Hamas

ارتبط الاهتمام بدراسة الفاعلين العنيفين من غير الدول Violent Non State Actors (VNSAs بالتحولات التي شهدتها الدولة منذ نهاية الحرب الباردة، سواء من حيث طبيعة دورها، أو من حيث بنيتها، وعجزها عن ممارسة وظائفها التقليدية، علي النحو الذي صورها به هوبز حين رآها الليفياثان العظيم الذي سينهي حالة حرب الكل ضد الكل، كما لم تعد الدول كما رأي كينيث والتز "المحتكر الوحيد للقوة". ويعد الاهتمام بدراسة VNSAs، بصفة خاصة، والفاعلين من غير الدول بصفة عامة، في مجال العلاقات الدولية حديثا نسبيا، مقارنة بدراسة الدولة، كما أنه تال علي وجود هذا النمط من الفاعلين. ففي عهد الإمبراطورية الرومانية مثلا، انتشرت عصابات الجريمة، التي هي صورة من صور VNSAs، ودخلت مع الدولة في حروب. ومع القرن العشرين، انتشرت حركات التحرر الوطني، التي هي صورة أخري للفاعلين العنيفين، والتي نجحت في التأثير في سياسات الدول الاستعمارية الكبري حينها: فرنسا، وبريطانيا، وألمانيا.

On March 2014, in an Islamic-State-sponsored prisoner swap, Mohammed Haydar Zammar, the al-Qaeda operative jailed in Syria in 2001, was freed in exchange for Syrian army officers held by the IS.

News articles that covered the prisoner exchange did not bother to explain why the IS would go to such trouble to gain his release. However, analysts familiar with the history of Islamist movements knew why...

The primary goal of this paper is to investigate whether participation in terrorist activity can be linked to ignorance (measured through schooling) or to economic desperation (measured through poverty on the individual's level and various economic indicators on the societal level) using newly culled data of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist cells. This paper performs a statistical analysis of the determinants of participation in Hamas and PIJ terrorist activities in Israel from the late 1980's to the present, as well as a time series analysis of terrorist attacks in Israel with relation to economic conditions. The resulting evidence on the individual level suggests that both higher standards of living and higher levels of education are positively associated with participation in Hamas or PIJ. With regard to the societal economic condition, no sustainable link between terrorism and poverty and education could be found, which I interpret to mean that there is either no link or a very weak indirect link. Special attention is given to the suicide bomber phenomenon, and the analysis of the determinants of becoming a suicide bomber provides additional intriguing findings. In contrast with the "classic" characteristics of a suicidal individual , suicide bombers tend to be of higher economic status and higher educational attainment than their counterparts in the population. Suicide bombers, however, come from lower socioeconomic groups when compared to other, non-suicidal, terrorists.

My monthly newsletter is available on ISRAEL: Democracy, Human Rights, Politics and Society, http://almagor.blogspot.com
Politics – October 2021 – In memory of Neal Matthew Sher 1947-2021
Featuring
Reflections on Last Newsletter

MESG Programme 2021-2022

Invitation: Online Book Launches at Reading and UCL

Jordan's King Abdullah reiterates support for two-state solution

Twitter blocked the accounts of far-right Israeli political activists

Israel Considers Holding Facebook Liable for Content

Israeli Police Recruits Hundreds of People to Police Arab Towns

Hamas rejects the idea of municipal elections

Israel has agreed to a $520 million deal to sell air defense systems to the Czech Republic

Israel Signs an Agreement to Double Water Supply to Jordan

Nominations for the 2022 Hedley Bull Prize in International Relations!

Short Article: “The Future of the Internet”, Academia Letters, Article 1962 (2021).

Short Article: “Israel as an Ethnic Democracy: Palestinian Citizens and the Fight for Equal Rights”, Berkley Forum (August 6, 2021).

Interview about my new book, Just, Reasonable Multinationalism

LSE Blog on Just, Reasonable Multinationalism

New Book: Sherrow O. Pinder (ed.), Black Political Thought: From David Walker to the Present (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).

A Question

Do You Know?

Monthly Poem

Light Side

What is Hamas and how does it behave strategically as its political and international environment changes? This paper explores the history of Hamas and analyzes its shifts between pragmatism and radicalism. It argues that the regional and international context, as well as its domestic considerations, shape the struggle between hawks and doves within the movement. Ultimately, however, Hamas is a rational strategic actor that is motivated by narrow political considerations that religious dogma.

This is Part III of a series of essays that explore Palestinian advocacy at the University of Hawaii - Manoa. The possibility that a nexus exists between Hamas and the University, will be analyzed. The University’s involvement in a story that may have concealed the identity of an infamous Hamas terrorist, will also be examined.

