Visuals of the Wall and the Vanishing Landscapes in Palestine Nayrouz Abu Hatoum

360 Pages·2016·8.53 MB·English

Framing Absence:
Visuals of the Wall and the Vanishing Landscapes in Palestine

Nayrouz Abu Hatoum

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Graduate Program in
Social Anthropology
York University
Toronto, Ontario

September 2016

© Nayrouz Abu Hatoum, 2016
Abstract

This dissertation explores people’s relationship to the landscapes of material, abstract, and
visual borders in the context of Palestine-Israel. Since 2002, the construction of the Israeli
separation Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has significantly transformed the
way locals, particularly on the Palestinian side of the Wall see and articulate their relation
to the landscape. Already living in a state of military occupation through restriction of
movement, limited access to land and urban expansion on occupied territory, the Wall has
considerably shifted Palestinians’ relationships to the landscape. To them the landscape
has become a visual field on which power dynamics and political structures are embodied
and expressed. Moreover, for many Palestinians the Israeli construction of the Wall is
visible evidence of the on-going process of destruction of the Palestinian landscape. But
what is the view of Palestinians and Israelis living on the Israeli side of the Wall and those
living in Palestine but in close proximity to the Wall? What is their engagement with the
Wall? To answer these questions, this dissertation draws on more than 12 months of
ethnographic research in Israel and Palestine that involved extended interviews with
Palestinian and Israeli photographers and activists in Israel, as well as Palestinians whose
lives were affected by the Wall’s construction in proximity to their homes and for whom
the Wall route brought them into direct confrontation with the Israeli military. This
research also examined representations of the Wall in different visual projects. From a
theoretical perspective, this dissertation asks how do visual fields facilitate the structuring
of national imaginaries and what sights and future visions are offered by different readings
of the landscape? To answer these questions, I employ anthropological theories of
violence, borders and the visual, and propose the concept of landscapocide, a violent visual
process through which landscapes are framed, and made to be seen and unseen. Through
landscapocide and other anthropologically grounded theories and concepts I offer a new
reading of the ways in which people in bordered contexts give meaning to what they see.

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Dedication

To our land,
and it is the one surrounded with torn hills,
the ambush of a new past
To our land, and it is a prize of war,
the freedom to die from longing and burning
and our land, in its bloodied night,
is a jewel that glimmers for the far upon the far
and illuminates what’s outside it ...
As for us, inside,
we suffocate more!

Excerpt from Mahmoud Darwish 2007, "To Our
Land" in The Butterfly’s Burden (2007). English
translation by Fady Joudah.

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Acknowledgments

This dissertation is a product of years of thinking, conversing, listening, reading and
writing. Without the support and help of many people in my life, I would not have been
able to finish this project. I first want to thank my family: my parents Nawal and Ghassan
Abu Hatoum, and my brothers Sa’ady and Shady Abu Hatoum. Their support and belief in
me was a crucial force in helping me complete this work.
I am thankful to my supervisor, Professor Zulfikar Hirji, who introduced me to new ways
of thinking about visual anthropology and encouraged me to develop my work in new
directions in the field. My committee members, Professors Daphne Winland and Wenona
Giles, also offered me invaluable support. Their insightful comments and suggestions have
significantly improved my writing.
I have been lucky to be part of the collegial environment of the Anthropology Department
at York University, and I am thankful for the faculty and graduate students who were my
colleagues throughout my PhD.
My Aries Sun and Scorpio Moon kept me on the emotional edge for the past eight years of
this journey. Without the generosity, hospitality, support and inspirational energy of many
of my friends I would not have survived living in Toronto away from home: Aruna
Boodram, Ayeda Ayed, Azada Rahi, Chelsey Lichtman, David Mofette, Ghadeer Malek,
Ghaida Mousa, Hülya Arık, Janet Rowe, Jasmine Abdelhadi, Jessica Karuhanga, Julia
Murphy, Loujayn Al Hokail, Nanky Rai, Nora Al-Aleiwi, Reeju Ray, Salma Al Atassi,
Sarah Al Ghamdi, Seçil Daǧtaș, Shaira Vadasaria.
I was lucky to have brilliant friends who were generous to provide me with their insights
and comments on my writings as well as proofread and edited my work: Anna Carastathis,
Johannah May Black, Natalie Kouri-Towe and Serene Husni. I am greatly thankful to my
friend and editor Yasmine Haj who made this manuscript significantly coherent.
I am deeply honoured and humbled by the generous support of my friends in Palestine,
without whom this dissertation would have been a near impossibility: Deema Darawshe,
Lama Jamjoum, Moheeb Al Barghouthi, Nisreen Abu Hunaina and Nisreen Mazzawi.
Finally, I am very thankful to the Palestinians and Israelis who were my interlocutors in
the field. Their insights, creativity, experiences, resistance, and vision adorn this
manuscript with their hopes for liberation.

