ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the participatory strengths and deficits of popular-resistance committees in the occupied West Bank, focusing on the movement associated with the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee. For the most part, the committees met their standards of being free, open, voluntary, democratic, and community-based. However, there were also indications of mistrust from within their villages and from the wider public. There were concerns about exclusion and special interests. The chapter argues that land-related constructive social programs were among the most important activities the popular committees undertook in terms of strengthening their ties to their communities, even though the committees neglected these activities and made them a low priority. The chapter also touches on the hazards of accepting external funding and professionalizing resistance. Broader structural impediments to the movement are also briefly considered.
