Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T14:57:17.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Competitive exclusion: A biological model applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

J. Kristen Urban*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Mount St. Mary's University, 212 Knott Academic Center, Emmitsburg, MD 21727 [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The Principle of Competitive Exclusion, first articulated by Gause in 1934, states that two species or populations cannot inhabit the same niche: one will consistently out-compete the other. Of four possible outcomes, the logistic equations that describe such interaction present only one possibility for coexistence, that being when the density-dependent mechanisms of one population become activated before intergroup competition eliminates the other. In applying Gause's Principle as an explanatory model to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this research explores the present bantustanization of the West Bank as a logical outcome of interspecific competition, but sees the competition coefficients of the equations as the key factors in promoting a stable equilibrium.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Wilson, Edward O. and Bossert, William H., A Primer of Population Biology (New York: Sinauer Associates, 1971).Google Scholar
2.Abrams, P. A., “Defining and measuring the impact of dynamic traits on interspecific interactions,” Ecology 2007, 88: 25552562.Google Scholar
3.Gause, G. F., “Experimental Studies on the Struggle for Existence. I. Mixed Population of Two Populations of Yeast,” Journal of Experimental Biology 1932, 9: 389402.Google Scholar
4.Kaneko, K., “Symbiotic sympatric speciation: Compliance with interaction-driven phenotype differentiation from a single genotype,” Quantitative Biology, March 2002, online: http://www.acpr.org.il/publications/policy-papers/pp011-xs.htmlGoogle Scholar
5.Kashiwagi, A., Kanaya, T., Yomo, T., and Urabe, I., “How small can the difference among competitors be for coexistence to occur?” Researches on Population Ecology 1998, 40: 223226.Google Scholar
6.Gurr, Ted Robert and Harff, Barbara, Ethnic Conflict in World Politics (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994).Google Scholar
7.Aruri, N., presentation to the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, Washington, DC, July, 27, 2000.Google Scholar
8.Hammami, R. and Tamari, S., “The second uprising: End or new beginning?” Journal of Palestine Studies 2001, 30(2): 525.Google Scholar
9.Lustick, Ian, “The Oslo Agreement as an Obstacle to Peace,” Journal of Palestine Studies 27, no. 1 (1997): 6166.Google Scholar
10.Said, Edward, The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After (New York: Pantheon, 2000).Google Scholar
11.Usher, Graham, Palestine in Crisis: The Struggle for Peace and Political Independence after Oslo (London: Pluto Press, 1995).Google Scholar
12.Keller, Adam, “A comparison of three drafts for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement: The Gush-Shalom Peace Proposal (2001), the Ayalon-Nusseibeh Statement of Principles (2002), and the Geneva Initiative (2003).” Online: http://gush-shalom.org/archives/compareGoogle Scholar
13.Bush, George W., “A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2003). Online: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2003/20062.htmGoogle Scholar
14.Siegman, Henry, “Siegman: The Middle East ‘road map’ has collapsed.” Interview by Bernard Gwertzman (Washington, DC: Council on Foreign Relations, September 8, 2003). Online: http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=6235Google Scholar
15.Walker, Edward S. Jr., “President Bush reinvents the Road Map and U.S. policy,” (Washington, DC: Middle East Institute, 2004).Google Scholar
16.UN Goldstone Report, “Human Rights in Palestine and Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.” September 23, 2009, online: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/FactFindingMission.htmGoogle Scholar
17.Goodwin, J. and Skopcol, T., “Explaining revolutions in the contemporary third world,” Politics and Society 1989, 17:489510.Google Scholar
18.Declaration of Principles (Oslo Accord), “Special document file: The peace process,” Journal of Palestine Studies, 1993, 23(1):104124.Google Scholar
