Ebook: Palestinian Citizens of Israel: Power, Resistance and the Struggle for Space

At the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a dispute over territory. Yet, the Palestinian predicament is about more than the loss of land. The contest to maintain and reclaim space is firmly tied to the identity and culture of a displaced population.

Review
"This book is an excellent study of the spatio-politics of Palestinian citizens in Israel. It offers an in-depth ethnographic investigation and critical analysis not only of Israel's policies of social, spatial and cultural control over its Palestinian citizens, but also of their politics of protest and their social agency. Framed within the settler colonial paradigm, this book conceptualizes the creation and preservation of ethnic divisions: powerful groups, often linked to the state are able to plan' the territory so as to exclude and segregate minorities. In such a process, as the book demonstrates well, the new geographies of exclusion work to essentialize both collective identities and the hierarchies of citizenship. Throughout the book a theoretical discussion leads to our understanding of the ways in which the making of space is inseparable from the on-going contestation within settler colonial societies, and that in this context, planning, land and development policies, despite their common representation astechnocratic' or `neutral' are central tools with which dominant ethnic group work to preserve its urban dominance." - Haim Yacobi, Professor of Development Planning, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London, "This is a perceptive, powerful, and highly readable account of the struggles of Palestinian citizens in Israel. Its fascinating insights across a wide-ranging array of case studies are framed by a sophisticated theoretical approach to borders, space, and resistance. An invaluable contribution to understanding how power works in Israel, and - most importantly - how it is contested." - Adam Hanieh, Reader in Development Studies, SOAS

About the Author
Sharri Plonski teaches Development Studies at SOAS, University of London. She is a post-doctoral research associate with the university and managing editor of the Middle East Review of Books.