Strategic Assessment

• Book: Different Territories—The Palestinians: An Inside Look
• By: Ohad Hemo
• Publisher: Keter
• Year: 2020
• pp: 296 pages [in Hebrew]

In his first book, Ohad Hemo, a Palestinian affairs television correspondent for more than 20 years, seeks to present to Israeli readers different layers of Palestinian society and the way it has been shaped in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hemo, who "lives" the Palestinian territories as part of his work, brings together his journalistic experiences in order to tell the story of the deep social and political crisis besetting Palestinian society. In turn, this portrait prompts the question: what does the future hold for the Palestinian national movement? The author draws on his experiences as a journalist who speaks the local language and his Israeli identity in a hostile region. Unlike with a foreign journalist, Hemo's Israeliness reminds readers of the danger he is in and of the Gordian knot connecting what happens "there," in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with daily life in Israel and Israel's national security interests. With his job as a journalist inextricably linked to his Israeli identity, Hemo tries to create bridges between the contradicting narratives and bring the processes underway on the other side to the attention of the Israeli public.

The book comprises an introduction and nine chapters, each of which focuses on a significant phenomenon or movement (for example the refugee camps, suicide attacks) and examines its development and its influence today. The chapters include the writer's discussions with people he has interviewed, as well as historical background and informative contexts. In each chapter there are several conversation partners, and each adds to the reader's understanding of the phenomenon described. Hemo makes clear in the introduction that this is not an attempt to write an academic paper, but rather, "my purpose is to tell about the Palestinians from a completely personal perspective that rests on meetings, conversations, and sometimes on unusual connections and friendships that have been formed over the course of almost two decades" (pp. 15-16, emphasis in the original). The book does not include female conversation partners and focuses almost entirely on male speakers, and thus does not represent the worldviews of Palestinian women, though they are clearly an integral part of Palestinian society and of the conflict.

The introduction opens with a frightening scene, which apparently reflects the feelings of the average Israeli when he finds himself entering the Palestinian territories unintentionally, and on the metaphorical level reflects the tense relations with our Palestinian neighbors. Hemo does not claim to be an objective writer or observer, as his Israeliness is a central part of how he approaches his interlocutors and poses questions that interest the Israeli public. Nevertheless, some of his conversation partners choose to speak with him precisely because of his Israeliness and also thanks to his ability to convey their messages outward, and he makes sure to quote people verbatim, with context and background and (almost) without being judgmental.

One of the chapters that stands out the most is "The Security Prisoners—From the Inside," which focuses on the role of the prisoners in Palestinian society and on the processes they experience in Israeli prisons, as they gain an in-depth familiarity with Israel, its history, and the Hebrew language. An interesting angle that arises is the issue of the education and conditions that the security prisoners receive. According to those interviewed, some currently in prison and some released prisoners, the educational process in prison has a moderating effect that exposes the prisoners to aspects of Israel that were unfamiliar to them. In Israeli prisons, the security prisoners read canonical Zionist texts and the Israeli narrative, learn Hebrew, see Israeli news channels, and even study to earn degrees according to the curricula of the Israeli Council for Higher Education. The prisoners, most of whom enter prison at a young age and with knowledge of Israeli society centered on the conflict, are exposed to worlds of content and ideas that bring them into contact with a previously foreign world. When they are released from prison, they receive great honor in Palestinian society and later even integrate in the establishment. Their sacrifice also gives them an additional “right” above others in Palestinian society, namely, the right to express an incisive and critical opinion about the leadership. According to Hemo, it is actually the released prisoners, those who in the past acted to harm Israel and Israelis, who are the potential Palestinian leadership that can bring about an end to the conflict.