Is there a nexus? What role did the University play in promoting ‘The Chicken’ story? The reader will answer these questions.

Influence of the Arab Spring on the situation in Palestine and Israel
Social turmoil in the Arab world, which began in Tunisia in January 2011,
drastically changed the balance of power in the region. Depending on the country, we can observe various forms of social pressure on the authorities, and various reactions of rulers to citizens’ demands. Media around the world focused on the most spectacular and bloody events such as revolution in Egypt, which led to overthrow of long-time president Hosni Mubarak, and Libya’s civil war, which resulted in the death of it’s leader – Muammar Kaddafi. Much attention was also devoted to events in Tunisia, where the so called Arab Spring started, as well as Syria, where there are ongoing violent clashes between government forces and civilian rebels. Less frequently, media reported upon reforms in Morocco, protests in Yemen, and unrest in other Arab countries. Dynamic development as well as involvement of the Western world in the events in individual countries and the region as a whole caused less attention to be paid to the situation between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, which always had made the media headlines. There is no doubt that the Arab Spring left its mark and had huge impact on the
events upon these entities. The purpose of this article is to present what influence the Arab revolts had on players within Palestinian Authority and Israel. The text presents causes and effects of individuals’ actions, changes in strategies and goals, and the possible consequences that may come to the societies and governments of the described entities. It shows how the significant changes in regional structure of political
opportunities (McAdam et al. 1996, Wiktorowicz 2004, Gorlach and Mooney 2009) contributed to transformations in the Middle East.

The primary goal of this paper is to investigate whether participation in terrorist activity can be linked to ignorance (measured through schooling) or to economic desperation (measured through poverty on the individual's level and various economic indicators on the societal level) using newly culled data of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist cells. This paper performs a statistical analysis of the determinants of participation in Hamas and PIJ terrorist activities in Israel from the late 1980's to the present, as well as a time series analysis of terrorist attacks in Israel with relation to economic conditions. The resulting evidence on the individual level suggests that both higher standards of living and higher levels of education are positively associated with participation in Hamas or PIJ. With regard to the societal economic condition, no sustainable link between terrorism and poverty and education could be found, which I interpret to mean that there is either no link or a very weak indirect link. Special attention is given to the suicide bomber phenomenon, and the analysis of the determinants of becoming a suicide bomber provides additional intriguing findings. In contrast with the "classic" characteristics of a suicidal individual , suicide bombers tend to be of higher economic status and higher educational attainment than their counterparts in the population. Suicide bombers, however, come from lower socioeconomic groups when compared to other, non-suicidal, terrorists.

This paper investigates the ways in which terrorism is linked to education and poverty using data newly culled from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) documentary sources. The paper presents a statistical analysis of the determinants of participation in terrorist activities by members of the Hamas and PIJ between the late 1980s and May 2002. The resulting evidence suggests that both higher education and standard of living are positively associated with participation in Hamas or PIJ and with becoming a suicide bomber, while being married significantly reduces the probability of participation in terrorist activities.

বর্তমান সময়ে বিশ্ব রাজনীতি নিয়ে আলোচনা করতে গেলে প্রথমেই যে নামটি সামনে আসে তা হলো ফিলিস্তিন। সমগ্র মধ্যপ্রাচ্যে যে রাজনৈতিক অস্থিরতা বিদ্যমান, ‘ফিলিস্তিন’কে আড়ালে রেখে তার মূলে পৌঁছানো সম্ভব নয়। আমরা জানি, মানুষ মাত্রই ঐতিহাসিক, ইতিহাস বিচ্ছিন্ন মানুষের কোনো অবস্থান নেই। আজকের এ মানুষ কালক্রমে ঐতিহাসিক লড়াই-সংগ্রামের মধ্য দিয়েই বর্তমানের মানুষে পরিণত হয়েছে। ফিলিস্তিনের রাজনৈতিক ইতিহাসের সঙ্গে ওতপ্রোতভাবে জড়িত আরবের হাজার বছরের ইতিহাস, আরবের জাতীয়তাবাদী আন্দোলন, বিশ্বাসঘাতকতা, জায়নবাদ, উপনিবেশ আর সাম্রাজ্যবাদের ইতিহাস। সম্পূর্ণ বিষয়াদি এক নিবন্ধে তুলে ধরাটা রীতিমতো অসাধ্য। এ নিবন্ধে ইতিহাসের সংক্ষিপ্ত পর্যালোচনা এবং বাস্তব প্রেক্ষাপট তুলে ধরার চেষ্টা করা হলো। আর এ থেকে কারো চিন্তার উদ্রেক ঘটলেই ধরে নিতে হবে, লেখকের এ চেষ্টা সার্থক।

The purpose of this study is to highlight one aspect of the Israel-Palestine conflict, namely the issue of United States involvement in conflict resolution in this area. The US has a long history of direct involvement and activism in the region starting in 1948 and going on through the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the 1967 war that set the modern borders and occupied Palestinian territories of the region. After the 1973 Ramadan/Yom Kippur war between Israel and the main Arab states led by Egypt and Syria, the US adopted and donned the role of a peacemaker, albeit a biased one, but a role that was focused on bringing lasting peace between Israel and her Arab neighbours. This policy first bore fruit in the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978. Israel and Egypt have engaged in a cold peace that has stood the test of time until the present time.

