"Encystation": Containment and Control in Israeli Ideology and Practice

The radical closure of Gaza serves here as an extreme example of a process of

isolation and immiseration of national enemies that is deeply rooted in Israeli

ideology and practices of state formation. I use encystation to reveal the dual

meaning of the term—that of radical isolation of diseased elements and that of

protecting a fetus within a womb—and to show how the two meanings connect

with respective Israeli policies toward Palestinians and Jews. I suggest in closing

that the Oslo Accords have put in place mechanisms for the future imposition

on West Bank Palestinians of the same containment currently afflicting Gaza