19.Kelman, Herbert C., “Creating conditions for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 1982, 26: 3975; “Overcoming barriers to negotiation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Journal of Palestine Studies, 1986, 16: 13–28; “Acknowledging the other's nationhood: How to create momentum for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,” Journal of Palestine Studies, 1992, 22:18–38; “Interactive problem-solving: An approach to conflict resolution and its application in the Middle East,” PS: Political Science and Politics, 1998, 31:190–198.Google Scholar
20.Dajani, B., “The September 1993 Israeli-PLO documents: A textual analysis,” Journal of Palestine Studies 1994, 23(3): 523; Urban, J. K., “The violence of peace: A structural analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles,” 2002, unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
21.Central Intelligence Agency, The World Fact Book: Israel (Washington, DC: CIA, 2006). Online: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.htmlGoogle Scholar
22.Kapeliouk, A., “Israeli racism: Changing patterns of Israeli immigration,” Le Monde Diplomatique November 1997 (article #3514).Google Scholar
23.Aronson, Geoffrey, Creating Facts: Israel, Palestinians, and the West Bank (Washington, DC: Institute of Palestine Studies, 1987); and Raja Shehadeh, Occupier's Law: Israel and the West Bank (Washington, DC: Institute of Palestine Studies, 1988).Google Scholar
24.Mitchell, George, Demirel, S., Jagland, T., Rudman, W. B., and Solana, J., “The Mitchell Report of the Sharm El-Sheikh Fact-Finding committee” (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2001). Online: http://www.usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/mitchell.htmGoogle Scholar
25.Bush, George W., “A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2003). Online: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/2003/20062.htmGoogle Scholar
26.National Lawyers Guild, Treatment of Palestinians in Israeli-Occupied West Bank and Gaza (New York: National Lawyers Guild, 1978).Google Scholar
27.Abu-Lughod, Ibrahim, ed., Palestinian Rights: Affirmation and Denial (Wilmette, IL: Medina Press, 1982).Google Scholar
28.Shehadeh, Raja, Occupier's Law: Israel and the West Bank (Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1988).Google Scholar
29.Roy, Sara, “De-development revisited: Palestinian economy and society since Oslo,” Journal of Palestine Studies 1999, 28(3): 6482.Google Scholar
30.Agence France-Presse, “Palestinian Population Rises to 8.7 Million in 2003,” December 31, 2003, online: http://www.afp.com/afpcom/enGoogle Scholar
31.Aronson, .Google Scholar
32.Johnson, Penny, “The routine of repression,” Middle East Report. January–February, 1988, 5.Google Scholar
33.Smith, Charles D., Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007).Google Scholar
34.UN General Assembly, “Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General: The Issue of Palestinian Pregnant Women Giving Birth at Israeli Checkpoints” (A/HRC/10/35). February 26, 2009, online: http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/008ef30efce525585256c38006eacae/c7067bcf833833de85257571006853d3?OpenDocumentGoogle Scholar
35.Roy, S., “Palestinian society and the economy: The continued denial of possibility,” Journal of Palestine Studies 2001, 30(2): 520.Google Scholar
36.Gerner, Deborah J., One Land, Two Peoples: The Conflict Over Palestine (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994), p. 183.Google Scholar
37.For example: “Israeli tanks push deep into Gaza,” BBC News, December 11, 2007, online: http://news.bbc.co.Uk/2/hi/middle_east/7138076.stm; Kershner, Isabel, “Israeli incursion into Gaza Strip kills 4 militants,” New York Times, February 17, 2008, online: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/world/africa/17iht-mideast.4.10121958.html; “Israeli incursion into south Gaza,” BBC News, November 18, 2008, online: http://news.bbc.co.Uk/2/hi/middle_east/7735051.stm; McGreal, Chris, “Israel incursion into Gaza replays well-worn blueprint,” The Guardian, January 4, 2009, online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/04/israel-gaza-invasion-troops-hamas; “Israel begins ground incursion into Gaza,” CNN News, January 7, 2009, online: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/04/gaza.israel.videos/index.htmlGoogle Scholar
38.Gerner, , p. 183.Google Scholar
