“…we don’t have our voice,
our opinions, our decisions
and all this needs to change…”
A qualitative study of Palestinian relative deprivation, participation in social
movements and the perception of Israeli settlements and its settlers by
Palestinian university students
COURSE:Bachelor Thesis in Global studies, 15 ECTS PROGRAMME: International Work – Global Studies AUTHORS: Erik Gerhardsson, Ludvig Svensson EXAMINER: Johanna Bergström
JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY
The School of Education and Communication International Work
Abstract
Erik Gerhardsson & Ludvig Svensson
“…we don’t have our voice, our opinions, our decisions and all this needs to change…”
A qualitative study of Palestinian relative deprivation, participation in social movements and the perception of Israeli settlements and its settlers by Palestinian university students.
The State of Israel’s control of the West Bank and their creation of settlements has led to feelings of frustration amongst the Palestinian population. The significance of the next generation in a conflict that has been ongoing for generations becomes crucial when aiming for peace, as the youth of today will be the adults of tomorrow. Therefore, this study researches how Palestinian university students perceives the Israeli settlements as well as examining whether if the Relative Deprivation Theory can explain these potential perceptions and the possible willingness amongst Palestinian students to participate in social movements. The methodology is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with ten Palestinian students from Bethlehem University, which then has been analysed.
The results of this study indicate that the respondents feel deprived of seven different themes, namely (1) Demolition, (2) Economy, (3) Freedom of Movement, (4) Freedom of Speech, (5) Permits, (6)
Resources and (7) Services. Furthermore, the result shows that nine out of ten respondents are, or
have been, participating in activities to achieve social change. In addition to feeling deprived of the seven different themes, all the respondents also felt frustration and/or negative feelings towards the existence of Israeli settlements.
The analysis focuses on how the respondents partake in social movements as well as what their opinions about the resistance activities are. It became clear that all the respondents feel, or have felt, a willingness to participate in activities to achieve social change. However, the respondents use different forms of activities, such as protesting in the streets, demonstrating, and/or raising awareness, but there is an overarching social movement which focuses on “the Palestinian cause”. Finally, this study supports the idea of Relative Deprivation Theory, as the willingness to partake in social movements seems to be high amongst the respondents due to them being deprived of essential services and resources.
Keywords: Social movement, Relative Deprivation Theory, Israeli settlements, “The Palestinian cause”, Deprivation
Bachelor Thesis 15 ECTS Global Studies Spring 2020
Acknowledgements
First, we would like to thank all the participating students that shared their knowledge and experiences with us. A special thanks to Marco Nilsson, our supervisor, who shared his expertise with us as well as giving advices and directions throughout the thesis. We would also like to thank Jönköping University for giving us the opportunity to write this thesis with the best possible prerequisites. To family and friends who have provided input, help and support during these months, thank you so much!
Table of Content
1. Introduction ... 1
2. Purpose and research questions ... 2
3. Theoretical concepts ... 2
3.1 Relative Deprivation Theory ... 2
3.2 Social movements ... 3
3.3 The characteristics of a social movement... 3
3.2 Concepts ... 4
4. Previous research ... 4
4.1 The Israeli settlements contribution to Palestinian deprivation in a legal context ... 5
4.2 Palestinian public opinion ... 6
4.3 Relative deprivation and its impact on social movements ... 7
5. Methodology ... 8
5.1 Respondents ... 10
5.2 Recording ... 10
5.3 Limitations ... 10
5.4 Analysis of data ... 11
6. Results and analysis ... 11
6.1 Deprivation ... 12 6.1.2 Categorization of deprivation ... 12 6.1.3 Freedom of movement ... 13 6.1.4 Resources ... 13 6.1.5 Permits ... 14 6.1.6 Services ... 15 6.1.7 Freedom of speech ... 15 6.1.8 Economy ... 16 6.1.9 Demolition ... 16
6.2 Participation in social movements ... 16
6.2.1 Views on personally participating in protests in the streets ... 16
6.2.2 Opinions on protests in the streets and the people participating ... 18
6.2.3 Personal participation in social movements... 19
6.3 Feelings and comparisons towards Israeli settlements and settlers ... 19
6.3.1 Controlled ... 19 6.3.2 Powerless ... 20 6.3.3 Acceptance ... 20 6.3.4 Frustration ... 20 7. Discussion ... 21 8. Conclusion ... 24 8.1 Future research ... 25 9. References ... 27 10. Annex ... 29
1
1. Introduction
The United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 aimed to create and divide Mandatory Palestine into two independent states, one Jewish and one Arab, but the agreement was unsuccessful and led to war between the State of Israel and Palestine with the support of neighbouring Arab countries. The war ended with a ceasefire which resulted in the Palestinian territory being occupied by Egypt and Jordan. Since the initial clash arose in 1948 there have been numerous armed conflicts between the State of Israel, Palestine, and their neighbouring Arab countries. The continuous wars and instabilities in the region, especially during the Six-Days War in 1967, led to Israeli taking military control of the West Bank (United Nations, n.d.). Since then, the Israeli control has turned into a semi-civil authority rather than a military one. The Palestinian Authority, established during peace agreements in 1993 also known as the Oslo Accords, only controls around 10% of the West bank in what is called Area A. The remaining 90% of the West Bank, known as Area B and Area C, is under Israeli civil, and partly military, control (Amnesty International, n.d.). For further details of how the West Bank is divided, see Figure 1.
With control of the West Bank, the State of Israel has created a system which deprives Palestinians of their rights and access to essential services (i.e. education and infrastructure) and resources, such as land, water and electricity (Alsaafin, 2017; Amnesty International, n.d.). Relative Deprivation Theory suggests that feelings of deprivation are based upon comparisons to other individuals and/or groups which lead to the conclusion that one is worse off than what should be fair. The Relative Deprivation Theory implies that this leads to angry resentment towards the compared group which increases the support and participation in social movements (Smith, Pettigrew & Pippin, 2011). The lack of Palestinian autonomy as well as the Israeli long ongoing occupation and confiscation of Palestinian land, through the expansion of Israeli settlements, has resulted in the continuous Palestinian protests against the occupation. The Palestinian frustration towards losing more and more control over the West Bank partly due to the Israeli settlement expansion has created an angry resentment towards the discriminatory policies of the State of Israel. The feelings of being deprived of essential services and feeling angry towards Israelis, and Israeli settlers, has resulted in two major uprisings lasting for numerous years, also known as intifadas, which took place between 1987 and 1993 as well as between 2000 and 2005 (Brym & Aran, 2014).
