What
do we do with PEOPLE living in the disputed territories?
In
order to apply the EGALITARIAN SHARED SOVEREIGNTY to the Israel-Palestine
difference, first we have to comprehend and clearly define what we mean by “people”
in the context of this TERRITORIAL DISPUTE. On other words: who may be part of “Israel”
as a claiming party and who may be part of “Palestine” as a claiming party in
the negotiations?
Often,
research, the media and people at large refer to the Israel-Palestine
difference as including Israelis and Palestinians. To an extent, the reference
is correct. Yet, this statement is not accurate.
We
may distinguish:
1.
People living in Israel (a de jure and de facto sovereign state)
2.
People living in Palestine (a de facto state)
3.
Diaspora
4.
Refugees
5.
Settlers in contested lands
1. People living in Israel
On Israel's
70th birthday in April 2018, Israel's population stood at a record
8,842,000.
The
Jewish population makes up 6,589,000 (74.5%); 1,849,000 (20.9%) are Arabs; and,
those identified as "others" (non-Arab Christians, Baha'i, etc.) make
up 4.6% of the population (404,000 people).
In
addition to these numbers, there are approximately 169,000 people living in
Israel who are neither citizens nor permanent residents.
Out
of the 14.3 million Jewish people in the world, 43% reside in Israel.
Of
Israeli Jews, 44% self-identify as secular, 11% simply as religious, and 9% as
ultra-Orthodox. According to the Israel Democracy Institute, the percentage of
ultra-Orthodox is slightly higher.
2. People
living in Palestine
4,816,503
Palestinians (2,935,368 in the West Bank, 1,881,135 in the Gaza strip, 426, 533
in Jerusalem, and the rest in other areas).
3. Diaspora (Israel)
In
the context of this blog series TERRITORIAL DISPUTES, diaspora means the Jewish
people living in different parts of the world outside Israel, or the various places
outside Israel in which they live (definition based on the Cambridge
dictionary).
4. Refugees (Palestine)
In
the context of this blog series TERRITORIAL DISPUTES, refugee means a person
who has escaped from their own country for political, religious, or economic reasons
or because of a war (definition based on the Cambridge dictionary).
“The
projected number of Palestinians living in State of Palestine at the end of
2015 is 4.75 million: around 2.90 million reside in the West Bank and 1.85
million in Gaza Strip. Palestinian refugees make up 42.8% of the Palestinian
population in Palestine: 27.1% of them in the West Bank and 67.3% in Gaza Strip.
Palestine is facing a rapid population growth and large youthful population
with 69% below the age of 29. The population growth rate stands high at 2.8%
and it is expected to remain stable due to decline in mortality rates while
fertility rate remains one of the highest in the Arab region standing at 4.06,
with high disparity between Gaza and West Bank, 4.5 and 3.6 respectively.
Furthermore, the current population density is a serious concern in Gaza Strip
reaching more than 4500 inhabitants per one square kilometer.”
5. Settlers in contested lands
“We
define settlement as political action
involving the organized movement of a population belonging to one national
group into a territory in order to create a permanent presence and influence
patterns of sovereignty in the settled territory.”
“Simply
stated, in the modern era of nationalism, settlers and settlements have served
as mechanisms of control and territorial expansion over disputed territories.”
“What
has always been important for shaping the patterns of sovereignty is for the
settler population to be identified as belonging to the racial, ethnic, or
national community to which the sending state belongs, thus boosting the
prospect of settler loyalty to the settlement project. THE PURPOSE OF SETTLERS,
THEREFORE, HAS TYPICALLY BEEN TO PERFORM THE FUNCTION… “RIGHT-PEOPLING” THE
TERRITORY.” (my capitalisation).
“Jewish
Israeli settlers in the West Bank constitute one of multiple actors with
competing visions and priorities. Interestingly, the lack of unified vision and
consistent policy has not prevented the settlement endeavor from growing.”
“This
case is thus an example where conflict over contested territories cannot be
fully understood in terms of relations between a sending state and an
indigenous population. Rather, settlers configure a third consequential actor
within the relationship.”
Haklai,
Oded and Loizides, Neophytos. 2015. Settlers in Contested Lands. Territorial
Disputes and Ethnic Conflicts. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
10th
May 2018
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