Purpose-Driven Boundary Maintenance in Palestine, 1967-2016
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Cooperating with the Enemy: Purpose-Driven Boundary Maintenance in Palestine, 1967-2016 by Daniel Nerenberg B.A. in and Middle East Studies, May 2004, McGill University M.A. in Political Science, May 2006, McGill University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 31, 2016 Dissertation directed by Nathan Brown Professor of Political Science and International Affairs The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Daniel Nerenberg has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of July 22, 2016. This is the final and approved form of the dissertation. Cooperating with the Enemy: Purpose-Driven Boundary Maintenance in Palestine, 1967-2016 Daniel Nerenberg Dissertation Research Committee: Nathan Brown, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Dissertation Director Marc Lynch, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Committee Member Henry Hale, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2016 by Daniel Nerenberg All rights reserved iii Acknowledgements After seven years of researching and writing, and a dozen prior to that getting to know the case, the list of good people who have influenced the process and outcome of this dissertation is too long to fit this small space. But some cannot go unmentioned. Ronit Avni, for starting me on this path, sparking my interest with her compassionate but incisive voice on movement building and the struggle for rights in Palestine and Israel. Shahabuddin, for guiding me through countless meditations on the pain of conflict and the power of contemplation. None of that early inspiration would have translated into a dissertation without Juliet Johnson, who taught me the value of critical, analytical thinking on messy topics like Palestine/Israel. I could not have conducted the research I did without the financial support of the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Societé et Culture, the Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace at Middlebury, the USIP Jennings Randolph Peace Scholarship, George Washington University, POMEPS, the Institute for Middle East Studies at GWU, and the generosity of my family, especially my Lillian Mauer A special thank you to my advisor and mentor, Nathan Brown, for countless reflective conversations on the case, fieldwork, and the theory, and for giving me that extra push when I needed it most. Thank you also to Kimberly Morgan, an encouraging voice when PhD land got too dark, Marc Lynch when academia seemed out-of-touch, and Robert Adcock when methodologies felt oppressive. This project would not have happened without my guides and gurus in Palestine: Amber Fares, Maha al-Shawreb, Ayman Badr, Julie Moujali, Lucy Martin, Khaled Jarrar, Vivian Korsten, Sami al- Aloul, Rebecca Collard, Khaled Sabawi, Hamza Zbeidat, Bradley Parker and the many others who taught and entertained me during the year and a half of fieldwork. And of course, Khulood Badawi, who served as my fixer, guide, interpreter and friend – I owe at least half of my interviews to her vast network of friends and colleagues. Back home, I owe much gratitude to Suhad Babaa and the Just Vision crew, who gave me the space to complete the project while reminding me why the topic mattered beyond the words below. There are dear friends who have iv walked with me along the way, patient friends who have pointed me toward my blind spots and pushed me through when I was stuck in the dreadful molasses of year five, year six, year seven. Delano, Emily, Julia, Alanna, Erika, Misha, Arianne, Audrey, Annelle, Devin, Amos, Sarah M., Dr. Daniel, Alex R., Madeleine and Dan G. – I’m grateful to and inspired by you all. And finally, to Rochelle, my darling wife 2B – thank you for keeping me honest and doing the dance with me! v Abstract of Dissertation Cooperating with the Enemy: Purpose-Driven Boundary Maintenance in Palestine 1967-2016 Cooperation between members of subordinate and dominant national groups under conditions of alien rule is routine: rulers demand it, and the ruled – willingly or unwillingly – supply it. Yet the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable cooperation – what I term interactional norms - vary. Scholars have yet to explain how and why cooperation varies under military occupation, colonial rule, or other cases of asymmetric power relations between distinct identity groups. This study fills that gap by assessing fluctuations in Palestinian cooperation with Israel from 1967-2016, building a theory of Purpose-Driven Boundary Maintenance. It process- traces a causal story, beginning with leadership dynamics, working through social purpose, and noting distinct and probable outcomes around interactional norms. Social purpose – the shared goals of a group that create obligations to behave in ways that aim at achieving collective goals - is considered a necessary condition for realizing clear interactional