Existing research (Adenauer-Stiftung, 2015; Scheindlin, 2019) highlights the fact that the Palestinian youth has a relatively high support for protesting, demonstrating, and supporting both armed and unarmed resistance against the Israeli occupation. This might indicate that the Palestinian youth might be more receptive to supporting social movements and to act themselves when feeling deprived of something essential. Therefore, the study explores the feelings and perceptions of ten Palestinian students at Bethlehem University1 regarding being deprived of resources and essential services as a consequence of the Israeli control and confiscation of the West Bank. This study aims to clarify what the young generation of Palestinians feel deprived of due to the Israeli occupation, with a starting point on their perceptions and feeling on the Israeli settlements and its settlers. The study also aims
11 Bethlehem University, founded in 1973, is located in the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank and is a Catholic Christian co-educational institution on an initiative by the Vatican (Bethlehem University, n.d.)
2 to examine if the feelings of deprivation might make them more willing to join and/or support social movements targeted against Israel, and their settlements.
2. Purpose and research questions
The purpose of this research paper is to examine if feelings of deprivation affect Palestinian university students’ willingness to partake in social movements, with a focus on their perceptions of Israeli settlements. The research questions of this study are:
• How do Palestinian students perceive the Israeli settlements and their settlers?
• Can Relative Deprivation Theory explain these potential perceptions and if this affects the Palestinian students to participate in social movements?
3. Theoretical concepts
In this chapter we will present which theoretical reference points this study will take. This study will mainly be centred around the Relative Deprivation Theory which will be further explained in this chapter. When explaining relative deprivation, it is important to determine which definition of relative deprivation we have chosen, as the concept has been used across various science disciplines with differentiating theoretical frameworks and explanations. In this study we will use the same definition as stated by Smith, Pettigrew, and Pippin (2011).
3.1 Relative Deprivation Theory
The Relative Deprivation Theory is based on the idea that people use comparisons with other people, groups or themselves to evaluate their own current living situations. Relative deprivation is reached when the judgement of one’s own situation is worse off compared to other people or groups, as well as feeling angry and resentful as a result of being deprived of something essential (e.g. money, rights, status, political voice etc). Smith, Pettigrew, and Pippin (2011) identify three steps for how to reach relative deprivation. The first step of reaching relative deprivation, called “cognitive comparisons”, is the presence of a comparison made by an individual. After a comparison has been made, we reach step two of relative deprivation, which is called “cognitive appraisals”. This step indicates the existence of a cognitive judgement of the comparison where the individual concludes that there is a disadvantage towards the individual or his/her group. The judgement of disadvantage leads into the third step, called “justice-related affect”, which states that the disadvantage must be regarded as unfair. The perception of unfairness leads to a crucial component of relative deprivation, which is the previously mentioned angry resentment. These steps lead to different outcomes depending on who you compare yourself with and whether it is made on individual or group level. In other words, comparisons on an individual level lead to outcomes on an interpersonal level, which focuses on internal states and individual behaviour, while group comparisons connect with outcomes on an intergroup level, which focuses on intergroup attitudes and collective action.
The Relative Deprivation Theory explains that the occurrence of social movements arises due to comparisons with the “other group” and when one realises that they are experiencing relative deprivation. Depending on the difference between people’s current situation and what they feel entitled to have, affects the levels of dissatisfaction and how frequently social movements occur. The
3 theory suggests that social movements will occur when the relative deprivation is high but will not occur if the political opportunity structure is closed (Watanabe, 2007).
3.2 Social movements
”Social movements are a collective attempt to promote common interests or achieve common goals through measures that are outside the political institutions frameworks” (Giddens, 2014, p. 650). The social movements in Palestine is consider by us to be a form of “new social movement”. According to Sutton and Vertigans (2006, p. 102-103) new social movements are characterised by six key characteristics namely, (1), Post-industrial and Postmaterial Politics, which means that the movements centres around “quality of life rather than the quantity of life” as these movements focuses on the formation of identities, human rights and ideas rather than economic and class inequalities. The second characteristic (2) New social constituencies, centres around the fact that the activists have diversified from different social groups and coalitions which have engaged in collective protests and this cannot be explained by materialistic explanations. The third characteristic (3) Anti-Hierarchical
Organization, implies that new social movements are based on loose networks and anti-hierarchical
structures and operates mainly in “the sub-political world of everyday life”. (4) Symbolic Direct
Actions is the following characteristic which highlights the fact that new social movements use
“symbolic direct actions” to achieve social change by relying on media attention to spread issues to the public. The fifth characteristic (5) Self-limiting Radicalism, focuses on the fact that new social movements directs their attention to the defence of civil society against state violations which consists of a “shared ideological bond` centred on ´a humanistic critique of the prevailing system and the dominant culture…”.The last characteristic of new social movements are (6) New identities, which centres around creating new identities which promotes self-realization and the right to autonomy rather than assimilation into the existing mainstream politics (Ibid).
In the case of this study it is difficult to consider all kinds of protests and activities as part of a homogenous Palestinian movement with the same overarching goal. One can divide the different Palestinian movements into countless different categories which clearly differs in methods, beliefs, structures and in what context they are working in. For example, Hamas can be seen as a revolutionary “old” social movement which has strong hierarchy and operates in the regional political world with the goal of political power rather than focusing on human rights issues. On the other side of the spectrum is international Pro-Palestine movements, such as the BDS-movement, which centres around humanity and solidarity with Palestinians and are working on an international level to achieve social change. However, this study does not focus on neither Hamas nor the BDS-movement, but rather on how Palestinian university students partakes in social movement activities in the West Bank. 3.3 The characteristics of a social movement
The often diffuse lines between a social movement and other forms of human association has led to the existence of numerous definitions and limited consensus regarding the concept of social movement. This highlights the importance of defining what this study considers to be an activity which is included in the concept social movement. This study will use the same definition as Della Porta and Diani (2006).
