Palestine and the War on Terror1

DEREK GREGORY

Palestine, the war on terror and the colonial present One of the ironies of postcolonialism is the way in which many of its practitioners recognize Edward Saids crucial role in laying the foundation stones for its politico-intellectual project, only to pass over in silence the dispossession of the Palestinian people that animates the spirit of his examination of the sutures etween !culture" and !imperialism#" $ Saids wor% has een immensely conse&uential# 't has accentuated the ways in which power is inscri ed in and through our representations of the world ( which are thus never merely !mirrors" ( and it has invited an interrogation of the multiple discourses through which difference and disjuncture are constituted within the modern geographical imaginary) including, crucially, primitivism and tropicality# *ut now that Orientalism is a road again, revivified and hideously em oldened y the so-called !war on terror" following Septem er ++, there are good reasons to revisit the site of Saids own preoccupations# *efore he assumed office ,the mot juste-, .eorge *ush announced with characteristic insight that !the past is over#" On the contrary) as /illiam 0aul%ner reminds us in Requiem for a Nun, !123he past is not dead# 't is not even past#" 'n this essay, ' will show how the production of what Said called !imaginative geographies" continues to articulate the colonial present# 'n Saids original discussion, imaginative geographies fold distance into difference through a series of spatializations# 2hey multiply partitions and enclosures that demarcate !the same" from !the other," at once constructing and cali rating a gap etween the two y designating in ones mind a familiar space which is !ours" and an unfamiliar space eyond !ours" which is !theirs#" Saids primary concern was with the ways in which European and 4merican imaginative geographies of !the Orient" com ine over time to produce an archive in which things come to e seen as neither completely novel

nor thoroughly familiar# 'nstead, a median category emerges that !allows one to see new things, things seen for the first time, as versions of a previously %nown thing#"3 2his Protean power of Orientalism is immensely important ecause the citationary structure that is authorized y these accretions is also in some su stantial sense performative) it produces the effects that it names# 'ts categories, codes and conventions shape the practices of those who draw upon it, actively constituting its o ject ,most o viously, !the Orient"- in such a way that this structure is as much a repertoire as it is an archive# 2his matters for two reasons# 'n the first place, as the repertory figure implies, imaginative geographies are not only accumulations of time, sedimentations of successive histories5 they are also performances of space#4 'n the second place, performances may e scripted ,they usually are- ut this does not ma%e their outcomes fully determined5 rather, performance creates a space in which it is possi le for !newness" to enter the world# 2his space of potential is always conditional, always precarious, ut every performance of the colonial present carries within it the possi ilities of reaffirming and even radicalizing the hold of the past on the present or of undoing its enclosures and approaching closer to the horizon of the postcolonial#5

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'n what follows, ' wor% with these ideas to expose the ways in which, in the wa%e of Septem er ++, the 'sraeli government of 4riel Sharon has ta%en advantage of the so-called !war on terror" to ratchet up the colonial dispossession of the Palestinian people#6 /hat is novel a out this, ' argue, is that it has ta%en place ,literally so- through what 4chille 9 em e calls a !necropolitics" ( !a generalized instrumentalization of human existence and the material destruction of human odies and populations" ( whose performances of space see% to rationalize and radicalize colonial aggression# 2hese performances assault not only politically &ualified life ( the space within which a Palestinian state is possi le ( ut also ! are life" itself# 7 Ground eros /hen the *ush administration too% power on $7 :anuary $77+, its foreign policy was one of glo al disengagement# Palestine was no exception5 the /hite ;ouse closed its doors and elected for minimal involvement# /ithin days of the terrorist attac%s on <ew =or% >ity and /ashington on Septem er ++, the intensity of 'sraeli military attac%s on the /est *an% stepped up# Palestinians claimed that Sharon was using the attac%s on 4merica as a pretext !to enter the endgame" against them# !;e thin%s that the dust in <ew =or% and /ashington will cover up 'sraeli actions here," one Palestinian official explained# !;e is ta%ing advantage of the fact that no one is watching#"? *ut constructing such a space of invisi ility re&uired the su stitution of another, carefully constructed space of visi ility so that the attac%s on the /orld 2rade >enter and the Pentagon would serve not only as a distraction from ut also as a justification for 'sraeli actions# 4nd so a political offensive was launched alongside the military one# !4cts of terror against 'sraeli citizens are no different from in @adens terror against 4merican citizens," Sharon insisted# !2he fight against terror is an international struggle of the free world against the forces of dar%ness who see% to destroy our li erty and our way of life#"A Said, himself a <ew =or%er and deeply affected y the attac% on his city, protested that 'srael was !cynically exploiting the 4merican catastrophe y intensifying its military occupation and oppression of the Palestinians" and justifying its actions y representing !the connection etween the /orld 2rade >enter and Pentagon om ings and Palestinian attac%s on 'srael 1as3 an a solute conjunction of Bworld terrorism in which in @aden and 4rafat are interchangea le entities#"+7 2he /hite ;ouse also rejected Sharons diversionary tactic, and dismissed

his su stitution of 4rafat for in @aden as inaccurate and unhelpful# 'f 4merica were to secure the support of 'slamic states li%e Saudi 4ra ia and Pa%istan for its military response to AC++ ( oth of them accomplices in its interventions in 4fghanistan during the Soviet occupation ( the *ush administration understood that it would have to re-engage with the Palestinian &uestion on terms that were mar%edly less partisan than those of the past# Sharon %new very well what the /hite ;ouse was doing# 0urious, he compared its attempt to include the 4ra world in the D# S#-led coalition to *ritish and 0rench appeasement of the <azis in +A8? ( a comparison that was as odious to the 4ra s as it was to the 4mericans ( and he warned the /hite ;ouse) !Eo not try to placate the 4ra s at 'sraels expense# /e are not >zechoslova%ia#" *ush, e&ually angry, denounced the comparison as unaccepta le, and when Sharon renewed the military offensive the /hite ;ouse repeatedly criticized the 'sraeli campaign of intimidation and incursion#++ 2hroughout Octo er, Sharon defied 4merican demands to retreat from nominally Palestiniancontrolled areas of the /est *an%# 'n fact, 'srael repeatedly identified its attac%s on the occupied territories with 4mericas assault on 4fghanistan, and Sharon instructed the actions of the 'sraeli military ( the !'sraeli Eefense 0orces" ,'E0- ( to e !pac%aged" so that !the elimination of the 2ali an and the elimination of the Palestinian 4uthority" would e seen as !two parallel goals#" Outwardly at least, the *ush administration remained s%eptical# 4s tan%s drove into the heart of /est *an% cities, the State Eepartment was moved to !deeply regret and deplore 'sraeli army actions that have %illed numerous Palestinian civilians#"+$ /ashington was hardly on the side of the Palestinian 4uthority, ut relations with 2el 4viv were so close to collapse that, y 87 Octo er, one commentator suggested that the sea-change in superpower sensi ilities meant that !the cruel calculations of geopolitics 1would3 continue to ma%e 4fghanistans loss into Palestines gain#"+8 *ut the world egan to turn in the dying wee%s of <ovem er# *y then, under the cover of pulverizing coalition air-stri%es, the <orthern 4lliance was sweeping southwards through 4fghanistan, and the 2ali an forces were in full retreat# On $8 <ovem er, the 'E0 assassinated 9ahmoud 4 u ;anoud, ;amass military leader in the /est *an%, and several 'sraeli commentators claimed that the military and political apparatus recognized that this was sure to provo%e a violent retaliation#+6 On $A <ovem er, Sharon arrived in <ew =or% >ity and made what he called a !solidarity visit" to .round Fero# Over that wee%end, as the :ewish Sa ath was coming to an end on the

