Nonviolent mobilization between a rock and a hard place

Abstract

Recent research on contentious politics in the Middle East emphasizes the importance of repression and its effect on social movements, often manifested in demobilization and so-called 'nonmovements'. This case study of West Bank Palestinian activism seeks to go beyond such outcomes. The current, youthful nonviolent Palestinian grassroots activism in the West Bank is persistent, despite repeated violent repression. Focusing on the interplay between context, practices, and networks, this article shows how an increasingly vocal and visible popular resistance movement has asserted itself despite facing double repression -from the occupying Israeli state and the Palestinian National Authority. In a highly repressive context characterized by widespread demobilization, especially among young people, the impetus for mobilization is not perceived opportunity, but rather existential threats. The analysis focuses on how long-term repression from the external occupier and the internal elite contributes to forming specific kinds of contentious practices and networks among young Palestinian grassroots activists. By deploying new and creative contentious tactics they partly succeed in challenging the Israeli occupation without risking sanctions from the internal Palestinian elite. They are also able to criticize this elite implicitly, bringing popular pressure to bear on it. However, while the strategic use of nonviolence has provided these activist environments with a degree of resilience in the face of repression, they are unable to mobilize on a wide scale as long as the Palestinian political elite does not support them.

Cooperation and conflict across ideological and strategic divides: Sumud Freedom Camp coalition in the occupied West Bank

“…21 Largely due to Israeli occupation practices, the constriction of Palestinian geography, mobility constraints (e.g., checkpoints, permits, segregated roads), the scale and degree of surveillance and repression, and the persistent hardships faced by Palestinians, this coalition emerged in a general Palestinian atmosphere of disillusionment, hopelessness, cynicism, frustration, apathy, and demobilization. 22 In the prior decade, during the construction of the separation barrier, there were numerous grassroots protests against the wall. While largely confined to the villagers seeking to protect their land and way of life, some of these protests also attracted Israeli and international solidarity activists.…”

How Threats of Exclusion Mobilize Palestinian Political Participation

“…Existing research attributes increased PCI mobilization within Israel to the lifting of military rule (Ghanem and Mustafa 2011), institutional changes relating to political fragmentation (Haklai 2011), and persistent inequality (Smooha 2010). Related literature on Palestinian mobilization in the West Bank further points to repression by Israeli government and Palestinian Authority (El Kurd 2019a; Høigilt 2013, 2015), checkpoints (Gade 2020), social cohesion (Pearlman 2011), educational institutions (Zeira 2019a, 2019b), and socioeconomic class (El Kurd 2019b) as determinants of mass mobilization.…”

Palestinian children: a transformation of national identity in the Abbas era

“…Elgindy (2011) argues that Palestinians are equally frustrated with the leadership, as well as Israel and predicted, "if Palestinians mobilize on an even larger scale in the future, they are as likely to direct their anger at their leaders as at Israel"(ibid., 109). Meanwhile, this did not deter the community from resisting Israeli occupation, rather, it galvanised grassroot activists not to rely on leadership for guidance, but to establish other methods such as Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movements against Israeli products (Høigilt 2015).…”