Hardening Closure, Securing Disorder
Résumé
This chapter discusses the informal social and economic exchanges taking place since the beginning of the Second Intifada (September 2000) between Palestinians in Israel proper and the West Bank. The analysis of the border economy in the region of the Northern Negev (Israel) and the Southern Hebron Hills (West Bank) allows us to better evaluate impact of Israel's closure policies as well as the construction of the Separation Fence around the West Bank. Started in 2002, the Fence was officially meant to separate the Israelis from the Palestinians and provide a degree of security on the Israeli side. I argue that while inaugurating of state power and providing a sense of border, these policies also open spaces for different forms of trafficking and crime. The tightening of Israeli closure policies over the West Bank therefore has the paradoxical effect of promoting disorder and blurring borders.