politicization of Palestinian society by undermining social, cultural and political cohesion. In turn, this allows Israel to exacerbate inequality, paralyze political resistance, hinder a comprehensive understanding of Israeli colonizing practices, obstruct the opportunity for political cohesion, and redirect focus on Palestinian individual socio-economic predicaments. Combined, they prohibit the free definition of political status, and the participation to the political decision-making process, as protected under Common Article 1(1) of the ICCPR and of the ICESCR. Undermining the Palestinian collective identity The intent of these Israeli policies is to shatter the collective identity of the Palestinian people into multiple dissociated groupings, creating the illusion of the non-existence of the ‘people’ that national self-determination requires. The ability to physically access and engage with other Palestinians becomes increasingly challenging. These policies splinter Palestinians, not only geographically, but also socio-economically, because of the distinct negative impacts they face. In the face of different oppressive realities, the intent is that Palestinians will identify and act less out of unity with a common Palestinian struggle, and more out of individualized need. This is illustrated by the adoption of Israeli fragmenting terminology that describes Palestinians by their geographical areas – e.g. Jerusalemites, Arab-Israelis, Arab-Bedouins, West Bankers, and Gazans - deliberately omitting the unifying identity of ‘Palestinian’.393 This is reinforced through the actual separation of one from the other through Israel’s policies of segregation, fragmentation and isolation. This is highly detrimental, not only because it leads to the shattering of social cohesion and the denial of common identity, but also because it runs the risk of creating and internalizing stereotypes and competition among different groups.394 Concealing structural oppression Israel’s policies of segregation, fragmentation and isolation induce isolationism and impair the ability of Palestinians to perceive the challenges they face within their communities as part of a broader oppressive system. The intended result is that Palestinians and the international community seek narrow and self-reflective reasons and solutions to the adverse socioeconomic and political situation, rather than recognizing that these problems are inherent to the external domination and oppression imposed on the 393 Kayyal, supra 380. 394 Ibid. 102