'The Tree is the Enemy Soldier': A Sociolegal Making of War Landscapes in the Occupied West Bank

Law & Society Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 449-482, 2008

Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2008-28

35 Pages Posted: 26 Nov 2008 Last revised: 24 Jan 2009

See all articles by Irus Braverman

Irus Braverman

University at Buffalo Law School

Date Written: November 25, 2008

Abstract

War landscapes have a particular sociology; they are also formed through distinct legal technologies. By examining the genealogy of trees as totemic displacements in the occupied West Bank I demonstrate how the Israeli/Palestinian war is deflected onto the landscape and how this deflection erodes the boundary between law and war. Dealing with issues of colonization, nationalization, and the way that these implicate landscape as a "natural alibi," the article examines the intricate making of politics into nature. Further, it explores the ironic nesting of colonial processes from Ottoman, to British, to Zionist, and finally to the new Jewish settler society that seeks to unsettle the old colonial landscapes of this place. Utilizing a detailed interpretation of a range of interviews and participatory observations, the article unpacks the mutually constitutive relationship between law, technologies of seeing, and landscape, illustrating how this relationship is played out by various actors in the occupied West Bank.

Keywords: Law and Geography, Law and Society, Tree Wars, Natural Landscapes in Israel/Palestine, Zionism and Nature, Middle East Studies, Legal Ethnography, Technologies of Seeing, Aerial Photos as Legal Technologies, Science and Technology Studies (S&TS), the New Settlers, Tree Inspection

Suggested Citation

Braverman, Irus, 'The Tree is the Enemy Soldier': A Sociolegal Making of War Landscapes in the Occupied West Bank (November 25, 2008). Law & Society Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 449-482, 2008, Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2008-28, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1307044

Irus Braverman (Contact Author)

University at Buffalo Law School ( email )

School of Law
528 O'Brian Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-1100
United States
716-645-3030 (Phone)
716-645-2064 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~irusb/

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