4 Della Porta and Diani (2006, p. 20-21) proposes the existence of three core elements for a social movement process to take place, namely (1) Dense informal networks, (2) Collective identity and lastly (3) Conflictual collective action. The first core element regards how the informal interaction between individuals, groups and organizations affects if a social movement process is in place. Della Porta and Diani (2006, p. 8) emphasises that this is achieved when the different actors engage in sustained exchanges of resources and a broader system of meaning. The second core element regarding a collective identity highlights the fact that the development of collective identities, which go beyond specific events, is needed for a social movement process to take place. The collective identity is strongly associated with recognition, connectedness, a sense of belongingness, and a shared set of beliefs which brings a certain sense of common purpose and commitment to a cause. This creates the feeling of individuals and groups to feel indistinguishably linked to each other in a broader collective mobilization. The third, and last core element about conflictual collective action connects to social movements actors being engaged in promoting, or opposing, social change in political and/or cultural conflicts. For a social movement process to take place the individual, or group, needs the engagement and identification of targets from collective efforts, rather than only expressing support for moral values. To summarize this discussion, Diani (1992) defined a social movement process in a previous study with the following quote:
“A social movement is a network of informal interactions between a plurality of individuals, groups and/or organizations, engaged in a political or cultural conflict, on the basis of a shared collective identity.”
3.2 Concepts
This study contains one concept which needs to be explained and defined to completely comprehend the content of this study.
Settlement (also known as outpost and colony): Refers to the Israeli communities/villages on occupied Palestinian land, which is populated by Israeli citizens. This contradicts international law, i.e. the 4th Geneva Convention, which states that it is forbidden for an occupying power to move its own population into occupied territory. The continuous expansion of the Israeli settlements is carried out through illegal appropriation of Palestinian land as well as destruction of Palestinian property (Amnesty International, 2019, p. 29).
4. Previous research
The following chapter presents existing research and will provide the necessary information and background of three main categories. Firstly, this section presents research which highlights how Israeli settlements negatively affect the lives of Palestinians and how this interacts with domestic and international law. This section will also present the actions taken by the State of Israel to claim land and develop settlements. This chapter presents previous research which focuses on Palestinian public opinions of aspects which connect to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The last section of this chapter will focus on how relative deprivation might encourage people to join and/or support social movements in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
5 4.1 The Israeli settlements contribution to Palestinian deprivation in a legal context The connection between Israeli settlements and international law is a subject that has been heavily researched, and numerous research studies exist on how the systematic approach behind the establishment of the settlements works, as well as research regarding what tools, means and methods the State of Israel are using. Research regarding how the settlements affect everyday life for Palestinians, as well as how the expansion of the settlements is an obstacle for peace negotiations, are also fields of studies which are well-researched and documented.
Regarding how Israel and the settlements relates to international law, both Green and Smith (2016) as well as Human Rights Watch (2011) focus on how the Israeli jurisprudence is discriminatory towards Palestinians. The article from Human Rights Watch (2011) observes regional case studies where different systematic actions were taken by the State of Israel and then examined in relation to how these actions had a negative impact on the everyday life of Palestinians. Green and Smith (2016) also examined case studies as well as interviewed affected Palestinians about Israel’s systematic actions, but with a special focus on forced evictions. Neither of these two articles used any theory or perspective throughout their research.
Both Green and Smith (2016) and Human Rights Watch (2011) use case-studies and interviews with affected Palestinians to prove a pattern of discriminatory actions which can clearly be seen in the similarities between the two articles results and discussions. Both research studies present evidence of how Israel is involved in illegal and discriminatory actions by showing how these actions are breaking international law as well as how these actions have a negative impact on Palestinian life. According to both these studies, the Israeli settlements are negatively impacting Palestinian possibilities to move freely as well as reducing their access to natural resources and land owned by Palestinians, which is being confiscated. The settlements connections to these outcomes are clearly proven in these research studies as the settlements have a direct effect on the fragmentation of Palestine into small divided zones, which in turn complicates traveling between the Palestinian territories. The State of Israel has, through several different methods, such as checkpoints and roadblocks, taken control over Palestinian movement and its resources. Palestinians are also denied permits to construct and develop building and infrastructure, as well as facing an inconsistent application of laws which has severely damaged the development of the Palestinian society. Israel is also taking action to reinforce the presence of settlements in the West Bank, by offering state sanctions for developing settlements and their infrastructure. In addition to this, both Human Rights Watch (2011), but especially Green and Smith (2016), highlight the Israeli practices of forced evictions, forced transfers, demolitions of buildings, institutionalized discrimination and land grabbing with the systematic goal of enlarging the Israeli control and annexation of Palestinian territory.
Numerous research studies have been written about the legal context of Israeli settlements as well as how they affect the Palestinian everyday life with similar results. Unlike many other research studies, Galchinsky (2016) chose to concentrate on the contextualisation and integration of the Israeli jurisprudence in connection, and in contrast, to international law. Galchinsky (2016) examines why the United Nations and the International Criminal Court avoids acting against the illegal actions of the State of Israel. Galchinsky (2016, p. 128) concludes that the decision-makers in the Israeli state
6 apparatus will continue to break international law as they are well aware that the socio-political reality will determine the destiny of Israeli settlements, and not international laws by itself.
These articles gave us a foundation to the complex underlying problems of the Israeli settlements, both connected to the everyday struggles of the affected Palestinians and within the context of domestic and international laws. Numerous amounts of articles, using different methods and research questions, examining aspects regarding Israeli settlements reached similar results and conclusions. This clearly highlights the illegality of the settlement enterprise and that it is well-documented and well proven.
4.2 Palestinian public opinion
Studies focusing on Palestinian public opinion regarding the conflict are scarce, but the studies that do exist highlight interesting aspects of what and how public opinion affects and is affected by the occupation and its resistance. Surveys conducted by The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research2 and the Palestinian-Israeli Pulse3 have been used as a basis for analysis in most of the existing research and publications on the subject of public opinion regarding the conflict.4 The three research studies presented in this chapter are connected to either the Palestinian for Policy and Survey Research or The Palestinian-Israeli Pulse in one way or another.
Adenauer-Stiftung (2015), in collaboration with the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, conducted interviews with Palestinians, both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The purpose of these interviews was to create an image of the opinions of the Palestinians and how they change over time. The interview questions mainly cover six aspects of the current situation in Palestine, namely: (1) Palestinian-Israeli confrontations, (2) the Oslo Accords, (3) Palestinian elections, (4) domestic living conditions, (5) the peace process and long-term aspirations of Israel and (6) the war on terror. Adenauer-Stiftung (2015) establishes that most of the respondents support an armed intifada and that the numbers of supporters are increasing. The Palestinian youths (aged 18-22) are the group which are most supportive of a new armed intifada and the group which most commonly expresses opposition to a potential two-state solution. One of the reasons that support for the two-state solution has declined is due to the settlement expansion according to the interviews conducted in the study by Adenauer-Stiftung (2015). The increased support for an armed intifada is also highlighted through the fact that around 66 percent of the respondents believe that an armed intifada will have greater benefits for the national interests of Palestine than negotiations. In a question about what underlying reasons for not participating in confrontations, almost half of the respondents mentioned fear of the Palestinian Authority or the occupation. One fifth of the respondents named despair and that confrontations are likely to be unproductive. Other reasons lifted included the lack of time, lack of leadership and lack of friction points with Israeli forces (Ibid).
