BEING RECOGNIZABLE: IDENTITY BEYOND STATE GREAT POWER POLITICS, NON-STATE ACTORS AND THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT

Abstract

The forgetfulness of the procedures through which the objects, identities and agents
are recognized in international relations has emphasized in international law the reifying
tendencies in the process of recognition. The article investigates the relation between the
process of becoming recognizable and being recognized in international relations and how
they are interrelated. Recognizability is a pre-condition and epistemologically is prior to
recognition. According to international law perspective, a minority or a religious group has
to be recognized by other entities or groups before getting a legitimate status of recognition
in international relations. In doing so, the case study of the Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the
Israel-Palestine conflict has been scrutinized. The recognizability of these NSAs by the great
powers and regional powers vindicates their ‘being’ in international relations. Moreover the
role of great power politics in intensifying the Shia-Sunni divide in the region will be
elaborated through their support to their regional proxies i.e. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel
and further by the regional proxies’ support to their proxies’ i.e. the non-state actors will be
elaborated under the theoretical framework of Connolly’s concepts of Identity/Difference
underlying the question of responsibility and the problems of evil in conflict.