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night of +-$ Eecem er, two suicide om s and a car om exploded in the heart of /est :erusalem# 2en 'sraelis were murdered and over +G7 injured# Soon after, another suicide om exploded in ;aifa, murdering fifteen 'sraelis and injuring forty others# Sharon cut short his visit, ut efore he returned to 'srael he reminded *ush that the deaths of twenty-five 'sraelis were e&uivalent to the deaths of $,777 4mericans#+H 2he significance of the comparison was lost on no ody# Sharon insisted that the wee%ends events had made it clear that 4merica and 'srael were engaged in !the same war" on terrorism, and if 4merica had een justified in its military retaliation against al#$aeda and the 2ali an, then 'srael was justified in launching its helicopter gunships against ;amas, 'slamic :ihad and the Palestinian 4uthority in .aza and the /est *an%#+I 'sraeli attac%s on the occupied territories intensified# 9issiles were launched against .aza and the /est *an%, helicopter gunships struc% at the Palestinian 4uthoritys compound in Jamallah, tan%s moved into the scattered districts of !4rea 4" ,which was supposedly under full Palestinian control-, and the 'E0 loc%aded Palestinian towns and villages# *ut *ush now firmly resisted calls to restrain Sharon# 2he onus was repeatedly placed on the Palestinian 4uthority to !end terror," even as its own security apparatus was destroyed so that it was now virtually impossi le for it to act against the militant organizations ,;amas and 'slamic :ihad in particularthat had claimed responsi ility for the om ings# Senior D# S# officials, spea%ing off the record, now freely compared Palestinian attac%s in 'srael to al# $aedas attac%s on 4merica#+G 4s the <ew =ear wore on, the militarization of the 'sraeli occupation and of the al#Aqsa %ntifada reached new heights# On +G :anuary $77$, a Palestinian gunman murdered six 'sraelis in ;adera5 in response, 'sraeli jets destroyed the Palestinian 4uthoritys police station in 2ul%arm and its tan%s and troops entered the city, imposing a curfew and conducting house-to-house searches# 2his was the first time that the 'E0 had occupied an entire Palestinian city, ut it would not e the last# *ush accused 4rafat of !enhancing" terrorism and the /hite ;ouse granted 'srael its widest freedom of military action since the Jeagan administration had turned a lind eye to Sharons invasion of @e anon in +A?$) !'srael is seen as the e&uivalent of <ew =or% and the Pentagon#"+? 'n 0e ruary, following more suicide om s and the launch of two home-made missiles from .aza, the 'E0 launched a massive airand-ground operation against Palestinian towns and refugee camps# 2he scope of the incursions steadily widened as the 'E0 mounted a series of ferocious

assaults in oth .aza and the /est *an%# 2an%s rolled into :a alya refugee camp north of .aza >ity, and into :enin refugee camp and *alata refugee camp southeast of <a lus, the largest in the /est *an%# 4lleys and cinder loc% houses were shelled from the air and from the surrounding hills5 tan%s patrolled the main streets5 and holes were lown in the walls of houses as the army swept through the camps# 'n the middle of 9arch, $7,777 troops reinvaded camps in .aza and reoccupied Jamallah in what was claimed to e the largest 'sraeli offensive since its invasion of @e anon#+A *y the end of the month, even that ench-mar% was passed# On $G 9arch, twenty-eight 'sraelis were murdered and +67 injured y a suicide om in <etanya# /ithin twenty-four hours, the 'E0 had called up $7,777 reservists, its largest mo ilization since +AIG, and what 2anya Jeinhart descri es as its !longawaited and carefully planned offensive," !Operation Eefensive Shield," was under way# 2an%s smashed into 4rafats compound and troops stormed into the offices of the Palestinian 4uthority in Jamallah# 'n another calculated echo of *ushs rhetoric, Sharon hailed this as the first stage of a !long and complicated war that %nows no orders#" ;e vowed to eliminate the !terrorist infrastructure" that he said the Palestinian 4uthority had put in place# $7 /hatever Sharon understood !terrorist infrastructure" to mean, the 'E0 had previously concentrated its efforts on destroying the Palestinian 4uthoritys police and paramilitary security installations# /ith Sharons encouragement, however, the 'E0 now targeted the Palestinian 4uthoritys civilian infrastructure, the institutions and the record ( the very archive ( of Palestinian civil society# 'n spite of this new and malignant focus ( 4mnesty 'nternational concluded that the military offensive aimed at the collective punishment of all Palestinians, which is illegal under international law $+ K the /hite ;ouse still refused to condemn the 'sraeli attac%s and incursions# 2he military campaign escalated throughout 4pril# /ith 'srael in oppressive control of six out of eight Palestinian cities, the /hite ;ouse Press Secretary could still announce that !the President elieves that 4riel Sharon is a man of peace#"22 9eanwhile, the 'E0 was usily demolishing houses in :enin refugee camp and clearing paths for tan%s and troops with giant >aterpillar E-A ulldozers# /hen thirteen 'sraeli soldiers died in a oo y-trapped uilding on A 4pril, the scale of destruction intensified, and the center of the camp was painsta%ingly reduced to ru le# 'nternational aid agencies, human rights wor%ers, and reporters were denied access to the camp for nearly a wee% after the fighting had ended# /hen they were

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finally allowed in, they found !a silent wasteland, permeated with the stench of rotting corpses and cordite#" !2he scale is almost eyond imagination," wrote *ritish reporter Suzanne .olden erg, gazing out over !a vast expanse of ru le and mangled iron rods, surrounded y the carcasses of shattered homes" that ecame %nown locally as !.round Fero#" 2housands of houses had een destroyed5 scores of odies were uried eneath the ruins5 +I,777 people had fled in terror, and those who remained were left to survive without running water or electricity# 23 2he 'nternational >ommittee of the Jed >ross, ;uman Jights /atch, and 4mnesty 'nternational all accused 'srael of reaching the .eneva >onvention y rec%lessly endangering civilian lives and property during its assault on the camp# 'srael was undeterred, insisting that its operations were necessary, professional, surgical, and that no massacre had ta%en place# 2he D# S# first supported, then moved to disrupt, and finally loc%ed any attempt at an in&uiry y the Dnited <ations#24 !"a#inati$e #eo#raphies and per%or"ances o% space 2here were, of course, compelling geopolitical reasons to reaffirm 4merican support for 'srael) most immediately, the fall of the 2ali an had terminated the necessity for an international military coalition5 more generally, the territorial designs for 4merican Empire mapped out y the influential Project for a <ew 4merican >entury had returned the 9iddle East to the center of the neoconservative stage#$H *ut what gave this reaffirmation its teeth ( what gave it oth voice and ite ( was a series of parallels etween the imaginative geographies deployed y 4merica in its military assault on 4fghanistan and those deployed y 'srael in its military operations in the occupied territories of Palestine# 2hese enacted three performances of space) locating, opposing and casting out# !@ocating" mo ilized a largely technical register, in which opponents were reduced to o jects in a purely visual field K coordinates on a grid, letters on a map K that effected oth a localization and an a straction of !the other#" !Opposing" mo ilized a largely cultural register, in which antagonism was reduced to a teleological conflict etween !>ivilization" and ! ar arism#" !>asting out" mo ilized a largely political-juridical register, in which not only armed opponents ut also ordinary civilians were reduced to the status of outcasts placed eyond the privileges and protections of the law so that their lives ,and deaths- were rendered of no account# 2he 'E0s ! esieging cartography," as >amille

9ansour calls it, was installed through an intricate system of monitoring that involved passive sensors, o servation towers e&uipped with dayCnight and radar surveillance capa ilities, electronic communications, computerized data an%s, satellite images, and photographs from reconnaissance planes#$I *ut as the assault on the occupied territories intensified, Stephen .raham shows that the conflict was transformed into !an ur an war in which the distance etween enemies 1was3 measured in meters#"$G Orientalist tropes were invo%ed to render Palestinian towns and cities as !impenetra le, un%nowa le spaces" whose close &uarters were eyond the long-distance gaze of these high-technology surveillance systems# 4ccordingly, !a new family of Dnattended 4erial Lehicles and camera-carrying alloons was deployed to permit realtime monitoring of the complex attles within the cities, and to trac% the movements of %ey Palestinian fighters and officials so that missiles could target and %ill them#"$? 4ll of this was a strategically vital arm in the realization of what Eyal /eizman calls 'sraels !politics of verticality#" !Every floor in every house, every car, every telephone call or radio transmission can e monitored," he explained# !2hese eyes in the s%y, completing the networ% of o servation that is woven throughout the ground, finally iron out the folded surface and flatten the terrain#" 2he opacity of !other," alien spaces is rendered transparent, and their complexities reduced to a series of o jects in a purely visual plane#$A *ut the disem odied a stractions produced within this enhanced technocultural sphere have een perforated y imaginative geographies that activate other, intensely corporeal registers# 4lthough 'srael deployed aircraft and missiles against Palestinian !targets," for example, some pilots found it difficult to sustain such optical detachment# One fighter pilot urged those who flew 'sraels deadly 0-+Is to !thin% a out what a om ing operation would e li%e in the city they live in#" ;e explained what he meant with unflinching clarity) !' am tal%ing a out om ing a densely populated city# ' am tal%ing a out li&uidating people on the main street#"87 2he ground war involved the performance of highly a stract spacings too, in which every Palestinian was reduced to a threat and a target# One reporter descri ed how, at the height of Operation Eefensive Shield in 2ul%arm, a reserve detachment of Paratrooper Jeconnaissance >ommandos operated in !a peculiar state of sensory deprivation#" Occupying a house seized from its Palestinian owners, the soldiers lived !in a %ind of perpetual shadow," he wrote, ! ehind drawn curtains and under dim lighting, rarely venturing out except at night and then only in tan%s or