2 An independent non-profit institution for academic research and policy analysis, which conducts socio-political surveys focusing on contemporary attitudes towards political and social aspects (PCPSR, n.d.).
3 Joint polls conducted by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and the Israeli Democracy Institute as well as the Tel Aviv University Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research. Received economic support from the European Union (Shikaki, K., & Scheindlin, D., 2019).
4 E.g. see also: Djerejian, E., Muasher, M., & Brown, N.J. (2018). TWO STATES OR ONE? Reappraising the
Israeli-Palestinian impasse. Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.; Israeli-Palestinian-Israeli Pulse: Public opinion
7 Shikaki and Scheindlin (2019) examine the role of public opinion in the resistance and resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, through surveys conducted by the Palestinian-Israeli Pulse. This research highlights a slow decline of support for the two-state solution and emphasizes that the percentage of people in support of it reached its lowest numbers in more than a decade, falling from 71 to 42 percent amongst Palestinians. Just as Adenauer-Stiftung (2017) states, Shikaki and Scheindlin (2019) reach the same conclusion, that the Palestinian youth sector is the group that is least supportive of the idea of a two-state solution but further explore this aspect by proving that the same statement can be said about the youth sector in Israel. Shikaki and Scheindlin (2019) discuss the fact that age is a decisive factor and that this might lead to even lower support levels of a two-state solution in the future. While examining the reasons for the weakening position for the support of a two-state solution, this research lifts three main explanations which connects to ideological reasons, low mutual trust and poor perception of each other as well as a decline in the feasibility of a two-state solution. In connection to a declining trust in the feasibility of a two-state solution, the study concludes that the Palestinians reasons for this deterioration are mostly a result of the settlement expansion going too far as well as feelings of being abandoned by the international community. Shikaki and Scheindlin (2019) state that between 20-30 percent support a new uprising on both the Palestinian and the Israeli side, and the use of violence as a tool to achieve change. However, the article clearly states that these numbers have a high and quick fluctuation which might explain why Adenauer-Stiftung (2017) reached a far higher number in support for an armed uprising. Shikaki and Scheindlin (2019) also states that there was a sharp rise of support of an intifada in December 2017 followed by a dramatic drop six months later which further proves this point.
The statistics being highlighted in the studies of Adenauer-Stiftung (2015) and Shikaki and Scheindlin (2019) point to a relatively high support for protests, demonstrations and both unarmed and armed resistance, especially amongst the Palestinian youth. This might indicate that young people are more prone to take action when feeling deprived of something, such as rights, resources, or other essential service.
4.3 Relative deprivation and its impact on social movements
Existing research regarding how relative deprivation affects one’s willingness to partake in social movements in the Palestinian context is limited. On a more general basis, Abeles (1976) discusses the aspects of fraternal relative deprivation, which in other words can be described as deprivation related to social group belonging, such as the Palestinians comparing themselves to Israeli settlers. Abeles (1976) means that fraternal relative deprivation is likely to lead to militancy, as the tendency to blame the social system for one’s group’s deprived conditions can increase. The perception of unjust deprivation of things such as material goods, power and prestige tends to lead to outrage which tends to make people more receptive to support social movements which are working to prevent the deprivation (Abeles, 1976).
Nilsson and Badran (2019, p. 14) discuss that the Palestinian social resistance movements against Israel rely on a common identity and destiny amongst the Palestinians and the fact that a collective feeling of deprivation by Israel has strengthened this common identity. However, the strength in the Palestinian resistance identity has weakened in the last decade due to increased economic difficulties and unfair treatments. Nilsson and Badran (2019) discuss that the lack of unity has also decreased due to the shift in focus to personal rights rather than group identity. An increased desperation
8 amongst the Palestinians, especially the youth, have also weakened the Palestinian resistance identity and the trust in social resistance movements. The decreasing trust in the ability of resistance movements to achieve social change have led many young Palestinians to dream of emigration to improve their own future (Nilsson & Badran , 2019, p. 1, 17). Nilsson and Badran (2019, p. 13) also discuss an interesting aspect of a deterioration of relative deprivation and they conclude that the impact of relative deprivation can be reduced if the two groups, i.e. Palestinians and Israeli settlers, can establish agreeable social ties.
The articles by Abeles (1976) and Nilsson and Badran (2019) highlight the underlying complexity of the contemporary resistance situation in Palestine. The Palestinians are experiencing relative deprivation, and therefore should be more eager to support social resistance movements but at the same time they are lacking confidence and trust in the existing resistance movements, according to Abeles (1976) and Nilsson and Badran (2019). This makes one wonder how this contradiction plays out in reality.
Considering all the presented research, it becomes clear that most of the existing studies regarding Israeli settlements focus on legal aspects or how they affect the Palestinians. Specific research about both settlements and Palestinian public opinion and the connection between them is almost non-existent, and therefore this aspect is deemed by the authors of this study as a useful and necessary addition to existing research. Furthermore, existing research regarding the public opinion of Palestinian youths is lacking and this gap needs to be filled, especially regarding aspects of the conflict and the occupation. The existing research about how the Palestinian deprivation affects the support and willingness to partake in social movements is scarce and more research needs to be conducted in this field.
5. Methodology
This section will contain an overview of the research process and the chosen method for collecting the data. It will also explain the choice of respondents, the coding process and thematization.
The use of a qualitative method to collect data was chosen for this study, rather than a quantitative method, as the researchers did not aim to collect data that would be generalizable, but rather collect detailed data with a smaller sample size due to limited amount of time. The research is derived from an inductive approach and the method of this study used to collect data is semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews were assessed to be the ideal method for this study as qualitative interviews offer the opportunity to receive detailed information and thoughts from the interviewees, which a survey study would not be able to give to the same extent. Furthermore, qualitative interviews can generally be useful when approaching unanswered research questions in a field where there have been no previous studies made, which is the case in this study. With the aim to understand if and how relative deprivation, in connection to the Israeli settlements, affects Palestinian students to join a social movement, the depth and detailed data collected from qualitative interviews is a more suitable method when trying to describe the causation. The data from semi-structured interviews cannot be generalized as easily as survey studies, due to usually having a lower participation number, but the answers from a qualitative interview is generally more informative. (Hjerm, Lindgren & Nilsson, p. 149-150).
