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ABSTRACT In 1979, the Orthodox monk Philoumenos Hasapis was violently murdered in Jacob's Well Church in Nablus. His death was described as a ritual murder performed by a fanatical Jewish-Israeli [...]

The comparison of apartheid with the 45-year Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and its guiding ideology, Zionism, has a genealogy situated in global and local politics as well as in scholarship. This article asks why the comparison emerged with vigor in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, and weighs its contemporary usefulness. What sort of work does the comparison do and what does it illuminate about the rule of modern colonial states? The article positions this comparison in anthropological tradition and tracks its genealogy. It fleshes out various elements of comparison in South Africa and Israel, states and societies constructed around the edifice of classification, distinction, and privilege. Central to human cognition and meaning-making, these classifications--Arab and Jew and Black and white--affected inequality and fueled a hierarchical social order pivoting around the designation of citizens and subjects, the configuration of space, and the distribution of rights. [Keywords: Comparative method, settler colonialism, apartheid, Israel/Palestine] [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] O Trabalho de Comparacao: Israel/Palestina e Apartheid [Palavras-chave: Metodo comparativo, colonialismo, apartheid, Israel/Palestina], Rolling into Gaza I had a feeling of homecoming. There is a flavor to the ghetto. To the Bantustan. To the 'rez.' To the 'colored section'... It feels very familiar, [...]

Abstract This paper engages in a close reading of settlers, settlements, and the portrayal of settler ideology in the novel The Hilltop. This trailblazing novel from 2013, written by Assaf [...]

The discourse on legal issues deriving from the second Intifada contains many controversial or undecided issues. For example, does Israel have a right to self-defense in Gaza or in the West Bank? What legal regimes should apply in Gaza and in the West Bank? In light of the above questions, the article discusses the differences and similarities of the legal status of these two territories and makes three claims. First, that Gaza and the West Bank should be considered separate legal units, and that different legal regimes should apply in each area. Second, the jus ad bellum, in particular the right to self-defense, can be applied to both the Israeli--Gaza conflict and the situation in the West Bank. Third, that despite the differences between the two legal units, neither of these geographical areas can be administered by a single legal regime., INTRODUCTION ALMOST TEN YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE second Intifada, and yet the discussion on legal issues deriving from the conflict is still fraught with inaccuracies. The [...]

Religious observance has a protective effect on the mental health of individuals facing adverse events. Its role under terrorista has been less investigated. Gaza and West Bank settlers, both secular and those keeping different degrees of observance, have faced terrorism in recent years. We investigated their PERI-Demoralization mean scores following terrorist attacks controlling for confounding variables. The results showed that the higher the religiosity the lower the demoralization mean score. This protective effect lessened when there was dissonance between the degree of religiosity of the respondent and the religious observance of the settlement of residence.

Ever since Muriel Degauque, a Belgian convert to radical Islam, blew herself up in Iraq last November, questions have surfaced about the growing role of women in terrorism. Degauque's attack [...]

When will public agencies act in violation of the rules set by the state in a strong state? This article demonstrates that when an organized religious-nationalist force manages to penetrate the state apparatus, it can cause the state to lose some enforcement capacity vis-a-vis the penetrating force. The activists, in turn, can use the infiltrated arms of the state to realize their preferences, even if the pursuant practices contradict state laws. These conclusions are based on research conducted on Jewish settlements constructed unlawfully in the West Bank. The establishment of these settlements necessitated some collaboration from state agencies. Settler activism that included penetration into important arms of the bureaucracy is identified as an important facilitator of unauthorized settlements. The lessons drawn from the case are generalizable and can apply to other types of societal mobilization. Keywords: Israel; West Bank; settlements; religion and politics; state-society relations; social movements

ABSTRACT The Israeli security system has possession of and influences in different forms more than half (!) of the territory of the State, excluding the West Bank. It also dictates […]

With the 1930 publication of her first book Kimshonim (Thistles), Esther Raab entered the Modern Hebrew literary canon as the first native poet of the Yishuv. Raab's native status not [...]

The United States is pressurized by moderate Arab governments to revive peace talks between Israel and Palestine, in order to contain activities of Iran and Shiite extremism. With the messy situation in Iraq and the open defiance of Iran over its nuclear program being perceived as signs of a weakened U.S., the only Middle Eastern issue that is agreeable to American influence and might see a breakthrough in peace talks is the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The impact of child-focused interventions having structured activities supported by provision of equipments and training of facilitators is examined. It is seen that the intervention appeared successful in improving children's emotional and behavioral well-being.

During the second Palestinian intifada (uprising), which began in September 2000, martyr funerals and posters were the most predominant form of memorialization. These practices did not constitute simple expressions of [...]

This essay examines the ways in which the introduction of photography as a local practice in Palestine from the late nineteenth century affected the way Palestinians saw, imagined and presented [...]

The article first looks at the U.S. general human rights position from the Reagan administration through the present. Second, it discusses the causes leading to Israel's Commission of human rights [...]

In honorem Louis H. Feldman * The Essene Enigma What happened to the Essenes after the first Jewish revolt? The answer to this seemingly simple question has proven elusive. Prior [...]