boundaries for subordinate groups under alien rule. Social purpose is triggered with cohesive leadership, producing sharp interactional norms and encouraging norm-compliance. When national strategy aims toward diplomacy, interactional norms will be positive (promoting cooperative relations with the dominant group), and compliance will be high. When national strategy aims at resistance, interactional norms will be negative (prohibiting certain interactions with the dominant group), and compliance will be moderate. Fragmented leadership, on the other hand, fails to trigger social purpose, resulting in social anomie. Where compliance exists, it is sporadic and isolated from a cohesive national strategy. This study draws on 2 years of fieldwork and process-traces changes in Palestinian interactional norms from 1967-2016, highlighting critical junctures and explaining shifts in five major phases of contestation: (1) The beginning of occupation – 1967-1987 (2) the first intifada – 1987-1993 (2) the Oslo years – 1994-2000 (3) the second intifada – 2000-2006 (4) and the post-inqisam years – 2006-2014. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgments iv Abstract vi List of Figures ix List of Tables x Introduction 1 The puzzle and research question 7 The argument 10 Methodology 15 Sources 18 The Case 21 Contribution 24 Structure of dissertation 26 Chapter I: Theory and Literature 28 The Emergence, Maintenance and Diffusion of Norms 31 1.2 Relational Identity and Interactional Norms 39 1.3 When Interaction is Betrayal: Deviance, Stigma, and the Outsider Within 45 1.4 A Theory of Purpose-Driven Boundary Maintenance 54 Chapter II: Occupation, Anomie and the Emergence of Interactional Norms 80 Leadership dynamics: Leaderless under Alien Rule 83 Un-triggered social purpose, low interactional norms 91 1973-1987: The Ascendency of the National Movement 99 vii The rise of social purpose, new and shifting interactional norms 107 Chapter III: The First Intifada 141 Leadership Out of the Ashes 146 Social purpose in the first 18 months 155 Interactional Norms 158 Unraveling leadership, unraveling norms 174 Abstruse interactional norms, decline in compliance 178 Chapter IV: Oslo and the Rise of Normalization 180 Arafat and the New Normal: 1993-2000: Leadership Dynamics 182 When Social Gets Personal 192 Making Nice, Making Normal – Interactional Norms during Oslo 194 Chapter V: The Second Intifada and the End of Normal 215 Fragmentation amidst Revolution: Leadership during the second intifada 220 No strategy, no purpose 229 Interactional Norms 233 Chapter VI: The Inqisam and Beyond 249 A shattered national movement 251 Social purpose post-second intifada – no leadership, no strategy 261 Interactional Norms – Munfalitah 265 Conclusion 294 Bibliography 311 viii List of Figures Figure 1.1 A Theory of Purpose-Driven Boundary Maintenance 14 Figure 4.1: Political party support 1994-2000 188 Figure 4.2: Support for presidential candidate 188 ix List of Tables Table 1.1 Rigby (1997) – Motivation-based typology 74 Table 1.2 A typology of interactional norms 77 Table 2.1 Purpose-driven boundary maintenance 1967-1973 82 Table 2.2 Interactional Norms 1967-1973 92 Table 2.3 Purpose-driven boundary maintenance: 1973-1987 100 Table 2.4 Interactional Norms 1973-1987 109 Table 3.1 Purpose-driven boundary maintenance: 1987-1989 142 Table 3.2 Interactional norms 1987-1989 157 Table 4.1 Purpose-driven boundary maintenance: 1993-2000 182 Table 4.2 Interactional norms 1993-2000 195 Table 5.1 Purpose-driven boundary maintenance: 2000-2005 217 Table 5.2 Interactional norms 2000-2005 234 Table 6.1 Purpose-driven boundary maintenance: 2005-2016 251 Table 6.2 Interactional norms 2005-2016 266 x Introduction Omar sits under the fluorescent lights of the tarpaulin canopy he’s built outside his home in the northern Jordan Valley. He has the air and hardened hands of an elder, although he is only 53. He speaks of his work with pride. Omar has been a waseet – a middleman who recruits Palestinian laborers in his village to work on Israeli agricultural settlements deep in the West Bank – for a little over half his life. He has nothing bad to say about his employers, past and present – Moishe, his Israeli business liaison, stops by for tea in the village every now and then. His former employer once took him hunting, trusting him with a rifle, helping him take down a gazelle. His work, he says, is steady and satisfying – there was more during the first intifada, except for on the occasional strike day, and business suffered some during the second intifada, but he has worked more or less steadily on the settlements since 1978. He is accompanied under the canopy by his sons, one who works in the settlement with him, and a group of boys and young men who, if they do not work in the settlements now, likely will in the future.1 --------------------- Muhannad is a social activist based in Ramallah, working for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) National Committee.