Intifada 3.0? Cyber colonialism and Palestinian resistance

Palestine “exists” on Google and increasingly in various other “virtual” ways. But are “Palestine” on Google or the acquisition of the google.ps domain name in 2009 examples of political resistance on the internet? For Palestinian politicians, virtual presence has historical significance. Consider, for example, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology’s (MTIT) suggestion that “ICTs information and communications technology] contribute directly to the national goal of establishing and building an independent state.”3 Within that context, Sabri Saydam, adviser to Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas and a former MTIT minister himself, posited Google’s 2013 move as “a step towards...liberation.” 4 For Israeli politicians, as quoted above, the emergence of (a virtual) “Palestine” poses ideological and practical dangers. Both camps ascribe power to the internet. Their only disagreement is over the ends to which the internet is a means: The internet is a threat to the existence of the state of Israel or a step toward a future state. At heart, however, both views are a form of technological determinism. They remove the internet from human, historical, and geopolitical contexts, and posit it as agent of political, social, or economic change. We contend that neither position is valid

Online teacher training in a context for forced immobility: the Case of Gaza, Palestine

This article discusses an action research study that involved the design and delivery of an online training course for teachers of Arabic to speakers of other languages in the Gaza Strip (Palestine). Grounded in Freirean pedagogy, the course aimed to respond to the employment needs of university graduates by creating opportunities for online language teaching. The action research study explored the dynamics at play within the online educational environment, to evidence elements that challenged and/or facilitated effective collaboration between trainers and trainees. This article retraces and discusses the processes through which the course moved from didacticism to engaged critical pedagogy

Sociality Under Siege. A Qualitative Study on Youth and Social Media in the West Bank

1reservedrestrictedMiconi, AndreaMiconi, Andre