DR Nimer Sultany ns30@soas.ac.uk
Reader in Public Law
The Making of an Underclass: The Palestinian Citizens in Israel
Sultany, Nimer
Authors
Abstract
I argue here that Israel’s ‘basic structure’ (i.e., the main economic, social, and political institutions), to use John Rawls’s phrase, subjects the Palestinian citizens to a process of ghettoization that relegates them to a separate and unequal status. This basic structure is particularly unjust, as it does not provide these citizens with the minimal conditions of a decent life. The state not only fails to rectify this injustice but is actively implicated in producing it. I argue that this process has included five key and interrelated elements: labor segmentation, land appropriation, de-development, deficient education, and the production of poverty. The Essay shows how the legal system is implicated in producing the segregation and subordination of the Palestinian minority. Ultimately, ghettoization within Israel intersects with a process of separation and annexation in the Occupied Territories. Together, these processes are eroding the citizenship status of the Palestinian citizens in Israel.
Citation
Sultany, N. (2012). The Making of an Underclass: The Palestinian Citizens in Israel. Israel Studies Review, 27(2), 190-212. https://doi.org/10.3167/isr.2012.270210
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Jan 1, 2012 |
Deposit Date | Oct 21, 2013 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 12, 2025 |
Journal | Israel Studies Review |
Print ISSN | 2159-0370 |
Electronic ISSN | 2159-0389 |
Publisher | Berghahn Journals |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 27 |
Issue | 2 |
Pages | 190-212 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.3167/isr.2012.270210 |
Keywords | Israel, Palestinian minority, ghettoization |
Publisher URL | http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2216734 |
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