Isolation Through Humanitarianism: Subaltern Geopolitics of the Siege on Gaza |
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| Authors: | Ron J. Smith |
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| Affiliation: | Department of International Relations, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Scholars have argued that in attempts to achieve geopolitical goals, siege often results in covert assaults against civilian populations. In the Gazan context, siege subjects are rendered as surplus to the Israeli state, and are therefore isolated and deprived of basic human needs as well as human rights. In 2006, siege was enacted against Gaza, enforced by the Egyptian and Israeli militaries. As a consequence, the population of Gaza is isolated from the exchange of goods, services, people, and ideas. This article begins with an analysis of siege as a violent process and as a subset of occupation practices. Using ethnographic data collected in Gaza between 2009 and 2014, this article mobilizes the methods and approach of subaltern geopolitics to undermine the notion of siege as a humanitarian alternative to war. This study reveals the micro‐scale, graduated nature of siege and its impacts on the civilians living in Gaza. |
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| Keywords: | Gaza subaltern microgeographies geopolitics Israel Palestine |
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