UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Palestine online : cyber Intifada and the construction of a virtual community 2001-2005 Aouragh, M. Publication date 2008 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Aouragh, M. (2008). Palestine online : cyber Intifada and the construction of a virtual community 2001-2005. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:07 Oct 2021 Palestine Online Dit proefschrift werd mogelijk gemaakt met de financiële steun van: Amsterdam School voor Social Science Research (ASSR) Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) Palestine Online Cyber Intifada and the Construction of a Virtual Community 2001-2005 ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op maandag 7 april 2008, te 14:00 uur door Miriyam Aouragh geboren te Amsterdam Promotiecommissie Promotores: Prof. dr. A.C.A.E Moors Prof. dr. P.T. van der Veer Overige leden: Prof. dr. A. Bayat Dr. L.A. Brouwer Prof. dr. B. Meyer Dr. J.T. Sunier Prof. dr. S.M.E. Wyatt Prof. dr. E. Zureik Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen For those in Palestine, and elsewhere, who continue to defend humanity and defy oppression. And for Bachir Aouragh, from whom I learned not to accept a political status-quo just because it is the dominant one, or a social position just because others or the political-economic system structured it so. Contents List of Figures and Photo’s----------------------------------------------------------viii List of Tables----------------------------------------------------------------------------ix Acknowledgements---------------------------------------------------------------------x Chapter 1: Introducing the research—Virtual Reality from below----------1 1.1 Research and Occupation----------------------------------------------------------1 1.2 Narratives of Discontent-----------------------------------------------------------11 1.3 Theory and Practice----------------------------------------------------------------17 1.4 Online-Offline Methodology: Anthropology from Below----------------------26 Chapter 2: Technological & Political Infrastructures-------------------------35 2.1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------35 2.2 Framing the ‘Tensions’------------------------------------------------------------36 2.3 Materiality of Palestinian Internet: Situating Palestinian ICT--------------52 2.4 Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------70 Chapter 3: Palestinian Mobility Offline/Online--------------------------------71 3.1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------71 3.2 Diasporic Mobility: Forced Migration------------------------------------------73 3.3 Virtual (alternative) Mobility------------------------------------------------------83 3.4 Living in a Virtual World----------------------------------------------------------96 3.5 Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------102 Chapter 4: Virtual space—Territorial place: Imagined Nation and State Making----------------------------------------------------------------------104 4.1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------104 4.2 Counter Narratives-----------------------------------------------------------------106 4.3 Transforming the Nation----------------------------------------------------------117 4.4 Palestine Online and Offline------------------------------------------------------122 4.5 Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------134 Chapter 5: Virtual Palestine—Online Representations------------------------136 5.1 Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------136 5.2 Tracing Palestinian Websites-----------------------------------------------------137 5.3 Globalizing/Localizing-------------------------------------------------------------152 5.4 The Politics of Online Analyses ---------------------------------------------------162 5.5 Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------------172 Chapter 6: At the Crossroad: Internet Cafes------------------------------------174 6.1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------174 6.2 Deconstructing The Internet------------------------------------------------------175 6.3 Internet Cafés-----------------------------------------------------------------------185 6.4 The “Coffee House” Effect-------------------------------------------------------199 6.5 Beyond ‘Contested’: Everyday Manifestations of Agency--------------------205 6.6 Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------215 Chapter 7: Everyday Resistance and the Virtual Intifada-------------------217 7.1 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------217 7.2 Permission to Narrate: Documenting Palestinian History------------------220 7.3 The Revolution Will Not Be Televized------------------------------------------230 7.4 Virtual Stones----------------------------------------------------------------------243 7.5 Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------------------------250 Chapter 8: Online & Offline Resistance—Conclusions & Discussions---252 8.1 Introduction-----------------------------------------------------------------------252 8.2 Re-considering the Three Tensions--------------------------------------------253 8.3 The Internet: A Blessing and a Curse-----------------------------------------259 Pictures---------------------------------------------------------------------------------269 Appendices-----------------------------------------------------------------------------279 Bibliography---------------------------------------------------------------------------288 Summary-------------------------------------------------------------------------------304 Samenvatting--------------------------------------------------------------------------309 List of Figures and Photo’s Figure 1: Three fieldwork sites/phases (original map from UNRWA website 2002)...6 Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the dialectic relations involved in the research.............8 Figure 3: “Tensions” during research.................................................................................10 Figure 4: Network Blogs based on: Category, Issue and Alignment............................142 Figure 5: Locality of .ps websites: Host/Registration ....................................................146 Figure 6: Migration of BZU linked websites to .ps.........................................................147 Figure 7: .ps reference of three main Palestinian universities (see Appendix 4).........148 Figure 8: Manual net analysis of 6 ‘popular’ websites.....................................................171 Figure 9: Geography and Demography of fieldwork sites West Bank and Gaza.......187 Figure 10: Geography and Demography of fieldwork sites Jordan and Lebanon......188 Figure 11: Homepage of Solidarity Design..........................................................................269 Figure 12: Palestine Monitor Website, here supporting Palestine Media Watch.................269 Figure 13: That al Ramad (Underash!) Virtual Intifada game .........................................270 Figure 14: Al Carma IC in Ramallah after being attacked during 2002 incursions.....270 Figure 15: Hear Palestine mailing list, set up by Karma in Ramallah..............................271 Figure 16: Electronic Intifada Website: reclaiming the ‘permission to narrate’...............271 Figure 17: Electricity cuts in Bour al-Barajna/Beirut Sirhaan Net IC: thanks to UPS internet use can continue for extra hours ........................................................................272 Figure 18: Shatila Camp/Beirut: A Web of electricity cables and wires cover the narrow streets of the overpopulated refugee camp ........................................................272 Figure 19: Example of popular Intifada images that circulated on the internet. Left; Faris Odeh, right; Mohammed al-Durra ..........................................................................273 Figure 20: Telephone “Central” in Bourj al-Shamali regugee camp. Internet