Working From the Backstage: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Save Sheikh Jarrah Campaign

From Firenze University Press Journal: SocietàMutamentoPolitica

Federica Stagni, Scuola Normale Superiore

The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem gained widespread attention in all media outlets in May 2021 after the Israeli High Court’s deci-sion to remove eleven Palestinian families from their homes. Thousands of people gathered in demonstrations, making the #savesheikhjarrah hashtag viral. Nevertheless, protests are not something new in this neighborhood. The first evictions took place in 2008–2009, sparking a solidarity movement of Israeli activists supporting the Palestinian residents of the district, which has persisted to this day. However, significant changes have occurred since then. What was once described as a joint Israeli-Palestinian protest move-ment is now predominantly associated with the Palestinian struggle, consid-ered the catalyst for the 2021 Unity Intifada (Tatour 2021; Alqaisiya 2023).What has changed in the coalition, and how has the involvement of the Israeli left in these protests transformed? For what reasons have Israeli activists withdrawn from this struggle, and what have prompted others to stay and continue to be interested in the issue? This paper will try to answer these questions by presenting what I will call the backstaging mechanism i.e., the ability of a section of the movement to step aside when this may help achieve the movement’s outcomes. This contribution is based on a triangulation of data. Through a Protest Event Analysis (PEA), it was possible to reconstruct the protest networks over time. The time-line of the protests was split in two in order to build two different Figureic networks. The first network (T1) covers the period from 2000 to 2011, and the second covers the period from 2012 to 2021 (T2). In this way, it is possible to see how the composition of the protests has changed over twenty years and carry out a longitudinal Qualita-tive Social Network Analysis (SNA) that compares the campaign at two different moments in time and scruti-nizes issues of stability and change within a movement that sees the collaboration of distinct ethnonational groups and international organizations. The SNA data were then corroborated by 20 interviews with activists from both ethnonational groups who participated in the Sheikh Jarrah protest cycle at different times. In addi-tion, I took part in several demonstrations during dif-ferent periods of fieldwork in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and East Jerusalem. The period from March to May 2022, when I did my last field exploration, was precisely one year after the demonstrations that brought Sheikh Jarrah back into the international news. This article contributes to the literature on social movements by examining the evolution of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood protests in Jerusalem from a lon-gitudinal perspective, offering insights into the dynam-ics of protest movements that involve diverse ethnona-tional groups and international organizations. It also confirms previous funding concerning the Israeli leftist trajectory in the movement. The research introduces the concept of the backstaging mechanism, contributing to Tilly’s (2001) and Della Porta’s (2014) research agenda. In particular, the paper is interested in contributing to the debate on relational mechanisms. As suggested by Tilly (2001: 24), «Relational mechanisms alter connec-tions among people, groups, and interpersonal networks; words such as ally, attack, subordinate, and appease give a sense of relational mechanisms». Similarly, Della Porta, in her book Mobilizing for Democracy, writes: «mecha-nisms are categories of action that filter structural con-ditions and produce effects». Hence, considering the backstaging mechanism as a possible relational mecha-nism means recognizing the importance of movements’ interactions within a cycle of protests and increasing our knowledge of these dynamics and their effects on certain political and social processes.The paper also contributes to the literature on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by focusing on the emergence of a campaign that tackled a pivotal issue in this field — the dispossession and eviction of Palestinian families from their homes. The question of evictions and resist-ance to them is central to area studies on Palestine. It is expressed in all the literature that addresses the concept of Sumud, which also emerged in the analysis of this case. In this way, the article enhances the understanding of the multifaceted nature of activism in the Israeli-Pal-estinian context and its implications for broader conflict dynamics.The article’s structure unfolds as follows: it begins with an initial contextual section detailing the situation in Sheikh Jarrah and the broader Palestinian context. The subsequent section delves into the analysis of pro-tests within the neighborhood, even though these have been studied by Palestinian and non-Palestinian schol-ars. Following this, the theoretical framework is intro-duced, employing a longitudinal analysis to demonstrate shifts in protest composition over time while maintain-ing a certain level of continuity. The article then pro-ceeds to conduct a Qualitative Social Network Analysis (SNA) at two selected time points. In the final section, the study attempts to formalize a trend previously iden-tified in other research further supported by field inter-views: the demobilization of Israeli activists and the concurrent development of new strategies by those who continued to mobilize in this movement.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/smp-15501

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