Social Changes, Civil Society, and Institutional Deterioration in the Occupied West Bank
摘要
This chapter traces social changes and shifts in civil society movements in the West Bank since the 1967 occupation through increasing institutional deterioration and instability leading to 2023. The early years of occupation saw widespread Palestinian labor migration and economic integration within the Israeli state, along with political and military domination over Palestinian life. While civil rights movements deeply rooted within West Bank communities came to be characterized by the first intifada (1987–1993), emphasis was soon placed on institution building following the Oslo Accords and formation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Decades of political failure and the entrenchment of violent Israeli settlements resulted in multiple layers of fragmentation through which Palestinian communities have been increasingly isolated and divided from one another. Recent years have seen a revival in grassroots civil society movements, independent of political institutions, working across communities to maintain life in West Bank villages. The unsustainable conditions of continued occupation and PA rule in the West Bank, and increasingly violence and provocations from Israeli settlers and politicians have resulted in a situation in which Palestinian communities are suspended in a precarious limbo, enduring to maintain their existence.