Colonial Alienation in Palestine: The West Bank Laborers in Israel and the Israeli Settlements.

• In Event: Marxist Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Marxist Sociology Section Roundtable 1

Abstract

Despite the extremely humiliating working conditions faced by Palestinians employed in Israel, occupied West Bank Palestinian laborers (OWBPL) continue to seek employment in Israel and Israeli settlements in order to survive economic hardship. Thousands of workers whose entry permits were revoked by Israel after October 7 are now living in extreme anxiety and anticipation. They fear that Israel may not allow them to return to work and, more dramatically, may replace them with laborers from East Asia or other foreign countries.
Accordingly, my research examines how West Bank laborers perceive their work in Israel and how they understand it in relation to the reinforcement of exploitation, suppression, alienation, and oppression within the broader context of Israeli colonization. Do they view their labor as empowering their oppressors and reifying their estrangement from their homeland? Or do they understand it as an opportunity to reinsert themselves onto land from which they were expelled?
Methodologically, to understand the workers’ feelings and perceptions, I will conduct archival research using Al-Quds and Al-Ayyam newspapers, both based in Ramallah in the West Bank. I will analyze workers’ narratives, stories, and interviews published between 1993 and 2006. In addition, I will conduct ethnographic fieldwork in Israel and Israeli settlements to observe workers’ behavior, language, performance, and interactions, focusing on those employed in the construction and agricultural sectors. This ethnographic research will be complemented by in-depth interviews with thirty-six workers at their worksites.

Author

• Viletcia Barghouthi, Michigan State University