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Parlevliet’s Human Rights as Structures Dimension

Chapter 4: Structural Mode

4.4 Parlevliet’s Human Rights as Structures Dimension

By compartmentalising the structural undercurrents perpetuating the conflict into the separate spheres of Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip, the Palestinian experience of occupation differs in levels of severity depending upon where one is located. Moreover, the bodies of laws and institutions utilised to exert pressure on the Palestinians goes beyond these geographic locations as shown above, since where, or even if, an Arab is registered as a Palestinian by Israel goes a long way in determining the extent to how one is restricted within Israel’s occupation. Situated in the context of Parlevliet’s article, drawing attention to the various laws, institutions and methods underlying the conflict sheds more light on the functioning of the state.

327 Pappe, I., Interview, 19/8/15

328 Halper, J., Occupation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuI5GP2LJAs, 10th September, 2012

“Without paying attention to the institutions, mechanisms and processes that are supposed to generate effective participatory governance and order, it is very hard to address the core issues of structural violence, political marginalisation and socio-economic injustice.”329

All three core issues in the quotation above have not only been highlighted in the current chapter but have been shown to filter down through Parlevliet’s other dimensions discussed in the preceding chapters. Galtung, for instance, argues structural violence is rarely if ever, corporeally visible, but manifests itself in sustained forms of inequality and social injustice.330 Whenever groups of people are distinguishable, not only along national, ethnic or religious denominations but by the disparity that exists between each group’s access to goods, education, and job opportunities, structural violence exists. “The violence is built into the structure and shows up as unequal power and consequently life chances.”331 In its independent commission report into the 2014 Gaza offensive, the UN alluded to this interrelation between direct and structural violence by concluding, “The impact of hostilities in Gaza cannot be assessed separately from the blockade imposed by Israel.”332

In 2013, figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics in Israel (CBS) revealed the average life expectancy of Jewish Israelis exceeded that of the Arab Israeli counterparts by more than 3 years (3.7 years for men and 3.3 for women).333 When comparing current statistics between Israel and the occupied territories, the disparity in these figures are more than doubled. Israel has the 11th best life expectancy from birth rate in the world, at an average of 82 years. The West Bank comes in at 92nd place with a life expectancy of 75.9 years, and the Gaza Strip a 110th with 74.8 years.334 Similarly in 2015, Israel’s unemployment rate stood at 5.1%, better than France, Sweden and Germany. Yet, dissecting these statistics further reveals Israeli-Arabs are far less participatory in the labour market and have a higher than average unemployment

329 Parlevliet, M., Rethinking Conflict Transformation from a Human Rights Perspective, http://www.berghof-foundation.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Publications/Handbook/Articles/parlevliet_handbook.pdf, September 2009, pp. 13

330 Galtung, J., Violence, Peace, and Peace Research, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, 1969, pp. 171

331 Ibid

332 UN., Report of the Detailed Findings of the Independent Commission of Inquiry Established Pursuant to Human Rights Council S-21/1,

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIGazaConflict/Pages/ReportCoIGaza.aspx, June, 2015, Article 24, pp. 7

333 CBS as quoted in Aderet, O., Israelis’ Life Expectancy Has Risen by Two Years Over Past Decade, http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.547293, 16th September 2013

334 CIA., CIA Fact Book, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html, accessed (24/2/16)

rate at 7.8%.335 Given Israeli-Arabs only constitute 20% of Israel’s total population, this figure uncovers the institutional, economic disparity between the country’s Jewish and Arab citizens.

A report co-authored by Tel Aviv University and the Bank of Israel highlighted Israeli Arabs as one of the country’s poorest population sectors. The report highlighted employment and wage discrimination as the main catalysts intensifying a variety of issues linked to their plight, including low education, inadequate resource allocation and cultural difference. 336 The World Bank locates the root of Gaza’s decline to the damage caused by repeated armed conflicts and the blockade. In a report last year, it found Gaza’s once significant manufacturing industry had shrunk 60% and its exports rendered practically non-existent since Israel’s disengagement.337 Galtung points out structural violence, unlike direct violence, manifests itself indirectly.

