From forced displacement to forced immobility: the Israeli mobility regime to the post-disengagement Gaza Strip

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30612/rmufgd.v13i25.17279

Keywords:

Gaza Strip, Mobility Regime, Israeli settler colonialism

Abstract

The article investigates the effects of the mobility regime imposed by Israel after the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, when Israel withdrew all its Jewish settlements from the region. Although the Israeli State claims to have no further responsibility for Gaza under international occupation law, its remote-control policies reveal the continuation of colonial domination by other means. In this scenario, we argue that Gaza emerges both as a space of expulsion, where Palestinians must move and remain, and as a deathscape, since the effects of the policy of (im)mobility of people generate fatal effects. In a historical perspective, the article argues that Gaza experienced two contrasting phenomena: a moment of forced displacement, when 200,000 Palestinians took refuge in the region during the creation of the State of Israel, in 1948, and a moment of forced immobility, caused by restrictions on the movement of people and products, occurring since 2005. Although contrasting, both phenomena can be understood through the Zionist settler colonialism framework, which, since its foundation, has sought to deal with the "Arab" problem: the demographic threat to the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

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Author Biographies

Isabela Agostinelli, Interinstitutional Graduate Program in International Relations “San Tiago Dantas” (UNESP, UNICAMP, PUC-SP)

Isabela Agostinelli dos Santos is a PhD Candidate at the Interinstitutional Graduate Program in International Relations “San Tiago Dantas” (UNESP, UNICAMP, PUC-SP), with scholarship provided by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP). Her research interests include International Conflicts, Colonialism and Post-Colonialism, Middle East and Palestine/Israel Studies. Her PhD thesis focuses on the daily and infrastructural violence experienced by Palestinians from Gaza Strip. Isabela is also a member of PUC-SP’s Research Group on International Conflicts (GECI).

Reginaldo Mattar Nasser, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo

Reginaldo Mattar Nasser is Associate Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), Professor in the Interinstitutional Graduate Program in International Relations “San Tiago Dantas” (UNESP, UNICAMP, PUC-SP), leader of PUC-SP’s Research Group on International Conflicts (GECI) and a researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology for United States Studies (INCT-INEU). Reginaldo’s research interests include International Conflicts, Middle East Studies, US Foreign Policy, Colonialism and Post-Colonialism.

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Published

2024-11-07

How to Cite

Santos, I. A. dos, & Nasser, R. M. (2024). From forced displacement to forced immobility: the Israeli mobility regime to the post-disengagement Gaza Strip. Monções: UFGD Journal of International Relations, 13(25), 250–276. https://doi.org/10.30612/rmufgd.v13i25.17279

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Artigos Dossiê "Migrações: mapear e corporificar as práticas migrantes"