University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2017 How does the analysis of structural violence help to explain the persistence of the Israel-Palestine conflict? A case study of the barrier Brockhill, Aneta http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/9289 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author's prior consent. HOW DOES THE ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE HELP TO EXPLAIN THE PERSISTENCE OF THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT? A CASE STUDY OF THE BARRIER By ANETA BROCKHILL A thesis submitted to Plymouth University in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Law, Criminology and Government 2016 ACKNOWLEDGMENT There are so many people to whom I am indebted. I will only mention a few and know others will understand given limitations of space. First of all, I would like to express enormous appreciation to Professor Karl Cordell and Dr Shabnam Holliday. Your insightful suggestions, feedback, guidance, and support have been truly invaluable. I am also tremendously thankful to all who participated in this research. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed and for your time and willingness to share with me your knowledge and opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Without your incredible insight into the subject matter, writing this thesis would have been an impossible task. I am particularly humbled by those who shared with me their personal experiences, struggles, and how they had been affected by the violence. Also, I would like to thank all the amazing people I had the pleasure to meet in Israel and Palestine. Without your company, my time in the region would not have been so enjoyable. In particular, I am very grateful to Ayman Abu Zulof for his incredible hospitality, humour, and numerous tours around Palestine. I would also like to thank Professor Johan Galtung for taking his time to discuss my thesis and share his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Not only are his theories at the core of this thesis, but his inspirational vision of a peaceful world guided me along the process. I am grateful to the School of Government at Plymouth University. I am deeply thankful for the unwavering help and support I have received throughout my studies. I am particularly grateful for the PhD scholarship and the funding of the three trips to Israel and Palestine. Thank you to my parents, Bernadeta and Ryszard, and my sister, Magdalena, for providing the most loving and supportive environment, and for giving me the confidence to follow my dreams. I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to my wonderful husband, Gordon. Without your enthusiasm, encouragement, and moral support, not only could I not have finished this thesis, but I would not have had the courage to embark on this journey in the first place. Finally, I dedicate this work to A. She has dedicated her life to find the solution to unite the two peoples. Thank you for sharing with me your incredible life story. Your optimism and drive are inspiring. i AUTHOR'S DECLARATION At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award without prior agreement of the Graduate SubCommittee. Work submitted for this research degree at the Plymouth University has not formed part of any other degree either at Plymouth University or at another establishment. This study was financed with the aid of a studentship from Plymouth University. Conferences attended: Brockhill, A. (2013) ‘How does the analysis of structural and cultural violence help to understand the persistence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The case study of the Israeli separation barrier’, 4th International Re-Thinking Humanities and Social Science Conference. University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia, September 2013 Brockhill, A. (2015) ‘Structural violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The case study of Israel’s hydropolitics in the West Bank’, Doctoral Colloquium, Plymouth University, Plymouth, May 2013. Brockhill, A. (2015) ‘To what extent does cultural violence explain the persistence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The case of Israeli hydropolitics in the West Bank’, 7th International Interdisciplinary Conference: Representation, Politics and Violence, The University of Brighton, Brighton, September 2013. Word count of main body of thesis: 74,926 Signed…………………………………………………………… Date…………………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT HOW DOES THE ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE HELP TO EXPLAIN THE PERSISTENCE OF THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT? A CASE STUDY OF THE BARRIER Aneta Brockhill The Israel-Palestine conflict constitutes one of the longest standing conflicts in modern times. Its continuation has often been attributed to the very nature of the conflict: two peoples pursuing an incompatible goal-ownership of the same piece of land. Violence has constituted a characteristic feature of this struggle, widely employed by the two peoples. The analysis of violence, however, has often been limited to acts of direct and physical violence that can be attributed to an individual subject. This thesis investigates violence in the conflict going beyond this traditional conceptualisation of violence. It employs Johan Galtung’s conceptual and theoretical framework, in which he identifies three types of violence: direct, structural and cultural. This thesis argues that all three types of violence are symbiotic in nature. The underlying assumption in this thesis is simple: violence breeds violence. Thus, in order to understand the persistence of the conflict, it is essential to analyse all three types of violence. The thesis proposes the hypothesis that the continuing failure to address all forms of violence, as well as omitting or minimising the importance of any of them, prevents the possibility of resolving the conflict, and thus has contributed to the protraction of the conflict. In order to examine this assumption empirically, the thesis investigates the violence in the conflict, concentrating on the Israeli barrier. The study poses two central research questions. The first asks what led to the construction of the barrier. The second asks why the barrier remains, and the Israeli occupation continues. The answers to the research questions and the account of violence have been the subjects of two contrasting iii narratives: Israeli and Palestinian. In order to provide both Israeli and Palestinian contributions to these questions, the thesis is divided into two accounts: Palestinian narrative and Israeli narrative. The empirical analysis of violence in the conflict, embedded in the theoretical framework of Galtung's conceptualisation of violence, and divided into the two narratives, reveals a complex cycle of violence in the conflict. It demonstrates the interconnection between the three types of violence and shows the impact of the violence on the intractability of the Israel-Palestine conflict. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ............................................................................................ i ACKNOWLEDGMENT .................................................................................................... i AUTHOR'S DECLARATION .......................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION ............................................................................................ ix LIST OF MAPS ................................................................................................................ x LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 1 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ....................... 1 1.2 CONTRIBUTION ................................................................................................. 11 1.3 CLARIFICATION OF TERMINOLOGY ............................................................ 12 1.4 PHILOSOPHY AND METHODS OF RESEARCH ............................................ 13 1.5 RESEARCH ETHICS ........................................................................................... 17 1.6 DATA COLLECTION DIFFICULTIES .............................................................. 19 1.7 OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS .............................................................................. 21 PART ONE: HISTORICAL AND CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND ......................... 29 CHAPTER TWO: UNDERSTANDING THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT ..... 30 2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 30 2.2 ZIONISM AND PALESTINIAN NATIONALISM: THE ROOTS