9 An interview guide, see Appendix 1, was constructed for the interviews and the questions were divided into five different focuses; (1) Background, (2) Knowledge about settlements, (3) Feelings
about settlements, (4) Involvement and (5) Questions connected to Relative Deprivation Theory. The
purpose with dividing our questions into these themes is to strengthen the validity of the study as well as further connecting it to the research questions (Bryman, 2011, p. 249).
The questions were selected to make sure that the collected data from the interviews would be satisfactory, but not to overwhelming when later transcribing the interviews as this study was conducted under a limited period of time. Each interview took approximately 15 to 30 minutes and follow-up questions were asked during the interviews when it seemed relevant. The interviews could be considered short for a qualitative study and that it could possibly affect the analysis of the study. However, the authors did not feel the need for longer, or an increased number of interviews, to be able to answer the research questions and to need reach enough depth in the analysis. Furthermore, the interviews lasted for approximately 30 minutes, as some follow-up questions were not asked depending on the respondent answered on the previous question. The length of the interviews did not affect the analysis in a negative way as the respondent’s answers contributed to answering the research questions. All interviewees were informed before-hand that they would be anonymous and that they, as interviewees, could choose not to answer a question. The questions were formulated in such a way that they would not include any hidden agenda or affect the respondent when answering the questions, as leading questions can weaken the validity of the study (Hjerm, Lindgren & Nilsson, 2014, p. 157).
As this study focuses on a sensitive subject the ethical principles have been carefully applied and all of the respondents were informed about the subject and the purpose of the study beforehand. All of the respondents were also informed that their participation was voluntarily and that they were allowed to withdraw from their participation in this study at any given time. They were also told by the authors that their personal information would not be shared and that they would all remain anonymous in this study (Vetenskapsrådet, 2002).
Although semi-structured interviews are considered the most relevant method for this study it also has its limitations and defects. For example, there is always the risk that the interviewees avoids to share details or certain aspects due to being uncomfortable with sharing information that they consider being sensitive or that they are simply not in a position to talk about such information with the researcher (Hjerm, Lindgren & Nilsson, p. 152). This is an obstacle that is difficult to prevent by the researcher, as the interviewee shares what they wish to share. A significant increase of interviews in future research would be a way to strengthen the possibility of generalization.
A frequent criticism towards qualitative studies is that there is a difficulty with generalization. The critics often claim that it is not possible to generalize the results of the studies onto other environments. For example, taking the results from this study and generalize it upon other universities in Palestine and Palestinian students. Criticism has also been raised that the role of the researchers can affect the outcome of the study, as there is a risk of becoming subjective and impressionistic. The difficulties to replicate a qualitative study is also brought up by the critics, as it is dependent on the researcher as the researchers’ point of view and reflection are central when conducting the study (Bryman, 2011, p. 368-369).
10 5.1 Respondents
A total number of ten students from Bethlehem University were interviewed for this study. A snowball sampling was chosen, as the authors only had limited contacts at the Bethlehem University and a snowball sampling is well-suited for a qualitative study (Bryman, 2011, p. 196). The respondents were found through personal contacts of the authors with two students at the university that later assisted with connecting the authors with other Bethlehem university students. The researchers later made contact and informed each participant about the interview. Each respondent was informed that no personal information would be used in the study, the purpose of the study and its subject as well as their possibility to decline answering any asked question and that they could choose to conduct the interview through text, voice call or video call.
The respondents were chosen on the basis that they currently are studying, or recently had studied, at Bethlehem University and therefore making them relevant for the research questions of this study. By making use of a snowball sampling and informing the initial two contacts at the university about the study and the need of getting more students involved it was soon confirmed that the minimum goal of ten participants had been reached. The authors were aware that the initial two students contacted would reach out to other university students in their own acquaintance. This could possibly be problematic as they might share similar experiences and opinions, making it difficult to generalize the results upon the rest of the students at Bethlehem University. However, all the interviewed students came from different programs and cities, which further decreases the risk of the respondents being close friends with shared experiences. The authors deemed the respondents fully capable of answering the research questions as they were considered to have enough personal knowledge and experiences of the subject and that their relationship with one another would not affect the actual results of this study. A satisfactory number of males and females from various programs at the university participated in the study; five males and five females. The respondents will be denoted as Male 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, as well as Female 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the text.
5.2 Recording
Nine out of ten interviews were conducted via video or voice call and were thus recorded, after approval by the respondents, and the tenth interview were conducted through text and the answers were sent to the authors by mail. Only the audio was documented as it was considered to be enough by the authors, to make the transcription easier. At the interviews both authors participated, and the tasks were divided so one would lead the interview and the other take additional notes and observe the interviewee. During interviews it is not only of interest to hear what the interviewee has to say, but also in what manner they say it (Bryman, 2011, p. 434).
5.3 Limitations
The language barrier between the interviewers and the respondents were not itself an issue when conducting the interviews, but during the transcription it was clear that incorrect sentences and an overall limitation of the English language might have hindered the respondents from expressing themselves properly. Also, at one occasion the interview was conducted with one student acting as a translator for another student. In this process some opinions or words could have gone lost as well as
11 limiting the Arabic speaking students will to share full opinions or feelings due to the language barrier.
The authors were aware that complex questions in addition to the possible language barrier might increase the risk of misunderstandings, which is a basis for lower reliability. The use of questions formulated in a complicated way may decrease the validity of the study as possible misunderstandings could lead to incorrect conclusions by the respondent and therefore we chose to simplify words in the questions as much as possible (Hjerm, Lindgren & Nilsson, p. 157-158). At a few occasions’ misunderstandings occurred or that the interviewee did not fully understand the asked question. To avoid that these misunderstandings would weaken the validity the interviewers had prepared examples and alternative explanations to each question. By doing so the interviewers made sure that each interviewee would receive the same questions and explanations so that their answers would be correctly connected to the questions asked and thereby strengthening the validity of the study (Ibid., p. 159).
5.4 Analysis of data
All the interviews were transcribed and initially coded using an inductive thematic analysis. For this study it would have been possible to use another method, such as grounded theory, but the researchers considered thematic analysis to be the ideal choice for this study. The flexibility of using thematic analysis was deemed useful by the researchers of this study as it can provide rich and complex results. It is important to note that by using a thematic analysis it might lead to the risk of missing nuances in the data which might not have been missed when using grounded theory (Bryman, 2011, p. 521). The initial coding process focused on locating common themes and important words connected to the research question (Hjerm, Lindgren, Nilsson, 2012, p. 46). By initially coding with a broad basis and through several readings, the most analytically interesting codes created the categories being used. The usage of Microsoft Excel helped create a thematic structure which later finalized the coded categories being used (Ibid, p. 63). The categories being used are: (1) Deprivation, (2) Participation
in social movements and (3) Feelings and comparisons towards Israeli settlements and settlers. Some
codes within the categories turned out to be interconnected, which means that there is an existence of thematic relationships between the coded categories (Ibid).The themes that developed from the thematic analysis are introduced in the following chapter.
