Pushing Boundaries: Smuggling Against Policy in Israel/Palestine

Abstract

This paper investigates the development and current practices of smuggling networks operating between Israel and Palestine. Specifically, this study looks at the smuggling of food items and SIM cards which smugglers transport bi-directionally over the border. By defining the system of Israeli checkpoints throughout the West Bank and around the Gaza Strip as the “border” between Israel and Palestine, this research discusses the reasons for and responses to smuggling operations. The many small-scale unorganized smugglers in the region violate the porous border between Israel and Palestine in order to make additional income and supply certain markets. The Israeli and Palestinian governments restrict the trade of certain goods, creating a demand that only smugglers can meet. In smuggling goods such as food items and SIM cards, smugglers delegitimize the Israeli security apparatus and question the Palestinian political parties’ ability to control their territories. This work seeks to complicate the current narrative of the Israel/Palestine conflict by highlighting illegal economic interactions.