Bulletin: Peacemaking, Peace Building and the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process

Books

Articles

Reviews

Theses

New Article: Wiseman, Dahlia Ravikovitch’s ‘Egla ‘Arufa

Wiseman, Laura. “Voice of Responsibility: Dahlia Ravikovitch’s ‘Egla ‘Arufa (Felled Heifer).” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 15.2 (2016): 301-17.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725886.2015.1133178

 

Abstract

In a cycle of poems, Sugeyot beyahadut bat zemanenu, “Issues in Contemporary Judaism,” Dahlia Ravikovitch protests against human suffering and fatalities that occur during war and conflicts of attrition involving Israel’s indigenous peoples and contiguous populations. Among the poetry, ‘Egla ‘arufa, with its cryptic title and densely encoded contents, requires textual “demystification” for its central message to be heard. First, this article identifies the most crucial pair of Hebrew sources underlying this poem and discusses their intertextual influence and the transition between them for an enriched reading. Second, through textual analysis this study applies a postmodern literary poetic – a “hermeneutic lag” – to a unique dynamic in the dimensions of the writing. In general, I relate to selected poems by Dahlia Ravikovitch as self-portraits, and regard “Felled Heifer” as an abstract figuration of the voice of the speaker: the voice of responsibility.

 

 

 

New Article: Wolfson, Animal Protection under Israeli Law

Wolfson, Yossi. “Animal Protection Under Israeli Law.” In Animal Law and Welfare. International Perspectives (ed. Deborah Cao and Steven White; Cham: Springer, 2016): 157-79.

 
animal law and welfare
 

URL: dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26818-7_8

 

Abstract

Israeli law, in some aspects, is rather progressive as to the protection of non-human animals. While “animal abuse” is interpreted as causing animals “unnecessary suffering”, the content given to this phrase defeats some characteristics attributed by Gary Francione to “legal welfarism”. In some instances the interests of nonhuman animals override substantive human interests, anchored in institutionalized forms of exploitation. An example is the ban on force-feeding of geese and ducks. Animal protection organizations were granted a broad mandate by the Israeli legislature and courts to represent the interests of animals in civil, administrative and criminal procedures. This solves the problem of standing which undermines animal protection in other jurisdictions. While Israeli law protects the interests of animals for the sake of the animals and gives them some weight, social power relations are still based on the cruel exploitation of nonhumans by humans. This chapter describes the principles of animal protection in Israeli law, discusses aspects that may inspire animal protection in other countries, and goes into some detail regarding the specific provisions of Israeli laws that are difficult to access without the knowledge of Hebrew.

 

 

New Article: Alayan, The Holocaust in Palestinian Textbooks

Alayan, Samira. “The Holocaust in Palestinian Textbooks. Differences and Similarities in Israel and Palestine.” Comparative Education Review 60.1 (2016): 80-104.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/684362

 

Abstract

The article explores how the Holocaust is represented in history textbooks for Palestinian pupils in the Palestinian and Arab-Israeli curricula from a pedagogical perspective. Since no mention of the Holocaust was found in Palestinian Authority textbooks, the study seeks to explain why this is so, while examining representations of the Holocaust in the Arab (Palestinian) Israeli textbooks. It pursues four principal objectives: (1) to investigate the extent to which Israeli and Palestinian history textbooks discuss the Holocaust, (2) to examine how it is portrayed, (3) to contextualize these portrayals in relation to collective memories of other events (e.g., the Nakba), and (4) to consult with Israeli and Palestinian curriculum policy makers regarding the inclusion or omission of the Holocaust from the curriculum.

 

 

 

New Article: Haj-Yahia & Zaatut, Beliefs of Palestinian Women About the Responsibility and Punishment of Violent Husbands

Haj-Yahia, Muhammad M., and Amarat Zaatut. “Beliefs of Palestinian Women From Israel About the Responsibility and Punishment of Violent Husbands and About Helping Battered Women.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence (early view; online first).

 

URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0886260515608802

 

Abstract

This article presents a study that examined beliefs about violent husbands and about helping battered women among Palestinian women living in Israel from the perspective of patriarchal ideology. A convenience sample of 701 married women was obtained, and a self-report questionnaire was administered. The findings reveal that the majority of participants held violent husbands accountable for their behavior; however, the majority of them did not support punishing violent husbands through formal agencies (i.e., the police) or through informal social institutions (i.e., the family). In addition, contrary to expectations, the majority of women perceived wife beating as a social problem rather than as a private one that should be dealt with within the family. Regression and multiple regression analysis revealed that women’s endorsement of patriarchal ideology was found to influence all three above-mentioned beliefs about violent husbands and battered women, over and above the amount of variance in each of these beliefs that could be attributed to the women’s sociodemographic characteristics. The limitations of the study and its implications for future research are discussed.