A pattern among the respondents could be seen after the seventh and eight interview and an empirical saturation were reached to a satisfactory degree. Although empirical saturation had been reached, the ninth and tenth interview were still conducted as they had been scheduled beforehand and there was a possibility of new aspects being lifted.
6. Results and analysis
In this section, the collected material from the interviews will be presented. The presented data are divided into three categories to examine if Relative Deprivation Theory can explain participation and support for social movements in this study. The three categories are: (1) Deprivation, where aspects of what Palestinian students feel deprived of are highlighted, (2) Participating, where opinions about protests and demonstrations is being lifted as well as reasons for, and against, participating in the
12 resistance activities. The third and last category are (3) Feelings and comparisons towards Israeli
settlements and settlers, which concentrates on personal feelings towards settlers and settlements.
These three categories will then intertwine in an analysis connected to the Relative Deprivation Theory.
All ten of the respondents stated that they had enough knowledge and were aware enough of the settlement issue to discuss it for the purpose of this study. The fifth question in the interview guide was designed to see if the respondents only received biased, one-sided information or unbiased information as well. The authors concluded that seven of the respondents only, or to a large extent, received biased information as they stated that their sources of information included Palestinian literature, reports from the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian professors, local newspapers, their own experiences as well as stories from friends and relatives. The three respondents which did not only receive biased information used information sources such as international news sites, Non-Governmental Organisations, and information from international bodies, but it is important to also state that these respondents also used biased information sources as well. It might be important to state that gender was seen as a possible variable in the beginning of the analysis but no gender-based correlations were found and this aspect will therefore not take any place in the coming presentation of results and analysis.
6.1 Deprivation
6.1.2 Categorization of deprivation
In this first category, which mainly connects to question 15 and 16 in the interview guide, the interviewed Palestinian university students talked about what aspects of their lives they are denied but the Israeli settlers have access to. As the respondents used different words for similar, or the same, aspects it was deemed necessary to categorize the respondent’s answers into overarching themes. In total, we found seven overarching themes in connection to what Palestinians feel they are deprived of, namely (1) Demolition, which includes answers that connects to the demolition of homes and other buildings as well as being evicted. (2) Economy, which consists of responses regarding unfair prices and fees as well as being denied jobs and livelihood possibilities. The next theme (3) Freedom
of movement, contains answers mentioning mobility and travel restrictions, checkpoints, and the lack
13 of access to an airport. (4) Freedom of speech is the fourth theme followed by (5) Permits, which connects to responses regarding building and travel permits, the lack of a passport and ID as well as having no nationality. Theme (6) Resources, concerns scarcity of resources, such as water, electricity and confiscation of land and the last theme (7) Services connects to essential public services such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure. In Figure 2 the number of respondents which touched upon feelings of deprivation of each theme is highlighted and will be the foundation for the presentation of the results as it to some extent gives an indication to which themes are more important than others.
6.1.3 Freedom of movement
As Figure 2 shows, all ten of the respondents discussed theme (3) Freedom of movement, which might indicate that this is the most pressing issue to be deprived of. The deprivation of freedom of movement affected all respondents, but different aspects of how it affected them were lifted by the individuals. Female 1, 2, 4, 5 as well as Male 1, 4, 5 concentrated on aspects of travel and lacking an airport and Female 1, 2, 4 highlighted the fact that Palestinians “have to go to Jordan” to have access to an airport and be able to travel abroad “while settlers can use their own airport”. Female 1, 2, 5 and Male 3, 4 discussed freedom of movement in the context of checkpoints rather than airport and travel. Both Female 1 and Male 3, 4 talked about the difficulties of “moving inside the West Bank” due to the checkpoints as well as needing “to take longer roads” than settlers. Male 3 states that “Settlers living in settlements can move freely from the West Bank to Israel and even in our village if you want to go outside there is most of the times checkpoints.” Male 3 continued this discussion by talking about how checkpoints as well as police and attacks from settlers are preventing them from moving freely. Female 3 and Male 2 talked about violations of human rights in more general terms and did not highlight any specific aspect of being deprived of freedom of movement. The feeling of being deprived of freedom of movement might have been best described by Female 4 who summarized the feeling with the following quote: ”…but seriously we are living in a cage here, it’s like a bigger prison here.”
6.1.4 Resources
The theme, which was raised second most by the respondents, specifically 9 out of 10, were (6)
Resources. The main resource that the respondents felt that they are being deprived of is water. Seven
of the respondents discussed the deprivation of water specifically, while Female 5 and Male 2 were talking in more general terms such as “they take our rights, many things that I cannot count” and “we are considered minorities and some of the rights are given more to them than to us” which most likely, but not necessarily, include the deprivation of water as an aspect. Most of the respondents highlighted aspects of not having control over the water sources which leads to having to “pay like the double of what the settlers are paying.” The existence of “water shortages and water cuts” were also problems being lifted by respondents in connection to the deprivation of water. Female 3 talked about the differences between Palestinians and Israeli settlers and emphasized that “…settlers even have water like Israel, they have water from underground, not like us, we have to store it on the roofs.”
Electricity was a resource that five of the respondents felt that they have been deprived of as well as an additional three respondents which talked about deprivation of human rights in more general terms. Here it might be necessary to discuss if electricity is a human right and if the three respondents
14 mentioning human rights should be included in this segment. The authors of this study sees electricity as a “derivative human right”, meaning that it is a right based on other rights such as the right to adequate housing (Löfquist, 2019) which is included in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948). This means that the three respondents that stated a general deprivation of human rights could have intended, but not necessarily, to include a feeling of being deprived of electricity. Similar aspects as the water deprivation were lifted when talking about the deprivation of electricity. Male 1 highlighted the unfairness of prices in this resource as well as that the available amounts differ between Palestinians and Israeli settlers which can be seen in the following quote by Male 1 “They having access to electricity and water more than us…and they have a good price to the electricity.” Female 4 lifted the aspect that “Israel controls the electricity” on the West Bank. Female 4 and Male 4 also added that this leads to Israel being able to “cut off the electricity” for Palestinians.