However the Americans were not successful in their other endeavours to bring peace, particularly between Israel and Syria as well as between Israel and the Palestinians. My present work seeks to detail US efforts to bring about peace between Israel and her Arab neighbours primarily Egypt and the Palestinians since 1967. The study has been arranged into nine chapters that are all consecutively connected to each other and seek to provide detailed analysis as regards the US role in the region from 1967 until date.

The paper examines the dierences between the old charter of the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" in 1988 and its political declaration document issued in 2017, titled "Principles and General Policies". Which redened the movement and its objectives and vision in concern of Palestine and its main issues, such as Jerusalem and the refugees. In addition, the charter redened the main regional and international dimensions of the Palestinian cause and the move-ment's view of Zionism and Israel, and its position on the Palestine Liberation Organization "PLO." The study was based on in-depth analysis of Hamas-related documents and primary sources. The study is concluded with signicant results that signify and highlight some important variables and changes in Hamas' moderated charter; including, but not limited to, the changes of its objectives, and the use of modern language, best found in the movement redening itself as a liberation movement.

As in every kinetic military campaign against Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip, the cognitive aspect was embedded from the very beginning of Operation Guardian of the Walls, and its importance increased as the campaign progressed. The integration of the cognitive campaign with the kinetic is essential for the realization of military achievements in order to then reap political gains. For Israel, the first cognitive achievement required is a deep engraving in the minds of Hamas commanders and their associates, as well as in the minds of the Gaza Strip population, of the growing and intolerable cost of the recent military venture and any rounds to come.

The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World by Mohammed Ayoob is an introductory book on political Islam. Main objective of Ayoob in writing the book, as he puts, was to provide an introductory text for the non-specialist reader while trying to highlight the complexity of the issue and avoid oversimplification of the subject. The book achieved more than it aimed, and filled the gap for an introductory book for students of different studies such as international relations, religion, sociology and history.

تقدم هذه الورقة محاولة أولية لدراسة التحولات التي شهدها العمل العسكري لحركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس) في الضفة الغربية، بدءًا من قرراها بإنشاء جهاز عسكري مركزي تشظى كنتيجة طبيعية لمعركة استنزاف طويلة، ساحتها مستباحة لقوات الاحتلال، وصولاً لقدرة الحركة على تجاوز ذلك من خلال المجموعات المحلية التي استوعبت شظايا الجهاز مستكملة مسيرته لأطول فترة ممكنة. مؤرخة لخطوط هذا العمل العامة، ولأبرز مجموعاته. محللة إنجازاته العملية وإضافته للانتفاضة وإضافة الانتفاضة له. مقدمة محاولة لتقييم هذا الأداء، لتؤكد على قدرة العاملين في هذا الجهاز على الحفاظ على الخطوط العامة التي رسمت لهم من قيادتهم المركزية، وقدرتهم على الحفاظ على الوسائل وعدم الانجرار بفعل الأحداث لتتحول وسائلهم إلى غايات، العمل الاستشهادي خصوصًا. مع الإشارة إلى عجز الحركة، كما يبدو، عن تقديم رؤية واضحة معلنة ملزمة لكل أجهزة الحركة، تعرف فيه ذاتها كحركة تحرر وطني، وتحدد موقفها من الانتفاضة ومن ضرورة العمل العسكري ل(حماس) فيها، الأمر الذي أثر على فعالية الجهاز ومنع ظهور طاقته القصوى، وعجل في ضعفه وكمونه. لكنه لم يمنع الحركة من حصاد ثمار جهدها محليًا ودوليًا. واعتمدت لإنجاز ذلك على مصادر أولية متنوعة (عربية وعبرية)، أبرزها نصوص مذكرات وحوارات سجلها أبناء التجربة، مؤرخين وناقدين لها، مقارنة بتتبع نقدي ليوميات الانتفاضة في الصحف اليومية، وإصدارات حركة المقاومة الإسلامية حماس، وإصدارات المكتب الإعلامي لجناحها العسكري كتائب القسام.

