Research backgroundPHD thesis
The development of information and communication technology (ICT) and, consequently, the availability of the internet, presents new alternatives with regards to mobility, communication and empowerment. Everyday utilization of internet impacts the formation of national communities and transnational political mobilizations. In so doing, it may also generate an 'online public sphere'.
Palestine is an important context: From the approximately eight million Palestinians, 4.5 million live in exile and have in most cases never seen Palestine. Around 70% of the total Palestinian population is refugee. Most of the exiled refugees in the diaspora have never directly communicated with Palestinians in Palestine, or seen images of their land and villages. Owing to internet techniques and grassroots initiatives such as Across Borders Project, this partition was bridged forthe first time. The Palestine Telecommunications (PalTel) Company performed well in constructing a modern, high-performance infrastructure.
It is remarkable that given the complicated circumstances (occupation, curfews and closure) it had to endure when the Aqsa' Intifada broke out in 2000, the economic and commercial ICT development in Palestine managed to increase. I argue that in fact a politicized national identity, the lacking freedom of movement, biased media framings, and political resistance, encouraged and structured the internet use. The impact of internet on the transnational Palestinian nation became particularly significant as besides mere utilization, it led to international organized mobilizations; variety of national-cultural Palestinian activities; media activism; and even hacktivism.
Online/offline multi-sited research amongst Palestinians between 2001 and 2005 have shown the motives and everyday practices of the actors involved (producers and consumers of internet); the various representations of collective national concepts and activities; and the relation between national identity, political mobilization and activism. It resulted in a specific research focus dealing with possibilities (and limitations) of the internet in the Occupied Territories/Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. This perception helped uncover the connection between structural politico-economic aspects of the state, and also helped deconstruct the social impact of technological change on society. I question how the internet facilitates the construction of a transnational -computer mediated- Palestinian nation; and in which way the internet functions as a tool for political activists and movements in support of Palestine. It is essential to note that these developments happen(ed) both online as offline, marking the juxtaposition of everyday-life experience and agency with virtual mediated performances. This dialectic understanding of internet showed that abstract topics as transnationalism and cyberspace are more complex when operationalised in offline realities that is marked by forced migration and colonial occupation.
Korte samenvatting dissertatie
Dit kwalitatieve/offline als kwantitatieve/online onderzoek zich op de consequenties van internet gebruik door Palestijnen in Palestina, Jordanië en Libanon tussen september 2001 en februari 2004. Eigenlijk vond er een wezenlijke verandering plaats: de opkomst van het internet bracht voor Palestijnen verregaande transformaties teweeg in de wijze waarop ze communiceren en toegang tot informatie hebben. Voor een gemeenschap onder bezetting en in ballingschap werd het internet dus cruciaal. De inauguratie van de PNA (Palestijnse Nationale Autoriteit) na de Oslo-akkoorden van 1993, en daarmee eindelijk de haar (gedeeltelijke) overname van de telecom-infrastructuur van Israël, had dan ook een onmiddellijke impact op het internetgebruik. Het onderzoek ontspon zich vervolgens in een historische fase waarbij het politieke landschap in grote consternatie verkeerde, zoals de dood van president Yasser Arafat in 2004, grote crisis van Fatah, en verkiezingsoverwinning van Hamas. Tot overmaat van ramp was er ook de verlammende politiek/economische boycot door de internationale gemeenschap als straf voor de gekozen Hamas leiding. Tijdens deze nationale en regionale beroering groeide het internetgebruik gestaag door. In heb drie tegenstellingen uiteengezet van zaken die me verbaasden toen ik met veldwerk begon in de specifieke Palestijnse context die als spanningsvelden de rode draad in het onderzoek vormden: mobiliteit vs. Immobiliteit; space (virtuele ruimte) vs. place (territoriale ruimte); opstand vs. onderdrukking. In het slot van mijn onderzoek betoog ik dat het internet onderdeel is van de instrumenten en repertoires van het breder Palestijnse verzet. Deze vorm van verzet vindt plaats op verschillende niveaus, variërend van directe-actie, media-activisme en solidariteitsprojecten. Ik noem deze melange Cyber Intifada. Omdat de bezetting van Palestina voortduurt, is dit een voortdurende ontwikkeling met een nog onbeslist einde.
Table of Contents Dissertation
List of Figures and Photo’s---------------------------------iii
List of Tables----------------------------------------------ix
Acknowledgements--------------------------------------------x
Chapter 1: Introducing the research—Virtual Reality from below---1
1.1 Research and Occupation--------------------------------------1
1.2 Narratives of Discontent------------------------------------11
1.3 Theory and Practice-----------------------------------------17
1.4 Online-Offline Methodology: Anthropology from Below---------26
Chapter 2: Technological & Political Infrastructures------------35
2.1 Introduction------------------------------------------------35
2.2 Framing the ‘Tensions’--------------------------------------36
2.3 Materiality of Palestinian Internet: Situating Palestinian ICT-52
2.4 Conclusion-----------------------------------------------------70
Chapter 3: Palestinian Mobility Offline/Online---------------------71
3.1 Introduction---------------------------------------------------71
3.2 Diasporic Mobility: Forced Migration---------------------------73
3.3 Virtual (alternative) Mobility---------------------------------83
3.4 Living in a Virtual World--------------------------------------96
3.5 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------102
Chapter 4: Virtual space—Territorial place: Imagined Nation
and State Making--------------------------------------------------104
4.1 Introduction--------------------------------------------------104
4.2 Counter Narratives--------------------------------------------106
4.3 Transforming the Nation---------------------------------------117
4.4 Palestine Online and Offline----------------------------------122
4.5 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------134
Chapter 5: Virtual Palestine—Online Representations---------------136
5.1 Introduction--------------------------------------------------136
5.2 Tracing Palestinian Websites----------------------------------137
5.3 Globalizing/Localizing----------------------------------------152
5.4 The Politics of Online Analyses ------------------------------162
5.5 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------172
Chapter 6: At the Crossroad: Internet Cafes-----------------------174
6.1 Introduction--------------------------------------------------174
6.2 Deconstructing The Internet-----------------------------------175
6.3 Internet Cafés------------------------------------------------185
6.4 The “Coffee House” Effect-------------------------------------199
6.5 Beyond ‘Contested’: Everyday Manifestations of Agency---------205
6.6 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------215
Chapter 7: Everyday Resistance and the Virtual Intifada-----------217
7.1 Introduction--------------------------------------------------217
7.2 Permission to Narrate: Documenting Palestinian History--------220
7.3 The Revolution Will Not Be Televized--------------------------230
7.4 Virtual Stones------------------------------------------------243
7.5 Conclusion----------------------------------------------------250
Chapter 8: Online & Offline Resistance—Conclusions & Discussions--252
8.1 Introduction--------------------------------------------------252
8.2 Re-considering the Three Tensions-----------------------------253
8.3 The Internet: A Blessing and a Curse--------------------------259
Pictures----------------------------------------------------------269
Appendices--------------------------------------------------------279
Bibliography------------------------------------------------------288
Summary-----------------------------------------------------------304
Samenvatting------------------------------------------------------309
