Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Geology and Geography

Committee Chair

Robert Hanham

Abstract

Israel's assault on Gaza in December 2008 brought one of the world's most long-standing and hotly debated issues to the fore: the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Despite numerous diplomatic efforts to negotiate peace, the hostilities between the two parties continue. One of the fundamental obstacles to peace has been the highly uneven development between Israel and Palestine, caused primarily by Israel's continuous dispossession of Palestinian rights to land, water and sovereignty. In order to further our understanding of this phenomenon, this thesis sets out to examine processes of dispossession are carried out. The study therefore draws on the geographical concept of scalar fix and investigates how scalar fix consolidates power and functions as an act of dispossession of the Palestinian people. The analysis is based on a conceptual framework which utilizes Harvey's four key conditionalities of uneven geographical development as well as his matrix of multiple spaces. Linking the concept of scalar fix to the notion of dispossession, four types of scalar fix are identified and applied to the situation of Palestine. Dialectics is used as a methodology, both to develop the conceptual framework and to examine the case of dispossession in Palestine. The study finds that not only the formation of laws and treaties, but also the efforts of various networks, along with the control of knowledge and identity formation, constitute scalar fixes which facilitate Israel's consolidation of power and the act of dispossessing the people of Palestine.

Download

Share

COinS