The fieldwork on which this dissertation draws was financially supported by the Hendrik Muller Fonds, the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation and the Governance and Local Development Program at Yale University. Cover image: ‘Shabriha 10-2011 – Acrylic, china marker and oil pastel on synthetic burlap.’ The image is reproduced with permission of the artist, Marwan Rechmaoui. Cover design: Erik Goosmann Lay-out: Erik Goosmann Illustrations: OT-Maps Printed by: Ridderprint BV, the Netherlands Copyright © 2017 by N.M. Stel Governing the Gatherings The interaction of Lebanese state institutions and Palestinian authorities in the hybrid political order of South Lebanon’s informal Palestinian settlements Bestuur in een hybride politieke orde. De interactie tussen Libanese overheidsinstanties en Palestijnse autoriteiten in informele Palestijnse nederzettingen in Zuid Libanon (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof.dr. G.J. van der Zwaan, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op vrijdag 17 februari 2017 des middags te 4.15 uur door Nora Marie Stel geboren op 6 augustus 1986 te Boxmeer Promotoren: Prof.dr. G.E. Frerks Prof.dr. W.A. Naudé Copromotor: Dr. P. van der Molen Table of Contents Acknowledgements ix List of Abbreviations xiii List of Arabic Terms xiv Maps xv Preface 1 The Empirical Puzzle 5 The analytical blind spots generated by a discourse of segregation and isolation 7 Turning towards the gatherings to explore interaction 13 The Theoretical Debate 19 Failed states, rebel rule and hybrid political order 20 Governance 30 Mediated stateness, negotiating statehood and twilight institutions 33 The state 38 Methodology 41 Operationalization 43 Design 47 Generating data 57 Data analysis 66 Reflexivity and ethics 70 Limitations 79 Articles 83 ‘Review Essay: Lebanon – The Challenge of Moving Governance Analysis Beyond the State,’ Middle East Policy 89 v GOVERNING THE GATHERINGS ‘Lebanese-Palestinian Governance Interaction in the Palestinian Gathering of Shabriha, South Lebanon – A Tentative Extension of the ‘Mediated State’ from Africa to the Mediterranean,’ Mediterranean Politics 101 ‘“The Children of the State?” How Palestinians from the Seven Villages Negotiate Sect, Party and State in Lebanon,’ British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 123 ‘Languages of Stateness in South Lebanon’s Palestinian Gatherings: The PLO’s Popular Committees as Twilight Institutions,’ Development and Change 143 ‘The Agnotology of Eviction in South Lebanon’s Palestinian Gatherings. How Institutional Ambiguity and Deliberate Ignorance Shape Sensitive Spaces,’ Antipode 169 Findings and Contributions 189 Findings 189 How do Lebanese and Palestinian governance actors interact? 190 Why do Lebanese and Palestinian governance actors interact the way they do? 196 Power, dominance and hegemony in Lebanese-Palestinian governance interaction 200 Contributions 205 Theoretical contributions 205 Empirical contributions 209 Political contributions 215 References 221 Annex 1: Criteria for Article-Based Doctoral Dissertations at Utrecht University’s Centre for Conflict Studies 251 Annex 2: Fieldwork Weblog Entries 252 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Annex 3: The ‘Why’ of Doing Research and the Lures of Narcissism, Snobbism and Megalomania 254 Annex 4: Additional Publications (Partly) Based on my Doctoral Research 258 Annex 5: Summary in Dutch 262 Annex 6: Curriculum Vitae 268 vii Acknowledgements While it can be terrifying to expose one’s thoughts – half- baked as they may be – to others, not least one’s informants, the dividends are high. Others’ experience and their various ways of making associations usually provide new perspectives and insights about one’s work and the existing truths worth taking up arms against. The most striking thoughts sometimes come from places one would least expect. (Lund, 2014:231) I have long aspired to ‘do my PhD;’ to have the luxury to fundamentally and elaborately explore the story of Palestinians and Lebanese, refugees and states, hegemony and hybridity that I hope to have captured in this dissertation. That the resultant intellectual journey has surpassed my expectations, which were far from modest to begin with, is due to the many people that guided me on my way. Most important by far here are Asma and Nadia and their families, without whom I would simply have been lost in every imaginable way during my time Shabriha and Qasmiye. Your friendship, patience, knowledge, humour and intelligence were indispensable for making sense of ‘governance in the gatherings.’ My hosting families, Imm Ismail specifically, have made my time in Shabriha and Qasmiye one of the most personally enriching experiences in my life. Every single person that has been willing to share her or his time and thoughts with me in the course of my stay in the gatherings deserves my thanks. But Fakhri and Yaser were exceptionally helpful in their endless networking and arranging on my behalf. Had it not been for you two, I would not have lasted a week beyond Beirut.1 Your energy and defiance in the face of so much frustration and apathy will never cease to amaze me. 1 In this respect, I am tremendously grateful to Popular Aid for Relief and Development (PARD) and Naba’a for taking so much time and effort to introduce me to the gatherings. Know that your support for ‘yet another researcher’ was never taken ix GOVERNING THE GATHERINGS That I managed to go to Lebanon in the first place is thanks to my supervisory team.2 Irna, whose support, loyalty and moral compass have carried me ever since she was my MA thesis supervisor. Georg, who was there with his commitment, experience and much-needed relativism from the very moment I dared to voice the idea of a PhD project. Wim, without whose faith in me my proposals would still be buried in a drawer and whose encouragement of my weblog and my opinion pieces has opened up new horizons for me. My intellectual home away from home, the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut, especially in the persons of Nasser Yassin and Rima Rassi, has been indispensable in developing my thinking about ‘refugeeness’ and ‘informality’ in Lebanon. Indeed, the number of inspiring and amazing Lebanese and Palestinian scholars and thinkers that I have had the honour to discuss my research with exceeds the scope of this acknowledgements section. Jaber Suleiman, Suhail Natour, Mahmoud el Ali, Ibrahim Abou Khalil, Soha Frem, Rashid el Mansi, Ahmad Faour and Samir Sharari are among the very least I should mention here. Of all the other great minds that helped me on my way, Reinoud Leenders, Sari Hanafi and Diana Allan stood at particularly important junctions. When, at times, I needed a place in Lebanon to get away from it all, Reem and Erik were always there for me. I don’t know if you know how much your jokes, trips and food have meant to me. Ammeke and Nicolien will for me forever be connected with Beirut and all the beautiful memories it gave me. The joy of sharing ‘my’ Palestinian Lebanon with my friends from home has been immense. Thank you for coming to visit me Karlijn, Bouke, Bart and, most of all, Sanne – who has joined me in my adventures wherever they took me. My research certainly did not stop with ‘the field.’ The Centre for Conflict Studies has never disappointed me as a place of critical analysis and for granted. 2 And the organizations that so generously funded my fieldwork, of course: the Hendrik Muller Fonds; the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation, whose genuine interest in my work has been heartwarming; and the Governance and Local Development Program at Yale University, where Ellen Lust was so amazing as to invite me to an inspiring conference on top of financially supporting my fieldwork. x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS intellectual solidarity thanks to Luuk, Lauren, Chris, Jolle, Mario and, most of all, my recent partners in crime in hybrid order and rebel rule who serve as my paranymphs, Niels and Toon.3 I am so thankful that you, and Alies and Sanne as well, read my endless, and certainly not succinct, proposals, abstracts, drafts, revisions and (re)submissions. And then when I thought I was done, an arduous process of editing and lay-out awaited me. I am thrilled that Marwan Rechmaoui let me use his uniquely captivating maps of Shabriha (based on sketches of Shabriha’s residents) for the cover of my thesis. Without Erik and his impressive lay- out skills and obstinate design vision, moreover, this dissertation would not look half as professional as it does now. Ultimately, however, it is the people that were there long before any research project and will be there long after, that constitute the most crucial foundations of the process that culminated in this dissertation. My mother, Ine, for never worrying and always so utterly self-evidently having faith in me. And for taking the bus through Turkey and Syria to celebrate my birthday with me in Tyre. My father, Peer, for making me care – about politics, about justice, about Palestinians and Lebanese – and for showing me the combined strength of authenticity, headstrongness and intuition. There are few things in this world that made me more proud than your pride in me. My sister, Marie, and brother, Bart, who, wherever they are in this world, make sure that I am never really alone. My daughter, Felix, whose sunlight smile has put the entire world in a new perspective. And, most of all, my love, Erik, who never tries to stop me, but is always ready to challenge me; without whom I could never be the person I want to be or live the life I want to live. For all those years of support, for the frustrating Skype sessions and wonderful letters, for the always, always being there, I dedicate this dissertation to you.