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State and non-state actors across many protracted conflicts and prolonged occupations in the Middle East and North Africa have systematically targeted civilian infrastructures. We use the cases of the West Bank and Gaza, characterized by more than five decades of occupation and periods of intermittent violent conflict, to analyse how the targeting of water, energy, and agricultural infrastructures has created humanitarian crises and undermined civilian livelihoods. Our analysis draws upon an original database tracking the targeting of environmental and civilian infrastructures and on interviews with humanitarian organizations, government officials and civil society actors. The analysis shows how the targeting of infrastructure has differed in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, damage to essential infrastructure and restrictions on infrastructure development are forms of slow violence that accumulate over time, carried out by both state authorities and settlers. In the Gaza Strip, recurrent violent conflict between Israel and Hamas has produced extensive destruction across all types of infrastructure, while the internationally-sanctioned blockade has hindered effective reconstruction. In both cases agriculture is the most frequently targeted sector, undermining livelihoods and connections to land, while damage to water and energy systems has limited economic activity and rendered civilian life increasingly precarious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an introduction to this issue in which editor discusses several topics including the tragedy of Gaza; change in the posture of key Arab Gulf states toward Israel; and reaffirmation of traditional position on Jerusalem, refugees, and Palestinian rights.

The article discusses the state of ambiguity in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under Israeli control since 1967. It states that Israel decline to withdraw from the territories or annex them, and has balked at declaring how it regards either the land or its inhabitants. It also states that Palestinians built their own structures and ran in municipal elections when the Israeli occupation authorities allowed them.

The article provides an overview of the Israeli intervention in the Gaza Strip as of September 2015. Topics include the statistics of people killed as a result of Israeli actions, the Israeli government's continued easing of restrictions on the Erez and Kerem Shalom border crossings, which resulted to the significant growth in movement through the Israeli-controlled crossings into the Gaza Strip, and the freedom of movement and access in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Like many nonstate military actors, Hamas has long provided social services to its constituents, but the mechanism by which charity leads to increased public support is poorly understood. This article argues that providing charity benefits nonstate actors not because it isolates recipients or acts as a bribe but because it allows organizations like Hamas to overcome the legacies of their own military activities and extremist ideologies. Service provision allows them to demonstrate that they are not merely soldiers or ideologues, but capable bureaucrats and managers as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the civic activism and perspective of Palestinian non-government organizations (NGOs) on the political conditions in the Gaza Strip from 1967-2014. Topics cited include the peace and development policies and practices of NGOs, involvement of NGOs in the transformation of social power structure in the Gaza Strip, and challenges facing NGOs in the shifting political environment in the region.

The article looks at the Arab-Israeli conflict, with a particular focus on potential ways to address the dispute over Gaza. According to the author, increasing the political strength of moderate Palestinians is a prerequisite to any lasting solution. It is suggested that the governing Palestinian organization Hamas should be encouraged to work with moderate Palestinians and that small changes can lead to the end of the political stalemate. Topics discussed include the 2014 Israeli intervention in Gaza, the possible reoccupation of Gaza by Israel, disarmament, and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The article looks at the context of media culture in the Gaza Strip, and aspects of journalist as resistance to politics. Topics discussed include assigning of the Al-Resalah media organization as a special Designated Global Terrorist entity for being controlled and finance by Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyah (Hamas), a Palestinian Islamic organization, the culture of journalism in the region, and journalism category as activism.

This article is a response to Eugene Kontorovich’s ‘Israel/Palestine — The ICC’s Uncharted “Territory”’. Kontorovich states that in order to exercise jurisdiction over Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the International Criminal Court (ICC) would need to determine that the Israeli settlements are indeed situated within the territory of Palestine, and proceeds to deftly present various procedural and substantive hurdles to the ICC making such a determination. His argument rests primarily on the (undisputed) fact that Palestine's borders are undefined. This article shares many of Kontorovich's premises and assertions, but disputes Kontorovich's analysis of the consequences of these premises and assertions; principally, it takes issue with the view that the absence of agreed borders for Palestine precludes the ICC from exercising jurisdiction with respect to the Israeli settlements. If one accepts as a point of departure that there is a state of Palestine, holding that the settlements are within its territory (internationally recognized as comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip), is not difficult. Israel’s effective control over the settlements does not detract from the international recognition of Palestinian sovereignty, both because that claim is not based on actual Palestinian control in the first place but on a legal entitlement; and because there is no competing assertion of sovereignty. At the same time, there is no doubt that the analysis in which this article and Kontorovich’s article both engage is based on an event which has generated far reaching legal consequences despite a weak factual basis: Palestine has apparently been recognized as a state capable of acceding to the ICC Statute, despite the fact that the effectiveness of its conduct is by its own admission significantly hindered by Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the use of short-range rockets by militant Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and their impact upon Israeli-Palestinian relations. The article also examines how the use of such rockets impacts internal Palestinian politics and rivalries. The author focuses upon asymmetric warfare and the psychological components of the use of short-range rockets as a response to Israel and the Israeli military. The author also discusses her opinions on Israel's counterattack options and how to contain violence in Gaza. The article discusses the role of the Palestinian political and terrorist organization Hamas in crafting a solution to rocket attacks.

