The Palestinian Authority In The West Bank

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank explores the manner in which the Palestinian Authority's performative acts affect and shape the lives and subjective identities of those in its vicinity in the occupied West Bank. The nature of Palestinians' statelessness has to contend with the rituals of statecraft that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its Palestinian functionaries engage in. These rituals are also economically maintained by an international donor community and are vehemently challenged by Palestinian activists, antagonistic to the prevalence of the statist agenda in Palestine. Conceptually, the understanding of the PA's 'theater of statecraft' is inspired by Judith Butler's conception of performativity as one that encompasses several repetitive and ritual performative acts. The authors explore what they refer to as the 'fuzzy state' (personified in the form and conduct of the PA) looks like for those living it, from the vantage point of PA institutions, NGOs, international representative offices, and activists. Methodologically, the book adopts an ethnographic approach, by way of interviews and observations in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank makes an important and long-due intervention by integrating performance studies and politics to suggest an understanding of the theatrics of woeful statecraft in Palestine. The book is an essential resource for students and scholars interested in the study of the state, International Relations and Politics, Palestine Studies, and the Middle East.

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank explores the manner in which the Palestinian Authority’s performative acts affect and shape the lives and subjective identities of those in its vicinity in the occupied West Bank. The nature of Palestinians’ statelessness has to contend with the rituals of statecraft that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its Palestinian functionaries engage in. These rituals are also economically maintained by an international donor community and are vehemently challenged by Palestinian activists, antagonistic to the prevalence of the statist agenda in Palestine. Conceptually, the understanding of the PA’s ‘theater of statecraft’ is inspired by Judith Butler’s conception of performativity as one that encompasses several repetitive and ritual performative acts. The authors explore what they refer to as the ‘fuzzy state' (personified in the form and conduct of the PA) looks like for those living it, from the vantage point of PA institutions, NGOs, international representative offices, and activists. Methodologically, the book adopts an ethnographic approach, by way of interviews and observations in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank makes an important and long-due intervention by integrating performance studies and politics to suggest an understanding of the theatrics of woeful statecraft in Palestine. The book is an essential resource for students and scholars interested in the study of the state, International Relations and Politics, Palestine Studies, and the Middle East.

This book explores the development of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from a liberation movement to a national authority, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Based on intensive fieldwork in the West Bank, Gaza and Cairo, Nigel Parsons analyzes Palestinian internal politics and their institutional-building by looking at the development of the PLO. Drawing on interviews with leading figures in the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, delegates to the negotiations with Israel, and the Palestinian political opposition, it is a timely account of the Israel/Palestine conflict from a Palestinian political perspective.

This volume is about the development of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from a liberation movement to a national authority, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Based on intensive fieldwork, this book analyses Palestinian internal politics and their institutional-building by looking at the development of the PLO. It has rare interviews with leading figures in the PLO and the PNA, the delegates to the negotiations with Israel, and the Palestinian political opposition. The author has spent more than a year in the Palestinian territories conducting his research and gathering data. It is, therefore, the latest account of the situation in the Middle East from the Palestinian political perspective.

This book offers the only comprehensive overview of the Palestinian economy in the West Bank and Gaza. It focuses on the unique features of this unusual economy during the last thirty years. Under Israeli occupation, the Palestinian economy suffered from poorly developed domestic labor and capital markets, and considerable dependence on the highly developed Israeli economy for employment, trade and financial resources. The book analyses past trends, present conditions and alternative arrangements for the future. A comprehensive data set is used and, for the first time, the public is presented with a detailed picture of the Palestinian economy, with tables and graphs. The authors propose new institutional arrangements between the Palestinian and Israeli economies - an economic filters plan - which will promote neither total integration nor total separation. The book will be of great value to anyone interested in the political economy of the Middle East, the economics of occupation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Overview and Recent Developments; (3) Types of U.S. Bilateral Aid to the Palestinians: Project Assistance Through USAID; Types of Funding Programs; Vetting Require. and Procedures; Direct Assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA); U.S. Security Assistance to the PA; (4) U.S. Contributions to UNRWA; (5) The $900 Million U.S. Pledge; Hamas¿s Role in a ¿Unity Gov¿t.; International Pledges and the Gaza Reconstruction Effort; (6) Proposed FY 2010 Appropriations; (7) Factors in Determining Future Aid: Effectiveness of U.S. Assistance in Strengthening the PA in the West Bank; Economic Development and International Donor Assistance; Hamas and a ¿Unity Gov¿t.¿?; Questions Regarding a Two-State Solution. Charts and tables.

This book explores how the rule of power relates to the case of occupied Palestine, examining features of local dissent and international governance. The project considers expressions of the rule of power in two particular ways: settler colonialism and neoliberalism. As power is always accompanied by resistance, the authors engage with and explores forms of everyday resistance to the logics and regimes of neoliberal governance and settler colonialism. They investigate wide-ranging issues and dynamics related to international governance, liberal peacebuilding, statebuilding, and development, the claim to politics, and the notion and practice of resistance. This work will be of interest for academics focusing on modern Middle Eastern politics, international relations, as well as for courses on contemporary conflicts, peacebuilding, and development.

This is the first report to systematically evaluate and quantify the economic potential of Area C, which constitutes approximately 61 percent of the West Bank. The report reveals that lifting the restreactions on economic activity in Area C is, among other things, probably essential for building a sustainable Palestinian economy.