‘It’s coming closer and closer’: how organised crime and community violence reshape the spatial and emotional worlds of young Palestinian Arab women in Israel

Over the past two decades, organised crime and community violence have risen sharply in Palestinian Arab localities in Israel, yet little is known about how this escalation shapes the everyday lives of young women. Drawing on thirty semi-structured interviews with young women, their mothers, youth workers and community stakeholders, this study explores the gendered impact of organised crime and community violence. Building on emotional geographies literature, youth studies, and feminist frameworks, we identify three interlocking themes: (a) the encroachment of violence as a temporal and spatial force shaping fear and mobility; (b) the remapping and restricting of everyday routines, particularly educational pathways, under the banner of protection; and (c) the emotional ramifications of community violence, encompassing both despair and acts of everyday resistance. Findings show that the escalation of crime and violence reshapes the social, spatial, and emotional contours of young women’s transitions to adulthood. They further demonstrate how gender, age, and structural national marginalisation intersect to produce distinctive experiences of fear, mobility, aspiration, and everyday resistance.