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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT ___________________________________________________________________ II
DEDICATION ________________________________________________________________ III
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS _______________________________________________________ IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS _______________________________________________________ V
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ___________________________________________________ VII
IMAGES ______________________________________________________________________ VII
MAPS _______________________________________________________________________ VIII
NOTES ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION ___________________________ IX
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION: LANDSCAPES OF ABSENCE AND CONTESTED
SIGHTS ______________________________________________________________________ 1
1. PALESTINE/ISRAEL: A HISTORY OF PARTITION AND BORDER FORMATIONS __________ 12
THE WALL: THE CURRENT STATE OF FRAGMENTATIONS AND BORDER FORMATIONS _____ 24
2. THEORETICAL DEBATES IN ANTHROPOLOGY: VISUALS, VIOLENCE, AND BORDERS ____ 29
3. MAP OF CHAPTERS _________________________________________________________ 60
CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY IN VISUAL FIELDS __________________________ 67
1. POSITIONALITY ON THE BORDERLINE: PROXIMITIES AND DISTANCES _______________ 71
2. LOCATING THE FIELD: POSITIONINGS IN OCCUPIED LAND/SCAPE ___________________ 76
3. METHODOLOGY IN BORDER SIGHTS/SITES: VISUALS, BORDERS AND VIOLENCE _______ 99
4. METHODOLOGY IN LANDSCAPES OF VIOLENCE _________________________________ 102
5. DISTANT INTIMACIES: STUDYING MY OCCUPIER ________________________________ 109
6. CHALLENGES IN THE FIELD _________________________________________________ 122
CHAPTER THREE: LANDSCAPES OF BORDERS _______________________________ 127
1. SITES OF BORDERS: CROSSING, MEMORY, AND MOURNING _______________________ 139
2. “BECOMING A BORDER” ____________________________________________________ 144
3. BORDER ANXIETIES: THE PROJECTION OF THE WALL ___________________________ 153
4. WITNESSING LANDSCAPES, MARCHING WITH MAPS _____________________________ 162
5. THE DIVIDING LINES _______________________________________________________ 176
6. THE MENTAL DIVIDE ______________________________________________________ 184
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CHAPTER FOUR: LANDSCAPOCIDE, BORDER SIGHTS, AND DAILY VIOLENCE _ 194
1. CONCEPTUALIZING AND CONTEXTUALIZING LANDSCAPES OF BORDERS ____________ 200
2. JAWLAN: VIOLENCE AND LANDSCAPE OF BORDERS _____________________________ 209
3. FROM JAWLAN TO THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: LANDSCAPES OF VIOLENT
ERUPTIONS __________________________________________________________________ 226
4. THE HOUSE AS A SITE OF VIOLENCE __________________________________________ 231
5. CORPOREAL SITES OF VIOLENCE ____________________________________________ 238
CHAPTER FIVE: FRAMING THE VANISHING: PHOTOGRAPHY OF PALESTINIAN
LANDSCAPE ________________________________________________________________ 250
1. VISUALS OF OCCUPATION AND THE METAPHORS OF THE WALL ___________________ 256
2. DEPOLITICIZATION OF BORDERS: THE WALL AS A COMMERCIAL SIGHT ____________ 262
3. FRAMES OF PRESENCE: PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE WALL ___________________________ 278
4. FRAMES OF ABSENCE: VISUALIZING THE VANISHING ____________________________ 299
CHAPTER SIX: TRAJECTORIES AND LANDSCAPES OF RUINS; A CONCLUSION 312
1. CONTOURS _______________________________________________________________ 312
2. TRAJECTORIES ___________________________________________________________ 323
BIBLIOGRAPHY ____________________________________________________________ 331