This book hopes to explain the reasons behind the creation of violent ideologies as alternative modes of governance given perceived injustice. Emotion and sentimental attachment form an important part of developing one’s politics and preferences. Politics and thus shaped by an emotional reaction to an existing structure of knowledge which then constructs human behavior. In this sense, politics is far from objective, rational process of the mind. The purpose of any political ideology, whether Democracy, Fascism (and its varieties), or Communism, is to escape human suffering by combining ideas, emotion, and people to produce fundamental societal change. Ideologies must possess these three variables to attain the necessary power to succeed as a political force. Power gives the ideology the structural ability to transform society, trapping the once free individual into the ideology. The theory also explains democracy’s success and the failure of Communism and the Fascism.

Bu çalışmada Filistin Sorununun uluslararası ortamdaki önemi ve gelişimi ön plana çıkarılmaya çalışılarak, kamuoyunun konu hakkında bilinçlendirilmesi amaçlanmaktadır. Birinci bölümde Filistin Sorununun tarihi süreci İsrail’in kuruluşuna kadar incelenecek, ikinci bölümde Filistin’deki bağımsızlık hareketlerine önderlik eden FKÖ ve HAMAS örgütleri incelenecek ve üçüncü bölümde Oslo Süreci incelenerek çalışma bir sonuca bağlanacaktır.

The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World by Mohammed Ayoob is an introductory book on political Islam. Main objective of Ayoob in writing the book, as he puts, was to provide an introductory text for the non-specialist reader while trying to highlight the complexity of the issue and avoid oversimplification of the subject. The book achieved more than it aimed, and filled the gap for an introductory book for students of different studies such as international relations, religion, sociology and history.

This was the first-ever article to describe and analyze the possibility of a One-State Solution for Palestine/Israel from a Mizrahi positionality both in the Hebrew original and the English translation. Its composition -- like all of Lavie's writing about the Mizrahi feminist struggle in the context of the Question of Palestine -- has been fraught with all manner of relentless campaigns by those elements in academia that
would rather have Lavie and her research disappear. Needless to say that shortly after this article saw print in the Hebrew original in 2008 its analysis of the possibility for a one state solution for the Israel/Palestine conflict was appropriated and published without proper quotation or citation.

What does the existence and enduring power of Hamas reveal about Palestinian political culture? Tracing the ideology of Hamas back in history reveals that the Palestinian national movement has always had a prominent Islamic, Islamist, and anti-Semitic component, one that Western liberals and leftists choose to ignore, thus obscuring the true nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