.regory) Palestine and the ar on !error"

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the windowless 4P>s ,4rmored Personnel >arriers-# 2heir %nowledge of the attlefield 1sic3 is largely limited to the maps they study or the tiny corner of land they view when the 14P>3 door opens, and so anyone who crosses their path is viewed as a potential life-and-death threat#"8+ =et here too the a stractions were &ualified, their imaginative geographies perforated y much more intimate engagements, and many of the soldiers interviewed saw the military occupation as unsustaina le on humanitarian rather than narrowly logistical grounds# 'n fact, over H77 reserve soldiers have refused to serve in the occupied territories since 0e ruary $77$# Eight of them petitioned the 'sraeli Supreme >ourt to have their action recognized as a matter of conscience# 2hey claimed that the aim of 'E0 operations in .aza and the /est *an% had een to damage !the entire civil fa ric" of Palestinian society and !to dominate, starve and humiliate an entire people#" 2heir su mission charged the 'E0 with systematically violating the most fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people, and argued that the 'sraeli occupation is itself illegal# 8$ Significantly, the >ourt declined to rule on the legality of the occupation# /hile it accepted that the reservists o jections were moral ones, it nevertheless upheld the prison sentences that had een imposed upon them for refusing to serve in the occupied territories# 2his decision tacitly recognized that the reservists refusal to fight what they call !the /ar of the Settlements" presents a much more serious threat to the legitimacy of 'sraels politico-military strategy than conscientious o jectors who refuse to serve in the 'E0 at all M for theirs is a selective refusal that exposes the territorial under elly of 'sraels aggressions# 4s Susan Sontag o served, !2he soldiers are not refusing a particular order# !he& are refusin' to enter the space (here ille'al orders are )ound to )e 'iven#"88 2he so-called !clash of civilizations" that swirled around in the dust and de ris of AC++ was rarely invo%ed directly# 2he principal architect of this thesis, political scientist and former >oordinator of Security Planning for the <ational Security >ouncil Samuel ;untington, had said remar%a ly little a out Palestine, apart from the monstrous perversion that the !faultline war" in .aza and the /est *an% showed that !9uslims have pro lems living peacefully with their neigh ors#" ;e ac%nowledged in passing the role of the European powers in originally setting the stage for the conflict, ut said nothing at all a out 'sraels predatory actions# Jo ert /istrich, a professor of modern European history at the ;e rew Dniversity, was more forthright# !'t is a clash of civilizations," he wrote in the *erusalem Post soon after the AC++

attac%s# <ot only had radical 'slam devastated <ew =or% >ity ,!the largest :ewish city on the planet"- ut it continued to threaten the survival of the state of 'srael# >olumnist 2homas 0riedman, writing in the Ne( +or, !imes six months later, invo%ed ;untington too, ut drew a mar%edly different conclusion) !/hat Osama in @aden failed to achieve on Septem er ++ is now eing unleashed y the 'sraeli-Palestinian war in the /est *an%) a clash of civilizations#" *ut this had to end, so he insisted, in an 'sraeli withdrawal from the occupied territories#86 2hese straws in the wind were lowing in different directions, ut the imaginative geography that dominated 'sraeli policy dispensed with their dualisms altogether# 'nstead, it resurrected the opposition etween !civilization" and ! ar arism" that had een a foundational weapon of Fionism and which the /hite ;ouse had also deployed in its !war on terror#" Palestinians were represented as denizens of a ar arian space lying )e&ond the pale of civilization# /hen Sharons predecessor Ehud *ara% descri ed 'srael as !a villa in the middle of the jungle" and as !a vanguard of culture against ar arism," he was not only degrading and rutalizing Palestinian culture and civil society) he was also rendering its spaces inchoate, outside the space of Jeason# 8H /hat Sharon sought to do was to esta lish these linguistic claims in acutely physical terms# 4s @ena :ayyusi, Eirector of the Oral ;istory Program at the Shaml Eiaspora and Jefugee >enter, wrote from Jamallah, !2here is no constative any longer) only the pure performative#" 8I 2his is the heart of the matter ecause representations are not mere mirrors of the world# 2hey enter directly into its fa rication# 'sraels offensive operations were designed to turn the Palestinian people not only into enemies ut into aliens, and in placing them outside the modern, figuratively and physically, they were constructed as what .iorgio 4gam en calls homines sacri- .omo sacer was a su ject-position esta lished under Joman law to identify those whose death had no sacrificial value ut whose %illing did not constitute a crime) they inha ited a zone of a andonment within which sovereign power had suspended its own law#8G 2he prosecution of this necropolitics, as 9 em e calls it, was a radicalization of existing 'sraeli policies that re&uired the performance of two spacings# On one side, a strategy of consolidation and containment continued to ind 'srael to its illegal settlements in .aza and the /est *an% and to separate oth from the remainder of the occupied territories5 on the other side, a strategy of cantonization institutionalized the siege of Palestinian towns and villages# 2he first o jective had already een secured in

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.aza during the first %ntifada# !Surrounded y electronic fences and army posts," Jeinhart reported, !completely sealed off from the outside world, .aza has ecome a huge prison#" 8? 'n :une $77$, a similar arrier networ% was announced for the /est *an%# 0or most of its length, this will e an electronic fence, ut, in places, it will solidify into a concrete or steel wall eight meters high# 2he line will e flan%ed y a H7+77 meter security zone, edged with concertina wire, trenches and patrol roads, and monitored y watchtowers, floodlights, electronic sensors and surveillance cameras# 9uch of the arrier runs east of the .reen @ine, so that thousands of hectares of some of the most highly productive Palestinian farmland will e on the 'sraeli side, with implications not only for the eleaguered Palestinian economy ut also for the su sistence of the Palestinian population# 4t least fifteen Palestinian villages will e on the 'sraeli side, while others will e cut off from their fields and wells, so that 'srael will extend its control over the a&uifer# 2he arrier will also consolidate 'sraels stranglehold over East :erusalem, where it runs deep into Palestinian territory and cuts off hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the /est *an%# 'n 9arch $778, Sharon announced plans for a second arrier to e uilt around the eastern foothills along the :ordan Lalley, to connect with the first and so encircle the occupied territories there as in .aza# 2he 'sraeli Eefense 9inister has persistently represented the arrier as a security measure whose sole o jective is to deny suicide om ers access to 'srael from the /est *an%# 2he second arrier ma%es a nonsense of these claims, and when the minister adds that !this not a order etween political entities or sovereign territories," it ecomes clear that the only sovereign power to e recognized is the state of 'srael# /hat lies eyond the line is not the ,future- state of Palestine ut what 4gam en would call the ,present- state of the exception#8A 2his is the point at which the analogy etween occupied Palestine and the prison rea%s down, for this carceral archipelago limns the dispersed site of the camp# !/hile prison law only constitutes a particular sphere of penal law and is not outside the juridical order, the juridical constellation that guides the camp is martial law and the state of siege M 4s the a solute space of the exception, the camp is topologically different from a single space of confinement#"67 On that other side of the line, therefore, 'srael has set a out the proliferation of zones of indistinction in which, as the reservists who refuse to serve in the occupied territories claim, !the legal and the lawful can no longer e distinguished from the illegal and

