The two most significant chapters – among a series of chapters in which all is significant – were the last two chapters on "Outsourcing the Occupation" and "The Separation Principle".
Briefly, "Outsourcing the Occupation" discusses the Oslo Agreements and how they arose from the First Intifada and then created the conditions necessary for the Second Intifada. In brief, Oslo signified the failure of "normalization" and became the new means to gain control of the land, outsourcing the control of the population to the newly created Palestinian Authority. While seemingly successful at first, the "excesses and contradictions" built into the structure and modes of occupation created new conditions that developed a stronger armed resistance to occupation. The PA was eventually disempowered, while the control of land continued, mainly through the settlements and the variety of infrastructures supporting them (military zones, bypass roads, the wall).
"The Separation Principle" discusses the end result of the change from a colonialist occupation seeking to normalize the population while owning the resources to that of a separation principle that ignores the population constrained within its greatly reduced cantons while extracting and possessing maximum benefit from the greater part of the occupied land.
Primary Contradiction
The primary contradiction to all Israeli actions and policies is that of denying the unity of the people and the land, "the attempt to separate the people and their land." Separation is not a withdrawal of power from the OT, "but is used to blur the fact that Israel has been reorganizing its power in the territories to continue its control over their resources...and should be understood as the continuation of the occupation by other means." With that is Israel's turn to overpowering violence and destruction on both the people and what little infrastructure they have left – "Israel has lost all interest in the Palestinian population as an object of control." While both "normalcy and full blown catastrophe would signify the end of the occupation," holding the OT on the "verge of catastrophe" would "uphold and preserve the occupation."
For Gordon, "If Israel maintains the distinction between the people and their land, numerous contradictions will continue to emerge; the Palestinians will accordingly resist Israeli control....without reuniting the Palestinian people and their land and offering them full sovereignty over the land...the cycle of violence will surely resume."
That primary contradiction has implications of course that extend beyond the borders of Israel into the political/corporate/military headquarters of the U.S. and into the physical boundaries and other occupied territories of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the threatened territories of Iran and Pakistan. Thus the Palestinian problem remains at the centre of Middle East policy in the U.S., as the U.S. fights for land and resources rationalized within the war on terror.
Gordon does not get into this extension of the topic and rightly so. He remains within his primary focus, within the primary contradiction, and leads the reader through an amazing array of physical, psychological and social controls within every detail of Palestinian society.
Israel's Occupation
becomes a must read on my list; and my first question of anyone that wants to argue with any perspectives on Israel would be "Have you read this book yet?"
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