Political Economy of Palestine. Critical, Interdisciplinary, and Decolonial Perspectives

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This book explores the political economy of Palestine through critical, interdisciplinary, and decolonial perspectives, underscoring that an approach to economics that does not consider the political—a de-politicized economics—is inadequate to understanding the situation in occupied Palestine. A critical interdisciplinary approach to political economy challenges prevailing neoliberal logics and structures that reproduce racial capitalism, and explores how the political economy of occupied Palestine is shaped by processes of accumulation by exploitation and dispossession from both Israel and global business, as well as from Palestinian elites. A decolonial approach to Palestinian political economy foregrounds struggles against neoliberal and settler colonial policies and institutions, and aids in the de-fragmentation of Palestinian life, land, and political economy that the Oslo Accords perpetuated, but whose histories of de-development over all of Palestine can be traced back for over a century. The chapters in this book offer an in-depth contextualization of the Palestinian political economy, analyze the political economy of integration, fragmentation, and inequality, and explore and problematize multiple sectors and themes of political economy in the absence of sovereignty. Acknowledgments Praise for Political Economy of Palestine Contents Notes on Contributors Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables 1 Palestinian Political Economy: Enduring Struggle Against Settler Colonialism, Racial Capitalism, and Neoliberalism Introduction Critical, Interdisciplinary, and Decolonial Palestine and Palestinian Political Economy Book Overview Conclusion References Part I Contextualizing Palestinian Political Economy 2 Dominate and Pacify: Contextualizing the Political Economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territories Since 1967 Introduction The Dual Principles of Domination and Pacification The Early Years (1967–1979) The Relapse of Israeli Strategies in the 1980s Political Economy Factors Behind the Oslo Process (1990–1993) Oslo’s “Legalization” of Economic Domination Oslo’s “Institutionalization” of Economic Pacification Conclusion References 3 The Political Economy of Dependency and Class Formation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Since 1967 Introduction Israeli Occupation and Palestinian Dependency 1967–1993 Part One: Dependency Palestinian Labor in Israel Movement of Goods: The Flip Side of Work in Israel Part Two: Class Formation The Demise of the Petty Bourgeoisie The “Capitalist” Bourgeoisie Class Working Class “Identification” The “Peace” Process and Neoliberalism (1994–Present) Part One: Dependency Formalizing Dependencies Palestinian Labor and the Role of Agriculture Production and Trade New Dependencies Part Two: Class Formation The Emergence of the “New Middle Class” The Capitalist Bourgeoisie Class Conclusion References 4 Settler Colonialism and Land-Based Struggle in Palestine: Toward a Decolonial Political Economy Introduction Political Economy, Settler Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Palestine Settler Colonialism and Indigeneity Political Economy, Racial Capitalism, and Accumulation by Exploitation and Dispossession Decoloniality and Its Relevance to the Political Economy of Palestine Decoloniality and Settler Colonialism A Decolonial Approach to Political Economy in Palestine Land-Based Struggles and Political Economies of Resistance Annexation and Resistance Conclusion References Part II Political Economy of Integration, Fragmentation, and Inequality 5 The West Bank-Israel Economic Integration: Palestinian Interaction with the Israeli Border and Permit Regimes Introduction West Bank-Israel Trade as a Borderland Economy The Administrative Border: The Case of Smuggled Fuel The Israeli Space-Control System The Sociology of Brokerage: Permit Brokers The Permit Brokers Conclusion References 6 The Political Economy of the Gaza Strip Under Hamas Introduction Hamas 2006 Parliamentary Victory: A Palestinian Earthquake Hamas and the Tunnel Economy The Hamas Private Sector Hamas and the Traditional Private Sector: A Complex Relationship Structural Imbalances in Physical, Human, and Social Capital Conclusion References 7 Palestinians in Israel: Neoliberal Contestations and Class Formation Introduction History of Dispossession and Development Indigenous Capitalism and Class Stories of “Arab Resolve” Labor Dynamics and Disengagement Conclusion References 8 Toward a Political Economy of Apartheid and Inequality in Israel/Palestine Introduction: The Study of the Political Economy of the Israeli Occupation GDP as a Measure of Economic Viability Wages and Inequality Wages as a Proxy for Trends in Inequality Conclusion References Part III Political Economy in the Absence of Sovereignty 9 Gaza, Palestine, and the Political Economies of Indigenous (Non)-Futures Introduction Palestinian Political Economies of Non-futures Transnational Political Economy of Indigenous Non-futures Anti-Indigeneity and the Political Economies of Settler Identities Neoliberal Futures and Dividing Resistant Communities Gaza’s Unruliness and Imperial Technologies of Whiteness Conclusion References 10 Political Economy of Foreign Aid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: A Conceptual Framing Introduction and Contextual Background The Instrumentalists: Belief in the “Investment in Peace” Paradigm Critical Instrumentalists: Making Adjustments The Critics: Reinventing the Aid Model The Neo-Colonialists: Aligning Aid with Israel’s Settler Colonialism Conclusion References 11 The Palestinian Authority Political Economy: The Architecture of Fiscal Control Introduction: Economic Architecture of Oslo Fiscal Sociology and the Palestinian Authority Historical Fiscal Architecture (1967–1993) Fiscal Operations of the Palestinian Authority An Overview of the PA’s Revenues Clearance Revenue: An Israeli Fiscal Mechanism PA Fiscal Policy: Fiscal Continuity and Entangling the Private Sector Conclusion: An Architecture of Fiscal Control References 12 Political Economy of Intervention and Securitized Ordering in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Introduction The Political Economy of Securitized Ordering From Negotiations to Quasi-State Institution Building Negotiating Security and Creating Elites Critical Security Interlocutors and Their Complex Networks Conclusion References 13 Off the Grid: Prepaid Power and the Political Economy of Waste in Palestine Introduction Waste, Money and the Would-Be Palestinian State Money Pits: How Trash Became Waste Problem: Municipal Debts Technical Piggy-Backing: Prepaid Meters for Waste Framing Automation: Greed into Self-Interestedness Conclusion: A Person Is Programmed Now? References 14 To Unknow Palestine: A Conclusion The “Absence of a Greater Sense of Abhorrence”1 Redefining the Space That Israelis and Palestinians Inhabit: Nullifying the Other “To Notice Is to Rescue, to Redeem”3 References Index