unlawful#"6+ 2he aro&ue geography of the Oslo process has een swept away5 the &uasi-sovereignty of !4rea 4" has een terminated, and all that remains is another Escher-li%e system of exclusion and inclusion in which Palestinian towns and villages are severed from one another and placed under constant siege from a military force that has now twisted the topologies of occupation into new and even more grotes&ue forms# 'n his original discussion of homo sacer, 4gam en suggested that the state of the exception ( and here we need to remind ourselves that he was arguing in general terms ecause the concordance with the occupied territories is agonizingly close ( traces a threshold through which !outside and inside, the normal situation and chaos, enter into those topological relations that ma%e the validity of the juridical order possi le#"6$ 4 delegation from the 'nternational /riters Parliament visited the /est *an% in 9arch and their reports descri ed the installation of these new topologies ( the performance of their collective danse maca)re ( with shivering immediacy) 2he landscape of the /est *an% and .aza Strip has een ripped and torn li%e cloth made from strips of different materials# *ar ed wire surrounds 'sraeli settlements and military posts and the areas theoretically controlled y the Palestinian 4uthority) it protects and excludes, unites separated /ones and separates adjacent territories, (eaves in )et(een a la)&rinth of islands that are mutuall& repelled and attracted# 4 complex circulatory system of capillary veins demonstrates the occupiers desire to split the territory into slices, remnants, tracts that seemingly impact on each other and yet remain mutually unaware ### 2he landscape of settlements, fre&uently constructed on the ruins of Palestinian villages, evo%es yet again the chess oard of reciprocal exclusion etween the former and what remains of the autonomous areas, to the point of confusin' the ine0pert visitor as to (hat the& encompass and limit, the interior" and the e0terior-" 68 9ore prosaically, the 9ilitary >orrespondent for .a1aret/ reported in 4pril that !there is 1now3 only one area and that area is controlled y the 'E0 without Palestinian intermediaries#" !4s far as the military was concerned," 4mir Oren explained, !there was no longer any difference etween 4reas 4, * and >) 2he 'E0 is doing as it pleases in all of them#" 'srael had esta lished a series of !security zones" throughout the /est *an%, so that Palestinians were now confined and corralled, su ject to endless curfew and closure, whereas the 'E0 had complete freedom of movement and action# 4s the 'sraeli 9inister of 'nternal ,sic-

.regory) Palestine and the ar on !error"

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Security put it, !2hey are there, ut we are here and there as (ell#"66 2he occupied territories have een turned into twilight zones, caught in a frenzied cartography of mo ile frontiers rather than fixed oundaries# 2hese enforce a violent fragmentation and recom ination of time and space, which is nothing less than a concerted attempt to distur and derange the normal rhythms of everyday Palestinian life# Euring the first %ntifada, many Palestinians elected to !suspend" everyday life as a political strategy# 2his was a way of reminding one another that these were not normal times, a way of reasserting their collective power and, y calling attention to their actions, also a way of narrativizing the occupation) all of which actively sustained the process of Palestinian nationalism#6H /hat ' am descri ing here, in contrast, is the violent annulment of everyday life y the 'E0 through a series of military operations that is intended to paralyze Palestinian agency and ( through its physical assaults on the Palestinian archive ( to erase Palestinian memory# 2hese deformations involve deli erate twistings ( torsions ( of oth time and space# 2emporariness is now the law of the occupation M temporary ta%eover of 4rea 4, temporary withdrawal from 4rea 4, temporary encirclement and temporary closures, temporary transit permits, temporary revocation of transit permits, temporary enforcement of an elimination policy, temporary change in the open-fire orders M /hen the occupier plays with time li%e this, everything ( everything that moves, everything that lives ( ecomes dependent on the ar itrariness of the occupiers decisions# 2he occupier is fully aware that he is always playing on orrowed time, in fact on stolen time, other peoples time# !his occupier is an unrestrained, almost )oundless soverei'n, )ecause (hen ever&thin' is temporar& almost an&thin' 2 an& crime, an& form of violence 2 is accepta)le, )ecause the temporariness seemin'l& 'rants it a license, the license of the state of emer'enc&-6I 2his too mimics 4gam ens nightmare scenario with precision) a world in which nothing is fixed, nothing is clear, and the spaces of the exception constantly move and multiply# ;ere is another of the writers, >hristian Salmon, descri ing its orders as they roll in with the night and the fog) 12he3 order shifts li%e a swarm of locusts in the wa%e of another suicide attac%, li%e the onset of a sudden storm# 't might arrive at your doorstep li%e a delivery in the night, as &uic%ly as the tan%s can roll in5 or it may slip in slowly, li%e a shadow# 2he

order %eeps creeping along, surrounding villages and watering placesM# 2he order is furtive as well) li%e the roc%et launchers, it crushes and disintegrates space, transforming it into a frontier, into its of territory# 2his frontier paralyses the e and flow of transit instead of regulating it# 't no longer serves to protect, instead transforming all points into danger zones, all persons into living targets or suicide om ers ### 2he order here is meant to repress, displace, and disorganize# 'n 'srael and Palestine ali%e, the very concept of territory has ecome hostile, devoid of content or contours, ma%ing insecurity the norm# 'n the words of the 0rench poet JenN >har, !2o stifle distance is to %ill#"6G /ithin these zones of indistinction the provisions of the .eneva >onventions that prohi it 'srael from transferring its civilian population to the occupied territories continue to e disregarded# 2he same protocols that are supposed to protect Palestinians from torture, illegal detention, house demolition, deportation, and degradation, remain suspended# 4nd still this is not enough# 'n :une $77$, the Onesset passed the 'mprisonment of 'llegal >om atants @aw, which allows for indefinite detention without charge or trial of anyone elieved to ta%e part in hostile activity against 'srael, directly or indirectly# 2he symmetry, with 4mericas designation of captives from its war in 4fghanistan as !unlawful com atants," was deli erate# 2hese new measures considera ly widened the scope of existing provisions for administrative detention, which y the end of the year were eing used to hold over +,777 Palestinians in custody#6? 4nd in another show of contempt for the law, 'srael continues to carry out what it calls !extrajudicial %illings#" Since the start of the al#Aqsa %ntifada, 'sraeli security forces have assassinated at least sixty and pro a ly more than eighty Palestinian !targets#"6A 'n the zones of indistinction esta lished y 'sraels sovereign power, which asserts a monopoly of legitimate violence even as it suspends the law and a andons any responsi ility for civil society, 2he Palestinians are expected to o ey military orders from the State of 'srael, as if they were the laws of a Palestinian state# *ut the state that imposes those orders and whose army controls the territories, the land, the water resources, is not responsi le for the welfare of the Palestinians living in those territories# 't need not ehave li%e a normal state ###H7 'n this world wrenched upside down, 'srael suspends international law in the occupied territories while it criminalizes any act of Palestinian resistance to its

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Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 24:1 (2004)

illegal operations there# /hat can this e other than the space of the exceptionP 2hese torsions show that not all !third spaces" or !paradoxical spaces" are zones of emancipation# 2he space of the exception is not so much punctuated y crises as produced through them, and these ever-present assaults force a mutation in the position of those made su ject to them# 4 u 4udah has argued that long efore the Oslo process, ut intensified during its accommodations, 'srael sought !to transform the Palestinian people into inha itants# 2he difference," he explained, !is that people have national rights of sovereignty over their land, identity, independence, and freedom, while inha itants constitute a group of people with interests not exceeding gar age collection and earning a daily living#"H+ 3ut no( even the elemental forms of )are life are under acute threat# 'n the countryside, Palestinian villages and fields have een pulverized y the military) houses demolished, reservoirs destroyed, olive groves uprooted# 2he writers delegation visited a village razed to the ground y the 'E0 and wal%ed among the ru le of ulldozed homes) Exercise oo%s, %itchen utensils, and a tooth rush were strewn a out, signs of life reduced to pieces# One woman told us that residents were given five minutes to leave their homes in the middle of the night# 2he ulldozers returned several times to Bfinish the jo M 9ounted high atop the watchtowers, infrared machine guns watch over the wasteland# 2here are no soldiers a out# 4t night, the guns fire automatically as soon as any lights are turned on#H$ 2his is a lea% reversal of the Fionist imaginary of the tower and stoc%ade settlements# 2he land that they elieved they would transform from !wilderness" into !civilization" has een laid waste y their own ,armored- ulldozers# 't is as though the very earth has een turned into an enemy# Palestinian towns and cities have fared no etter# 2hey have een smashed y 'sraeli missiles and om s, y tan%s and armored ulldozers# 2he o jective is to suppress what ;enri @efe vre called !the right to the city" through a campaign of coerced de-modernization# !Dr icide is Sharons war strategy," argues 0irstname Stephen .raham# !;is main purpose is to deny the Palestinian people their collective, individual, and cultural rights to the cityased modernity long enjoyed y 'sraelis#" H8 'n the past, this process had proceeded y stealth, through a series of discriminatory planning and uilding regulations that prevented Palestinian construction and authorized demolition of Palestinian homes# Dnder this asymmetric system of law enforcement,

