Decolonizing Palestine

Somdeep Sen

Description

In Decolonizing Palestine, Somdeep Sen rejects the notion that liberation from colonialization exists as a singular moment in history when the colonizer is ousted by the colonized. Instead, he considers the case of the Palestinian struggle for liberation from its settler colonial condition as a complex psychological and empirical mix of the colonial and the postcolonial. Specifically, he examines the two seemingly contradictory, yet coexistent, anticolonial and postcolonial modes of politics adopted by Hamas following the organization's unexpected victory in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council election. Despite the expectations of experts, Hamas has persisted as both an armed resistance to Israeli settler colonial rule and as a governing body. Based on ethnographic material collected in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Israel, and Egypt, Decolonizing Palestine argues that the puzzle Hamas presents is not rooted in predicting the timing or process of its abandonment of either role. The challenge instead lies in explaining how and why it maintains both, and what this implies for the study of liberation movements and postcolonial studies more generally.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Israel
• History of the Middle East
• Human rights

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501752766
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

DECOLONIZING PALESTINE

DECOLONIZING PALESTINE HamasbetweentheAnticolonial and the Postcolonial

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

SomdeepSen

ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,orparts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2020 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Sen, Somdeep, author. Title:DecolonizingPalestine:Hamasbetweentheanticolonialandthe postcolonial / Somdeep Sen. Description:Ithaca[NewYork]:CornellUniversityPress,2020.| Includesbibliographical references and index. Identifiers:LCCN2020007216(print)|LCCN2020007217(ebook)| ISBNer)dcov(har73510578751NB9|SIk)acrbpepa(4227|0518257179 ISBN7125579e(obko)|ISBN9781501756672dp()f051879 Subjects:LCSH:HarakatalMuq¯awamahalIsla¯mı¯yah.|PalestinianArabs— ∙ Politics and government—21st century. |Israelis—Colonization—Gaza Strip. | Gaza Strip—Politics andgovernment—21st century. Classification:LCCJQ1830.A98H37752020(print)|LCCJQ1830.A98(ebook) | DDC 956.94/2055—dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020007216 LCebookrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2020007217

For Ma and Papa

Contents

Acknowledgments

1.  Decolonizing Palestine: An Introduction 2.  On the Settler Colonial Elimination of Palestine 3. Palestinian Postcoloniality: A Legacy of the Oslo Accords 4. Anticolonial Violence and the Palestinian Struggle to Exist 5.  Postcolonial Governance: Imagining Palestine 6.  The Palestinian Moment of Liberation 7.  On Liberation

Notes Bibliography Index

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Acknowledgments

Aswithmostacademicendeavorsthisbookisacollectiveeffort.Firstofall, this book would not have been possible without the support of my friends and interlocutors in the field. In Cairo I would especially like to thank Bassam and his family for their hospitality and my former Cairo flat mate, Jeffrey Culang, for his support, advice, and willingness to accompany me to the local café after a long day in the field. I am also grateful to Ben Silsbee, Joel Parker, Yoram Meital, Oren Barak, and Dan Miodownik for their assistance during my fieldwork in Tel Aviv, Beersheba, and Jerusalem. Conducting fieldwork in the Gaza Strip in 2013 was difficult. But it was the friendships I developed in the field that helped me weather through it. I would like to thank Ahmed, Jehad, Bahaa, Hussain, and Sayed for supporting me throughout my stay. I remain humbled by their resilience in the face of adversity, and they will forever be a constant source of inspiration for me. I am also indebted to Omar Shaban and the staff at PalThink for Strategic Studies for their support during my stay in Gaza. IamimmenselygratefulforthesupportIreceivedduringmystudiesatthe University of Copenhagen from my fellow students Salem Dandan, Lau Øfjord Blaxekjær, Ayca Uygur, Peter Marcus Kristensen, Rune Bennike, Josefine Kühnel Larsen, Kristian Knus Larsen, and Hans Dabelsteen. My supervisor Sune Haug bølle was an invaluable pillar of support. He enthusiastically took on the task of supervising a political science doctoral project that challenged some disciplinary norms and skillfully ferried me through the process of writing and defending the dissertation. Thank you also to Ben Rosamund for helpful feedback on various drafts of the manuscript that became this book. Thanks also to John Collins, Jeroen Gunning, and Noel Parker for their critical reading of earlier drafts that laid the foundations of the book in its current form. I would also like to thank the Danish Institute in Damascus and the Danish Council for Independent Research for funding part of my fieldwork in Palestine. IthankLeneHansen,ChristianLundandMikkelVedbyRasmussenatthe University of Copenhagen, Cynthia Weber at the University of Sussex, Nicola Pratt and Andre Broome at the University of Warwick as well as Carl Death at the University of Manchester, who read several versions of my book proposal and guided me through the intimidating process of steering this book to publishers. I would also like to thank Jonas, Joe, Magnus, Krista and Johan atRoast Coffee in Copenhagen, who kept me hydrated and caffeinated through long periods of

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