Although these figures on their own reveal little epistemological evidence for its existence, considered alongside the set of laws, institutions, mechanism and tactics which actively discriminate against and collectively punish Palestinians, it is evident the existence of structural violence is not only present and exacerbating the conflict, but that its ramifications are palpable at the personal and relational levels. The holistic nature of structural violence and its repercussions for the conflict are illustrated by fact:

“These problems create a vicious cycle: when the population is poor and its labour market participation is only partial (women) and subject to barriers (men), it is difficult to invest in basic and higher education and to develop employment opportunities; this in turn leads to continued poor performance in the labour market. The physical and cultural distance from Jewish employment and residential hubs intensifies feelings of alienation and poses an obstacle to efforts that may reduce discrimination. When these problems compound each other over the course of time, the incentive and willingness to change the situation are negatively affected.”338

The uneven distribution of power legitimates and solidifies an abhorrently discriminate social structure which conspires with the micro and macro-economic structures to seriously limit the agency of the average Palestinian, whether they be in Israel, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.

335 Bassock, M., Israel’s Unemployment Rate Declined in 2014, Fourth Quarter, http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-1.639789, January 30th, 2014

336 Yashiv, E., & Kasir, N., The Labour Market of Israeli Arabs,

http://www.tau.ac.il/~yashiv/Israeli%20Arabs%20in%20the%20Labor%20Market%20--%20Policy%20Paper.pdf, January 2014, pp. 4

337 The World Bank., Economic Monitoring Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee,

http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2015/05/27/090224b082eccb31/5_0/Rend ered/PDF/Economic0monit0oc0liaison0committee.pdf, May 27th, 2015, pp. 6

338 See 335

Put simply, it is “a harsh reality masked under illegitimate laws in order to justify human rights violations towards Palestinians.”339 At the grassroots level, the situation which transpires as result of the structural mechanisms sustaining the conflict bridge the gap between Galtung’s theory and the UDHR, since once one’s basic needs cannot be met then “structural violence becomes a structural violation of human rights.”340 In Israel and Palestine, the economic disparities between Jews and Arabs, as shown by the figures above, highlight the interconnectivity of Lederach’s modes and Parlevliet’s dimensions analysed thus far, since the additional and multiple layers of structural violence are built upon this fundamental inequality.341 This systemic inequality creates the ideal breeding ground for future violent reactions, which may manifest themselves in suicide bombings, or the current spate of sporadic knife attacks occurring at the time of writing; a view Richard Goldstone concluded in his investigation into Operation Cast Lead in 2009:

“Israel’s failure to acknowledge and exercise its responsibilities as the occupying power further exacerbated the effects of the occupation on the Palestinian people and continue to do so. The harsh and unlawful practices of occupation, far from quelling resistance, breed it, including its violent manifestations.”342

More importantly from the perspective of this thesis, the conclusions of the Goldstone report also refer to the cultural processes of dehumanizing and demonizing of the significant other within Israeli society, which augments a state of paranoia.343 These insights link seamlessly with Lederach’s final mode which considers the cultural contours of the conflict in both societies.

339 Barghouti, M., in Palumbo-Liu, D., “They Think They Have Nothing More to Lose”: Young Palestinians on the Frustration and Oppression Fuelling the Current Wave of Protests in Israel,

http://www.salon.com/2015/11/06/they_think_that_they_have_nothing_more_to_lose_young_palestinians_

on_the_frustration_and_oppression_fueling_the_current_wave_of_protests_in_israel/, November 6th, 2015

340 Ho, K., Structural Violence as a Human Rights Violation, Essex Human Right Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, September 2007, pp. 15

341 Ibid, pp. 4

342 Goldstone, R., Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict,

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf, 25th September, 2009, 1897, pp. 408

343 Ibid, 1905, pp. 410