The multiple faces of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

ESU, AIDE

2008-01-01

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Abstract

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict represents a rather peculiar case, where violence opens multiple interpretations. It is a form of State violence with a double dimension: as an internal phenomenon - the use of force by Israeli IDF soldiers against the Palestinian population in the occupied territories, and the suicide terror employed by Hamas in Israel. It is an external phenomenon, i.e. the targeted attacks by the Israeli army against Palestinian houses or Hamas militants, and the Qassam missile attacks from the occupied territories. These actions are at the same time used as motives and goals that sustain the discourse around the legitimised use of violence. From each point of view – Israeli and Palestinian - violence is always justified and engenders a cycle of violence that fosters the process of an intractable conflict. In what way is the discourse, the ethics and the legitimacy constructed? Who are the social actors involved? We will look at two different processes; firstly, to the sacralization of land to which Israel geographers refer as “land grasping”. Secondly, the meaning and the social and political implications set by this process.