The ‘state’ and its unwilling ‘subjects’

This chapter explores the encounters of Palestinian activists, critical of the Palestinian Authority (PA), with the theater of statecraft. To be sure, they are often the primary targets of the PA’s censorious and authoritarian conduct. Therefore, we begin this chapter by describing the extent of the PA’s censorious behavior toward those considered to be critical of its political mandate. Additionally, we observe that, by being victims of the PA’s violence, Palestinian activists are also absorbed by the theater as they come to display the extent to which the PA (and its theatrics) enjoys political prominence in the occupied West Bank. Here, these activists’ participation in the theater of statecraft is inadvertent. In fact, our interviewees were often active in their opposition to this theater. However, their opposition serves the PA (and its security forces) the opportunity to underline the primacy of the theater of statecraft in Palestine.