The article discusses the origin of Salafist revivalist movement in Gaza Strip and its political and military threats to the Hamas government. It states that nonviolent Salafist movement has been in Gaza during the 1970s lead by Sheikh Salim Sharab, but violent Salafist cells emerged after the withdrawal of Isareili from Gaza in 2005. The threats being imposed by Salafist to Hamas after Hamas became the official government in 2007 such as military and political are also discussed.

In September 2007 Israel’s security cabinet approved a ‘hostile entity’ classification for the Gaza Strip and intensified its economic and diplomatic blockade of this Hamas-controlled region. Taking the ‘hostile entity’ classification as a point of entry, this paper examines the construction of Gaza as an insurgent zone, a liminal space within which Israel’s executive discretion has authorizing force. Central to this process, it argues, is a blurring of lines between the civilian and combatant—the elimination of a purely civilian space. This paper begins with an analysis of the discursive strategies employed to collapse the space between the civilian body and battlefield in Gaza. It then turns to an examination of socio-spatial practices mobilized around the ‘hostile entity’ classification, foremost Israel’s sanctions policy, and argues this counter-insurgency strategy entails regulation and management of the Palestinian body combined with the active subjugation of Palestinian life to the power of death. Centrally, this paper attends to the relationship between geopolitics and violence at the scale of the (Palestinian) body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I investigate the role of the international community's policy in the national factionalism in Palestine. I attempt to illuminate how international policy has contributed to the sustaining of internecine Palestinian violence as Fatah, which lost the elections in 2005 and 2006, has been motivated not to hand over power. In the process of selecting allies in the fight against Islamist terrorism, the epitomic undemocratic feature of Arab political culture, clientelism, has been promoted over democracy. Hamas seizing power in Gaza in 2007 probably resulted from the need to tame unruly militant groups which were sponsored by leaders of the Palestinian Fatah party, which again were supported by Western powers. To understand the national splitting in Palestine there is a need to analyse the interconnection between warlords, local clientelism and international clientelism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author examines issues surrounding the erosion of the cohesion and intensity of Palestinian politics. The author is of the opinion that this began in advance of the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas in 2007. A number of topics are addressed including the paralysis of Palestinian political entities, territorial and social disintegration, and the significant interference from outside of Palestine. According to the author the 2006 elections were destined to result in the disorganization of the Palestinian polity.

The first part of this two-part article explores the pervasive flaws that mar the UNHRC's "Gaza Fact-Finding Mission Report." It focuses on an interlocking combination of problems: 1) its failure to investigate seriously the problem of Hamas embedding its war effort in the midst of civilians in order to draw Israeli fire and then accuse Israel of war crimes; 2) its astonishing credulity concerning all Palestinian claims, contrasted with a corresponding skepticism of all Israeli claims; 3) its harsh judgments on Israelis for war crimes (i.e., deliberate targeting of civilians), contrasted with its resolute agnosticism concerning Hamas intentions. The result is that Goldstone actually participates in Hamas' strategy and encourages the sacrificing of their own civilians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author examines issue relating to Hamas, the Palestinian Arab political party that governs the Gaza Strip portion of the Palestinian territories. Central to the article is the contention held among Palestinians that Christian and American loyalties should be with the cause of Palestine in opposition to that of the Israelis. Among other findings the author researches the roots of these claims which are traced back to the Muslim occupation of the Spanish region of al-Andalus in the 9th century.