موضوع هذه الرسالة ينتمي إلى طائفة الأدبيات التي اهتمت بقضية "محددات" سلوك الفاعلين من غير الدول المتعدين للحدود، والتي هي من القضايا الحديثة في مجال العلاقات الدولية، بالنظر إلى سيطرة الاهتمام بالدولة لفترة طويلة من الزمن على ماتم تطويره من أطر تحليلية للتفاعلات الإقليمية والدولية، وإلى أن الأدبيات الخاصة بالفاعلين من غير الدول المتعدين للحدود، اهتمت بصورة رئيسية بتعريفهم وتطوير معايير لتصنيفهم، وللتمييز بينهم والدولة، دون الاهتمام بتقديم أطر تحليلية تسمح بتحديد المتغيرات التي تؤثر على سلوكهم.
وترجع أهمية هذا الموضوع إلى عدد من الاعتبارات. أولها تزايد تأثير الفاعلين من غير الدول، خاصة الفاعلين من غير الدول المتعدين للحدود والمستندين لهوية Transnational Identity based non-State Actors  ، والتي ينتمي لها كل من حزب الله وحركة حماس-حالتي الدراسة- في الأمن والاستقرار في المنطقة العربية، فعلى سبيل المثال، شهد العقد الأخير العديد من الحروب غير المتماثلة التي كان أحد طرفيها فاعل ينتمي لهذا النوع من الفاعلين، التي زادت من حالة عدم الاستقرار في المنطقة، على نحو أصبح يمثل ضغوطاً على الدوائر الأكاديمية والسياسية في المنطقة العربية لتطوير استراتيجيات للتعامل معهم، وللتأثير على سلوكهم، على نحو لايضر بمصالح تلك الدول، وعلى نحو لايضر بالاستقرار في المنطقة.
وثانيها، أن هناك فجوة بين ما تقدمه الأدبيات من أطر تحليلية للتفاعلات في إقليم الشرق الأوسط بصفة عامة، والمنطقة العربية بصفة خاصة، وبين ما يحدث فعلا، حيث لاتزال الدولة مسيطرة بصورة كبيرة على تلك الأدبيات، مع إغفال تأثير الفاعلين من غير الدول المتعدين للحدود بصورة عامة، وبالتالي، تمثل هذه الرسالة إسهاما في سد هذه الفجوة.
وثالثها أن حالتي الدراسة تعدان من الحالات المؤثرة في تفاعلات المنطقة العربية، ومن الحالات أيضا التي تسيطر على الأدبيات التي اهتمت بتحليل سلوكهما مواقف أيديولوجية أو قيمية تحول دون تقديم تحليل موضوعي لسلوكهما، حيث تسعى هذه الرسالة لتقديم تحليل موضوعي منضبط، لتأثير الهوية على سلوكهما.   
تنقسم هذه الدراسة إلى أربعة فصول وخاتمة. يحلل الفصل الأول، الاتجاهات النظرية المختلفة في مجال العلاقات الدولية التي اهتمت بتحليل سلوك الفاعلين من غير الدول المتعدين للحدود بصفة عامة، والفاعلين من غير الدول المستندين لهوية المتعدين للحدود بصفة خاصة، ويناقش الاتجاهات المختلفة لتعريف هذا النوع من الفاعلين من غير الدول المتعدين للحدود، ومعايير تصنيفهم، كما يحلل الفصل اتجاهات الجدل المختلفة حول الهوية كمحدد لسلوك الفاعلين المتعدين للحدود من غير الدول المستندين لهوية، وطبيعة العلاقة بين المصلحة والهوية. ويعرض الفصل الإطار التحليلي الذي تم تطويره للتطبيق على حالتي الدراسة، وهو يتألف من مجموعة من المقولات البنائية والواقعية، وكذلك الخطوات العملية المتبعة لتحليل تأثير الهوية الخاصة بكل من حزب الله وحركة حماس على سلوكهما تجاه قضيتين، هما قضية التغيير السياسي الداخلي، وقضية الصراع مع إسرائيل.
إلى جانب ذلك، يحلل هذا الفصل أهمية كل من حزب الله وحركة حماس في خريطة الفاعلين من غير الدول المتعدين للحدود في المنطقة العربية، ويعرف بالهوية المركبة لكل منهما، من خلال تحديد المكونات المادية والمكونات غير المادية لها.
ويهتم الفصل الثاني بتحليل مقارن لتأثير الهوية المركبة لكل من حزب الله وحركة حماس على سلوكهما تجاه قضية الصراع مع إسرائيل، بالتطبيق على حرب يوليو 2006 في حالة حزب الله، وحرب ديسمبر 2008-يناير 2009 في حالة حركة حماس، وتجاه قضية التغيير السياسي الداخلي، بالتطبيق على أزمة مايو 2008 في حالة حزب الله، وأزمة يونيو 2007 في حالة حركة حماس. وتم التمييز بين بعدين للسلوك، البعد الأول هو التوجهات المعلنة لكل من حزب الله وحركة حماس، والبعد الثاني هو السياسات الفعلية لكل منهما. كما تم التمييز بين مستويين لتأثير الهوية، المستوى الأول هو التأثير البنائي للهوية، الخاص بتحديد تصورات الفاعل للقضية ولمصلحته الإستراتيجية، والمستوى الثاني هو التأثير التنظيمي للهوية، وينصرف إلى تحديد أي السياسات يتسق ومعاني الهوية، أي يتسم بشرعية ما، وأيها لايتسق ومعاني الهوية.
بينما يحلل الفصل الثالث بصورة مقارنة تأثير التفاعلات الخاصة بحرب يوليو 2006 على هوية حزب الله، وبحرب 2008-2009 على هوية حركة حماس، حيث تعد هاتان الحربان حالتين تطبيقيتين لقضية الصراع مع إسرائيل. كما يحلل تأثير التفاعلات الخاصة بأزمة مايو 2008 على هوية حزب الله، وبأزمة يونيو 2007 على هوية حركة حماس، واللتين تعدان حالتين تطبيقيتين لقضية التغيير السياسي الداخلي. وذلك بهدف اختبار صحة الفرض الخاص بأن دخول الفاعل في تفاعلات خاصة بقضية ما، يحدث تغيراً في هويته، سواء كان تغيراً كلياً أو جزئياً.
كما يحلل الفصل الرابع بصورة مقارنة تأثير التغير في هوية حزب الله وحركة حماس على سلوكهما تجاه قضية الصراع مع إسرائيل، وقضية التغيير السياسي الداخلي، بهدف "اختبار" مدى استقرار التغير في هوية حزب الله والناتج عن تفاعلات حرب 2006، وكيفية تأثيره على سلوكه تجاه قضية الصراع مع إسرائيل في الفترة التالية للحرب، وكذلك مدى استقرار الثبات في هوية حركة حماس في الفترة التالية على حرب 2008-2009، وكيفية تأثيرها على سلوكها تجاه قضية الصراع مع إسرائيل.
إلى جانب ذلك، يحلل الفصل مدى استقرار الثبات في هوية حزب الله في الفترة التالية على أزمة مايو 2008، وكيف أثرت على سلوك الحزب تجاه قضية التغيير السياسي في لبنان، وكذلك مدى استقرار التغير في هوية حركة حماس في الفترة التالية على أزمة يونيو 2007، وكيف أثرت على سلوكها تجاه قضية التغيير السياسي في فلسطين.
وأخيرا اهتمت خاتمة الدراسة، ببيان أهمية ماتم التوصل إليه من نتائج خاصة بتأثير الهوية كمحدد لسلوك كل من حزب الله وحركة حماس، ومدى صلاحية هذه النتائج في تفسير سلوك أنواع أخرى من الفاعلين من غير الدول المتعدين للحدود والمستندين لهوية، وكذلك مدى فائدة هذه النتائج بالنسبة لدوائر صنع القرار في المنطقة العربية، من حيث توفيرها إطارا عاما يساعد هذه الدوائر في التأثير على سلوك هاتين الحالتين سواء بصورة مباشرة أو بصورة غير مباشرة، أو على الأقل كيف يمكن لها أن تتجنب إتباعهما سياسات تضر بمصالحها الإستراتيجية، وبأمنها الوطني؟. ويرجع اهتمام الدراسة بهذا البعد، إلى إدراكها أن التحليل الأكاديمي بصورة عامة، يهدف لدعم صانع القرار، بخيارات، وبأطر عامة تقود تفكيره، أو تؤطره framing، حين يفكر في اتباع سياسات محددة، لاسيما حين يتعلق الأمر بقضايا يتزايد فيها تأثير هذا النوع من الفاعلين، وتهدد مصالح الدول، مثل حزب الله في حالة سوريا، وحركة حماس فيما يتعلق بالأمن الوطني لمصر بعد سقوط حكم الأخوان في 3 يوليو 2013.

