Email this article 
Hide
Show all
THE WORTHLESSNESS OF PALESTINIANS: THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES, CAMP, HOMO SACER AND ISRAELI DEATH POLICY
Abstract
This article discusses the meaning of human rights reports about violence, Israeli violations and death of civilians on West Bank and Gaza Strip on the new millennia. The concepts of camp and homo sacer - together with Yiftachel, Hajjar and Gordon reflections on Israeli occupation and legality - help to consider the way Palestinian life is easily taken off and to understand this specific situation and the reports. At the same time, use this theoretical framework to read the sources of analysis forces us to look better the differences between the two occupied territories until the Protective Edge operation (2014).The human rights reports of UN and NGOs analyzed on this article show the lack of legal protection of the occupied Palestinian population, exposed to sheer, indiscriminate and unpunished violence, practiced both by Israeli civilians (settlers) and state agents. Rather than an isolated case, an alleged exception in a context of global advancement of legal protection of vulnerable populations, disrespect for international humanitarian law and international human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories reflects the large distance to be covered until the practical implementation of international instruments of protection. The Middle East conflict corroborates Giorgio Agamben thesis that, in present days, the legal exception became the rule and part of world population as homo sacer is submitted to violent death and to all kinds of abuse and rights violations.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
ADALAH, (n.d.) Adalah website. Retrieved from http://adalah.org/features/gaza/fatmeh%20speech%20hr%20council.pdf.
Agamben, G. (2007).‘Homo Sacer: o poder soberano e a vida nua’ (Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life). Editora UFMG, Belo Horizonte.
Agamben, G. (2004). ‘Estado de exceção’ (State of Exception). Boitempo (São Paulo).
Al-Haq. (2007, September 23). ‘Israel declares Gaza “enemy entity”’. The Eletronic Intifada (Chicago), Retrieved from http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-declares-gaza-enemy-entity/3282.
Amnesty International, Israel/Gaza. (2009). ‘Operation “Cast Lead”: 22 days of death and destruction’. Amnesty International Publications (London), Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/48000/mde150152009en.pdf
Amnesty International. (2014). ‘Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank’. Amnesty International Publications (London), Retrieved from http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/trigger-happy-israeli-army-and-police-use-reckless-force-west-bank-2014-02-27.
‘Army closes investigation into the killing of 21 members of the a-Samuni family in Gaza’. (2012, May 1). B'Tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories). Retrieved from http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20120501_samuni_investigation_closed.
Beaumont, P. (2014, May 25). ‘Ramallah father: I want to believe that the boy soldier who shot dead my son seeks forgiveness’. The Guardian (London), Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/25/palestinian-territories-ramallah-nadeem-suwara.
Burston, B. (2007, September 19). ‘Analysis: Gaza as a “hostile territory” – a decision in the dark’. Haaretz (Tel Aviv [city of Israel]), Retrieved from: http://www.haaretz.com/news/analysis-gaza-as-a-hostile-territory-a-decision-in-the-dark-1.229647.
Foucault, M. (2008). Segurança, território, população (Security, Territory, Population). São Paulo: Martins Fontes.
Levy, G. (2014, August 30). ‘THE IDF’s real face’. Haaretz (Tel Aviv), Retrieved from http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.613212.
Gordon, N. (2008). Israel’s Occupation. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Hajjar, L. (2005). Courting conflict: the Israeli military court system in the West Bank and Gaza. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Heyer, J. (2014, July 25). ‘Há todas as condições para radicalização do conflito, diz ex-chefe israelense sobre Gaza’ (There are all conditions for radicalization of the conflict, says former Israeli chief over Gaza), Portal UOL (São Paulo), Retrieved from http://noticias.uol.com.br/internacional/ultimas-
noticias/derspiegel/2014/07/25/ha-todas-as-condicoes-para-uma-explosao-radical-diz-ex-chefe-israelense-sobre-gaza.htm.
Issacharoff, A., Ravid, B, & Shamir, S. (2007, September 20). ‘Cabinet declares Gaza “hostile territory”’. Haaretz (Tel Aviv), Retrieved from http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/cabinet-declares-gaza-hostile-territory-1.229665.
Khalidi, M. (2010). ‘The Most Moral Army in the World: The New “Ethical Code” of the Israeli Military and the War on Gaza’. Journal of Palestine Studies (Washington), XXXIX (3), 10-13.
Levy, G. (2014, August 30). ‘THE IDF’s real face’. Haaretz (Tel Aviv), Retrieved from http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.613212
Li, D. (2006). ‘The Gaza Strips as Laboratory: Notes in the Wake of Disengagement’. Journal of Palestine Studies (Washington), XXXV (2), 38–55.
‘Promoting impunity: the Israeli military’s failure to investigate wrong doing’. (2005, June). Human Rights Watch, Retrieved from: http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/iopt0605/iopt0605text.pdf.
Razoux, P. (2006). Tsahal: nouvelle histoire de l’armée israélienne (Tsahal: New History of the Israeli Army ). Paris: Perrin.
Ruiz, C. (2007). ‘As estratégias do (bio) poder na inclusão/excludente da vida humana’ (The (bio) power strategies in the exclusionary inclusion of human life). Revista Ethica (Florianópolis), XIV (2), 11-39.
Said, E. (1992). The Question of Palestine. New York: Vintage Books Edition.
UN Fact Finding Mission, Human Rights Council. (2009). Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. Retrieved from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf.
Yesh Din. (2013a, July). ‘MPCID Investigations into the Circumstances surrounding the Death of Palestinians: Convictions and Penalties.’ Retrieved from:http://www.yesh-din.org/userfiles/file/datasheets/data%20sheet%20july%202013/ICAP%20Death%20cases%20investigations%20and%20indictments_July%202013_ENG.pdf.
Yesh Din. (2013b, January). ‘Law Enforcement upon IDF Soldiers in the Territories’. Retrieved from: http://www.yesh-din.org/userfiles/file/datasheets/Law%20Enforcement%20upon%20-%202012.pdf.
Yesh Din. (n.d.). Yesh Din website. Retrieved from: http://www.yesh-din.org/cat.asp?catid=2.
Yiftachel, O. (2006). Ethnocracy: Land and Identity Politics in Israel/Palestine. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Zizek, S. (2003). ‘Bem-vindo ao deserto do real!:cincoensaios sobre o 11 de setembro e datas relacionadas’ (translation [Welcometothe Deserto of the Real! Five Essays on September 11 and Related Dates]). Boitempo (São Paulo).
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2015 Fabio B. Sahd
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Journal of South Asian Studies
ISSN: 2307-4000 (Online), 2308-7846 (Print)
© EScience Press. All Rights Reserved.