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The Construction of Palestinian Identity: Hamas and Islamic Fundamentalism The Construction of Palestinian Identity: Hamas and Islamic Fundamentalism Institute of Islamic Studies Mcgill University, Montreal April 2002 A thesis submitted ta the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts © Joyce Hamade 2002 Nationallibrary Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1 A ON4 canada Canada Your file Votre ré18_ Our file Notre rélé_ The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence a110wing the exclusive permettant à la National Libraty ofCanada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies ofthis thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership ofthe L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts frOID it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son penmsslOn. autorisation. 0-612-79473-3 Cana<fâ TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 CHAPTERONE Four Stages in the Construction ofPalestinian National 4 Identity Ottoman rule to WWI 5 WWIto 1948 11 1948 to 1987 20 Post-Intifijr;la 23 CHAPTER TWO Theories ofNationalism 25 The Construction ofPalestinian Identity: The Role of Secular Nationalism 34 CHAPTER THREE Islamic Fundamentalism: Theoretical Approaches 43 Fundamentalism in Palestine: lfarakat al-Muqiiwama al-Isliimiyya Clfamas) 49 The Historical Antecedents oflfamas 52 The Charter: Ideological Goals Versus Political 57 Pragmatism The Marriage ofPalestinian Nationalism and Islam 59 lfamas-PLO Relations 70 Paiestinian Identity: the RaIe ofIsiamic 82 Fundamentalism CONCLUSION 93 BIBLIOGRAPHY 101 INTRODUCTION The rapid economic, social and scientific changes that characterize modemity had a profound effect on the Middle East. Industrialization led to mass urban societies that replaced localized forms ofcommunity. Modem equality and individualism caused a shift away from high centres ofgovemment such as monarchs or caliphs. This was accompanied by a shift in allegiances away from family, clan and religion to the impersonal state. The modem revolution resulted in two interrelated developments-nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism. The demise ofNasser and Pan-Arabism paved the way for Palestinian nationalism. Since the 1960's the Palestinian Liberation Organization or PLO has led the Palestinian nationalist struggle. However, the revolutionary project ofthe PLO and other secular movements failed to secure a state for Palestinians. The rapid progress ofmodemity brought upon a growing sense ofalienation and economic strife in the Middle East. This coupled with the failures of 1967 and 1973 created a social and political vacuum that religiously based political movements moved to fill. Although the cultural and political origins ofIslamic fundamentalism can be traced to the late nineteenth centUlY, it became widespread as a political phenomenon in the Arab world in the late 1970's and in Palestine in the 1980's. 2 My thesis focuses on modern Palestine and the role of nationalism and fundamentalism in the construction ofPalestinian national identity. lfamas provides a case study ofIslamic fundamentalism in Palestine. The movement developed during the late 198ü's as a reaction to the failures ofthe secular project. lfamas is a reflection ofa region-wide phenomenon. It is not solely a reaction to modernity. Rather, lfamas is the result ofspecifie condition that led to the politicization ofIslam after the Intifiùja. Today the nationalist PLO and lfamas struggle to define Palestinian identity and to shape the emerging Palestinian state. Palestinian national identity like that ofother modern nations has been constructed. Nation-building or identity construction in Palestine can be divided into four historical stages. Each stage is characterized by overlapping and competing identities: Ottoman, Arab, religious, local and kinship. These identities are not mutually exclusive and often a combination ofidentities became prominent historically depending on the internaI and external forces pressuring society. Nationalism and fundamentalism developed in the later stages ofPalestinian identity construction, 1948 to the present. Each plays a significant role in the construction ofPalestinian identity. Fundamentalism utilizes religion as a cultural system. Islam is viewed as a means ofcreating or preserving identity. As a fundamentalist movement, lfamas promotes narrow identities based 3 on religion and kinship, what it views as the pillars ofPalestinian society. In contrast, the PLO (re) defines Palestinian national identity along more secular lines. Although not devoid ofreligious overtones, the PLO promotes broader more impersonal identities linked to the Palestinian state and citizenship. Nationalist elites endeavor to construct "authentic" identity as a means ofsecuring a Palestinian state, fundamentalist as a strategy for preserving a way of life threatened by the encroachment ofsecularism. 4 CHAPTERONE Four Stages in the Construction ofPalestinian National Identity National identity is created and not an essential given. The construction ofa separate Palestinian identity occurred in four historieal stages. In each stage the project ofidentity creation was eHte driven. Notables, intellectuals and urban eHtes began a process ofidentity-creation in the last decades ofOttoman rule. These elites manipulated symbols and re-narrated the past in an effort to construct Palestinian national identity. They fostered a shared consciousness based on a common history, language and a common threat, Zionism. This national consciousness emerged in the absence ofa nation-state and was disseminated to peasants and the lower classes, through the press and education. The first stage in the construction ofa separate Palestinian identity encompasses the last decade ofOttoman rule to World War 1. This era was characterized by overlapping and competing identities: Ottoman, Arab, religious, local and family. The second stage (post WWI to 1948) expanded the sense ofPalestinian identity and united the population against a common threat, Zionism. During the third stage (1948 to 1987) Palestinian identity is defined by the common fate ofdispossession and exile. It is during this period that secular nationalism develops fully. Finally, during the post- Intifiiqa 5 stage (1987 to the present) identity is in flux. Established identities are contested by developing religio-political movements such as lfamas. Ottoman Rule to WWI During the first stage (late 1800's to WWI) Palestinian identity was shared by a narrowly defined group ofurban educated elites. These elites formed a group larger than the old traditional notables, however they were still a restricted strata ofsociety. They inc1uded the new middle c1asses-teachers, c1erks, government officiaIs and businessmen who increased rapidly in the last decades ofOttoman rule. l These elites and the rural, illiterate majority ofthe population were characterized by a multi-focused set ofidentities. Palestinian identity competed and overlapped with Ottomanism , Arabism, religious, local and family loyalties.2 The first stage in the construction ofPalestinian identity is a time ofgreat change in the Arab world. Until the First World War the urban educated elites primarily subscribed to Ottomanism. They were integrated into the Ottoman system ofgovernment and they were loyal to the Caliph. During this period a ulliversal process was unfolding in the Middle East involving an increasing identification 1 Rashid Khalidi, Palesfjnian Identity: Tbe Construcfjon ofModern national Consciousness, New York: Columbia University Press, 1997, 193. 6 with the new states created by the post-World War 1partitions.3 Ideas ofidentity were shifting away from Ottomanism. Zionism also played a role in shaping Palestinian identity. It was the primary "other" faced by the Palestinians for much ofthis century.4 This has led sorne to overestimate the significance of Zionism to the development ofPalestinian identity: "Had it not been for the pressure exerted on the Arabs ofPalestine by the Zionist movement, the very concept ofa Palestinian people would not have developed".5 Hence, Palestine and Palestinian identity is made illegitimate. This line ofargumentation is parochial and ignores the historical developments taking place in the Arab world during the early twentieth century. While Zionism helped shape the specifie form ofPalestinian national identification, it cannot be viewed as the sole reason for the development ofPalestinian identity. The question ofPalestinian identity must be situated within the larger context ofArab history. Although the threat ofZionism encouraged Palestinian nationalism, 2 Ibid. Khalidi examines the lives and writings of two representatives ofJerusalem in the Ottoman Parliament (1876-78 and 1908-1913). These writings exemplify the shifting identities ofPalestinians before World War I. See 63-88. 3 Ibid. 4 Khalidi, 20. 5 Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Midgal, Palestinians: tile Making ofa People, Toronto: The Free Press,
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