The last resource that the respondents lifted was the confiscation and stealing of land by the State of Israel to build settlements. In connection to the deprivation of land, Female 2, 3 and Male 2 all talked about how the stolen land where settlements are built on is Palestinian land, or as Female 3 phrased it “our historical land” and as Male 3 specified “it should go back to the people who earned it”, meaning the Palestinians. Female 2, 3 and Male 2, 3, 4 all focused on the aspects of stealing when talking about the lands where settlements exist today. Words that were used to describe the Israeli actions by these five respondents included ”confiscating”, ”stealing”, ”land grab” and ”colonialism”. Male 3 also added the fact that the action of stealing land is done with the “protection of the Israeli army and the police”. Female 3 underlined the fact that it is “the good land”, meaning the green and fertile land, that gets stolen by Israel which leaves infertile agricultural land to Palestinians. Palestinians also gets denied access and “banned to plant their lands” which means that they cannot plant, harvest, or take care of their lands in general. This means that “their land…becomes a desert…and it’s not become useful” according to Male 2. Male 3 also talks about how settlers and Israeli forces affect the lands by for example “cutting your olive trees”, “burning the grass” or “poisoning the grass” which affects both the land as well as livestock as Male 3 highlighted trough an example from his own childhood.
“…the settlers who were poisoning the grass and when our sheep they came and ate it [the grass] and they died. And some sheep, this poisoned their milk and that defected us that time as children…who drank this milk.”
As this experience clearly shows that these actions lead to a deprived income, deprived health, deprived access to land and deprived access to livelihood possibilities. One of the respondents, Female 3, focused on how the continuing confiscation of lands means that Palestinians get “more and more crowded and smaller in the cities so it’s making our lives harder.”
6.1.5 Permits
Seven out of the ten respondents lifted aspects of being deprived of permits and proper documents. Female 1, 2, 5 and Male 3, 5 connected this aspect to freedom of movement and being prevented from traveling in general, and to Israeli territories specifically, which requires proper permits. Being denied of building permits were something that Male 3 talked about and he discussed how “they
15 [Israel] are always preventing the buildings in the communities of Area C for the Palestinians but they are allowing it for the settlers.” Female 4, 5 discussed the aspect of being stripped of nationality and not being “considered as a full citizen”. Female 4 talked about the Blue Jerusalem ID which is part of the color-coded identification system5 used by the State of Israel. Female 5 mentioned that she possesses the Blue ID-card but she still feels that she has been deprived of being “considered as a full citizen” and mentions that “I am Palestinian, but having the Israeli ID, I have no nationality there, it’s just a blank you know, not Arab, not Palestinian, just nothing.” Female 5 also talked about that the requirements of permits have made it more difficult for her to apply for scholarships which means that she is feeling deprived of a chance of a proper education.
6.1.6 Services
What Female 5 talked about regarding the permits of scholarships naturally leads us into the next theme, (7) Services. The feeling of being deprived of education were discussed by half of our respondents, Female 2, 4, 5 and Male 3, 4. However, the focus of how they are feeling deprived differed. Female 4 focused on how she might “risk my educational life” if she opposed settlers or the State of Israel and she concentrated on the fact that she needs to “stay in the safe side.” As already mentioned, Female 5 mentioned the difficulties in applying for scholarships which negatively impact her education. Both Female 2 and Male 4 discussed aspects of education in connection to freedom of movement. Female 2 mentioned that “sometimes it affects the education…they [Israel] will not allow you to go outside” of their city which makes them not being able “to cross the checkpoint” to go to the university as both Female 2 and Male 4 specified. Male 3 talked in more general terms about how settlements and outposts have good schools thanks to the support of the State of Israel and that this is something that Palestinians in Area C are lacking. Male 3 highlighted this even further by stating that settlements “…can have electricity from the State, water, good roads, schools and whatever all the services, but us Palestinians can’t have it in Area C.” The lack of a functioning infrastructure was an aspect which was also lifted by Female 3 as she stated that settlers have “all the infrastructure they need” which let them live “a normal life”. Male 5 discussed the service of “proper healthcare” and the fact that settlers have access to it, but Palestinians do not.
6.1.7 Freedom of speech
Six out of the ten interviewed students mentioned aspects of being deprived of their freedom of speech. Male 2 mentioned that he felt that he was being “forced to be silent” while Female, 1, 4, 5 and Male 1 focused more on how “freedom of speech is…not secured in Palestine” which might lead to getting arrested or other troubles in the future. Female 1, 4 mentioned that they do not express their opinion in public due to safety reasons and Female 5 chooses to “keep my opinions for myself, just to live in peace.” Female 3 stated that “…we don’t have our voice, our opinions, our decisions and all this needs to change…” while discussing freedom of speech and how the international voice of
5 Palestinian residents have green-coloured ID-cards which gives them access to most of the cities in the West Bank, but they are denied access to Israel and Jerusalem. Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and in Israel have blue ID-cards, which gives them permanent residency but not Israeli citizenship. Blue ID-holders can travel without permits between the West Bank and Israel, but they still face heavy investigation at checkpoints as well as constant threat of residency revocation (Alsaafin, 2017).
16 Palestine gets diminished in the international community due to Palestine not being a member-state in the United Nations.
6.1.8 Economy
The settlements' negative effects on economic aspects were lifted by four of the respondents. Female 4 briefly mentioned that “the Israeli occupation and settlements affects the business here” and that this is often being discussed at the university. Male 5 talked about how settlers have “access to good jobs” to a larger extent than Palestinians. Male 3 discussed, as previously mentioned in (6) Resources, how the confiscation of land, cutting down olive trees and poisoning the grass leads to denied income and livelihood possibilities. Male 3 also mentioned the inequitable prices, which might indicate that the Palestinians are being deprived of a fair chance of economic development. Rather than focusing on income possibilities being lost, Female 5 focused on the unfair legal system which forces Palestinians to “pay fees” and she also stated that “Jewish people can do whatever they want.”
6.1.9 Demolition
The last theme (1) Demolition, were brought up by two of the respondents. Female 5 focused on “the houses that were demolished” and on how “people were being kicked out, just because of the settlements” and that “they become homeless” because of the continuous expansion of the Israeli settlement enterprise. In other words, Female 5 is talking about the deprivation of one’s home and adequate housing. Male 3 on the other hand concentrated on the struggle of how Israel demolishes their land and their plants. He also talked about “how the mosque was demolished two times” in his village which means that Israel deprived the Palestinian villagers of a place to practice their faith. 6.2 Participation in social movements
The second category is Participation in social movements, highlights the aspects of what one is doing and how one participates in social movements to achieve social change due to the deprivation. This category will also include the respondent’s views and opinions regarding the different options of resistance activities, such as protesting in the streets.
