Israel's Occupation [Paperback]

Neve Gordon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520255313 | ISBN-13: 978-0520255319 | Publication Date: October 2, 2008 | Edition: 1

This first complete history of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip allows us to see beyond the smoke screen of politics in order to make sense of the dramatic changes that have developed on the ground over the past forty years. Looking at a wide range of topics, from control of water and electricity to health care and education as well as surveillance and torture, Neve Gordon's panoramic account reveals a fundamental shift from a politics of life--when, for instance, Israel helped Palestinians plant more than six-hundred thousand trees in Gaza and provided farmers with improved varieties of seeds--to a macabre politics characterized by an increasing number of deaths. Drawing attention to the interactions, excesses, and contradictions created by the forms of control used in the Occupied Territories, Gordon argues that the occupation's very structure, rather than the policy choices of the Israeli government or the actions of various Palestinian political factions, has led to this radical shift.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Applying the work of Michel Foucault to the contemporary Middle East, this highly theoretical book examines the means of control used to manage the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Gordon, a professor of politics at Ben-Gurion University, begins by exploring the diffuse mechanisms of power—in the political, civilian, geographical and economic arenas—used to normalize the occupation in its first years, making the ostensibly temporary occupation permanent. Later chapters take a more specific historical approach, examining a series of events that radically transformed these power structures: the first intifada, the Oslo Accords and the second intifada, which, the author argues, required a reorganization of Israeli power in the Occupied Territories, leading to the disregard of the Palestinians inhabiting those territories. Gordon focuses on the treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and writes for a decidedly scholarly audience; as a result, the book's usefulness beyond academics will likely be limited. (Nov.)
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Review

"What is most interesting in Gordon's analysis is the way in which the renovation of occupation practices are identified as an immanent outcome of the 'excesses and contradictions' within the system itself."--Times Higher Education

"Israel's Occupation becomes a must read on my list; and my first question of anyone that wants to argue with any perspectives on Israel would be 'Have you read this book yet?'"--Palestine Chronicle

"A must read."--Opednews.com

"This book is a significant contribution to our understanding Israel's changing methods of rule during the four decades of occupation."--Middle East Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520255313
• ISBN-13: 978-0520255319
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #424,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Neve Gordon teaches in the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University, Israel. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Watson Institute at Brown University. During the first intifada, he was the director of Physicians for Human Rights - Israel. Gordon is the co-editor of Torture: Human Rights, Medical Ethics and the Case of Israel, the editor of From the Margins of Globalization: Critical Perspectives on Human Rights, and most recently the author of Israel's Occupation. His writings have appeared in numerous scholarly journals as well as in publications like The Guardian, The Nation, Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, Chronicle of Higher Education and The National Catholic Reporter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good anlaysis of the matrix of control in the OTs., March 30, 2010

By 

HASHDAZ "HAZ" (San Diego CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Israel's Occupation (Paperback)

Neve Gordon does everyone a service by meticulously explaining the complex matrix of control Israel started laying down weeks after the Occupation began. It draws on sources in Hebrew that have not been translated into English.

Some observations/criticisms:

1)Since it is more scholarly than polemical (and hence some of its strength and validity) it makes at times for a slightly difficult read. Some of this has to do with the book layout , fonts etc, mostly with the way the subject matter is addressed.

2)It could have done with more maps. B'Tselem and other human rights groups in the Occupied Territories (OT) have some excellent ones. Their liberal inclusion would have been a more tangible reminder of how moth-eaten and non-viable the possibility of a 2-state solution now is.

3)A separate chapter on East Jerusalem would have been helpful. Gordon addresses EJ throughout the book but I have always been struck by how even the most knowledgeable observers of the scene (the recent attention to the issue notwithstanding) do not make it clear that EJ is Occupied Territory whose 'final status' has been subject to creeping and constant unilateral manipulation.

All-in-all a powerful and precise book whose conclusions only the most rabid nationalist (and there'll be plenty even on this forum) would bother to deny.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neve Gordon documented the occupation and its shifting policies, September 4, 2011

By 

Christopher M. Whitman Jr. "I can actually ch... (Marlborough, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Israel's Occupation (Kindle Edition)

Neve Gordon, ISRAELI Professor at Ben Gurion University, wrote a book documenting the shifting policies of the occupation and how this affected the Palestinian population under said occupation. He begins in 1967 and uses military and governmental documents to go over the issue. He breaks the occupation down into specific times and documents thoroughly the impact and policies. I do not know what else to say, it is rather basic and straightforward, just look at the title.

3 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Garbage in garbage out, March 22, 2011

By 

Sam I am (SF Bay Area, Calif) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Israel's Occupation (Paperback)

Neve Gordon has a vivid imagination and fairytale articulation worth of Hansel and Gretel..... This so called professor takes snippets of data and innuendoes add a cupful of biased emotion and self-hatred and voila a theoretical theory on occupation and Israel policy....
Do not waste your money on garbage you can have it for free at any dumpsite...