Another important chapter is about collaborators and the torn identity they experience. Intelligence gathering plays an important role in maintaining Israeli security and to this end collaborators are needed, whose reasons for "crossing the lines" are divided into personal motivations (such as personal advancement, money, work permits, or assistance to family members) and ideological motivations, including identification with Israel. Whatever their motivation, once they are exposed, Palestinian society at best denounces them and they move to Israel; at worst they are murdered. It is very difficult for collaborators to integrate socially, and they find themselves often on the margins of society, hard pressed to make a living and bearing a mark of Cain. One example that Hemo provides in the book is of F., who lives in a dilapidated house in an industrial zone in Israel together with other illegal residents. Despite his collaboration, he did not receive legal status in Israel and has a temporary residency permit that is about to expire, and at the same time he receives threatening phone calls from the Palestinian Mukhabarat (intelligence) (pp. 237-239). Hemo also recounts the story of K., a Gaza businessman who worked with Israel and ended up assisting the assassination of Yahya Ayyash. The Israeli system kept its promises and he received an opportunity for a new life in the United States, but his previous life and his property were essentially erased and he was sentenced to death in Gaza. Today he lives in Israel and feels abandoned, transparent, and afraid (pp. 239-244).

The most important part of the book, which also connects all the different stories and phenomena described, is the final chapter, which discusses the idea of "the return to '87." In 1988 Yasir Arafat declared the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders at a meeting of the PLO's Legislative Council in Algiers. This meant recognizing the existence of the State of Israel alongside the Palestinian state. This declaration was the basis for agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, as it reflected a vision of two states side by side. But as Hemo describes, the validity of the Palestinian declaration of independence is waning. The Palestinian state does not exist and the chances of its existing in the future decrease the more Jewish settlements expand in the West Bank, and the more the Palestinians find themselves increasingly dependent on Israel for their livelihood.

Hemo concludes the book with a conversation with Dr. Said Zidani, a Palestinian intellectual living in Ramallah, on the topic of the Palestinian national aspiration. Zidani admits that the idea of two states was a historical compromise born out of the understanding that Israel is a fait accompli, but the aspiration was always to return to all parts of the homeland. According to Zidani, now this compromise is no longer relevant and therefore there is a return to the idea of one state, but in a different format. If in the 1960s the aspiration was a Palestinian state, now the Palestinians want it to be a state of all its citizens with equal rights for Jews and Palestinians. Later, he makes clear that the return to the one-state idea is a reflection of the disappointment in the agreement-based reality after the Oslo Accords, but also disappointment in the Palestinian Authority (pp. 278-281). To Zidani, "If in the past historic justice was meant to be realized at the expense of the State of Israel, today the hope of many is that it will be realized with it and within it" (p. 276). Palestinian public opinion polls do not match Zidani's words, and they reflect tension in Palestinian support between resolving the conflict with one state (that is, a binational state for Israelis and Palestinians) or two (that is, separation into two states for the two peoples, Israeli and Palestinian). On the one hand there is indeed a dramatic decline in support for the idea of two states,[1] but this is not translated directly into support for an alternative vision of one state.[2]

In conclusion, Hemo's book is a window for Israeli readers into processes that have marked and continue to unfold in Palestinian society. He raises complicated issues such as suicide attacks and refugee camps that are familiar to the Israeli public on a superficial level, but Hemo strives to infuse these difficult subjects with more content, depth, and understanding. The book is written in clear and straightforward language and is enjoyable to read, although troubling, as it demands looking at a complicated reality—at Palestinian society and the internal processes occurring in it. It portrays how Palestinians see Israel and are influenced by it, and warns of the greatest danger according to Hemo: the erasure of the borders and the unification of the Palestinian territories with Israel. The inability to advance geographical Palestinian-Israeli separation or to provide a feasible political horizon influences the conceptions and desires of the Palestinian public, which is gradually abandoning the aspiration to establish a separate state. This does not mean surrender or abandonment of the Palestinian national idea, but rather a conception that Israel won't have a choice but to give the Palestinians equal rights. It is actually the released prisoners, those who were willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Palestinian cause and paid a price for it, but were also able to look at Israeli society, that express a sober position in the book and warn of the dangers inherent in a one-state solution.

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[1] A public opinion poll by Dr. Khalil Shikaki (PCPSR) on December 13, 2022 found that 32 percent supported the idea of two states and 66 percent opposed it; on another question, 69 percent noted that they do not believe that the two-state solution is feasible, due to the expansion of the settlements in the West Bank.

[2] A public opinion poll by Dr. Khalil Shikaki (PCPSR) on December 13, 2022 found that 26 percent supported a one-state solution and 71 percent opposed it; on the question of the preferred Palestinian policy for overcoming the political stalemate, only 27 percent supported abandoning the two-state solution and replacing it with a one-state solution.