41.B'Tselem, “Fatalities in the A1-Aqsa Intifada,” 2004. Online: http://www.btselem.org/English/Statistics/Al_Aqsa_Fatalities.aspGoogle Scholar
42.Ackerman, S., “Al-Aqsa Intifada and the U.S. media,” Journal of Palestine Studies 2001, 30(2): 6174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
43.Dagoni, R., “2.56b in US Aid to Israel in 2005,” Globes online: http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=816278cfid=942Google Scholar
44.Benn, A. and Rosner, S., “U.S. to increase military aid to Israel in decade-long deal,” Haaretz. June 7, 2008, online: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/873594.htmlGoogle Scholar
45.Dunnigan, J., “The ten most powerful armed forces on the planet,” International Military Forums June 17, 2004, online: http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3143Google Scholar
46.Arian, Asher, The Second Republic: Politics in Israel (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 1998).Google Scholar
47.Shafir, Gershon, “Israeli decolonization and critical sociology,” Journal of Palestine Studies 1996, 25(3): 2335.Google Scholar
48.Pappe, I., “Israel at the crossroads between civic democracy and Jewish zealotocracy,” Journal of Palestine Studies 2000, 29(3): 3344.Google Scholar
49.Shafir, Gershon, Peled, Yoav, Tripp, Charles, Clancy-Smith, Julia A., Gershoni, Israel, Owen, Roger, Sayigh, Yezid, and Tucker, Judith. Being Israeli: The Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge East Studies, 2002).Google Scholar
50.Naveh, Eyal, “The dynamics of identity construction in Israel through education in history,” in Rotberg, R. I., ed., Israeli and Palestinian Narratives of Conflict: History's Double Helix (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2006), pp. 244270.Google Scholar
51.Mahler, Gregory S., Politics and Government in Israel: The Maturation of a Modern State (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004).Google Scholar
52.Suisman, Doug, Simon, Steven N., Robinson, Glenn E., Ross Anthony, C., and Schoenbaum, Michael, The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2007).Google Scholar
53.Ibid., pp. 45.Google Scholar
54.Bar-On, Dan and Adwan, Sami, “The psychology of better dialogue between two separate but independent narratives,” in Rotberg, R. I., ed., Israeli and Palestinian Narratives of Conflict: History's Double Helix (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2006), pp. 205224.Google Scholar
55.Bar-Tal, Daniel and Salomon, Gavriel, “Israeli narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Evolution, contents, functions, and consequences,” in Rotberg, R. I., ed., Israeli and Palestinian Narratives of Conflict: History's Double Helix (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2006), pp. 1946.Google Scholar
56.Pappe, Ilan, “The bridging narrative concept,” in Rotberg, R. I., ed., Israeli and Palestinian Narratives of Conflict: History's Double Helix (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2006), pp. 194204.Google Scholar
57.Smith, Charles, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History with Documents (Boston, MA: St. Martin's Press, 2004).Google Scholar
58.Porat, Dina, “Forging Zionist identity prior to 1948 – against which counter-identity?” in Rotberg, R. I., ed., Israeli and Palestinian Narratives of Conflict: History's Double Helix (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2006), pp. 4771.Google Scholar
59.“Timor-Leste,” Consular Information Sheet (Washington, DC: Bureau of Consular Affairs, September 12, 2007). Online: http://www.travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1105Google Scholar
61.Kohen, A., “A second rebirth for East Timor?” Foreign Policy in Focus August 15, 2006, online: http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3435Google Scholar
62.Kaneko, .Google Scholar
63.Abrams, P. A., “High competition with low similarity and low competition with high similarity: Exploitative and apparent competition in consumer-resource systems,” American Naturalist 1998, 152): 114128.Google Scholar
65.Shafir, G., “Israeli decolonization and critical sociology,” Journal of Palestine Studies 1996, 25(3): 2335.Google Scholar
66.Goodwin, and Skocpol, .Google Scholar
67.Kelman, .Google Scholar
68.Quandt, W. B., “Clinton and the Arab-Israeli conflict: The limits of incrementalism,” Journal of Palestine Studies 2001, 30(2): 2640.Google Scholar