the israeli incorporation regime83 important­for understanding the social actions and identity that is mobilized by the citizen community. The recent case of Ameer Makhoul, the former director of Ittijah: The Union of Arab Community-Based Asso­ ciations, illuminates this question. Ittijah is an umbrella organization, or coalition, that serves as a medium of communication between various Palestinian civil society groups in Israel, encouraging them to meet regularly and network to develop communal and political ties. Central to Ittijah’s mandate is advocacy around the socio-cultural, political and ­economic needs of Palestinian-Arabs at the local Palestinian, regional Arab and international levels.75 As the director, and in addition to facilitating cooperation among Palestinian NGOs, a lot of Makhoul’s work was primarily centred around monitoring the restrictions on the social and political freedoms of the Arab citizenry, including its political representatives, denouncing these restrictions and openly voicing sharp criticism – both in Israel and abroad. On April 22, 2010, Makhoul, an Israeli citizen, arrives at the Sheikh Hussein Bridge terminal at the Jordan River, intending to exit Israel. During the passport control, he is informed that the Interior Ministry issued an order on April 21 prohibiting him from exiting the country for a period of two months. The order banning Makhoul from traveling abroad is based on Regulation 6 of the Emergency Regulations – Foreign Travel Law (1948) and was issued without “any prior suitable, transparent and fair hearing.”76 As a result, this order violates even Israeli laws around the freedom of movement and due process. At 3:10 am on May 6, around sixteen members of the GSS and the Israeli police entered the Makhoul family home and arrested Ameer Makhoul. On the same night, the security services also raided the Ittijah office in Haifa. The GSS confiscated personal items belonging to Makhoul, his wife and two daughters, including office equipment, documents, computer databases, maps, the family’s mobile phones, laptops, a camera and a tape recorder, among other things.77 Despite the ambiguity of the security reasons cited for Makhoul’s arrest, 75 In August 2004, Ittijah was granted Special Consultative status from the United Nations Economic and Social Council making it the first Palestinian civil society organization in Israel to achieve consultative status with a United Nations body. 76 Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, “Following Adalah’s motion on behalf of Arab journalists, the I’lam Center and Human Rights Organizations, Magistrates’ Court lifts gag order on detention of Arab political activists Ameer Makhoul and Dr. Omar Saeed,” Press Release, May 10, 2010, http://www.adalah.org/eng/­press releases/pr.php?file=10_05_10. 77 Ibid.