Palestinian !facts on the ground" were erased with almost machine-li%e efficiency) coolly, dispassionately, ruthlessly# *ut, since the spring of $77$, the legal fictions that permitted these erasures have increasingly een dispensed with# 'n the space of the exception the law ( even discriminatory law ( suspends itself# Serge Schlemann reported that the 'E0s spasm of destruction had created a landscape of devastation from *ethlehem to :enin# !2here is no way to assess the full extent of the latest damage to the cities and towns ( Jamallah, *ethlehem, 2ul%arm, Qal&ilya, <a lus and :enin ( while they remain under a tight siege," he continued, ! ut it is safe to say that the infrastructure of life itself and of any future Palestinian state ( roads, schools, electricity pylons, water pipes, telephone lines - has een devastated#" H6 2a%en together, these are collective assaults in city and in countryside not only on what 4gam en calls politically &ualified life, on the integrity of Palestinian civil society and on the formation of a Palestinian state, ut on what he calls ! are life" itself# 4s 9ahmoud Earwish declared, !2he occupation does not content itself with depriving us of the primary conditions of freedom, ut goes on to deprive us of the )are essentials of a di'nified human life , y declaring constant war on our odies, and our dreams, on the people and the homes and the trees, and y committing crimes of war M"HH 2he hideous o jective of Sharons government, which it scarcely others to hide any longer, is to reduce homo sacer to the a ject despair of der Muselman# 2his is truly shoc%ing# 4er Muselman is a figure from the <azi concentration camps ( it means, with deeply depressing significance, !2he 9uslim" ( who was reduced to mere survival# 0ollowing Primo @evis horrifying memorial of 4uschwitz, 4gam en writes that der Muselman !no longer elongs to the world of men in any way5 he does not even elong to the threatened and precarious world of the camp inha itants M 9ute and a solutely alone, he has passed into another world without memory and without grief# ;e moves in an a solute indistinction of fact and law, of life and juridical rule#"HI 2he Sharon regime would understanda ly not invo%e this figure y name) and yet it is exceptionally difficult to avoid seeing its haunted, hollowed-out shadows flic%ering in the dar%ness of the zones of indistinction that have een so deli erately, systematically and cruelly produced in the occupied territories# 't is in the Palestinian refugee camps, the nomos of 'sraels colonial present, that this project finds the purest expression of its violence# 'n one of her letters from Jamallah, written as she waited for the next 'sraeli attac%, suspended in the silence that

.regory) Palestine and the ar on !error"

$7

terrifies y the certainty that it will e shattered, :ayyusi anticipated the even greater terror that awaited those in the refugee camps) Eown there in the refugee camps, they will receive the fury that inha its the fear ( and animates the will to crush ( that the colonizer always vents# 2hey will receive the depleted uranium, the heavy missiles, the columns of tan%s smashing through the small alleys5 the army which will ore through the walls of the close ordered houses5 down there the real attle, the ig toll, will e had# 2he refugee camps are the very mar% of our condition# 2hey are the sign of the original deed which catapulted us all into this unending journey, the em odiment of what might have een, what was, what could e, the ody which must e dismem ered for so many to reathe lightly, rest ac% in comfort# 2his ody within our ody is the representation of our memoryM /ho will lie leeding tonight while am ulances are prevented from reaching themP ;ow many will die hereP ;ow many will e led away, li%e they were yesterday in Qal&ilya5 all males etween the ages of fifteen and fifty rounded up, lindfolded, their arms mar%ed with num ers# 4lways the mar%ing# Stripped, interrogated and eaten, led away for more to the place of concentration#HG Still the detentions and demolitions, the collective punishments and individual humiliations, grind on# Still the %illing continues# *etween Septem er $777 and :anuary $778 *2selem, the 'sraeli >enter for ;uman Jights in the Occupied 2erritories, estimated that more than +,G77 Palestinians had een %illed y the 'E0 in the occupied territories, and a further twenty-five y illegal 'sraeli settlers# 58 4nd yet, despite these enormities, and despite the failures and frustrations of the %ntifada itself, Palestinians have refused to e cowed, disciplined, dehumanized5 they have refused to surrender their collective memories or to silence their collective grief5 they have refused to colla orate with or consent to their own erasure# 4nd, as Earwish affirmed, they are ( somehow ( still animated y hope, which is itself a form of resistance) ;ope in a normal life where we are neither heroes nor victims# ;ope that our children will go safely to their schools# ;ope that a pregnant woman will give irth to a living a y, at the hospital, and not a dead child in front of a military chec%point5 hope that our poets will see the eauty of the color red in roses rather than in lood5 hope that this land will ta%e up its original name) the land of love and peace#HA

!dentities and oppositions 't is hard to imagine how any people can withstand such atrocities, ut it eggars elief that, in the face of these multiple horrors and humiliations, 4merican support for 'srael should have continued to grow# !;ow can we credi ly continue to search for and destroy the remaining al#$aeda terrorists in 4fghanistan and throughout the world," Senator :oseph @ie erman as%ed a Eemocratic convention in 0lorida, !while demanding that the 'sraelis stop doing exactly thatP"I7 !On Septem er ++," Eeputy Secretary of Eefense Paul /olfowitz told a pro-'srael rally in /ashington, !every 4merican understood what it is li%e to live in :erusalem or <etanya or ;aifa#" *ut when he added that !'sraelis are not the only victims of the violence in the 9iddle East, innocent Palestinians are suffering and dying in great num ers as well," he was ooed and jeered# I+ 0inally, on $ 9ay $77$, oth the Senate and the ;ouse of Jepresentatives passed motions expressing solidarity with 'srael , y A6-$ and 8H$-$+ respectively-# 2he then Eemocrat-led Senate affirmed that the D# S# and 'srael !are now engaged in a common struggle against terrorism"5 condemned Palestinian suicide om ings5 supported 'sraeli incursions into Palestinian towns and refugee camps as !necessary steps to provide security to its people y dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas," and called upon the Palestinian 4uthority to fulfill its commitment to do the same5 and declared that the D# S# would !continue to assist 'srael in strengthening its homeland defenses#" @ie erman was explicit) !'srael has een under siege from a systematic and deli erate campaign of suicide and homicide attac%s y terrorists# !heir essence is identical to the attac,s on our countr& of Septem)er 55-"I$ 2he claim to an identity etween attac%s on the Dnited States and attac%s on 'srael has had exceptionally grave conse&uences for any attempt to understand political violence# 2here are fundamental differences etween al#$aeda and ;amas, etween the 2ali an and the Palestinian 4uthority, ut the rhetorical fusion of 4mericas AC++ and 'sraels $ Eecem er has given *ush and Sharon carte )lanche to erase them# 4s a result, !terrorism" has een made polymorphous# /ithout defined shape or determinate roots, its mantle can e cast over an& form of resistance to sovereign power# 2his has allowed the Sharon regime to advance its colonial project not through appeals to Fionism alone, to the 9essianic mission of !redeeming" the i lical heartlands of :udea and Samaria ,though this has y no means lost its ideological force-, ut also ( crucially for its international constituency ( as another front in a

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Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 24:1 (2004)

generalized, rationalized !war on terrorism#" 2his has in turn sustained the deception, so assiduously fostered y right-wing ideologues, that terrorism can e suppressed without reference to the historicogeographical conditions that frame it# *enjamin <etanyahus repeated insistence that !2he root cause of terrorism lies not in grievance ut in a disposition toward un ridled violence" has een endorsed y oth the *ush and Sharon administrations# 't conveniently exempts their own actions from scrutiny and a solves them of anything other than a restless, roving military response#I8 't is as though, y virtue of the de-realization of Palestine, a project reaching ac% over fifty years, the roots of Palestinian violence ( the dispossession of the Palestinian people, the dispersal of refugees, and the horrors of military occupation ( have een torn up with their olive-groves# Liolence must e lodged in their genes, not in the geographies to which they have een so rutally su jected# 2he misadventures of 4merican foreign policy5 'sraels continuing colonial dispossession of the Palestinians5 and most of all the connections etween the two) none of these have a place in the calculated a stractions of righteousness# 2he *ush and Sharon administrations continue to perform their own !.od-tric%" of seeing the face of Evil everywhere except in their own loo%ing-glasses# 2his tric% not only mirrors in @adens ideology, it also ultimately serves the interests of al#$aeda# <either AC++ nor $ Eecem er mar%ed the end of transnational terrorism# 'n Octo er $77$, a discothe&ue and a nightclu were om ed in *ali, murdering over +?7 people and injuring 877 more# Jeports suggested that the attac% was the wor% of *emaah %slami&ah, a militant group with lin%s to al# $aeda that see%s to esta lish a pan-'slamic state in South East 4sia# @ess than two wee%s later, >hechen guerillas too% hundreds of hostages in a 9oscow theater, demanding the withdrawal of Jussian troops from their homeland) special forces stormed the uilding, %illing all forty-one guerillas and leaving more than +$7 hostages dead from the effects of narcotic gas# 4t the end of <ovem er, an 'sraeliowned hotel in 9om asa was om ed, murdering eighteen people, and two missiles were fired at an 'sraeli charter jet as it too% off for 2el 4viv# 't was widely reported that the attac%s were the wor% of al# $aeda affiliates in East 4frica# On the same day, at *eit Shean in northern 'srael, two Palestinian gunmen murdered six 'sraelis and wounded many more as they waited to vote in a @i%ud primary# 4fter these atrocities an 'sraeli government spo%esman affirmed) !/hether in <ew =or% or /ashington, *ali or 9oscow, 9om asa or *eit Shean, terrorism is