6.2.1 Views on personally participating in protests in the streets
Question number 10 in our interview guide, concerning personal participation at protests in the streets, was asked to each respondent resulting in nine interviewees answering that they had no history of participating in protests in the streets, and one interviewee claiming to be an active participator at protests and demonstrations in the streets. Although, out of nine respondents that had not participated in any protests in the streets, four people expressed the opinion that they had never considered participating in such forms of protests while the remaining five respondents previously had thought about going to these kinds of protests or demonstrations.
The interview guide was constructed to have additional question to ask after question number 10, depending on the answer from each respondent, if they had participated in protests or not. Question 10b and 10c concerned how the respondent first got involved with protests and what were the motivation for participating.
17 Male 3 was the sole respondent that had participated in protests and demonstrations in the streets. His explanation to why he had chosen to join protests against Israel, settlers and settlements were comprehensive. There were two main factors that played an important role in getting Male 3 involved in protests in the streets, one being his family. Growing up in a family and a village with long-going traditions of “resistance activities and non-violence actions against the occupation.” Male 3 stated that “…when I was nine years old I was going with my family” to his first protest. The tradition of resistance within the family and their village continues from generation to generation as his younger sisters, “five and seven years old, they are going with us” when the family participate in protests and demonstrations. Another important aspect that affected Male 3 in his choice to personally participate according to himself was the fact that he “grew up near settlements and all the time facing settler attacks”. He stated that “since I was a child I have seen the same things” which made him more motivated to “find justice and freedom and the good life.” During his lifetime, Male 3 stated that he has “attacked by settlers” at multiple occasions and has “been arrested several times” by Israeli police and military. Even though he is aware of the risks with participating in protests in the streets, he still chooses to continue as he states”…when you choose this way to resist the occupation you have to be ready for these things.” The choice of participating is not only dependent on family, tradition but also an outcome of actual results in his village by the protests. The positive outcomes are also due to a collaboration with villages nearby and Male 3 states that “…we are cooperating always about making activities in my village or go to their villages making other activities”. He states that they have managed to get “normal homes…and normal electricity” to his village, been able to “build a school…and we built a clinic” as well as reconstruct the mosque twice. “We have built all of them by a resistance-way and a non-violent way and until today they exist”, Male 3 stated.
The remaining nine respondents which answered that they had not participated in any protests in the streets lifted their own individual reasons, but a few general explanations could be found as to why they had chosen not to participate. These major explanations being “safety”, “lack of opportunity” and “risk of being arrested”. Six of the respondents mentioned “safety” and five of them mentioned the “risk of being arrested” as reasons to why they did not wish to participate in any such forms of protests. “Safety” meaning “fear of danger”, “violence”, “Israeli spies” and “lack of protection”. Male 4 summarized the feeling among these nine respondents well when he said, ”…for the Israeli protests, I don’t participate in them, they usually turn out violent”.
A “lack of opportunity” as a reason were brought up by four of the respondents during the interviews. In contradiction to Male 3, that lived in a village nearby an Israeli settlement, Female 2, 3 and Male 2, 5 did not have any settlements close to them and Female 2 stated that
“This is one of the things that makes me not think about it, but maybe if I will live in an area that is very close to a settlement, I would because I feel that I am directly suffering from the existence of them.”
This indicates that distance to the Israeli settlements could be a contributing factor to why the respondents had not participated in any protests in the streets. They mentioned that they simply had not had the opportunity to personally participate in this kind of protests up until now.
Something that were dividing the respondents were their personal opinions on how useful protesting in the streets are. Four of the respondents expressed an opinion of “uselessness” regarding this kind
18 of protests and therefore did not feel the urge to participate, as it would “get them nowhere”, meaning that there would not be any positive outcomes for the Palestinians. Although, Female 3 and Male 5 expressed their conflicted opinions regarding these protests being useless. If they believed that the protest in the streets would be useful and focus on “a good cause” and “some political issues I care about”, then they would consider participating in the future.
In general, the respondents had various opinions about protests and their own participation. Three respondents brought up the fact that family and friends played an important role in their decision regarding joining protests in the streets or not, including Male 3 whose entire family participates. Male 4 was in the opposite situation compared to Male 3 as his family has a tradition to “try to get away from politics, or like violence in general” which he had applied to his own life and choices. Female 3 said during her interview that “I prefer security, as do my parents” and she also stated that she “haven’t had friends who went to it [the protests in the streets] or like encouraged me to go to them”, meaning that a lack of company was her reason for not participating.
6.2.2 Opinions on protests in the streets and the people participating
As nine of the ten respondents had not participated in any protests or demonstrations in the streets they got asked question number 11, what they personally thought about this kind of protests and the people participating in them. Of these nine respondents, five people stated that they supported these protests, while two of the respondents did not support them. The remaining two respondents had very conflicted opinions about the protests in the streets and the participators. Female 2 claimed that “I’m feeling proud of them and I will support them” when she talked about the well-informed and aware protesters but she stated that “if there are people who are not aware, then I will not support them.” The other conflicted respondent, Female 4, expressed that she felt “confused” and that the protests are
“…useless, but in the same time I feel like there’s someone should do it…I feel like there’s a few people who should, to show people that we [the Palestinians] care or that there’s people refusing…I think it’s important.”
Showing the world that the Palestinians are fighting back as well as expressing their feelings and opinions were also lifted by the five respondents that supports protests in the streets. Male 4, 5 said that they did not support this form of protests, Male 4 stated that ”I feel so sad for them”, explaining that he believed protesting in the streets are useless and that people had to be ”really hurt” to believe that going to these protest, yelling and throwing rocks were their only way to resist against Israel and think that ”this is going to make me feel better”. Male 5 also said that “I don’t think they’re [the protests in the streets] useful” and that “the international media just takes advantages of such demonstrations to label us as barbaric terrorists”. He believes that the Palestinian people should put their energy into alternative solutions and means of resistance, such as ”education and political lobbying on a regional and international level” as he believes it ”would be more beneficial to the Palestinian cause”. The phrase “the Palestinian cause” was recurring amongst the respondents of this study, and it seems necessary to clarify what this concept implies, as it is not a scientific concept with a clear definition. The phrase “the Palestinian cause” means different things to different people, but the foundation of the concept is based upon the aim of “improving the lives of Palestinians”. Other
