The Middle East: Israel & Palestine PECS 206: Group Project - Middle East

Charissa Loew, Melissa Fourrier, Mary Hannah Bunting

Israel & Palestine

Political Economy

Exports$54.3 Billion

▪ Packed Medicaments 11%

▪ Refined Petroleum 7.6%

▪ Diamonds 7.5%▪ Aircraft Parts 3.1%

Imports$66.1 Billion

▪ Crude Petroleum 13%

▪ Diamonds 6.4%▪ Cars 4.9%▪ Coal Briquettes 2.7%

http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/isr

Armenian Quarter Muslim Quarter

The Old City of Jerusalem - a vibrant & historical part of the city’s cutural and economic stability.Also where the Wailing Wall, Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque are located

● 75.4% of all Palestinian residents, and 83.9% of Palestinian children live below the poverty line.● 21.8% of all Israeli residents, and 30.8% children live below the poverty line● 37% of welfare recipients in Jerusalem are Palestinian, with only 22% receiving social worker help.

Unemployment and Poverty

Education▪ 85% of adults (25-64 years of

age) have completed upper secondary education

▪ 84% of men completed high school

▪ 85% of women completed high school

▪ Only 41% of Palestinian children are enrolled in schools.

▪ Dropout rate is 26% in 11th grade and 33% in the 12th grade.

However, Israel has conducted several attacks on schools, faculty, and other educational institutions.

June 2014, several attacks on about 90 schools.

After more than 200,000 Palestinian people were displaced from their homes, they turned schools into shelters.

Aftermath of Israeli tank attacks on a UN school being used as a shelter.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2710397/15-Palestinians-killed-90-injured-Israeli-tank-shell-attack-UN-school-used-refugee-shelter.html

The GDP in Israel was worth 304.22 billion US dollars in 2014, an all time high.

GDP

Quality of Life▪ Life expectancy is 82 years old▪ 68% of people say their water is sufficient to their needs▪ Israel’s control of Palestine includes restricting imports, rationing

electricity, and refusing to pay taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority

▪ Separation walls dividing the city make it difficult for people to go to hospitals

▪ Many health care facilities do not have consistent power, water, or money to keep it running in an acceptable state. Much of the equipment is broken, and many medications cannot be supplied.

Civil Society:

“Citizens acting collectively in a public sphere to express their interests, passions, ideas, exchange information, achieve mutual goals, make demands on the state and hold state state officials accountable.” (Diamond, 1994)

Israeli KnessetJerusalem, Israel

Who Makes Up Israel’s Civil Society

2015 = 8, 412,000 total population of Israel▪ The overall population grew by approximately 158,000 since the

Jewish New Year 2014 - a growth rate of 1.9%. The Jewish population of Israel grew by 1.7% over the past year and the Arab population grew by 2.2 %.

▪ 74.9 % = overall population are Jewish (6,300,000)▪ 20.7 % = overall population are Arab (1,746,000)▪ 4.4% = overall population are “others” (344,000); non-Arab

Christians, Druze▪ Out of the 14.2 million Jewish people in the world, 43% live in Israel▪ Main types of Jewish citizens: Religious Zionist, Haredi (Ultra-

Orthodox), Orthodox, or Secular Jews. Jewish Virtual Library online http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/newpop.html

Israel’s Civil Society: Jewish & Muslim

Brief History of Israel’s Involvement in Civil Society:

▪ 1948, early years as state, government’s pervasive role in society was a necessity due to challenges of defense, mass immigration, and economic development

▪ State continues to hold tight controls on most spheres of life▪ Local governments are subservient to state institutions with little discretion

or autonomy ▪ Israel is and was designed to be a Jewish state▪ Israel requires every citizen (male & female) to serve in the Israeli Defense

Forces (IDF)▪ Israel is centralized politically; highly divided socially

Civil Society and Democracy: The Israeli Experience, Yael Yishai Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit OrganizationsVol. 13, No. 3, September 2002 ( C ° 2002)

Israel: Civil Society & Major Obstacles to Democracy

1.Omnipotence of the state2.Concentration of power3.Fragmentation of society4.Deeply rooted ideological divisions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

“Furthermore both with “insiders and outsiders” to CS, it appears that there is not yet a sufficiently well developed “self-notion of Civil Society”. Some observers even report that Israeli society’s inherent complexities, coupled with pressing societal, economic and political challenges, are contributing to the further division of CSOs along identity lines (secular versus religious organisations; Jewish versus Arab, Ethiopian, etc. actors; area-based versus actor-driven actors; etc.).”

Mapping Study of Civil Society in Israel: European Commission, December 2013

Role of Civil Society: Israeli ExamplesThe first and most basic democratic function of civil society is to provide “the basis for the limitation of state power, hence for the control of the state by society, and hence for democratic political institutions as the most effective means of exercising that control.” ( Diamond, 1994)

▪ B’Tselem, Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

▪ Histadrut - economic trade union organized to manage the activities of Jewish trade workers

▪ Hasadna - goal is to strengthen Israeli civil society by providing info about the Knesset, Gov. Ministries, and local authorities

▪ Hand in Hand - Centre for Jewish Arab bilingual education in Israel▪ Economic Empowerment for Women▪ YEDID - Association for Community Empowerment▪ Breaking the Silence - IDF soldiers speaking on their stories while

serving/ending OC▪ Arab Committee for Advancement of Education

The Issue of Palestine: Fragmentation & OccupationA brief History of the Occupied Territories:▪ 70 CE Israelites were expelled from Jerusalem by Romans creating Jewish

Diaspora▪ Palestinians were living in the land since, everything was fine in the desert▪ Jews began to slowly migrate to Palestine 1881 - 1882 (Russian pogroms)▪ 2nd Aliyah 1904, 3rd Aliyah 1919-1923, 4th Aliyah 1924 (82,000 Jews)▪ 5th Aliyah 1929 - 1939 (by this time the Jewish population in Palestine =

450,000)▪ 1948, British Mandate gave the Jews the rights to a homeland▪ The United Nations declared a Jewish State and an Arab State. The Jews

accepted this plan, the Arabs rejected it. War broke out and things have never been the same.