The destructions and ill effects of war in Palestine are illustrated, where there is scarcely a Palestinian family that is not forced since 1956 to flee from somewhere just as there is scarcely a town in which buildings are not regularly bulldozed by the occupying army. This has caused a careful destruction of a people and a promised nation and yet, none of the rich nations seem to take notice or take measures to discourage the illegalities.

INTRODUCTION A YEAR HAS PASSED SINCE THE publication in September 2004 of the report of the State Commission of Inquiry that investigated the events of October 2000. Approximately four years […]

To comprehend the developments underlying the suicide attacks of recent years, we suggest that the organizational approach, which until recently was used to explain this phenomenon, should be complemented with a social network perspective. By employing a social network analysis of Palestinian suicide networks, we have found that, in contrast to prevailing perceptions which view suicide attacks as a product of strategic decisions made within organizational frameworks, decisions have actually been made, to a great extent, by local activists, and struggles between local and family groups have proved to be the best predictor of their actions in this context. We also found that the peripheral nature of suicide bombers has been a characteristic common to most networks. Finally, we have found that the existence of cohesive subgroups, as well as the number of hubs in a network, has an influence on the network's effectiveness. We conclude the paper by showing that the method of network analysis can also be of considerable assistance from the standpoint of dealing with suicide attacks. On the one hand, this is possible by identifying the network' s central figures who are essential for its continued existence, and on the other, we identify the grassroots factors responsible for the emergence of these networks., Introduction In recent years, there has been a breakthrough in the study of suicide attacks. Robert Pape's (2003) analysis of how suicide bombers have been used as a means to [...]

Social scientists have explained the rise of suicide bombing since the early 1980s by focusing on the characteristics of suicide bombers, the cultural matrix in which they operate, and the strategic calculations they make to maximize their gains. We offer an alternative approach that emphasizes the interaction between Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli government actions, analyzing the motivations, organizational rationales and precipitants for the 138 suicide bombings that took place in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza between October 2000 and July 2005. Using several sources, including Arabic newspapers, we find that much of the impetus for Palestinian suicide bombing can be explained by the desire to retaliate against Israeli killings of Palestinians; and that much of the impetus for Israeli killings of Palestinians can be explained by the desire to retaliate for suicide bombings., When men are angry, they commonly act out of revenge, and not ambition. --Aristotle, Politics Oppressed people cannot always be expected to behave in a reasonable manner. --Sheikh Muhammad Hussein [...]

A concept of co-evolution is argued to complement Integrated Water Resource Management's gap in administrative integration. Co-evolution's complement to Integrated Water Resource Management is explored through issues surrounding joint water management arrangements between the Israelis and Palestinians in the late 1990s and early 21st century. How co-evolution contributes to such a water management approach highlights how we might think about what it means to encourage innovation. Conclusions of the article suggest co-evolution provides the language and description for the changing interactions and political environment and therefore provides a sharper conceptualization for administrative integration. KEYWORDS: Co-evolution, hydropolitics, innovation, Integrated Water Resources Management, Israel, multilevel governance, Palestine, water management.

The present study explores the effects of expressions of empathy for the ingroup's conflict-related suffering and assumed responsibility for causing it by a representative of the rival outgroup on recipient's willingness for reconciliation. It is suggested that such positive expressions by an adversary will have positive effects on reconciliation only in the presence of a basic level of trust in the outgroup. In two studies, Israeli-Jewish participants were exposed to a Palestinian leader who either expressed or did not express empathy and/or Palestinian responsibility for lsraelis' suffering. After reading the speech, participants completed a questionnaire that measured their attitudes toward reconciliation with Palestinians. Results of both studies show that whereas expression of empathy led to more positive attitudes when trust was high, it tended to have adverse effects when trust was low. Similar effects were not found for assumed responsibility. Implications for research on intergroup conflict and reconciliation are discussed. Keywords: intergroup reconciliation; trust; expressed empathy; acceptance of responsibility; apology

In many modern nation-states, national identity is not inclusive of all of the state's citizens; rather, it is limited (in varying degrees) to the members of the dominant group. Because such states are structurally unable to meet indigenous/minority groups' basic human needs |hr identity, inclusion, and equality, the formation of ethnically based identity and political organization is a natural alternative. To the extent that such alternatives are considered threatening to the state, it will deal with indigenous/minority groups by developing systems of control, based on varying degrees of force, depending on the state's claim (or lack thereof) to be 'democratic.' In this article, the author examines the role the state educational system plays in identity formation and the state's system of control among indigenous Palestinian youth in Israel. Keywords: identity formation; Palestinian youth; public education; Israel; indigenous groups

Palestinian Arab education in Israel receives inferior allocations for training, supervision, nature, and art lessons. In general, the physical conditions in the schools are bad and they lack basic study aids. The Palestinian Arab schools have significantly fewer of the unique programs in which the Ministry of Education invests. But discrimination in budgets and 'how many' questions cannot lead to an understanding of the whole picture of inequality. Employing questions and methods used by various waves of feminists to explain and combat inequality between men and women, the author asks, How could the education system benefit from equal representation of the voice of Arab leadership? Borrowing from feminist discourse that raises the importance of the diversity of voices and multiculturalism, the author explores and proposes ways of respecting and reinforcing diverse cultural and national identities in the Israeli education system. Keywords: equality; discrimination; Palestinians; Israel; feminism

