Palestinian Statelessness as the Core of the Mideast

Palestinian Statelessness as the Core of the Mideast Crisis Juan Cole www. juancole. com

Citizenship Margaret Somers: Citizenship as the right to have rights n “Citizenship is man’s basic right for it is nothing less than the right to have rights. Remove this priceless possession and there remains a stateless person, disgraced and degraded in the eyes of his countrymen. ” - Chief Justice Earl Warren, US Supreme Court, 1958 n

High & Low Somers: n Citizen-ness exists on a continuum from high to low n And is produced by the intersection of state, market and civil society n

Levels of Citizenship

Levels of Citizenship

League of Nations Mandates n League of Nations Charter recognized former Ottoman territories of Palestine, Syria and Iraq As nearly ready for nationhood, citizenship n Established British and French Mandates to render administrative assistance to them in becoming independent n Even British envisaged Palestinian state at end of Mandate n 1917 Balfour declaration establishing Jewish home in Palestine not meant to be territorial n n Or to detract from Palestinian rights (Lord Curzon)

Post WW I Stateless Millions of White Russians n Hundreds of thousands of Armenians n Thousands of Hungarians n Hundreds of thousands of Germans n Half a million Spaniards n Ideological states (Franco, Stalin) deprived citizens of citizenship if they held the wrong views n

Nazis n Arendt: n Nazis n Demoted some minorities to non-citizens n As with Jews n Goebbels: depriving them of citizenship made Jews “the scum of the earth” n n Nazi press predicted that other nations would not accept them as refugees Thus confirming their status as “scum”

Mandate Palestine In this context of induced statelessness n British Mandate Palestine functioned as refuge n Not just for persecuted Jews but for stateless ones n Thus, 1938 -1939 Mc. Donald White Paper restricting immigration to Palestine, n Envisaging Palestinian state in 10 years n Was criticized for depriving 100, 000 Jews of Sudetenland of refuge at a time they had become stateless n

Statelessness on a Continuum n n n Statelessness by degrees: Illegal immigrants are not fully stateless n Typically they retain citizenship in country of origin Minorities with national aspirations of their own (Basques) are not fully stateless Citizens of states with impaired sovereignty (e. g. in 2003 -2011, American-occupied Iraq) are not fully stateless Statelessness means n the complete lack of citizenship in a recognized state n the lack of a passport n Lack of constitutional protections

Decline of Statelessness Post WW II order granted broad citizenship rights n In contemporary world, out of nearly 7 billion human beings n Only 12 million or so are stateless n Include 90, 000 “Bidun” in Kuwait n 300, 000 Syrian Kurds denaturalized in 1962 n 4. 5 million Palestinians n

Population of Palestine 1943 n Total: n n Palestinians: n n 1, 676, 571 1, 176, 571 Jewish Settlers n n 500, 000 Have 7% of land

1948 -1949 Palestinians Displaced n Approximately 730, 000 out of 1, 300, 000 Palestinians displaced

Areas to which Palestinians Fled n n n Most Palestinians fled to the West Bank or Gaza A significant number went to Lebanon and Jordan Those remaining in Israel granted citizenship (now about 1. 5 mn. )

Implications for Lebanon n Palestinians not given citizenship Unlike Armenians n Would have tipped balance toward Sunnis n Squalid camps n Competition with Shiite peasants for water, resources n Lack of work permits, business licenses n There are now 300, 000 – 400, 000 stateless Palestinians in Lebanon n

Nahr al-Bared

Gaza n Palestinians not granted Egyptian citizenship in Gaza Ruled by Egypt 1949 -1967 n Directly ruled by Israel 1967 -2005 n Since 2005, in limbo, lacking a state with sovereignty n n No harbor, airport n Subjected to ongoing blockade, embargo even of food n 10% of Gazan children stunted from lack of food Gazans without citizenship for 61 years n Current population 1. 5 million n

West Bank Jordan grants citizenship in 1949 to West Bank Palestinians under its rule n In 1967 Israel takes West Bank n Effectively renders them stateless n Jordan, Arab League recognize PLO as sole Palestinian spokesman at Rabat, 1974 n Formally removes Jordanian citizenship 1988 n rendered them formally stateless n For the stateless and semi-stateless, citizenship can be temporary n Palestinians in West Bank & E. Jerusalem 2. 4 mn. n

Implications of Statelessness Lack of control over water, land, and air n Gaza removed from world market, besieged n West Bankers have land property expropriated without recompense n No control over Israeli immigration n Aquifer water rights interfered with n Checkpoints, lack of access to highways, n Difficulty of travel n Lack of speedy hospital access n

Palestinians Rate low on citizenship in a state n Rate low on access to, incorporation into market n Some civil society, though circumscribed by Palestinian Authority (which lacks most elements of a state except for police and coercion) n Attempt to gain observer state status at UNO, opposed by US, Israel n

Regional Response Arab, Muslim sympathy for plight of Palestinians n Satellite t. v. , internet n Radicalization and terrorism n Al-Qaeda n Hamas n Iraqi Mahdi Army, Iraqi Hamas n Ahmadinejad in Iran n Continued Israeli insecurity even after fall of Baghdad n

End-Game Scenarios Two-state solution n One-state solution n Long-term Apartheid n Implies growing radicalization, terrorism n Boycotts of Israel n n British trade unions, Canadian Federal workers, etc. n Only two of these endgames end Palestinian statelessness