This paper analyzes the failure of Israel's Ashkenazi (Jewish, of European, Yiddish-speaking origin) feminist peace movement to work within the context of Middle East demographics, cultures, and histories and, alternately, the inabilities of the Mizrahi (Oriental) feminist movement to weave itself into the feminist fabric of the Arab world. Although Ashkenazi elite feminists in Israel are known for their peace activism and human rights work, from the Mizrahi perspective their critique and activism are limited, if not counterproductive. The Ashkenazi feminists have strategically chosen to focus on what Edward Said called the Question of Palestine-a well funded agenda that enables them to avoid addressing the community-based concerns of the disenfranchised Mizrahim. Mizrahi communities, however, silence their own feminists as these activists attempt to challenge the regime or engage in discourse on the Question of Palestine. Despite historical changes, the Ashkenazi-Mizrahi distinction is a racialized formation so resilient it manages to sustain itself through challenges rather than remain a frozen dichotomy.

This study analyzes the political reasons that allowed the Islamic State to expand successfully in Syria and Iraq, by enabling to ‘franchise’ worldwide, and the role of the regional governments in this issue. The essay provides a different explanation from the classic approach of the “clash of civilizations” theorized by Samuel P. Huntington, ascribing responsibility for the growth and expansion of the Islamic State to the complex framework of geopolitical alliances within the Muslim civilization and the Arab world. The paper highlights the attempt by Turkey to establish itself as a regional power and guidance of the Islamic world, by resurrecting the Caliphate, and, based on this, explains the contrast with the Islamic State, which goal is the foundation of a globalized Caliphate. The plans of the Turkish President Erdoğan for a Great Turkey, allied with Egypt, have foundered with the coup that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power. The study relates the connection of Ankara with the Kurds, regarding the management of the crisis in Syria and Iraq, and the Turkish liaison with regional powers (Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel) and other powers (Russia, Cina and USA).

What is the relationship between Mizraḥi feminism and Israeli ultra-nationalism? What is the relevance of gender justice activism to Operation Protective Edge (the 2014 Gaza War) and Israel’s foreign policy? Mizraḥi protests dissipate and disappear when the Israel-Palestine conflict dominates the headlines. This essay connects intra-Jewish racial and gendered dynamics to the 2014 Gaza War. It tracks sequences that began with social protest and ended with elections that bolstered Israel’s political right wing. In between came bloodletting between the Israeli Defense Forces, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel’s neighboring Arab states. The 2014 Gaza War was a watershed not only for the Israel-Palestine conflict; under the smokescreen of war, Israel accelerated neoliberal economic reforms. The first victims of this restructuring were Mizraḥi single mothers. Palestinians, however, would pay the highest price for Israel’s Mizraḥi-Ashkenazi rift.