Children living in conflict zones witness violence, loss of loved ones, killing, injury, and displacement, experiencing fear and loss of protection in their communities--experiences likely to affect the children for the remainder of their lives. This article examines one aspect of the violent conflict in the Palestinian Occupied Territories-West Bank, the way Palestinian children perceive and react to the effect of Israeli military occupation as reflected in the presence and ongoing construction of the Israeli Separation Wall, illustrating traditional views of children as passive victims of political violence and moving instead to view children as agents of change and mobilization. Via writing compositions, focus group discussions, the children's own photographs, and participatory observation research data, the author contextualizes both the 'extended scene' and the immediate moment(s) of Palestinian children facing the Israeli Separation Wall, letting the children's own words, narratives, and photos speak for themselves; they do their own witnessing. Keywords: Palestinian children; violence in conflict zones; child's agency; Israeli seperation wall

This article explores the dynamic of the Palestinian legal struggle for equal educational opportunities in Israel. It examines the tension between the Palestinians' positions on equality, on one hand, and the way the Israeli legal system seems to define equality, on the other hand. The article argues that the Israeli legal system seems to adopt a narrow formal view on educational equality for Palestinian children, a view that is not liable to bring about societal transformation. Keywords: law; equal educational opportunity; Palestinians: Israel: minority education

The authors explored death obsession level and correlates among a sample (N = 601) of Palestinians living in the city of Beit Jala, the village of Al-Khader, and the Aida refugee camp in the Bethlehem area. They live in war conditions; the houses of half of them have been demolished. The Death Obsession Scale (DOS) was administered. Its alpha reliability was .92, denoting high internal consistency. Among women, it yielded 1 factor, (General Death Obsession), whereas among men it yielded 3 factors: Death Rumination, Death Dominance, and Death Idea Repetition. Palestinian men and women attained significantly lower DOS mean scores than participants from 4 Arab countries: Egypt, Kuwait, Syria, and Lebanon in 7 out of 8 comparisons. However, Palestinian women had significantly higher DOS mean score than their Spanish, American and British counterparts, whereas Palestinian men had significantly higher mean DOS score than Spanish peers. The low DOS scores of Palestinians, in proportion to other Arab samples, may reflect their adaptation to strife and violence.

The current academic and legal campaign to constitutionalize Israel as a state that is both 'Jewish and democratic' amounts to an act of national self-deception, rooted in the collective inability or unwillingness to accept that discriminatory policies toward the non-Jewish minority contradict democratic processes, on the part of that country's Jewish majority. The author addresses the recent efforts to create an Israeli constitution by the consent of the Jewish majority that would legitimatize the denial of equal citizenship rights for non-Jewish citizens. Because Israeli Jews have constructed opposition to the 'Jewish and democratic' model as 'extremism,' Palestinian citizens of Israel are forced to limit their resistance to passive rejection of the concept, refusing to acquiesce in their own subordination and denying moral legitimacy to the system that discriminates against them.

The following excerpts were taken from the 'life history' of Um Jabr Wishah, one of seven 'life histories' collected as part of an oral history project, as yet unpublished, of seven women living in various parts of the Gaza Strip who were old enough to have clear memories of the pre 1948 period. The women were selected on the basis of some previous knowledge of them and their stated willingness to take part in the project. The 'histories,' collected over the last six months of 2001, range from 25,000 to 40,000 words and cover the narrators' everyday life and experiences through the successive wars and disruptions as well as their thoughts about the future. Each woman was interviewed a number of times, with the tape of each interview transcribed and translated before the following interview. The memories were set down exactly as they were told; the only 'editing' consists of integrating details or elaborations supplied during subsequent interviews at the appropriate chronological place. The life histories were collected by Barbara Bill, an Australian who worked with the Women's Empowerment Project of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program starting from 1996, and Ghada Ageel, a refugee from a Gaza camp now working on her Ph.D. in Middle Eastern politics at the University of Exeter in England. Um Jabr, who was in her early 70s at the time of the interviews, has been living in the al-Bureij refugee camp since 1950. Future issues of JPS will carry excerpts from Um Jabr's story regarding the 1948 war and about organizing prison visits in the 1980s and 1990s.

Conflicts, both in the Arab-Israeli area (Lebanon and Israel/Palestine) and in Africa (Rwanda, South Africa and Mozambique), are analyzed. It is observed that the role of religious institutions and claimed 'religious' mobilization in fomenting and perpetuating violent intergroup conflict is noted, but the role that religious ideas and institutions have played in helping people transcend and escape from conflicts is less remarked.

An effort is made to settle the battle that had raged in the Judeo-Spanish press of the empire in the preceding eighteen months over the growing clash between Ottomanism and Zionism. The Sephardi Ottomanist Zionist Palestinians were crystal clear on their view of national Jewish life in Palestine as being under the Ottoman umbrella side by side with their Arab neighbors.