Beyond management and punishment

This chapter examines the elements of the occupation that go ‘beyond’ managing and punishing populations, and the acts of resistance that go beyond resisting management or punishment. In a sense, the elements covered in this chapter represent the epitome of the subjectification that can result from power, as well as the epitome of resistances to subjectification. ¹ There is a common tie across these four elements, that of ‘killing’ – both the killing of bodies and the killing of geographies can be found in this chapter, through an examination of the separation wall as a method of ‘killing’ the geography of the West Bank, and the killing of young Palestinians – which is examined through the subjectification that results from being a ‘mother of a martyr’. In relation to resistances that are ‘beyond’ resisting management or punishment, there is a section that relies on lengthy narratives from Palestinian women, and from their narratives we can see how resistance to the occupation is embedded within daily life processes, many of which are directed at resisting the killing of geographies and the killing of bodies. The final section focuses on female instishhadi – suicide bombers/martyrs and how their acts of deadly resistance are an example of embodied resistance to the totality of subjectification under occupation, as well as to dominant perceptions about the purpose of a woman's body.