 

 

New Article: Shalhoub-Kevorkian & Roer-Strier, Counter-Hegemonic Qualitative Research: Insights from an Israeli/Palestinian Research Team

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadera and Dorit Roer-Strier. “Context-Informed, Counter-Hegemonic Qualitative Research: Insights from an Israeli/Palestinian Research Team Studying Loss.” Qualitative Social Work (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1473325015595545

 

Abstract

Theorizing social work qualitative methodologies have always been closely related to the context of the studied subjects. This paper offers the framework of context-informed, counter-hegemonic qualitative research for theorizing research in conflict zones. Based on a case study of a group of Jewish and Palestinian social work researchers who examined together the effect of the loss of home on families during an ongoing political conflict, this paper explores the impact of participating in a research team on the researcher’s perceptions and study of otherness and otherization in the context of asymmetries of power. Analysis of the group dynamics discovered: (1) a growing ability to see and acknowledge the other, accompanied by a growing willingness to be attentive; (2) a growing ability to empathically listen to and hear the experiences of suffering of the other; (3) overcoming silencing by allowing voices of dissent, pain and resilience; and (4) creating a liminal space of “safe haven” for the researchers. The paper explores the development of context-informed group reflexivity leading to emancipatory consciousness and academic activism.

 

 

New Article: Shalev, Medical Neutrality and the Visibility of Palestinian Grievances in Jewish-Israeli Publics

Shalev, Guy. “A Doctor’s Testimony: Medical Neutrality and the Visibility of Palestinian Grievances in Jewish-Israeli Publics.” Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11013-015-9470-7

 

Abstract

This paper follows the testimony of Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian physician who bears witness to his experiences working, living, and suffering under Israeli rule. He presents his story as a doctor’s story, drawing on his identity as a medical professional to gain credibility and visibility and to challenge the limited legitimacy of Palestinian grievances. In this paper, I explore his testimony as a medical voice that at once recounts the suffering and loss endured by the Palestinian people and also struggles to negotiate the values associated with being a “reliable” witness. Consequently, I ethnographically examine the social life and reception of his story in Jewish-Israeli publics. In comparison with most Palestinian narratives, Abuelaish’s testimony achieved an extremely rare degree of visibility and sympathy, a phenomenon that calls out for analysis. I identify the boundaries that typically render Palestinian grievances invisible to Israeli publics and suggest how medicine’s self-proclaimed ethos of neutrality served as a channel for crossing them. Finally, I reflect on the political possibilities and limitations of medical witnessing to render suffering visible and arouse compassion toward those construed as a dangerous/enemy Other.

 

 

New Article: Buchbinder & Karayanni, Arab Battered Women Coping with Stigmatization

Buchbinder, Eli, and Nisreen George Karayanni. “Rejection and Choice: Arab Battered Women Coping with Stigmatization After Leaving Battered Women’s Shelters in Israel.” Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work 24.3 (2015): 235-50.

 

URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2014.991981

 

Abstract
In the collectivist Arab society, intimate partner violence (IPV) is considered to be a personal and a family problem. Arab women who seek refuge in shelters for battered women are perceived as violating a cultural norm. This study focused on how Arab women cope with living independently in the community after spending time in a shelter. In this qualitative study, 12 women between the ages of 25 and 42 were interviewed, after having spent six to 30 months in the shelter. Since then, they had been living in the community. Analysis of the interviews revealed that the women described their independent lives as positioned between two poles: On one pole, they experienced stress and rejection from the family and society, which caused them pain, anger, and loneliness. On the other pole, the women experienced strength that enabled them to find meaning in their right to choose. The discussion of the study findings focuses on the dialectical relationships between the social stigma of rejection and the women’s self-transformation toward an empowered identity in the context of a collectivist-patriarchal community.

 

 

New Article: Nathanson, A Malignant Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? A Cardiothoracic Surgeon’s Perspective

Nathanson, Michael. “A Malignant Israeli-Palestinian Conflict? A Cardiothoracic Surgeon’s Perspective and Remedial Implications.” Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies 14.1 (2015): 105-22.
 
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/hlps.2015.0106

 

Abstract
A debate persists whether the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be resolved through substantive and ‘painful’ compromises or that the foundational parametres of the conflict apriori deny a resolution. The nationalist Zionist agenda of mass Jewish settlement in Palestine inevitably clashed with Palestinian nationalist sentiments. Both nationalist movements saw the conflict as mutually exclusive. European imperialist designs and US political considerations at home only cemented the intractability of the conflict. As such, the conflict is akin to a human malignant process that is allowed to progress unchecked and compromises its host because those who were and are responsible to eradicate it have committed malpractice.

