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This thesis examines nationalism and colonialism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and asks the questions: What is the relationship between these ideologies and "national narratives" constructed of collective historical memory? How do these ideologies produce recognizable, sexualized, national bodies? What are the defining characteristics of these national bodies and how do they perform roles from the national narratives? These questions are addressed through a discussion of the role of masculinity in modern Zionism and the state of Israel, in particular how it relates to the land of Palestine and the Palestinian "other". This thesis also addresses anti-colonial resistance movements in Palestine and argues that performative nationalism produces a fetishized commodity that can me labeled "militancy". This militancy is found institutionalized in the popular culture of everything from poetry to political posters. Finally, Palestinian female suicide bombers, like women nationalists before them, do little to challenge how specific nationalist acts of resistance are defined by patriarchal nationalists and sexualized within a "gendered space of militancy".

The ideology of jihad as propounded by the Islamic Resistance Movement of Palestine (H&dotbelow;amas) is the subject of this thesis. It examines what this organization specifically means by jihad. To properly ascertain this meaning, the ideology of jihad from two different time periods has been examined. In the first period, the "classical" age, the ideology of several jurists concerning jihad is introduced. It can be seen that during this period jihad was applicable to both the expansion and protection of Islamic social/political hegemony. In the second, or modern period, the interpretations of jihad by four thinkers commonly known as "Islamic revivalists" are presented. The definitions of jihad in this era were mostly responses of defending and liberating land from colonialism and imperialism; however, in some cases it was also understood as a means to implement the shari'a in Muslim societies. The jihad of H&dotbelow;amas can, for its part, be seen as an amalgam of these ideologies, in that it is largely connected to liberating the land of Palestine from Israeli rule, establishing an Islamic state, and continuing to assist in struggles in other areas beyond the borders of Palestine.

My thesis focuses on modern Palestine and the role of nationalism and fundamentalism in the construction of Palestinian national identity. H&dotbelow;amas provides a case study of Islamic fundamentalism in Palestine. The movement developed during the late 1980's as a reaction to the failures of the secular project. H&dotbelow;amas is a reflection of a region-wide phenomenon. It is not solely a reaction to modernity. Rather, H&dotbelow;amas is the result of specific condition that led to the politicization of Islam after the Intifad&dotbelow;a . Today the nationalist PLO and H&dotbelow;amas struggle to define Palestinian identity and to shape the emerging Palestinian state. / Palestinian national identity like that of other modern nations has been constructed. Nation-building or identity construction in Palestine can be divided into four historical stages. Each stage is characterized by overlapping and competing identities: Ottoman, Arab, religious, local and kinship. These identities are not mutually exclusive and often a combination of identities became prominent historically depending on the internal and external forces pressuring society. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This study is an attempt to understand how PNGO’s are impacted as a result of the Israel- Palestine conflict today, while touching upon issues such as the Gaza blockade, relief aid, political participation, Hamas and the PA, and the occupation. I have had the opportunity of coming into contact with four different PNGO workers based in the Gaza Strip, and conducted qualitative structured interviews with each of them. They possess key insights as they exist at the center of the research problem. Through the theoretical lens of Paul Lederach (1997) and the utilization of the Directed Content Analysis (DCA) method, the structured interviews were analyzed in order to explore both the factors that Gazan PNGO workers identified as having an effect on their organization, as well as how it affects their organizational capacity and peace work.

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Financial dependency and a trend in donor-driven gender equality and women’s empowerment projects in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) have undoubtedly had an effect on the way in which NGOs are working and evolving: often projects are designed to fulfill donor requirements – and thereby policies - instead of creating an agenda which is politically and socially “home grown”. This paper analyses the USAID gender policy paper (as an example of foreign donor policy) and interviews conducted with legal, programme and gender experts in the oPt, exploring the challenges and gaps between policy and practice. The research uses qualitative research methods to analyze USAID discourse - exploring concepts such as representation, ideology and power - and general assumptions and perspectives towards women’s equality and empowerment in the Opt versus how this translates into practice.

This project addresses the contemporary and competing non-state governmentalities in the Gaza Strip through an analysis of the 1948-1967 period. During this period the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) constructed early notions of non-state 'governance' and quasi-citizenship in Gaza. The majority of this research focuses on these organizations in the 1948-1967 period, however, there is a case study that addresses the way in which these competing models of non-sovereign administration impacted the approaches used since 2007 by Hamas. The distinct histories and experiences of administration under each organization has created competing notions of what components constitute an assembled notion of citizenship in Gaza. Specifically, the bureaucratic categorization preferred by UNRWA conflicts with Hamas' focus on individualized service based on the tradition of shura (consultation) and youth training, in particular. Several approaches to governance in Gaza are common to the three major faith-based organizations discussed here (the AFSC, the YMCA, and the Hamas). Notably, these organizations create sacred spaces and processes as a mechanism of governance, allowing them to exert control over the population. In particular, the manner in which two distinct international organizations – UNRWA and Hamas – came to operate parallel state structures in the Gaza Strip, and the way that these two organizations imbue citizenship like rights and responsibilities on the populations that they serve is of particular interest. In this way governance in the Gaza Strip has completed a circuit: from the faith-based Friends to the faith-based Hamas, with UNRWA as the constant secular parallel authority. Through an examination of organizational archives, memoirs, and interviews this project links these events, arguing that the institutional records of these organizations provide an illuminating path to better understand the situation of governance in Gaza today.