Paper Short Abstract:

Exploring two different expressions of solidarity of Jewish women living in the West Bank, I claim that these two modes of solidarity with Palestinians are very much the result of negotiating solidarity and resistance while confronting state power.

Paper Abstract:

Very few Israeli left-wing Jews live in Palestine. The narratives informing my paper reveal the experience of left-wing Jewish Israeli women living in Palestinian localities in the West Bank for political reasons. This paper shows that the West Bank, with its subdivisions of different degrees of sovereignty, is a borderland and points to the ambiguous nature of the Green Line, which has an illusionary image of impermeability while being amorphous, membranous, and mobile.

These characteristics of the Green Line also reflect some of the challenges of living in the West Bank as a Borderland. The paper demonstrates the challenges the Jewish left-wing activist women living in the borderland encounter and the strategies they employ to maintain their political activity and thick solidarity with Palestinians. The paper shows how the intensity of life in the borderland under state surveillance and the type of sovereignty determine the possibility and the form of expressions of political solidarity. Exploring two different expressions of solidarity, termed "In-between the gaps" solidarity and "In your face to the system" solidarity, I claim that these two modes of solidarity are very much the result of negotiating solidarity and resistance while confronting state power.