 

 

 

New Article: Shvartzman et al, Advance Directives—The Israeli Experience

Shvartzman, Pesach, Yonatan Reuven, Mordechai Halperin, and Sasson Menahem. “Advance Directives—The Israeli Experience.” Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 49.6 (2015): 1097-1101.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2014.12.009

 

Abstract

Context

A major step in end-of-life care was achieved in December 2005 when the Israeli parliament passed the “Dying Patient Law.” The law (§31–§36) allows a competent person, even if he/she is healthy, to leave written instructions known as advance medical directives (AD), in which they explain their wishes in detail with respect to future medical treatment should it be determined that they are an incompetent terminally ill patient, as defined by the provisions of that law.

Objectives

The aims were to characterize the group of individuals that completes ADs, characterize the content of recorded ADs, and analyze trends associated with them.

Methods

We performed a cross-sectional study of the entire population that signed ADs in Israel from 2007 to September 2010. All computerized AD forms were retrieved from the Ministry of Health’s database. A descriptive analysis of trends, characteristics, and authorized procedures relating to the population of AD signatories was done.

Results

There was an increase in the number of ADs signed during the study period (1167 signatories). About 90% of the AD signatories were 65 years of age or older and 95% were healthy at the time they completed the AD. In an end-stage condition, the mean number of procedures declined was 16.6 ± 4.7 of 19. In a non-end-stage condition, the corresponding mean number was 12.7 ± 3.7 of 15.

Conclusion

There is a need to increase awareness in the general population of the option to prepare ADs. Family physicians, oncologists, and geriatricians should be more involved in this process.

ToC: Tikkun 30.3 (2015)

Table of Contents for Tikkun 30.3 (2015):

 

Letters

Editorials

  • RABBI MICHAEL LERNER

Repenting for What Israel Did to Gaza—Without Condoning the Wrongs Committed by Hamas

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 5-7

Politics & Society

SAM ROSS-BROWN

  • JESSICA BENJAMIN

Acknowledging the Other’s Suffering: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Trauma in Israel/Palestine

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 15-16

  • PETER GABEL

The Spiritual Dimension of Social Justice: Transforming the Legal Arena

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 17-23

 

VANDANA SHIVA

Special Section: Nonviolence in Foreign Policy

Strengthening Local Economies: The Path to Peace?

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 34-38

Rethinking Religion

JOY LADIN

Culture

Books

RAMI SHAPIRO

PHILIP TERMAN

The Poetry of a Jewish Humanist

Tikkun (2015) 30(3): 56-58; doi:10.1215/08879982-3140236

Poetry

Chana Bloch

Tikkun Recommends

New Article: Nagar & Maoz, Jewish-Israeli Recognition of Palestinian Suffering

Nagar, Rotem and Ifat Maoz. “Predicting Jewish-Israeli Recognition of Palestinian Pain and Suffering.” Journal of Conflict Resolution (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/

 

Abstract

Recognition is vital for conflict resolution. This study was designed to learn more about the factors underlying the willingness to recognize the pain and suffering of the opponent in the asymmetrical protracted conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Data were collected through a public opinion survey conducted with a representative sample of Israeli-Jewish adults (N = 511). Perceptions of threat/distrust toward Palestinians and dehumanization of Palestinians each made a significant contribution to explaining Jewish-Israeli (un)willingness to recognize Palestinian pain and suffering (R2 = .36). Hawkishness made an added significant contribution to the overall explanatory power of the model (R2 = .38). Higher scores on the threat/distrust scale and the dehumanization scale, as well as higher hawkishness predicted decreased willingness to recognize Palestinian pain and suffering. The implications of our findings for understanding the role of recognition and of moral concern in conflict resolution are discussed.

ToC: Israel Affairs 19,3 (2013)

Israel     Affairs, Vol. 19, No. 3, 01 Jul 2013 is now available on Taylor & Francis Online.

