E-resistance and technological in/security in everyday life: The palestinian case

This paper analyses the roles played by Information Computer Technologies (ICT) and the internet in areas of conflict, with a specific focus on the Palestinian context in Jerusalem. In particular, it examines the way the politics of everydayness in Jerusalem constructs Palestinians as security threats and, in turn, subjects them to technologized surveillance and spatial control. Examining the effect of the politics of everydayness when juxtaposed with the effect of technologized surveillance on a group of young Palestinian college women from Jerusalem and surrounding areas, the paper considers the 'double-edged' nature of new information technologies and the internet. On the one hand, Palestinian women's narratives demonstrate the emancipatory possibilities of such technologies, in that they allow for and forge spaces of resistance and contestation. On the other hand, women participants indicated that such technologies increased their vulnerability and victimization. Looking closely at the Palestinian case study, it is argued, enables us to shed light on broader issues related to criminology, surveillance and ICT in militarized/occupied areas.