Corrigendum:
Please note the following reference was inadvertently omitted from Smadar Lavie’s “Gaza 2014 and Mizrahi Feminism” PoLar 22(1) 85-109. The reference that should have been 2014b is:
Knesset of the State of Israel. 2014b. Plenum no. 157. Second Session Meetings 157-159 [in Hebrew]. no. 35: 14-16, July 14, 16:01. https://main.knesset.gov.il/Activity/plenum/Pages/SessionItem.aspx?itemID=555497
The omission impacted the sequence of references in the bibliography. The previous “Knesset of the State of Israel 2014b” is now “Knesset of Israel 2014c”:
Knesset of the State of Israel. 2014c. “Ratification of Amendment to Ḥok HaHesderim” [in Hebrew] The Book of Laws 2461: 638, July 27. http://fs.knesset.gov.il//19/law/19_lsr_303825.PDF
Page numbers are from the final PoLar printed version of the article.

From the beginnings of Wahabism in the 18th century to the so called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) violence has occasionally been justified in the name of Islam, which is problematic for secular and traditional scholars alike. This paper demonstrates that there are three complex, interrelated causes for this violence: foreign military intervention, Salafi-Jihadism and a utopian state founded upon faith and justice, i.e. a caliphate.

What is the relationship between Mizrahi feminism and Israeli ultranationalism? What is the relevance of gender justice activism to the 2014 Gaza War and Israel’s foreign policy?

Wrapped in the Flag of Israel Second Edition examines neoliberal bureaucracy in the Global South using feminist critical race theories. It interrogates the relationship between the State of Israel and its Mizrahi single mothers who are at the forefront of Mizrahi feminism. It also presents a model of bureaucracy as divine cosmology that preempts the agency of disenfranchised Mizrahim who are Israel’s demographic majority. Mizrahi protests fall flat when the Israel-Palestine conflict dominates the headlines. While most studies of neoliberal bureaucracy employ a Foucauldian or Marxian lens, this book illustrates how Israeli bureaucracy draws on a theological essence that fuses religion, gender, and race into the foundations of citizenship. It sets out to understand why Mizrahi mothers remain loyal to a state that injures them though its bureaucratic system.

The extensive Afterword to the Second Edition connects intra-Jewish racial and gendered dynamics to the 2014 Gaza War. It tracks sequences that began with social protest and ended with elections that bolstered Israel’s political right. In between came bloodletting between the IDF, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel’s neighboring Arab states. The 2014 Gaza War was a watershed, but not only in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Under the smokescreen of war, Israel accelerated neoliberal economic reform. The first victims of this restructuring were Mizrahi single mothers. Palestinians, however, would pay the highest price for Israel’s Mizrahi-Ashkenazi rift.

This article presents a modified two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A ‘2+1 solution’ would see the establishment of a State of Palestine in the West Bank whose constitution proscribes the participation in government of any political party whose platform or charter calls for the elimination of Israel; Gaza would accede upon the reform or demise of Hamas. Achieving a state in the West Bank – with or without Gaza – should be the proximate, urgent national goal of the Palestinian people. Ideologically-motivated Israeli settlement of the West Bank continues apace and threatens the viability of a two-state solution. Meanwhile, religiously-motivated policies of colonization hide behind a security narrative conflating Hamas with Fatah and suggesting that the Palestinians pose an existential threat. The 2+1 solution, by excluding Hamas from a State of Palestine, directly addresses Israel’s legitimate security concerns and thus carries the potential to lay bare the extent to which ideology informs Israeli policy. The approach also gives moderate, secular Palestinians the opportunity to define the civic values and attributes of Palestinian national identity in a way that supports a lasting two-state peace. The 2+1 solution carries several risks and challenges, but may be required to sideline the hardliners on both sides whose extremist and disingenuous narratives continue to prevent the two-state peace desired by majorities on both sides of the conflict.

NOW in its sixth decade, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict remains a major challenge in world politics and the root cause of polarisation in the region and elsewhere. This timeous study brings together scholars, politicians, and activists of varying persuasions who examine the multidimensional aspects of the conflict. The volume is divided into six parts, representing a series of dialogical encounters, either directly – by presenting two or more perspectives on the same question – or indirectly – by presenting alternative readings of entrenched positions. Part 1 examines the historical dimensions of the conflict. Parts 2 and 3 examine Zionism and the two-state solution respectively, while Part 4 explores alternatives to the two-state solution, drawing the dominant paradigm of the peace process into conversation with fresher approaches. Part 5 examines the role of the international community in critical gaze, while Part 6 explains the rise of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, presenting authoritative insider perspectives that explore past events as well as the current nexus of the conflict. While no clear solution to the conflict is in sight, this volume does show that its parameters are slowly shifting, thereby opening up an important space that enables Israelis and Palestinians – with the support of the international community – to initiate the process of re-imagining the horizons of their collective existence in a manner that affirms our common humanity.
CONTRIBUTORS
Musa Abu-Marzuq, Mustafa Abu-Sway, Heribert Adam, Abdallah Al-Ashaal, Diana Buttu, Naomi Chazan, Abdelwahab M. Elmessiri, Aslam Farouk-Alli, As’ad Ghanem, Shamil Jeppie, George Joffé, Ronnie Kasrils, Rashid Khalidi, Benny Morris, Aziz Pahad, Gideon Shimoni, Azzam Tamimi, Mark Tessler, Virgnia Tilley.

