Class Formation under Settler Colonialism

The paper focuses on the conditions and processes that have shaped and conditioned class formation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBG) that were occupied in 1967, with special attention on the emergence of the new middle class. Reference to middle class has gained popularity in Arab writing in recent years out of two main concerns: First, a presumed importance of the middle class to “development”, democracy and political stability in the countries of the region; and second, using the condition (real or imagined) of the middle class to diagnose presumed ills facing society in these countries. The prevalent assumption is that the existence of a large middle class is a necessary condition for stability, democracy and economic development. A known Egyptian economist titled a book of his in the nineties “Farewell to the Middle Class”, and it warned of dire consequences resulting from the contraction of the Egyptian middle class resulting from the adoption of neo-liberalism. Fears (mostly by the middle classes themselves) of the catastrophic consequences of any shrinking of the new middle classes are common in poor Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan, as well as in rich countries like Saudi Arabia. Many thought that recent Arab popular uprisings were led by the new middle class, and see in this class a force for justice and freedom. Yet there are hardly any recent serious studies that have examined the dynamics of class formation in the Arab countries. This paper is an attempt to outline class formation in the West Bank (WB i.e., central area of Palestine) and Gaza Strip (GS i.e., the southern tip of Palestine) particularly following their occupation by Israel in June 1967.