On the Self in Self-Defense and the Right to Resist
The protracted war is explained by the Israeli government as an ongoing situation of self-defense. The idea of self-defense along with the constant state of emergency and a need to protect its borders have accompanied Israel throughout its existence. However, after 1967, self-defense was used by Israel as a pretext for suppressing diverse violent and non-violent forms of Palestinian resistance to the occupation.
In his essay “On the Self in Self-Defense and the Right to Resistance” Raef Zreik addresses the question of self-defense in order to examine the “self” at its core. What is Israel defending when it claims self-defense? Who is Israel defending when it denies the Palestinians every route of resistance? What kind of Israel and what limits guide it in its self-defense? Zreik shows how Israel operates within the context of territorial expansion where the very existence of the occupation is sidelined so as to be normalized, becoming transparent, natural, an unshakable reality, while at the forefront only Palestinian resistance remains, which forces Israel to respond. And yet, he asks about the conditions for the feasibility of discourse between occupiers and occupied—even today, in wartime and after.
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