Resisting under Occupation. A Palestinian - Uyghur Comparison

This comparative study of the resistance behavior between the Palestinians and Chinese Uyghurs delineates the commonalities of the two case studies in terms of circumstances and resistance behavior, while creating its research puzzle from their differences of the latter. The research question asks what explains the variation in resistance behavior between the two groups given their similarities.
The study analyses the commonalities and differences of resistance behavior with regards to a "resistance spectrum", starting with 'frames' ("How is the conflict framed?"), continuing with an investigation of the non-violent forms of action-based resistance (poetry, songs, protests, etc.), concluding with an analysis of the violent forms of resistance. The study relies upon four different theories in its hypotheses' development in order to test different variables for explaining the research puzzle.

Autorentext

Daniel James Schuster was born in Linz, Austria, in 1986. He completed his BA studies in Philosophy at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz in 2013. In 2006 / 2007 he was an ?Austrian Holocaust Memorial Servant? at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial site i

Leseprobe
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Chapter 3. Empirical Background to the Case Studies:
The empirical background review of both the Palestinians and Uyghurs proceeds as follows-: first a brief general introduction to the resistance history, followed by an outline of the resistance types, with a separate section for each: ideational resistance (passive non-violent resistance; the framing of the respective conflict within the discourse of the group as found in the literature), active 'covert' and 'overt' non-violent resistance, and violent resistance.
a.) Palestinian Resistance Behavior:

1. Brief general introduction to the Palestinian resistance movement:
   The Palestinians are Arabs living in Palestine or descendants of those who trace themselves back to Arabs who lived in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. In the tumultuous context of the creation of this state, climaxed by the Arab countries' declared war against Israel, many Arabs of Palestine fled their homes, resulting in large waves of Palestinian refugees. Emerging victorious from the confrontation, Israel extended its territory to the borders of the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- territories occupied by Jordan and Egypt respectively. Following the Six D-ay War of 1967, Israel occupied these two territories and the Sinai Peninsula after defeating the Arab armies militarily. Already before 1967 but particularly since then, nationalism waxed significantly amongst the Palestinians, and calls for an independent state and a withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories became increasingly frequent, vocal and international over time. Simultaneously, Palestinian resistance increasingly coalesced into a social movement and a 'national cause' amongst most of Palestinian society, and thus the history of resistance against Israeli occupation has unfolded. As a social movement and in terms of organizational scope as well as violent activities, this resistance twice peaked in intensity during the two intifadas, in 1987 - 1993 and 2000 - 2005. Even though the Palestinians have resisted the occupation in certain ways on a daily basis ever since it started, the resistance activities during the two intifadas increased manifold in terms of type, frequency, sophistication and lethality. The resistance types ranged from ideational resistance in the form of descriptions of the conflict situation (by invoking certain frames that will be explored), to nonviolent activities, such as songs, public speeches, protests, and mass -noncooperation, to acts of violence, such as stone throwing or suicide attacks. Until today Palestinian resistance has not yet achieved its stated goal -- an independent Palestinian state or the dismantlement of Israel as a Jewish state -- although several lesser objectives have been reached. Most significantly, the recognition of the PLO as the legitimate political representative of the Palestinian people, as a result of the Oslo Accords following the first intifada, marked a milestone in the Palestinian history of resistance.
2. Ideational resistance:
   The significant role of frames in social movements is well established and has led to the emergence of the so-called framing theory within the social movement theory. On a basic level, frames are understood to be "schemata of interpretation" that enable social movement adherents "to locate, perceive, identify, and label" incidences in their lives and the world. According to framing theory, frames are significant as they identify the problem, attribute the locus of blame, define the scope and sphere of influence of the conflict demarcation lines, and the strength thereof. In the case of the Palestinians a set of frames have been identified that have existed for a long period of time in the public discourse.
   According to Wolfsfeld, the Palestinians have, on a broad view, resorted to regarding, interpreting and promoting occurrences of the conflict through the lenses of an "injustice" and "defiance" frame,