▪ Borders for these two states remain contested.▪ In 1967, after the Six Day War, Israel began the military occupation of the

Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Map of Israel & Occupied Palestine

East JerusalemGaza StripWest Bank

Occupation, Civil Society & Barriers to Democracy

The first and most basic democratic function of civil society is to provide “the basis for the limitation of state power, hence for the control of the state by society, and hence for democratic political institutions as the most effective means of exercising that control.” ( Diamond, 1994)

1. By accepting Diamond’s definition of civil society, under Occupation, Palestinians have little to no opportunity to affect the democratic principles or function of their Occupier.

2. Because of the ways in which military Occupation limits Rule of Law, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, voting privileges, and provides severe economic restrictions, the “middle class” in Palestine does not exist.

3. In 2014, an estimated 4.44 million Palestinians lived in the Occupied Territories. Of these, 25 % in the West Bank lived in poverty; 55% in the Gaza strip and 75.4% in East Jerusalem.

4. The creation of the Palestinian Authority (Oslo Accords, 1994) saw a decline in the political role of civil society institutions as they leaned more towards occupation issues such as the Wall, Settlements, and Human Rights violations

Palestine: Barriers to Social Trust

Palestinian Examples of Civil Society Organizations, Interest Groups, Social Groups:

1.PASSIA - Palestinian Academic Society for Study of International Affairs

2.Palestine Monitor - Exposing life under Occupation3.Land Research Center - overcoming land degradation4.Sharek Youth Center - assists youth as a result of military closure,

unemployment, homework centers5.A’llar Rural Women’s Development Center - empowering women in

rural areas via job skills, work-for-food programs6.Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee - home gardens for poverty

stricken7.BDS Movement - Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions

BDS Movement: Civil Society at its Best

What is BDS?-The global movement for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights.

-Coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, est. 2007-BDS is a strategy allowing people of conscience to play an effective role in the Palestinian struggle for justice

- The call urges various terms against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law to:

*End itsoccupation & colonization of all Arab citizens, bring down the Wall

*Recognizing rights of Arab Palestinians to full equality*Respecting and protecting the rights of Palestinian refugees to

return to their homes as stipulated in UN Resolution 194

In Conclusion:Firstly, as demonstrated by the analysis offered throughout this chapter, citizen

engagementprocesses in Israel still lack clear direction due to significant misperceptions and

even“stereotypes” that continue to exist between the Government, Civil Society, and the

privatesector. On the one hand, it appears that the assessment made by Gidron et al.

(2004) almost ten years ago, regarding the ambiguous attitude of the Government towards CSOs, remains, for the most part, valid today. While the Government

promotes CSOs through direct and indirect support that amounts to large sums of money, the State is clearly interested in protecting itself from the activities of CSOs, particularly of potentially challenging actors.

Moreover, the State directs most of its financial support to CSOs that provide services on behalf of the State and those that promote the

State’s political agendas 79. On the other hand, capacities are still lacking both inside the State institutions as well as within CS to overcome stereotypes and

effectively engage in policy dialogue leading to concrete outputs and outcomes.

Mapping Study of Civil Society Organizations in IsraelEuropean Commission - December 2013

Is It Possible for Israel to Become a Liberal Democracy ?

Liberal Democracy: a political system in which individuals and group liberties are well protected and in which there exist autonomous spheres of civil society and private life, insulated from state control. (Diamond, 1999)1.Are individual and group liberties well protected?2.Do autonomous spheres of civil society exist?3.Do autonomous spheres of private life exist?4.Are these (#2 and #3) insulated from state control?

Jerusalem: Photo from Mt. of Olives

works citedhttp://www.ifamericansknew.org/stat/econ.html

UNDP Focus - United Nations Development Programme, Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, 2004, Vol. 2

UNDP Arab Development Challenges Background Paper 2011-12, The ADCR Human Deprivation Under Occupationfile:///F:/PECS%20206%20-%20DEMOCRACY/BG_12_Human%20Deprivation%20Under%20Occupation.pdf

Mapping Study of Civil Society Organizations in Israel, European Commission, December 2013http://www.zavit3.co.il/docs/eu_Israel_Mapping%20Study_final.pdf

Civil Society and Democracy: the Israeli Experience, Yael Yishai, Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations

Vol. 13, No. 3, September 2002 ( C ° 2002)http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1020303908944#page-1

Rethinking Civil Society: Towards Democratic Consolidation, Larry Diamond , Journal of Democracy, Volume 5, Number 3, July 1994, pp. 4-17 (Article), DOI: 10.1353/jod.1994.0041

Project Muse - Hege Library online

Visualizing Palestine, March 2012 - Israel's Segregated Road System Infographic / The Wall graphic, July 2014 / Settlement Activity Infographic, 2012

www.visualizingpalestine.org

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org

Diamond, Larry. Developing Democracy. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1999