april.1.civil.society.middle.east - Civil Society and...

Civil Society and
Democracy in the
Middle East
April 1

Political Context

Creation of Israel in 1948, rejection of “two-state
solution” by the Arab League; Israeli military victory in
1948 war left Palestinian Arabs without a state

1967: Six-day War placed the West Bank and other
Arab territories under Israeli military occupation

Oslo 1993 peace accords between Israel and the
Palestine Liberation Organization; transform the latter
from an armed resistance movement into a governing
party

Create self-governing Palestine National Authority (PNA)
in portions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip that had
been under Israeli occupation since 1967

Palestinian Refugee Camps

Areas of Palestinian Control (bright green)
after 1993 peace accord

Israeli settlements in the West
Bank

Jamal’s “Barriers to Democracy”

Study of civil society and political authority
under the new Palestine National Authority

What kind of theoretical approach–
cultural, structural, or institutional?