The final chapter draws together some overarching themes that emerge throughout the volume, while investigating a series of contemporary events vis-à-vis the Palestine-Israel conflict and their implications. At the time of writing in June 2019: it has been over a year since The Great March of Return and weekly ongoing Return Marches; the 2019 Israeli elections, during which Netanyahu explicitly committed to the annexation of parts of the West Bank, and which seemed to point to his return to office, turned out be to inconclusive given his inability to form a majority coalition government, meaning a new election has been scheduled for September 2019; and the Trump administration has upended decades of established protocol vis-à-vis the conflict by displaying a marked contempt for Palestinians, moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem, recognising Israel’s annexation of Golan Heights, as well as attempting to depoliticise the conflict through its “Deal of the Century” touting extensive investment in Palestinian areas. Meanwhile, Hamas and Israel have been engaged in intermittent but regular bouts of conflict amid an environmental crisis casting doubt on Gaza’s ability to support human habitation, while the West Bank PA faces ongoing crises, inter alia, regarding finance, legitimacy, and its ability to exercise authority. In brief, the Palestinian national movement, at present, is at a very precarious point in its history.

By the autumn of 2013, the Middle Eastern regional security complex (RSC) had taken on a new configuration, which was substantially different from—and much more explosive than—the one that existed prior to the large-scale popular uprisings that broke out across the Arab world in the winter of 2010-11. Foreign policies adopted between 2000 and 2010 by the Ba‘thi regime in Damascus, the leaderships of Hizbullah and HAMAS, and the Israeli government to parry overlapping internal and external threats created an unprecedented patchwork of strategic rivalries and alignments. Large-scale popular unrest in Iraq and Egypt in early 2011, along with the outbreak of full-scale civil war in Syria later that same year, generated an even more intricate web of interstate security dynamics. The reconfigured RSC that emerged out of the “Winter of Arab Discontent” is only beginning to be explicated, and can best be addressed by tracing the connection between domestic political conflicts and shifts in external belligerence and alignment across the region.

This study examines the phenomenon of ‘terrorism’ and the transition of ‘terrorist’ groups to political parties through the lens of conflict resolution.  The aim of this research is to establish why Van Engeland and Rudolph argue that Hamas has successfully transitioned from ‘terrorist’ group to political party according to their framework, when the environment Hamas is operating within as of 2013 is hostile and constrained.  I hypothesized that a factor is missing from the framework to account for this misrepresentation of Hamas’ current position.  Having identified the missing variable, recommendations could be made for Hamas’ continued forward momentum.  In order to find the missing element, I undertook a comprehensive methodology that included reapplying the framework, using two comparative case studies, and supplementing the entirety with additional literature on the subject.  Three significant factors that are not emphasized in Van Engeland and Rudolph’s framework are drawn out and examined in greater detail to see if their addition might provide a different result.  However, this process produced the same conclusion as Van Engeland and Rudolph, mainly that Hamas is an example of a successful transition.  The disconnect I was trying to pinpoint stems from external factors -  relating to economic instability sustained by global politics.    Hamas has moved along the transition process according to Van Engeland and Rudolph’s framework, but their current position is stalled due to the dynamics of current global politics.  These results suggest that such transitions can be helped or hindered by external pressure from global powers.  Additionally, special attention needs to be paid to ripe points in protracted conflicts in order to encourage transition from terrorist group to political party.  Finally, this study concludes that if moves away from violence and towards politics are not recognized and affirmed, a group may regress back towards tactics that garner the desired attention.

In this chapter we will examine the politics of Hamas in relation to its commitment to
the formula of Qur’anic Jihad.  The ideology of Hamas (1988) was a synthesis of pan
Arab Islamic religious ideals and Palestinian nationalism. Hamas emphasizes that the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in reality, a struggle between Islam and Judaism. It is along
these lines that Article15 of the Hamas Charter states: “When our enemies usurp some
Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the
usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad.
This would require the propagation of Islamic consciousness among the masses on all
local, Arab and Islamic levels. We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the [Islamic]
Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters”.1 This view was
reinforced in a booklet distributed by Hamas in early 1990 which stated: “Our struggle
with the Jews is a struggle between truth and emptiness- between Islam and Judaism”.2