Constructing Facts on the Map

The 2020 “Vision for Peace Conceptual Map: The State of Israel and a Future State of Palestine

Bibliographic Data

ID6434007
AuthorsChristine Leuenberger (Cornell University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume40
Issue4
Pages841-857
Publication date2023-11-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Borderlands Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0886-5655 • E-ISSN: 2159-1229
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08865655.2023.2278547
OpenAlexW4389138611
LanguageEN
References cited20

Maps have historically always been intertwined with politics and the making of nation-states. Map-making in Israel/Palestine is a particularly powerful example of the politics of maps. This paper draws on critical cartography, Border Studies and Science and Technology Studies to analyze the “Vision for Peace Conceptual Maps” of a future State of Palestine and the State of Israel that were published by the White House in 2020 as part of a proposed peace plan entitled “Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People”. The focus is on the visual rhetoric, discursive underpinnings, and historical context of these maps. The paper also draws on qualitative in-depth interviews as well as academic and policy analyzes of the peace plan’s feasibility and potential impact. While the peace plan and its maps have vanished from the political limelight, they will nevertheless have established “facts on the map” that will embody new spatial possibilities that will inevitable shape imagined futures in Israel/Palestine.KEYWORDS: Trump Peace PlanDeal of the CenturyIsraelPalestinemapdiscoursebordercolonialismpeace negotiationspoliticssciencediplomacy AcknowledgmentsDedicated to Professor Moshe Brawer who shared his expertise generously and was the most astute and knowledgeable observer to unfolding events in Israel/Palestine over the last century. He was an outstanding geographer, an advocate for peace and justice, and a fountain of wisdom. His voice will always be missed. I am indebted to all my interviewees, colleagues, and friends in Israel/Palestine for their thoughtful counsel and astute assessments on always difficult issues. I would also like to thank Andréanne Bissonnette and Élisabeth Vallet for their always commendable efforts to bring Border Scholars in conversation with each other and for inspiring me to write this paper, and I am grateful to the participants of our online workshop “Making a Divide: Mapping, Walling and Internalizing Borders and their Apparatus” (January 25 2021) for always constructive exchanges.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Due to the United Nation (UN) decision in November 2012 to grant observer status to the “State of Palestine”, the term Palestine is used alongside terms used by the international community, such as the Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPt’s), Palestinian Territories as well as West Bank and Gaza. The terms “Judea and Samaria” to describe the West Bank is used if employed by protagonists.2 The Oslo Accords, signed by Israel and the PLO in Washington, DC on September 13, 1993, envisioned the establishment of a Palestinian interim self-government in the Palestinian territories, and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt in 1995, divided the Palestinian Territories into different territorial zones, including Zones A (under full Palestinian control), B (under Palestinian civil control and Israeli military control) and C (under full Israeli military control). The assumption was that full territorial control over all zones would eventually be transferred to the Palestinian Authorities. For the territorial delineation according to the Oslo Accords see UNOCHA Reference Map WB and Gaza 2006. Accessed June 1, 2021. https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reference-map-wb-and-gaza-2006. See also U.S. Department of State Archive, The Oslo Accords, 1993. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/pcw/97181.htm. Accessed June 3, 2023.3 The data corpus includes in-depth interviews with academics, policymakers, representatives from non-governmental organizations as well as political activists in Israel and Palestine pertaining to the history and politics of mapping in the region. The Palestinian, Israeli, and international interviewees consulted held a variety of political views and positions. In-depth interviews were augmented by participant observation in map-making institutions as well as archival research in Israel and the US.4 Kushner had close personal ties to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was a longtime friend of Kushner's family (Hixon Citation2020; Relman Citation2020; Arieli Citation2020a). Kushner’s political visions also aligned with a Zionist expansionist viewpoint propagated by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a lobbying group that advocates for what are presented as “pro-Israel policies” to the American government; AIPAC’s policy priorities also tend to be aligned with the Israeli right-wing. A competing lobbying group, J Street, that presents itself as both “pro-Israel” and “pro-peace”, advocates for alternate policies in regard to Israel/Palestine.5 UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases (1996) Israel’s Settlements Have No Legal Validity, Constitute Flagrant Violation of International Law, Security Council Reaffirms. https://press.un.org/en/2016/sc12657.doc.htm (accessed June 3, 2023).6 See Security Council Resolution 242: The Situation in the Middle East. 1967. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://peacemaker.un.org/middle-east-resolution242; see also UN Resolution adopted by the General Assembly; 53/42. Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-190195/.7 For further information on the Palestinians right of return see UN, The Question of Palestine. https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-210170/ (accessed June 3, 2023).8 See Proclamation available here: https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-recognizing-golan-heights-part-state-israel/. Despite of the Golan Height’s’ legal status under International Law as under Israeli occupation, in May 2019, the Trump administration gifted Netanyahu a signed map of Israel/Palestine with the Golan Height’s represented as part of Israeli territory whilst to the right of the Golan the word “nice” was inscribed by President Trump (Fredericks Citation2019).9 See the Trump White House Archives for “Statement by President Trump on Jerusalem” https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-jerusalem/ and “President Donald J. Trump Keeps His Promise To Open U.S. Embassy In Jerusalem, Israel”. https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-keeps-promise-open-u-s-embassy-jerusalem-israel/. See also UN (1997) The Status of Jerusalem. https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/The-Status-of-Jerusalem-Engish-199708.pdf (accessed June 3, 2023).10 For further information about Ir Amin: For an Equitable and Stable Jerusalem with an Agreed Political Future see: ir-amim.org.il/en. Accessed May 19, 2021.11 Critics also often refer to the territorial fragmentation as the de facto creation of Banthustans (a territorial-administrative device that excluded Black South Africans in Apartheid South Africa from full political participation in the national political system).12 The transfer of the Triangle to a future State of Palestine would reduce the more rapidly growing Palestinian-Arab population within Israel. The more rapid growth of the Palestinian-Arab population has long been seen as a “demographic time bomb” threatening Israel’s aim to be a Jewish democratic state.13 For more information on the “Forbidden Road Regime” see B’tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Accessed May 19, 2021. https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/200408_forbidden_roads. For more information on “Apartheid Roads” see Nir Hasson (2019) on "New Jerusalem “Apartheid Road” Opens, Separating Palestinians and Jewish Settlers". Accessed May 19, 2021. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-new-apartheid-road-opens-separating-palestinians-and-west-bank-settlers-1.6827201.14 See Peace Now. https://peacenow.org.il/en/the-trump-plan-a-plan-for-annexation-not-for-peace. Accessed May 20, 2021.15 "B'Tselem on President Trump's "peace" plan: not peace, Apartheid". https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20200128_btselem_on_president_trumps_plan. Accessed May 20, 2021.16 For more information about the Likud party see https://www.likud.org.il/en/. Accessed Oct 6, 2023.17 For more information on the two-state solution see Council on Foreign Relations (2022) "What is U.S Policy on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict?" https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-us-policy-israeli-palestinian-conflict. Accessed June 6, 2023.18 UN Resolution 242 emphasized the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by war and emphasized the necessity to address the refugee issue, amongst other issues. For further information see https://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7D35E1F729DF491C85256EE700686136. Accessed May 20, 2021.19 For information about the 1967 Allon Plan see https://ecf.org.il/issues/issue/148. Accessed May 21, 2021; and Yigal Allon’s 1976 contribution to Foreign Affairs entitled Israel: The Case for Defensible Borders, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/israel-case-defensible-borders. Accessed Sep 2, 2023.20 Since the mid 2000, Palestinian state building became increasingly reconceptualized as a neoliberal project rather than a political one; markets, privatization, investments, and economic growth were to deliver economic and political stability (Kareem Citation2021; Leuenberger and El-Atrash Citation2015; Samara Citation2000).21 The reliance on science as a potentially shared language is a feature of science diplomacy which has become an important foreign policy tool, particularly in conflict regions (Turekian Citation2016; Mock Citation2013; Hajjar Citation2016; Leuenberger Citation2021). However, despite the fact that reliance on expertise in conjunction with face-to-face negotiations were credited for the border delineation agreement, critics have pointed out that the Israel-Jordan negotiations did not address the territorial status of the West Bank as a separate territory that had been assigned to a future Palestinian state under the 1947 UN partition plan (see also Allouche Citation2019).22 According to international law, the Palestinian Territories are under Israeli occupation as Israel’s border with the oPt’s can only be determined through peace negotiations and not through annexation. The Israeli government, however, maintains that the Israeli presence in the West Bank has a unique legal character and does not constitute an occupation due to Israel’s need for self- defense and its replacement of Jordanian rule over the West Bank (which did not have the right to sovereignty over the territory) (Ayoub Citation2004

Algorithm · Ancient history · Cartography · Geography · Palestine · Political science · Road map · State (computer science · Computer Science · Cross-Border Cooperation and Integration · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Middle East Politics and Society

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