indivisi le, and all attempts to understand it will only ensure its continuation#"I6 On the contrary, it is precisely the failure to discriminate, the refusal to understand ( worse, the determination to discredit and disa le any attempt to understand ( that will ensure the continuation of terrorism# 2errorism cannot e reduced to circumstances5 ut neither can it e severed from them# 4nd understanding does not move in the Euclidean space of the hermeneutic circle# 't has to move in the folds and torsions of the power-topologies that ' have descri ed here# :onathan 0reedland once descri ed the 'sraelis and Palestinians as inha iting !parallel universes, where the same set of facts has two entirely different meanings depending where you stand#"IH *ut this assumes that !different meanings" are somehow separa le from the differential ela orations of power in which they are involved# 't su stitutes an e&uivalence ,!parallel universes"- for the palpa le asymmetry etween the military and economic might of 'srael, supported y D# S# aid and armaments, and the ro%en- ac%ed, rag-tag resources left for the Palestinians# Dntil these differences are recognized, *ush and Sharon will continue to fight their mirror-wars with impunity, elieving ( li%e in @aden and others li%e him ( in the indiscriminate categorization of whole populations and in the indiscriminate use of violence against them# 2his is the colonial present, whose awful terminus was evo%ed with chilling economy y the crazed Ourtz at the end of >onrads .eart of 4ar,ness) !Exterminate the rutesR" 2here is a further twist) these power-topologies fold in as well as out# 2hrough the !war on terror," what .hassan ;age calls a !pho ic culture" has een enlarged to the point where) Everything and everywhere is perceived as a order from which a potentially threatening other can leap M 't is a com ination of a warring and a siege mentality, which y necessity emphasizes the eradication of a potentially menacing other# 'n a warCsiege culture, the understanding of the other is a luxury that cannot e afforded5 on the contrary, the divisions etween Ds and 2hem are further emphasized# /ar emphasizes the otherness of the other and divides the world etween friends and enemies and good and evil#II 4gam en was right to worry that the !war on terror" would e invo%ed so routinely that the exception would ecome the rule, that the law would e forever suspending itself#67 Since the AC++ attac%s, the *ush administration has curtailed democratic freedoms in at least three domestic arenas) circumventing federal and international law5 suppressing pu lic information5 and

.regory) Palestine and the ar on !error"

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discriminating against visi le minorities# Even the conservative >ato 'nstitute has o jected to the proliferation of !secretive su poenas, secretive arrests, secretive trials, and secretive deportations#" 68 *ut this series of exceptions is consistent with ( and legitimized y ( the imaginative geographies of !civilization" and ! ar arism" that were mo ilized y the /hite ;ouse# 2hey articulated !a constant and mutual production of the civilized and the savage throu'hout the social circuitry" and produced !a constant scrutiny of those who ear the sign of Bdormant terrorist and activate1d3 a policing of points of vulnera ility against an enemy who 1supposedly3 inheres within the space of the D# S#" 69 2he !securitization" of civil society has spread eyond 4merica as other states have invo%ed the generalized !war on terror" to legitimize their own suppressions, suspensions and exceptions#70 2his too is the colonial present, ecause these spacings are all mirror-images of the !wild zones" of the colonial imagination# !2he national security state," Susan *uc%-9orss notes, !is called into existence with the sovereign pronouncement of a Bstate of emergency and generates a wild zone of power, ar aric and violent, operating without democratic oversight, in order to com at an Benemy that threatens the existence not merely and not mainly of its citizens, ut of its sovereignty#"71 4fter AC++, many commentators proclaimed that !we are all <ew =or%ers#" Perhaps ( in this sense at least ( we are all potentially Palestinians too#

&OTE' 2his essay was first pu lished as !Eefiled cities," Sin'apore *ournal of !ropical 6eo'raph& $6)8 ,$778-) 87G-$I5 ' am grateful to @ouise >ain%ar for the invitation to present it to a different audience, and to the editors of the S*!6 and *lac%well Pu lishing for permission to repu lish it here# ' provide an extended version of the argument, in relation to 4fghanistan, Palestine and 'ra&, in !he Colonial Present ,Oxford) *lac%well, $776-# 2 >f# Salah ;assan, !Dnderta%ing partition) Palestine and postcolonial studies," *ournal 0 ,$77+-) +A-6H5 Eenis Oandiyoti, !Post-colonialism compared) potentials and limitations in the 9iddle East and >entral 4sia," %nternational *ournal Middle East Studies 86 ,$77$-) $GA-$AG# 3 Edward Said, 7rientalism ,@ondon) Penguin, +AG?-, H6-A# 4 .illian Jose, !Performing space," in .uman 'eo'raph& toda&, eds# Eoreen 9assey, :ohn 4llen and Phillip Sarre ,>am ridge, DO) Polity Press, +AAA-, $6G-$HA# 5 >f# ;omi *ha ha, !he location of culture ,@ondon) Joutledge, +AA6-, $+A# :udith *utler descri es the conditional, creative possi ilities of performance as !a relation of eing implicated in that which one opposes, 1yet3 turning power against itself to produce alternative political modalities, to esta lish a %ind of political contestation that is not a Bpure opposition ut a difficult la or of forging a future from resources inevita ly impure#" 3odies that matter ,@ondon and <ew =or%) Joutledge, +AA8-, $6+# 6 See also >amille 9ansour, !2he impact of ++ Septem er on the 'sraeli-Palestinian conflict," *ournal of Palestine Studies 8+ ,$77$-) H-+?# 7 4chille 9 em e, !<ecropolitics," Pu)lic culture +H ,$778-) ++-67# ' accept many of 9 em es formulations, ut his discussion passes over the voices and actions of the Palestinians themselves5 while the spaces within which and through which they spea% and act have indeed een compromised ( shattered and splintered ( they have not een erased# 2he relation etween !politically &ualified life" and ! are life" is discussed in .iorgio 4gam en, .omo sacer8 soverei'n po(er and )are life ,trans# Eaniel ;eller-Joazen- ,Stanford) Stanford Dniversity Press, +AA?5 first pu lished in +AAH-# ' return to his ideas throughout this essay# 8 Suzanne .olden erg, !'sraeli tan%s invade two /est *an% towns," 6uardian ,+8 Septem er $77+-5 Philip :aco son, !Sharon is urged to crush 4rafat Bonce and for all," 4ail& !ele'raph ,+I Septem er $77+-# 9 0lore de PrNneuf, !'sraels pivotal role," at Swww#salon#comT, +G Septem er $77+# 10 Edward Said, !>ollective passion," Al#Ahram ,$7-$I Septem er $77+-5 Said, !4 people in need of leadership," Ne( 9eft Revie( ++ ,Septem er-Octo er $77+-) $G-88# 11 :ulian *orger, !D# S# ac%s state for Palestine," 6uardian ,8 Octo er $77+-5 Suzanne .olden erg and :ulian *orger, !0urious *ush hits ac% at Sharon," 6uardian ,I Octo er $77+-5 :ane Perlez and Oatharine Seelye, !4 nation challenged," Ne( +or, !imes ,I Octo er $77+-# 12 2anya Jeinhart, %srael:Palestine ,<ew =or%) Seven Stories Press, $77$-, +7H5 Suzanne .olden erg, !Sharon on collision course with 4merica," 6uardian ;+$ Octo er $77+-5 .olden erg, !Sharon defies D# S# demand to retreat," 6uardian ,$6 Octo er $77+-# 13 Jema ;ammami, !'ntifada in the aftermath," Middle East Report Press 'nformation <otice G6, $77+# Swww#merip#orgCmeroCmero+7877+#html, 87 Octo er $77+T ,$7 4ugust $776-# 14 Jeinhart, %srael:Palestine, +8A-+6+# 15 Suzanne .olden erg, !>arnage as suicide om s hit :erusalen," 6uardian ,$ Eecem er $77+-5 Joland /atson, !*ush hands tied as Sharon joins war on terror," !imes ,6 Eecem er $77+-# 16 Suzanne .olden erg, !>arnage as suicide om s hit :erusalem," 6uardian ,$ Eecem er $77+-5 .olden erg, !4fter +8 hours of carnage, $I lie dead and ceasefire hopes uried," 6uardian ,8 Eecem er $77+-5 Joland /atson, !*ush hands tied as Sharon joins war on terror," !imes ,6 Eecem er $77+-5 Seumas 9ilne, !2argeting 4rafat is not the answer," 6uardian ,I Eecem er $77+-5 .ary =ounge, !@ots of wars on terror," 6uardian ,+7 Eecem er $77+-# 17 Suzanne .olden erg, !>arnage as suicide om s hit :erusalem," 6uardian ,$ Eecem er $77+-5 Joland /atson, !*ush hands tied as Sharon joins war on terror," !imes ,6 Eecem er $77+-# 18 4nton @a .uardia, !*ush says 4rafat is ac%ing terrorism," 4ail& !ele'raph ,$I :anuary $77$-5 Eelinda ;anley, !D# S# moves from condemnation to tacit approval of Sharons war on Palestinians," ashin'ton Report on Middle East Affairs $+)$ ,9arch $77$-# 19 .raham Dsher and *rian /hita%er, !'sraelis seize town in terror hunt," 6uardian ,$$ :anuary $77$-5 .reg 9yre, !'srael stri%es after roc%et attac%," 6uardian ,+G 0e ruary $77$-5 Suzanne .olden erg, !4ssault on refugee camps," 6uardian ,+ 9arch $77$-5 .olden erg, !'sraelis launch massive attac%," 6uardian ;+8 9arch $77$-# 20 Jeinhart, %srael:Palestine, +6?5 Suzanne .olden erg, !'srael turns its fire on 4rafat," 6uardian ,87 9arch $77$-# 21 4mnesty 'nternational, %srael and the occupied territories8 the heav& price of %sraeli incursions , 4pril $77$# Swww#amnesty#orgCai#nsfC'ndexC9EE+H76$$77$T ,$7 4ugust $776-# 22 Peter *eaumont, !Pull ac%, *ush orders Sharon," 7)server ,G 4pril $77$-5 Sarah @eft, !Sharon defies calls to end
1