This new issue contains the following articles:

Original Articles
‘We     need the messiah so that he may not come’: on David Ben-Gurion’s use of     messianic language
Nir Kedar
Pages: 393-409
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799864

Beyond     a one-man show: the prelude of Revisionist Zionism, 1922–25
Jan Zouplna
Pages: 410-432
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799871

Another     Orient in early Zionist thought: East Asia in the press of the Ben-Yehuda     family
Guy Podoler
Pages: 433-450
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799866

Jerusalem     in Anglo-American policy in the immediate wake of the June 1967 war
Arieh J. Kochavi
Pages: 451-467
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799865

A     farewell to arms? NGO campaigns for embargoes on military exports: the case     of the UK and Israel
Gerald M. Steinberg, Anne Herzberg & Asher Fredman
Pages: 468-487
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799869

The     politics of ‘over-victimization’ – Palestinian proprietary claims in the     service of political goals
Haim Sandberg
Pages: 488-504
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799868

Equality,     orthodoxy and politics: the conflict over national service in Israel
Etta Bick
Pages: 505-525
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799862

The     establishment of a political-educational network in the State of Israel:     Maayan Hahinuch Hatorani
Anat Feldman
Pages: 526-541
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799863

Between     the dream and the reality: vocational education in Israel, 1948–92
Nirit Raichel
Pages: 542-561
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799867

The     influence of mergers on the capital market
Tchai Tavor
Pages: 562-579
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799870

Book Reviews
1973:     the way to war
Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Pages: 580-582
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.778094

Land     and desire in early Zionism
David Rodman
Pages: 583-584
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799881

Israel     in Africa, 1956–1976
David Rodman
Pages: 584-585
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799899

Zion’s     dilemmas: how Israel makes national security policy
David Rodman
Pages: 586-587
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799882

Should     Israel exist? A sovereign nation under attack by the international     community
David Rodman
Pages: 588-589
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799885

The     role of US diplomacy in the lead-up to the Six Day War: balancing moral     commitments and national interests
David Rodman
Pages: 589-590
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799886

The     wars of the Maccabees: the Jewish struggle for freedom, 167–37 BC
David Rodman
Pages: 590-592
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799887

In     the aftermath of Operation Pillar of Defence: the Gaza strip, November 2012
David Rodman
Pages: 592-593
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799888

The     future of the Jews: how global forces are impacting the Jewish people,     Israel and its relationship with the United States
David Rodman
Pages: 593-595
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799889

The     lives of ordinary people in ancient Israel: where archaeology and the Bible     intersect
David Rodman
Pages: 595-597
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799890

Israel     vs. Iran: the shadow war
David Rodman
Pages: 597-599
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799883

The     triumph of Israel’s radical right
Evan Renfro
Pages: 599-601
DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2013.799884

New Publication: Matar and Harb, Narrating Conflict in the Middle East

Dina Matar (author), Zahera Harb (author), eds. Narrating Conflict in the Middle East: Discourse, Image and Communications Practices in Lebanon and Palestine. London: Tauris, 2013.

Narrating the conflict - cover

The term conflict has often been used broadly and uncritically to talk
about diverse situations ranging from street protests to war, though the
many factors that give rise to any conflict and its continuation over a
period of time vary greatly. The starting point of this innovative book
is that it is unsatisfactory either to consider conflict within a
singular concept or alternatively to consider each conflict as entirely
distinct and unique; Narrating Conflict in the Middle East explores
another path to addressing long-term conflict. The contributors set out
to examine the ways in which such conflicts in Palestine and Lebanon
have been and are narrated, imagined and remembered in diverse spaces,
including that of the media. They examine discourses and representations
of the conflicts as well as practices of memory and performance in
narratives of suffering and conflict, all of which suggest an embodied
investment in narrating or communicating conflict. In so doing, they
engage with local, global, and regional realities in Lebanon and in
Palestine and they respond dynamically to these realities.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Approaches to Narrating Conflict in Palestine and Lebanon: Practices, Discourses and Memories Dina Matar and Zahera Harb

      Practices

Just a Few Small Changes: The Limits of Televisual Palestinian Representation of Conflicts within the Transnational ‘Censorscape’ Matt Sienkiewicz

Mediating Internal Conflict in Lebanon and its Ethical Boundaries Zahera Harb

Negotiating Representation, Re-making War: Transnationalism, Counter-hegemony and Contemporary Art from Post-Taif Beirut Hanan Toukan

Narratives in Conflict: Emile Habibi’s al-Waqa’i al-Ghariba and Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention Refqa Abu-Remaileh

      Discourses

Islam in the Narrative of Fatah and Hamas Atef Alshaer

Al Manar: Cultural Discourse and Representation of Resistance Rounwah Adly Riyadh Bseiso

The Battle over Victimhood: Roles and Implications of Narratives of Suffering in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Kirkland Newman Smulders

The ‘I Love…’ Phenomenon in Lebanon: The Transmutations of Discourse, its Impact on Civil Society, the Media and Democratization Carole Helou

      Memories and Narration

Making Sense of War News among Adolescents in Lebanon: The Politics of Solidarity and Partisanship Helena Nassif

Narrating the Nakba: Palestinian Filmmakers Revisit 1948 Nadia Yaqub

Bearing Witness to Al Nakba in a Time of Denial Teodora Todorova

 

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