste food. However, in the context of this article direct action is used to refer to protest that seeks to directly confront the building of the separation Wall by, for example, blocking bulldozers, dismantling the barrier and challenging the violence of the Israeli military.
6. See the CitationInternational Court of Justice's ruling: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1 = 3&p2 = 4&k = 5a&case = 131&code = mwp&p3 = 5 (accessed 4th December, 2007). For a more detailed summary of the building of the Wall and its effects see Sorkin, Citation2005 and Dolphin, Citation2006.
8. This is also sometimes referred to as ‘dual power’ or ‘revolutionary autonomy’ and as an idea is currently closely adhered to by well-known radical groups such as the Zapatistas.
11. Facilitating the safety of Palestinian demonstrators is the primary role of AAtW and other Israelis who join the protests. As Kobi Snitz (Citation2004) points out: ‘The first-mentioned goal of Israeli participation in the demonstrations is the increase of safety.’
12. CitationAyed Morrar, interview, Budrus; April 2007.
13. Uri Ayalon (Citation2004) explains why this is so: ‘You can term this uprising, which involves the civilian population of all ages, the “Intifada of the fence”, as distinct from the more familiar one of attacks and armed fighters…The Palestinian Authority has played a very small role in the events of the last few months. The current uprising started from below, from people who watched their land being taken.’
14. Ayed Morrar, interview, Budrus; April 2007.
15. Yonatan Pollak, interview, Bil'in/Jaffa; April, 2007.
16. CitationSarah Assouline, interview, Bil'in/Jaffa; April, 2007.
17. Yonatan Pollak, interview, 2007, Bil'in/Jaffa; April 2007.
18. Sarah Assouline, interview, Bil'in/Jaffa; April 2007.