offensive," 6uardian ,? 4pril $77$-# 23 Suzanne .olden erg, !2he lunar landscape that was the :enin refugee camp," 6uardian ,+I 4pril $77$-5 4mira ;ass, !/hat %ind of war is thisP" .a1aret/ ,$7 4pril $77$-5 >hris 9c.real and *rian /hita%er, !'srael accused over :enin assault," 6uardian ,$8 9ay $77$-# 24 ;uman Jights /atch estimated that at least fifty-two Palestinians had een %illed during the incursions5 twenty-two of them were civilians, many of whom were %illed willfully and unlawfully# !Palestinians were used as human shields and the 'E0 employed indiscriminate and excessive force") ;uman Jights /atch, *enin8 %4< militar& operations, 9ay $77$5 Swww#hrw#orgCreportsC$77$Cisrael+8CT ,$7 4ugust $776-5 see also 4mnesty 'nternational, .eav& price, and Shielded from scrutin& 2 %4< violations in *enin and Na)lus , <ovem er $77$# Swww#amnesty#orgCai#nsfC'ndexC9EE+H+68$77$T ,$7 4ugust $776-# 2here are plausi le reasons for treating these casualty figures as minima) see Jeinhart, %srael:Palestine, +H$G7# ;er dou ts have een reinforced y an analysis of satellite imagery ( see !:enin, Palestine 8$U $G8A"< 8HU +G$7"E" at Swww#glo alsecurity#orgC militaryCworldCpalestineCjeninVimagery#htmT ,$7 4ugust $776-, and y eyewitness reports) 'da 4udeh, !<arratives of siege) eyewitness testimonies from :enin, *ethlehem and <a lus," *ournal of Palestine Studies 8+)6 ,$77$-) +8-865 Jamzy *aroud, ed#, Searchin' *enin8 e&e(itness accounts of the %sraeli invasion ,Seattle, /4) >une Press, $778-# 25 Re)uildin' America1s 4efenses8 strate'&, forces and resources for a ne( centur& , Septem er $777, availa le at Swww#newamericancentury#orgT ,$7 4ugust $776-# 26 >amille 9ansour, !'sraels colonial impasse," *ournal of Palestine Studies 87 ,$77+-) ?8-?G# 27 Stephen .raham, !@essons in ur icide," Ne( 9eft Revie( +A ,$778- )I8-GG5 G+-G6# 28 Stephen .raham, !@essons in ur icide," G+-G6# 29 Eyal /eizman, !2he politics of verticality," at Swww#opendemocracy#netT, 4pril $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-# 30 =igal Shochat, !Jed line, .reen line, *lac% flag," in !he other %srael8 voices of refusal and dissent, eds# Joane >arey and :onathan Shainin ,<ew =or%) <ew Press, $77$-, +$I-+875 &uotation on +$G-?# 31 Scott 4nderson, !4n impossi le occupation," Ne( +or, !imes ,+$ 9ay $77$-# 32 See !>ourage to refuse" at Swww#seruv#org#ilT, and !Jefuser Solidarity <etwor%" at Swww#refusersolidarity#netT ,$7 4ugust $776-# 33 :oanne 9ariner, !Jefusing to fight in 'srael," Counterpunch ,$I Eecem er $77$-5 Oren =iftahel, !On refusal and geography," at Swww#seruv#org#ilC9ore4rticles#EnglishCOrenyifEngVgeo#htmT ,$7 4ugust $776-5 Susan Sontag, !2he power of principle," 6uardian ,$I 4pril $778-, ,my emphasis-# 34 Samuel ;untington, !he clash of civili/ations and the rema,in' of the (orld order ,<ew =or%) Simon and Schuster, +AAI-, $HI, $I65 Jo ert /istrich, !'t is a clash of civilizations," *erusalem Post ,+A Octo er $77+-5 2homas @# 0riedman, !2he hard truth," Ne( +or, !imes ,8 4pril $77$-# 35 *ara%s epithets are reported in :erome Slater, !/hat went wrongP 2he collapse of the 'sraeli-Palestinian peace process," Political Science $uarterl& ++I ,$77+-) +GG-+AA5 &uotation on +?7# 36 @ena :ayyusi, !@etters from the Palestinian .hetto, ?-+8 9arch $77$," Critical Arts +I ,$77$-) 6G-H$5 &uotation on H$# 37 4gam en, .omo sacer# 38 2anya Jeinhart, !.aza and the /est *an%) 'sraels present and future penal colonies," at Swww# opendemocracy#netT, +7 :uly $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-5 Jeinhart, %srael:Palestine, +?-+A# 39 'lan Pappe, !2he fence at the heart of Palestine," Al#Ahram ,++-+G :uly $77$-5 *2selem, 2he 'sraeli >enter for ;uman Jights in the Occupied 2erritories, Separation )arrier, at Swww# tselem#orgT, Septem er $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-5 Sune Segal, !2he *erlin /all," Palestine Monitor ,+6 Octo er $77$-5 'sa elle ;umphries, !*uilding a wall, sealing the occupation," Middle East Report Press 'nformation <otice +7G ,$A Septem er $77$-5 @4/ ,Palestinian Society for the Protection of ;uman Jights and the Environment-, %srael1s apartheid (all8 (e are here and the& are there , at @4/, Swww#law-society#orgT, <ovem er $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-5 :onathan >oo%, !Sharons real fence plan," Electronic intifada, $? 9arch $77840 4gam en, .omo sacer, $7# 41 2his phrase is ta%en from paragraph six of the petition to the Supreme >ourt of 'srael on ehalf of the eight reserve soldiers, at Swww#refusersolidarity#netCimagesCresourcesCzonsheine petition#pdfT ,$7 4ugust $776-# 42 4gam en, .omo sacer, +A# 43 :uan .oytisolo, !0rom <etanya to Jamallah," Palestine <ote oo%s, 4utodafe, the >ensored @i rary, SwwwCautodafe#orgT, 9arch $77$ ,my emphases-# 44 ;ammami, !'nterregnum) Palestine after Operation Eefensive Shield," Middle East Report $$8 ,Summer $77$-5 0oundation for 9iddle East Peace, Report on %sraeli settlement in the 7ccupied !erritories , +$)8 ,9ayC:une $77$-, 8-6# 45 'ris :ean-Olein, !<ationalism and resistance) the two faces of everyday activism in Palestine during the 'ntifada," Cultural Anthropolo'& +I ,$77+-) ?8-+$I# 46 4di Ophir, !4 time of occupation," in 7ther %srael, eds# >arey and Shainin, H+-II, &uotation on I7 ,my emphasis-#

