Identity, community, and text : the production of meaning among Palestinian political captives

Abstract

This is a dissertation presented by Esmail Nashif, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. During the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, tens of thousands of Palestinians were imprisoned by the Israeli authorities, inside the prison, these political captives built a community that continuously content, negotiated, and redefined the boundaries of Israeli prison. In this work, the researcher attempts to show the political aspects of Israeli authorities arresting the activists of the Palestinian resistant movement in order to eliminate this movement and to break the spirit of those activists.