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Palestinian Dual Marginality and Identity Construction in East

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Palestinian Dual Marginality and Identity Construction in East Between Dislocation and Domination: Palestinian Dual Marginality and Identity Construction in East Jerusalem 1993-2017 Submitted by Teisha Alexandra Leigh to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics In October 2017 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. 2 ABSTRACT This thesis adopts a bottom-up, qualitative approach to Palestinian identity construction in East Jerusalem and asks how the new politics and altered geography of the city since Oslo are recreating Palestinian subjectivities and redefining Palestinian struggle. I make the case that East Jerusalemites are doubly marginalised, first as Palestinians spatially and politically dislocated from the West Bank, then as residents of Israel, inside the politics and economy of the state but permanently excluded from the national project. Distanced from both state projects and from the discursive structures through which Palestinian identity was constructed after 1967, East Jerusalem residents are redefining from below what it means to be Palestinian in ways that are unfamiliar to Palestinians elsewhere in the occupied territories. Drawing on the vocabulary and theoretical contours of discourse theory, I problematise the top-down optic favoured by mainstream academic approaches which essentialises identities and privileges an occupation/resistance binary. I suggest that a ground-level approach to everyday practices in East Jerusalem sheds light on the extent to which existing nationalist and resistance discourses have either lost or changed meaning for Palestinian residents and makes evident the complexities of domination which are not visible from an elevated perspective. I suggest that the view from the ground in East Jerusalem is significantly underexplored and that from this position, the assumptions underlying existing analytic approaches to Palestinian identity and struggle are called into question. 3 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In East Jerusalem, this project was made possible by the extraordinary generosity of friends, both old and new, who opened their lives and their homes to me. I am profoundly touched and forever grateful. In Exeter, I am deeply indebted to Mick Dumper, who understood the challenges of combining a PhD with family life and who gave me the time and encouragement to work out my ideas, while gently guiding this study through to completion. I couldn’t have come this far any other way. At home, I have had incredible support from my family. Without their help and encouragement, I would never have started or finished this journey. So, thank you Mum, Sam, Tal and Jude. This is your achievement as much as mine. 5 6 Contents ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 11 1 The Complexities of Domination ........................................................ 12 2 Research Objectives ........................................................................... 16 3 Thesis Structure .................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 23 1 Overview of East Jerusalem in the Literature ................................... 25 1.1 Contested Cities ............................................................................. 29 1.2 Urban Policy and Ethnic Conflict .................................................... 32 1.3 The Spatialities of Power ................................................................ 35 1.4 Critical Urban Theory ...................................................................... 38 2 The Emergence of Palestinian Identity .............................................. 43 3 East Jerusalem’s Divergent Political Trajectory ............................... 50 3.1 From Partition to Occupation ......................................................... 50 3.2 The Israeli Project in East Jerusalem ............................................. 52 3.2.1 Territory ................................................................................... 53 3.2.2 Demography ............................................................................ 55 3.2.3 Planning .................................................................................. 57 3.3 Swallowed but not Digested? ......................................................... 59 4 The Decline of Palestinian Politics in East Jerusalem ..................... 65 4.1 The Collapse of Palestinian Leadership.................................... 65 4.2 Social Implications .......................................................................... 68 4.3 Palestinian Political Participation .................................................... 73 4.4 Religion as a Ready Alternative ..................................................... 75 5 Palestinian Adaptations to the Israeli Project ................................... 77 6 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 85 7 CHAPTER III: METHODS AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................ 86 1 Research Design ................................................................................. 87 1.1 Retrospective Participant Observation ........................................... 87 1.2 In-Depth Interviews and Informal Conversations ............................ 89 2 Sample and Participant Selection ...................................................... 93 2.1 Access and Trust ............................................................................ 94 2.2 Sample ........................................................................................... 97 3 Data Analysis and Representation ................................................... 102 3.1 Theoretical Framework ................................................................. 102 3.2 Reflexivity ..................................................................................... 105 3.3 Objectivity and Partiality ............................................................... 108 4 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 110 CHAPTER IV: EVERYDAY PALESTINIAN LIFE IN THE DISLOCATED CITY ....... 112 1. The Inside, Outside: Physical and Political Dislocation ................. 115 1.1 The Barrier in the Jerusalem Area ................................................ 115 1.2 The Barrier and Everyday Life ...................................................... 120 1.3 Background to East Jerusalem’s Political Dislocation .................. 125 1.4 The Palestinian Leadership Vacuum ............................................ 127 1.5 Relations Across the Barrier ......................................................... 131 1.6 Summary ...................................................................................... 139 2. The Limits of Palestinian Political Imagination ............................... 140 2.1 Reframing the Hegemonic Boundary Debate ............................... 141 2.2 Part of Israel as a fact of Life ........................................................ 143 2.3 Pre-Intifada Nostalgia ................................................................... 145 2.4 Focus on Hebrew language acquisition in East Jerusalem .......... 149 3. Ambivalence Towards Israel ............................................................ 156 3.1 The Perceived Advantages of Residency ..................................... 157 3.2 Comparisons between Israel and the PA ..................................... 161 3.3 Respect for the Israeli Modus Operandi ....................................... 163 3.4 Personal Encounters with the Other ............................................. 166 4. Seeking Normality ............................................................................. 172 4.1 A Framework for Analysing Everyday Life in East Jerusalem ...... 173 8 4.2 From ‘Suspension’ and ‘Affirmation’ to ‘Improvement’ of Life ....... 176 5 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 188 CHAPTER V: EVERYDAY PALESTINIAN LIFE IN THE ANNEXED CITY .............. 191 1 Permanent Exclusion ........................................................................ 194 1.1 The Ethnocratic State ................................................................... 195 1.2 Internally and Externally Constructed Minorities ........................... 198 2 The Workings of Israeli Power in East Jerusalem .......................... 204 2.1 Informality and Exception ............................................................. 207 2.1.1 Residency.............................................................................. 211 2.1.2 Planning ................................................................................ 219 2.1.3 Education .............................................................................
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