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List of Illustrations
Images
IMAGE 1: POPE FRANCIS PRAYS NEAR THE WALL IN BETHLEHEM. ................................................ 7
IMAGE 2: POPE FRANCIS PRAYING ON THE WESTERN WALL ........................................................... 8
IMAGE 3: KEY FOR MAP 1 .......................................................................................................................... 17
IMAGE 4: KEY TO MAP 2 ............................................................................................................................ 25
IMAGE 5: VIEW FROM THE ISRAELI “SIDE” .......................................................................................... 67
IMAGE 6: KEY FOR MAP 4. ......................................................................................................................... 95
IMAGE 7: ONE OF THE WIDELY DISTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE WALL ........................... 99
IMAGE 8: QALANDIA CHECKPOINT, BETWEEN RAMALLAH AND JERUSALEM ........................ 123
IMAGE 9: A VIEW OF THE WALL IN ABU DIS NEIGHBOURHOOD .................................................. 146
IMAGE 10: A STILL (5:42) FROM SIMON BITTON'S FILM MUR (2005) ............................................. 155
IMAGE 11: STYROFOAM WALL ERECTED ON THE BEACH .............................................................. 156
IMAGE 12: VIEW FROM THE TICHNOUN TOUR BUS .......................................................................... 166
IMAGE 13: ISRAELI JEWISH PARTICIPANTS IN KESHARIM TOUR ................................................. 169
IMAGE 14: AN AERIAL MAP OF JERUSALEM REGION ...................................................................... 174
IMAGE 15: THE GREEN LINE PROJECTED THROUGH LIGHT ON THE LAND ............................... 179
IMAGE 16: THE ROAD CONNECTING JERUSALEM WITH RAMALLAH .......................................... 209
IMAGE 17: REMAINS OF ISRAELI MILITARY JEEP FROM 1967 WAR .............................................. 212
IMAGE 18: BANIAS WATER FALLS IN JAWLAN .................................................................................. 215
IMAGE 19: ABANDONED CHURCH IN THE OCCUPIED SYRIAN JAWLAN ..................................... 217
IMAGE 20: SIGN IN YELLOW AND RED WITH A RED TRIANGLE.................................................... 220
IMAGE 21: BORDER. JAWLAN HEIGHTS ............................................................................................... 222
IMAGE 22: AL MASEIRA: "THE CONTINUITY STATUE" .................................................................... 224
IMAGE 23: SOUTH VIEW FROM GILO SETTLEMENT TOWARDS BEIT JALA ............................... 261
IMAGE 24: SCREENSHOT OF COMME IL FAUT FASHION BROCHURE ........................................... 265
IMAGE 25: SCREENSHOT OF COMME IL FAUT FASHION BROCHURE ........................................... 267
IMAGE 26: SCREENSHOT FROM CELLCOM COMMERCIAL.............................................................. 272
IMAGE 27: SCREENSHOT FROM ARTIST ALEXIS CORDESSE WEBSITE ........................................ 279
IMAGE 28: AL-HAQ PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION.............................................................................. 280
IMAGE 29: ABU DIS 2003. PHOTOGRAPHER MIKI KRATSMAN ....................................................... 289
IMAGE 30: SAMAR HAZBOUN, BEFORE THE WALL .......................................................................... 296
IMAGE 31: SAMAR HAZBOUN, BEFORE THE WALL .......................................................................... 297
IMAGE 32: YAZAN KHALILI'S (2011) ON LOVE AND OTHER LANDSCAPES ................................. 301
IMAGE 33: YAZAN KHALILI'S (2011) ON LOVE AND OTHER LANDSCAPES ................................. 303
IMAGE 34: YAZAN KHALILI'S (2011) ON LOVE AND OTHER LANDSCAPES ................................. 304
IMAGE 35: YAZAN KHALILI'S (2011) ON LOVE AND OTHER LANDSCAPES ................................. 305
IMAGE 36: A MILITARY SIGN ON A FENCE BY THE ISRAELI AIR FORCE .................................... 325
IMAGE 37: MA'ALOUL'S ABANDONED MOSQUE ................................................................................ 327
IMAGE 38: CATHOLIC CHURCH OF MA'ALOUL CLEANED AND RESTORED. .............................. 329

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Maps

MAP 1: : MAP OF UN PARTITION PLAN FOR PALESTINE __________________________________ 17
MAP 2: WALL CONSTRUCTION PROCESS IN THE WEST BANK, 2002-2009 __________________ 25
MAP 3: MAP OF JERUSALEM MUNICIPALITY BORDERS __________________________________ 93
MAP 4: MAP OF JERUSALEM'S ISRAELI MUNICIPALITY AREA ____________________________ 94

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Notes on Translation and Transliteration

During my research, I conducted conversations in Arabic and Hebrew. I translated all these
conversations into English. Acknowledging the inherent inability of ever fully arriving at
the most faithful translation, I nonetheless did my best to be as precise as possible in
conveying not only the explicit meaning of the words but also the implicit cultural
meaning. Furthermore, where translating these words was insufficient to offer the
contextual and historical usage or significance of the words, I chose to use the (Palestinian
Dialect) Arabic or (Modern) Hebrew words in their English transliteration. Both Arabic
and Hebrew are Semitic languages and they consist of sounds that do not exist in English,
like the sound of aspirated guttural vowels (such as ha, ’a (or a’), kha; and gha or qa).
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Chapter One: Introduction: Landscapes of Absence and
Contested Sights

My poems do not deliver mere images and metaphors, but deliver landscapes,
villages, and fields; they deliver a place. It makes that which is absent from
geography, present in its form that is able to reside in the poetic text, as if residing
on his land.
Mahmoud
Darwish1

[T]he disaster of 1948 made the fate and history of Israeli Jews and Palestinians
inseparable and that as long as the disaster of the “visible victim”—the Palestinian
who suffered expulsion, dispossession, and destruction—is preserved unseen,
those who inflicted it or their descendants—the Israeli Jews—will not recognize
their own disaster. The disaster of becoming the perpetrators of the “visible
victim” has been kept out of the visual field. (550)

Ariella Azoulay (2013),
Potential History: Thinking through Violence.

The scene of the Israeli occupied hilltops in the West Bank elicits a sense of
familiar loss from me. I have seen and felt this loss with my family. Once, I was told, there
used to exist a small village called Ma’aloul; early in 1950, over the course of a week, it
was destroyed by occupiers, the village’s families expelled, losing their right to return.
Today, Ma’aloul, my maternal grandmother’s village, is only few kilometres away from
our home, near the city of Nazareth, and is out of our reach.

1 Quoted from Simone Bitton’s film (1997) Mahmoud Darwish: As the Land is the Language.
1