This article outlines the means by which the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas has developed and implemented a consolidation of power strategy that is inexorably driving it to a state of increasingly authoritarian control in the Gaza Strip. It discusses the factors that have driven Hamas in terms of power seeking as primordial to all radical Islamist movements or as a result of or response to other factors outside its control. The article highlights the concurrent demise of the Fatah organisation in the Gaza Strip as the largest and most visible symbol of secularism. It then reflects on the role of external, including international, actors in accelerating consolidation tactics following the Hamas 'takeover' of power from the Fatah-dominated institutions of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in June 2007. The article aims to demonstrate that Hamas' control in Gaza is an important signpost in terms of developing Islamism in the Middle East region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the role of Islam and nationalism in Palestinian politics. The relationship between religion and state in the political stances of the organization Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, is considered. The political prominence of Hamas and their expression of pragmatic and nationalist approaches to governance despite an apparently Islamist set of founding principles are presented as two reasons to modify Israeli relations with that organization.

This article discusses the relationship that the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip maintains with the U.S. and the European Union. The history of the political status of Hamas as an organization in the Palestinian territories is presented as an explanation for their current status. The refusal of the EU and the U.S. to deal with Hamas officials is presented as one reason for their lack of political moderation and technocratic approaches to governance.

The article discusses the new order of the socio-political situation in the Gaza Strip after the 2006 election victory of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. Topics include background on political changes in Gaza, prior to 2006, relations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and the American and Israeli boycott.

This section covers items--reprinted articles, statistics, and maps--pertaining to Israeli settlement activities in the Gaxa Strip and the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Unless otherwise stated, the items have been written by Geoffrey Aronson for this section or drawn from material written by him for Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories (hereinafter Settlement Report), a Washington-based bimonthly newsletter published by the Foundation for Middle East Peace. JPS is grateful to the foundation for permission to draw on its material [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents reports on events that took place May 16-August 15, 2007, regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestine peace process. A number of incidents are reported including actions by the Israeli Defense Force against the forces of Hamas, actions taken by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas, the seizure of Gaza by Hamas and the suspension of the boycott of Gaza by the United States and member nations of the European Union. Also examined is a suggestion by U.S. president George W. Bush that Middle Eastern peace be the subject of a summit meeting.

The article discusses the 2006 political elections in Gaza which brought the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to power. It questions whether the election signifies a national crisis or a struggle between clans. It offers the perspectives of Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Abdallah Franji, and Hamas Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad.

The purpose of the study is to explore, in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the influence of framing a decision task as inclusion or exclusion on Israeli Jewish respondents' support for the concession of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Respondents received a list of 40 Jewish settlements. Details such as the number of residents and geographical location were provided for each settlement. The respondents were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the inclusion condition, 55 respondents were asked to mark the settlements for which they recommended that Israeli sovereignty be conceded. In the exclusion condition. 53 respondents were asked to mark the settlements for which they recommended that Israeli sovereignty not be conceded. The findings confirm the predictions tested and indicate that: (1) Framing the task in terms of inclusion or exclusion affects respondents' support for territorial compromise, so that respondents in the exclusion condition support the concession of more settlements than respondents in the inclusion condition. (2) Framing the task in terms of inclusion or exclusion has a greater effect on support for conceding options (settlements) that are perceived as ambiguous (less consensual in the climate of opinion) in comparison to options (settlements) that are perceived as more clearcut (more consensual). The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an analysis of three recent key documents of Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah, the Palestinian "Islamic Resistance Movement" (Hamas): the election platform of 2005, the outline of its program for a coalition government, and its governmental platform which was presented in 2006. Topics include analysis of the electoral platform of "Change and Reform," the proposal for a national unity government program, and the governmental platform presented in 2006.

Presents reprinted articles, statistics and maps pertaining to Israeli settlement activities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Discussion on the Israeli's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip; Plan of the Israeli ministry of agriculture to increase the number of illegal Jewish settlers living in the Jordan Valley area; Lessons from Israel's retreat from Gaza.

The article offers the author's insights regarding the future of the peace relations between Israel and Palestine. He mentions the reason that Palestinian Authority (PA) have lost their faith on the peace process which include the Palestinian control of only 18% of West Bank, the blockade on East Jerusalem to Arab citizens, and the continuous separation of Gaza Strip to West Bank. He states that the expansion of Israeli occupation in West Bank and Gaza Strip is the most bothersome of all. He says that intifada in 2000 was the cause of counter-violence by the Palestinian against the brutality of Israeli to their constituents. He concludes that peace is impossible unless Israelis stop further settlement expansion and Palestinians stop further violence.