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The article presents an excerpt from the article "The Secret Fruits of the Peace Talks" by Barak Ravid from the July 5, 2014 issue of "Haaretz," which focus on the 2013 peace talks between Israel and Palestine and their issues including borders, refugees, and Jerusalem.

In this overarching March 2014 inaugural lecture at the newly established Center for Palestine Studies at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi, while reminiscing about the genesis and evolution of the new narrative on the 1948 war, provides fresh analyses of both the Balfour Declaration and UN Security Council Resolution 242. He also addresses such pressing Palestinian issues as the one-state/two-state debate. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), and the Hamas/Fatah relationship. He concludes by highlighting the potentially catastrophic nature of the disputes centering on Jerusalem's Muslim holy places and the threat to the Middle East posed by the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu, "the most dangerous political leader in the world today." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the rules and practices pertaining to visa regimes and the crossing of borders across the European Union, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Their consideration as three interlinked entities rests on the high degree of EU- Israeli interdependence, the EU's deep involvement in the Palestinian territories and Israel's control over the latter. The article evidences the existence of variegated borders regimes applying to different categories of Israelis, Palestinians and EU citizens, together with Israel's outstanding prerogatives in defining these practices. The analysis suggests conceptualizing the space comprising the EU and Israel/ Palestine as overlapping borderlands, with Israel and the territories emerging as a single, yet highly fragmented, space in which borders are alternative expressions of power relations in protracted conflicts. With the EU being drawn into prevailing conflict dynamics, the type and extent of EU- Israeli- Palestinian interconnectedness thus undermine the coherent implementation of Brussels' mainly bilateral policies towards Israel and the territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From (at least) the Balfour Declaration of 1917 right down to the present day, the Zionist-Palestinian conflict has been sculpted by external forces. But never entirely so: grassroots patterns of confrontation have also been vital. This article therefore adopts a “bottom-up” approach to the evolution of the conflict since the early twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents news briefs regarding the politics and diplomacy surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict as of May 16 to August 15, 2012. Subjects mentioned include the tenure of Shaul Mofaz as the peace coordinator for Israel, the enactment of an Israeli-Palestinian economic accord, and a bid made by Palestine for statehood recognition by the United Nations General Assembly.

The article analyzes the Israel/Palestine conflict focusing on the nature of collective shame and its role in conflict dynamics. It elaborates on three models of collective emotions including aggregative, simple structural, and network. It discusses emotion's vantage of group choice theory and its social qualities. The author points out that the notion of forgiveness in light of the Palestine and Israel conflict is reduced to the shameful admission of conquer.

When conflictive viewpoints are discursively strengthened, they develop into a ‘conflict discourse’ with a specific discursive structure which perpetuates conflict, like the discursive securitisation of an issue for varying audiences. When they are weakened, however, societal discourse can potentially change so that agreement becomes possible again, thus achieving discursive conflict transformation. This article analyses the Israeli and the Palestinian water discourse. On both sides, the dominant discourse structures underscore the conflictive issues regarding the distribution of water between Israelis and Palestinians, thus making communication, let alone negotiation, downright impossible. While Palestinians regard the natural water resources as sufficient in principle and the existing scarcity as entirely politically induced, Israelis perceive the natural water resources as absolutely scarce while receiving major de-securitisation impulses from the possibility of desalination. In the respective (minor) counter-discourses, however, possible starting points for dialogue and conflict resolution are visible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights news pertaining to the Israeli settlement activities in Palestine, including those in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Topics discussed include the impact of the Madrid Peace Conference on resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict, the accomplishment achieved with the unity between settles in Palestine and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the approval given by Defense Minister Ehud Barak on the construction of 40 dwellings and a farm in two areas.

This section offers Israel-Palestine conflict news briefs. Several exploratory talks between Israel and Palestine was hosted by Jordan, where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas temporarily suspended the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won 1/31 with 75 percent of the vote in the Likud primaries, which is seen by observers as a possible call for early elections in October 2012.

This section offers Israel-Palestine relations news briefs. Norman Finkelstein discusses, in an interview with Frank Barat, on the best strategy to adopt to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine. A leaked document from the European Union showed the need to investigate the treatment given by Israel to its Arab population. The Urban Shield 2011 SWAT team exposition was held in the campus of the University of California in Berkeley in October 2011.

The article focuses on the impact of the Israeli occupation of Palestine impacts climate change in the country. Topics discussed include challenges faced by the Palestinian Authority on addressing the impact of climate change as a territory under occupation, the climate vulnerability approach used by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) consultations on the impact of Israeli occupation on climate change and the coping strategies adopted by Palestine to address climate change.

This article addresses the normative role of self-determination in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Contrary to a popular view, it is argued that there are no competing rights of self-determination held by Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs respectively. When properly interpreted, self-determination is a right possessed by the legitimate residents of a region, not by 'peoples' defined in ethnic or cultural terms. The persistent violation of this right over the past one hundred years is the major cause of violence between the two groups, and until rectified, there is little chance for a peaceful resolution of the conflict or for Zionism's quest for legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the way in which religion has globalized an otherwise regional dispute. The author states that the use of terms by Christians such as "holy land" historically undermines any claims Jewish people may have to the territory. He also maintains that in order to preserve themselves, religions and nations must rewrite their moral code to also include the human rights of those outside of their communities. The author believes that recognizing a connection between groups of people will ultimately aid peacemaking in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The article presents information on regional and international events affecting Palestinians between February 16 and May 15, 2011, focusing on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and diplomacy efforts. Topics discussed include the attitude of the United Nations (UN) Security Council toward recognizing Palestine as a UN member state, the passing of the Foreign Government NGO Funding Transparency Law on February 21, 2011, and the organization of a march in order to commemorate the anniversary of the expulsion of the Palestinians from Israel in 1948.