The Politics of Humanitarianism in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

The Occupied Palestinian Territories have witnessed a drastic deterioration in living conditions since the outbreak of the second Intifada. To compound the problem, there is little or no effective local government left functioning in the territories. Stepping forward to try to fill this gap are international aid agencies, alongside international, Israeli and Palestinian NGO’s. What are the implications of the transformation of the occupied Palestinian territories into a disaster zone? Is humanitarian action a means of depoliticizing a political conflict? What is the role of new forms of activism in rewriting the distinction between political and humanitarian responses?