>hristian Salmon, !2he ulldozer war," 9e monde diplomatique ,English edition-, 9ay $77$5 see also his !Sa reen, or patience," Palestine <ote oo%s, 4utodafe, the >ensored @i rary, SwwwCautodafe#orgT, 9arch $77$# 48 *2selem, !'mprisonment of 'llegal >om atants @aw," at Swww# tselem,org#englishC4dministrativeVEetentionC;ostageslaw#aspT, 9arch $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-# 49 4mnesty 'nternational, %srael and the occupied territories8 State assassination and other unla(ful ,illin's , at www#amnesty#org, 0e ruary $77+5 @4/ ,Palestinian Society for the Protection of ;uman Jights and the Environment-, E0tra#judicial e0ecutions durin' the Al#Aqsa %ntifada , 9arch $77+, at Swww#lawsociety#orgCJeportsCreportsC$77+Cextrajud#htmlT ,$7 4ugust $776- 5 >hris 2oensing and 'an Dr ina, !'srael, the D# S#, and Btargeted %illings,"Middle East Report 7nline, +G 0e ruary $778, Swww#merip#orgCmeroCmero7$+G78#htmlT ,$7 4ugust $776-# 50 4mira ;ass, !4lways a fighter, always a terrorist," .a1aret/ ,A Octo er $77$-# 'n wor,l-ds such as this the a use of language mar%s ( and mas%s - other a uses) see Paul de Jooij, !.lossary of occupation," Counterpunch at Swww#counterpunch#orgCrooijC7A+$#htmlT, +$ Septem er $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-# 51 4dnan 4 u 4udah, !'srael launches con&uest wars against Palestinians," at Swww#al awa a#comT, $? 4pril $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-# 52 Salmon, !Palestine from near and far#" 53 Stephen .raham, !>lean territory) ur icide in the /est *an%," at Swww#opendemocracy#netT, G 4ugust $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-5 .raham, !*ulldozers and om s) the latest Palestinian-'sraeli conflict as asymmetric ur icide," Antipode 86 ,$77$-) I6$-6A5 .raham, !@essons"5 see also >hris Smith, !Dnder the guise of security) house demolition in .aza," Middle East Report Press 'nformation <otice I8 ,+8 :uly $77+-, at Swww#merip#orgCmeroCmero7G+87+#htmlT ,$7 4ugust $776-# >f# ;enri @efe vre, 9e droit = la ville ,Paris) 4nthropos, +AI?-# 54 Serge Schemann, !4ttac%s turn Palestinian plans into ent metal and piles of dust," Ne( +or, !imes ,++ 4pril $77$- ,my emphasis-5 see also 4mira ;ass, !Eestruction and degradation," .a1aret/ ,I 9ay $77$-5 4nat 9ahar, !2he war to annihilate Palestinian civil society" at Selectronicintifada#netT, $A Eecem er $77$ ,$7 4ugust $776-# 55 9ahmoud Earwish, !/e have an incura le malady) hope," at Swww#autodafe#orgCcorrespondenceT ,$7 4ugust $776-# 56 4gam en, .omo sacer, +?6-H5 see also his Remnants of Ausch(it/8 the (itness and the archive ,trans# Eaniel ;ellerJoazen- ,<ew =or%) Fone, +AAA-# 57 :ayussi, !@etter," 6A-H7# >f# 4gam en, .omo sacer, +G6) !'f the essence of the camp consists in the materialization of the state of exception and in the su se&uent creation of a space in which are life and the juridical rule enter into a threshold of indistinction, then we must admit that we find ourselves virtually in the presence of a camp every time such a structure is created#M" 2he gap etween life in Palestinian cities ,most of all in East :erusalem- and life in the cramped alleyways and cinder- loc% homes of the camps has narrowed dramatically) see, for example, :ames *ennet, !Eim dreams and life in <a lus," Ne( +or, !imes ,$A Eecem er $77$-5 4mira ;ass, !*reeding grounds of despair and fatigue," .a1aret/ ,87 Eecem er $77$-# 58 *2selem, 2he 'sraeli 'nformation >enter for ;uman Jights in the Occupied 2erritories, <atalities in the al#Aqsa %ntifada, >? Septem)er >@@@ 2 >A 4ecem)er >@@>, at Swww# tselem#orgCEnglishCStatisticsC4lV4&saV0atalities#aspT ,$7 4ugust $776-# Over the same period *2selem estimates that +G+ 'sraeli civilians had een %illed y Palestinians in the occupied territories and a further $G$ within 'srael5 +6+ mem ers of the 'E0 had een %illed in the occupied territories and a further sixty-three within 'srael# 59 Earwish, !'ncura le malady"5 .raham Dsher, !0acing defeat) the %ntifada two years on," *ournal of Palestine Studies 8$)$ ,$778-) $+-67# 60 :oe @ie erman, !Jemar%s at the 0lorida State Eemocratic Party conference," transcript, +6 4pril $77$ at www#gwu#eduPWactionC$776Clie ermanClie 76+67$spt#html ,$7 4ugust $776-# 61 P# 9itchell Prothero, !;ard-line 'sraeli supporters oo /olfowitz," ashin'ton !imes ,+H 4pril $77$-5 Steve 2womey, !2housands rally for 'srael," ashin'ton Post ,+I 4pril $77$-# 62 !>ongress shows support for 'srael," at Sc snews#comCstoriesC$77$C7HC7$T ,$7 4ugust $776-# 63 *enjamin <etanyahu, !2errorism) how the /est can win," in <etanyahu, ed#, !errorism8 ho( the est can (in ,<ew =or%) 0arrar, Straus, .iroux, +A?I-, +AA-$$I5 &uotation on $76# 'n his !Eefining terrorism," ,G-+H-, <etanyahu also attri utes terrorism to !the political am itions and designs of expansionist states," and notes that terrorists erode !the crucial distinction etween com atant and non-com atant" and !often engage in assassination of a societys leaders") he does not of course recognize that these three claims apply a fortiori to 'sraels attac%s on the occupied territories# 64 :onathan 0reedland, !0or 'sraelis ( and :ews ( fear is now international," 6uardian ,$A <ovem er $77$-5 :ames *ennet, !0ight against terror) two conflicts or oneP" Ne( +or, !imes ,$A <ovem er $77$-# 65 :onathan 0reedland, !Parallel universes," 6uardian ,+G 4pril $77$-# 66 .hassan ;age, !>omes a time when we are all enthusiasm") understanding Palestinian suicide om ers in times of exighopho ia," Pu)lic culture +H ,$778-) IH-?A# 67 .eorgio 4gam en, !Security and terror," !heor& and event H)6 ,$77$-#
47

!0or whom the @i erty *ell tolls," Economist ,$A 4ugust $77$-5 Eavid >ole, !Enemy aliens and 4merican freedoms," !he Nation ,$8 Septem er $77$-# 69 Paul Passavant and :odi Eean, !Jepresentation and the event," !heor& and event H)6 ,$77$-# 70 Oanish%a :asuriya, !Septem er ++, security and the new post-li eral politics of fear," in Critical vie(s of Septem)er 55, eds- Eric ;ersh erg and Oevin 9oore ,<ew =or%) <ew Press, $77$-, +8+-+6G5 *Xlent Ei%en, >arsten *asse @austsen, !Fones of indistinction) security, terror and are life," Space and culture H ,$77$-) $A7-87G# 71 Susan *uc%-9orss, !4 glo al pu lic sphereP" Situation Anal&sis + ,$77$-) +7-+A#
68