ABSTRACT

This chapter sets out the problematique that drives the deliberations of this book: namely, the manner in which Palestinians’ statelessness contends with the rituals of statecraft that the Palestinian Authority (PA) engages in. Conceptually, our understanding of the PA’s ‘theater of statecraft’ is inspired by Judith Butler’s conception of performativity as one that encompasses several repetitive and ritual performative acts. Methodologically, we adopt an ethnographic approach by way of interviews and observations in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in order to explore what we refer to as the ‘fuzzy’ state, personified in the form and conduct of the PA, looks like for those living it, from the vantage point of PA institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international representative offices, and activists.