Society and space

More than 1900 Palestinians and 66 Israelis have been killed since Israel launched ‘Operation Protective Edge’ in July 2014. Among the Palestinian dead are more than 1400 civilians. All but two of the Israeli dead are soldiers (the names of those killed as of August are published here, though many Palestinian dead remain unidentified). These figures attest to the constitutive destruction of a people and territory, of everything that makes life “liveable” in Judith Butler’s terms. Mosques, schools, residences, hospitals and clinics have been attacked with horrific force, and the UN estimates that the damage that has been done to Gaza’s infrastructure is more severe than the destruction caused by either of the last two Gaza wars (see the New York Times’ interactive maps that depict this devastation). Further, hundreds of thousands of persons have been internally displaced as the width of the ‘no-go zone’ bordering the Gaza strip has been increased by 3000% (see Derek Gregory and Léopold Lambert‘s compelling commentaries on this topic).

Maps created by Léopold Lambert for The Funambulist, http://thefunambulist.net/2014/08/04/palestine-legal-fictions-and-forced-displacement-pushing-hundreds-of-thousands-to-the-sea/

This violence has been the subject of much media attention, of course. But, as Lisa Bhungalia notes in a posting on this site, popular coverage is lacking as it too often narrates the conflict as being “about Israel’s victimhood, restraint or triumphalism in the face of imminent threat.” Bhungalia continues: “That Palestinians continue to live in a political and ideological context in which they are deemed a demographic problem to be contained and controlled, in which their lives are taken with impunity, and in which they are disenfranchised, divided and placed under siege is rarely foregrounded.” Or, if such atrocities are foregrounded there is a marked emphasis on the deaths of young children and women, which further compounds the impunity with which young male Palestinians are killed or detained.

At Society and Space, our editorial team has compiled this virtual theme issue to highlight work from our archive (and, in three cases, the archive of our companion journal Environment and Planning A) that contributes to the crucial project of offering a more robust, careful and critical perspective on occupation and violence. The 14 articles and 2 commentaries listed below cross the topics of geopolitics, sovereignty, citizenship, nationalism, environmental issues, conservation, urbanism, and more. Taken together, they demonstrate the power of incorporating a spatial analysis into analyses of Israel-Palestine.

As we publish this virtual theme issue, though, we are acutely aware of the ways in which the politics of knowledge production participates in the creation of uneven power relations in Israel-Palestine. Palestinian authors are sorely underrepresented in our journal’s archives, and while we work to highlight the critical perspectives that have been advanced in our pages, we acknowledge the marginalization of Palestinian scholars and the difficulties Palestinians face in accessing educational opportunities (within Israel-Palestine and in a broader international context). As editors, we seek to redress this imbalance and make a firm commitment to do so going forward. We also support academics that have petitioned for the right to critique Israel free from intimidation.

The following pieces will be available open access until November 13, 2014:

Yiftachel O, 1991, State policies, land control, and an ethnic minority: the Arabs in the Galilee region, Israel Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 9(3) 329 – 362

Yiftachel O, Yacobi H, 2003, Urban ethnocracy: ethnicization and the production of space in an Israeli ‘mixed city’ Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 21(6) 673 – 693

Forman G, Kedar A S, 2004, From Arab land to ‘Israel Lands’: the legal dispossession of the Palestinians displaced by Israel in the wake of 1948 Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 22(6) 809 – 830

Falah G-W, 2007, The politics of doing geography: 23 days in the hell of Israeli detention Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 25(4) 587 – 593

Oza R, 2007, Contrapuntal geographies of threat and security: the United States, India, and Israel Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 25(1) 9 – 32

Alatout S, 2008, ‘States’ of scarcity: water, space, and identity politics in Israel, 1948 – 59 Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 26(6) 959 – 982

Luz N, 2008, The politics of sacred places: Palestinian identity, collective memory, and resistance in the Hassan Bek mosque conflict Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 26(6) 1036 – 1052

Tzfadia E, 2008, Abusing multiculturalism: the politics of recognition and land allocation in Israel Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 26(6) 1115 – 1130

Harker C, 2012, Precariousness, precarity, and family: notes from Palestine Environment and Planning A 44(4) 849 – 865

Braverman I, 2012, A tale of two zoos Environment and Planning A 44(11) 2535 – 2541

Kearns G, 2013, The Butler affair and the geopolitics of identity Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 31(2) 191 – 207

Amir M, 2013, The making of a void sovereignty: political implications of the military checkpoints in the West Bank Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 31(2) 227 – 244

Allegra M, 2013, The politics of suburbia: Israel’s settlement policy and the production of space in the metropolitan area of Jerusalem Environment and Planning A 45(3) 497 – 516

Leshem N, 2013, Repopulating the emptiness: a spatial critique of ruination in Israel/Palestine Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 31(3) 522 – 537

Bigon L, Dahamshe A, 2014, An anatomy of symbolic power: Israeli road-sign policy and the Palestinian minority Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 32(4) 606 – 621

Cohen N, Aharon-Gutman M, 2014, Citizenship at work in the Israeli periphery: the case of Peri Ha’Galil Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 32(4) 589 – 605