El Kurd Dana - Polarized and Demobilized

POLARIZED AND DEMOBILIZED

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Dana El Kurd, 2019

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Dana El Kurd

Title: Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine

ISBN 9780190095864 (print)

ISBN 9780197524138 (epub)

ISBN 9780197524121 (epdf)

Dedicated to Dad, Luai, and Qais RaufI hope I make you proud

This book has been in the making for a few years now, and of course nothing is achieved in a vacuum. Without the support of many people at various points in this manuscripts existence, I would not have been able to complete the task and actually see it in print.

First, to those who facilitated the original fieldwork: thank you to my dissertation advisor Dr Zoltan Barany for his support throughout graduate school. The obstacles were many, but I was able to complete the PhD thanks to him. Thank you also to my entire committee for the feedback on the original project from which this book was developed.

Secondly, I would like to thank my uncle Dr Abdallah Al-Kurd for giving me access to the PAs institutions and helping me throughout my fieldwork stays. Thank you also to the rest of my extended family for opening their homes to me and hosting me whenever I stopped byespecially my grandmother, Najah al-Tahhan. Palestine will always be home thanks to them.

At Birzeit University, I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr Ghada al-Madbouh and Dr Helga Baumgarten for hosting me in their departments and giving me access to the Birzeit student population. It was also especially comforting to commiserate with Dr Ghada about fieldwork and being an Arab in academia whenever we saw each otherI very much appreciated the support and camaraderie. Thank you also to Dr Murad Shaheen, Dr Tariq Dana, and Dr Emad Bishtawi for giving me access to their classes and being generous with their time.

At the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, I would like to thank Hamada Jaber for facilitating my research and tolerating my many emails and constant changes in schedule. Thank you also to the researchers at PCPSR, especially Waleed Ladadweh for his help with the data.

I would also like to thank the employees of the Palestinian Authoritys institutions that made time for me to interview them. They provided extensive information, and I could not have written the dissertation without their expertise. In Palestinian society today (particularly within the diaspora, far removed from realities on the ground), it is easy to dismiss those who work for the PA as traitors and collaborators with the Israeli occupation. It has in fact become common to dichotomize reality: traitors and collaborators on one end, and heroes and resistance on the other. But I would like to make it clear here that while PA leadership bears a lot of responsibility for the situation Palestinians are in today, this blame is not equally shared. This book is not intended as an expos of the Palestinian Authority. Those who work within the PA, even some of the decision-makers, are not traitors or collaborators. They are victims of their circumstances, often having given their lives and futures for the Palestinian cause. The PA provides them with their only chance at normalcy after years of Israeli repression. This book tells the story of how members of the PA became divorced from their own people in spite of their intentions.

As I worked on transforming this into a book project, I was supported by my supervisors and colleagues at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. In particular, thank you to Dr Mohammad al-Masri for encouraging me to submit this manuscript as a part of the Arab Center book series, and for giving me the time and space to complete the revisions. Thank you also to all my colleagues who attended my seminar on this project or have seen various parts of it, and who have provided feedback throughout the past two years.

I would also be remiss if I did not thank the Project on Middle East Political Science, particularly the organizers and attendees of the POMEPS book workshop in November 2018. Getting detailed feedback on my manuscript at that crucial time helped prepare it for the review process, and I am very grateful for the opportunity. Thanks also to Dr Amaney Jamal, Dr Nathan Brown, and Dr Sean Yom for being generous with their time and giving consistently helpful feedback.

At Hurst, thank you to Farhaana for her patience with me throughout the publication process. Thank you to OUP for sending this out to anonymous reviewers, and thank you to those reviewers for their input. The feedback significantly strengthened the final product.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family. Thank you to my father, Saed Kurd, for encouraging me to complete my PhD, and playing a pivotal role in my academic career. I am where I am due to his sacrifices and hard work. Thank you to baby Qais for brightening my life and putting everything in perspective. And, most importantly, I would like to thank my partner and colleague Luai Allarakia. Both his academic and logistical advice were invaluable, and I am deeply grateful to him for his love and encouragement. Truly, this book would not exist if not for him.

Ayed is a political activist from a modest background. He grew up in a West Bank village under occupation and did not have the opportunity to emigrate for work or higher education. He was in his late teens when the first intifada erupted in late December 1987. As a member of Fatahs political arm, Ayed organized protests against the occupation. For his efforts, he was imprisoned for thirty years in Ofer military prison. But in the late 1990s, Ayeds luck turned around. As part of a deal with the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority (PA)the new Palestinian governmentwas able to secure Ayeds release.

Ayed returned to Palestinian society but soon realized that much of the conditions of occupation remained exactly the same. He attempted a return to activism and was involved for some time in organizing protests and sit-ins. He could not, however, find institutional support for his activism. There were few organizations in place to facilitate coordination, and Ayed felt like he was getting nowhere. The PA itself did not seem interested in supporting such actions and encouraged him to take a bureaucratic position in its interior ministry instead. Facing economic hardship and unable to find alternative work, Ayed agreed. Today, Ayed talks of the past and looks at his personal situation as symptomatic of the Palestinian struggle. We come here and pretend to work, he says, but we are only pencil pushers. He is unhappy with the PAs policies but can do little to challenge them, especially because he is dependent on them as a source of income.