‘State of exception’ or ‘state in exile’? The fallacy of appropriating Agamben on Palestinian refugee camps

Abstract

To refer to Palestinian refugee camps as states of exception, appropriating the paradigm of Giorgio Agamben, is definitely tempting. Agamben argues that in times of crisis, individual rights of citizens are diminished and entire categories of people kept outside the political system. Nevertheless, there are flaws in applying Agamben’s perspective on Palestinian camps. It acquits the camp residents from the autonomy over their own political agency. Historically, in Lebanon, camp residents experienced an almost limitless access to free political organisation. But this access has not been converted into the development of representative, legitimate political structures.

Keywords:

• Participation and power
• Palestine
• migration and refugees
• authoritarianism
• democratisation

Notes

1. Personal communication with student, December 2013.

2. Ramadan, “Spatialising the Refugee Camp,” 67.

3. See for instance Hanafi, “Governance, Governmentalities”; Ophir, Power of Inclusive Exclusion; Misselwitz, “Refugees Plan the Future”; Kortam, “Politics, Patronage and Popular Committees”; Khalili, “Incarceration and the State of Exception”; Korn, “Ghettoization of the Palestinians.”

4. Huntington, “If not Civilizations, What?”

5. Agamben, State of Exception; Agamben, Homo Sacer.

6. See note 3.

7. Hiroyuki, “Anarchical Governance.”

8. Sahd, “Worthlessness of Palestinians.”

9. Abujidi, “Palestinian States of Exception.”

10. Hanafi, “Palestinian Refugee Camps in Lebanon.”

11. Ophir, Power of Inclusive Exclusion, 23.

12. Hanafi, “Palestinian Refugee Camps in Lebanon”, 88.

13. Ibid, 88.

14. Ibid.

15. Hanafi, "Governance, Governmentalities,” 15.

16. See Fitzpatrick, “Bare Sovereignty”; Gregory, “Black Flag”; Mitchell, “Geographies of Identity,” for but three critical assessments of Agamben’s theoretical assumptions.

17. Bocco, “UNRWA and the Palestinian Refugees,” 234.

18. Quoted in Migdal, Palestinian People, 235.

19. Bocco, “UNRWA and the Palestinian Refugees.”

20. Cleveland, History of the Modern Middle East, 347.

21. Fargues, “Changing Hierarchies,” 185.

22. Bocco, “UNRWA and the Palestinian Refugees,” 246.

23. Ibid.

24. Rubenberg, “Civilian Infrastructure,” 60.

25. Hanafi, "Governance, Governmentalities,” 23.

26. Lischer, Dangerous Sanctuaries.

27. Sayigh, Armed Struggle, 120.

28. Lischer, Dangerous Sanctuaries, 27.

29. Interview with author, Amman, April 2011.

30. Amnesty International, “Exiled and Suffering,” 19.

31. For the full agreement, see: http://www.lebaneseforces.org/lebanon/leb_agree_cairo.php

32. Shiblak, “Palestinians in Lebanon,” 268.

33. Hijazi, “Lebanese Scrap PLO.”

34. Hudson, “Palestinians and Lebanon,” 254.

35. Khalidi, Under Siege, 174–5.

36. Shiblak, “Palestinians in Lebanon,” 268.

37. Ibid., 265.

38. Quoted in Hudson, “Palestinians and Lebanon,” 254.

39. Tveit, Nederlag, 118.

40. Hudson, “Palestinians and Lebanon,” 252.

41. Ibid., 244.

42. Tveit, Nederlag, 118.

43. Shipler, “Lebanese Tell of Anguish.”

44. Tveit, Nederlag, 114.

45. Brynen, “PLO policy in Lebanon,” 59.

46. Hanafi, “Palestinian Refugee Camps in Lebanon,” 93.

47. Knudsen, “Insecurity,” 99.

48. International Crisis Group, “Lebanon’s Palestinian Dilemma.”

49. Ibid., 10.

50. Ibid.

51. Ibid, 9.

52. Ibid., 10.

53. Interview with author, Beirut, October 2011.

54. Interview with author, Beirut, October 2011.

55. Interview with author, Beirut, October 2011.

56. Interview with author, Beirut, October 2011.

57. Personal communication with PhD student, 8 September 2015.

58. Appadurai, “Theory in Anthropology,” 357.

59. Napolitano, “Hamas and the Syrian Revolution.”

60. Hanafi, "Governance, Governmentalities,” 23.