Israeli Biopolitics: Closure, Territorialization, and Governmentality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Abstract

This paper argues for the inclusion of biopolitical practices of mobility regulation in the study of Israeli control of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). State investment in bifurcated infrastructure, checkpoints, identity documents, and a permit system underlines the centrality of closure to occupation. Through closure, Israeli government agents aim beyond sovereign control of the Israeli-Palestinian border or narrowly conceived security for Israeli subjects. By differentiating, quantifying, documenting, and disciplining, closure constitutes biopolitical control of the occupied Palestinian population. Palestinian agents are tasked with minor administrative responsibilities, but only within a framework of Israeli biopolitical control. This analysis draws on empirical material from fieldwork in the West Bank and three case studies of Palestinian life in East Jerusalem. Findings point toward an Israeli “governmentality” of Palestinian mobility informed by incomplete territorialization of the West Bank and demographic anxiety.