The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Building the Future Palestine

A Palestinian geographer and urban planner discusses one of the territorial challenges that will likely emerge in the process of building a future Palestinian state. More specifically, he outlines how looming population pressures (high density in tandem with rapid natural increase and return of displaced refugees) will require that investments to support economic growth and new construction be organized within a national settlement system based on the existing urban hierarchy. In addition to describing the elements of such a system ("developed urban axis of Palestine"), the paper also covers the effects of public opinion and shifting political alignments within the territories on shaping the conceptualization of a future Palestinian state.     

The Political Economy of Israeli-Palestinian Interdependence

The Israeli and Palestinian economies are asymmetrically interdependent. Some scholars argue that the Palestinian economy cannot be viable alone. Others believe that economic links with Israel will promote peace. Supporters of separation argue that these links distort Palestinian development. I show that the current interdependence is associated with a cyclical Israeli-Palestinian violence and Palestinian economic decline. Assuming that an independent Palestinian state forms in most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, I argue that Israeli-Palestinian relations require economic separation to be stable. Economic separation will deteriorate Palestinian welfare in the short run. Policies to make it viable are considered.     

Providing counter-narratives: the positive role of hostels in the Israeli-Palestinian context

Abstract

Previous research suggests that tourism has a role to play in challenging the destructive dominant narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian context – discourses that traditionally have, and still do, revolve around sectarianism, Othering and violence. Our case study focuses on a hostel in the Palestinian city of Ramallah that boldly attempts to challenge the way tourists view the Israeli-Palestinian context and Palestine as a tourism destination. We examine how the hostel attempts to achieve this and the ways in which being a hostel (as opposed to a hotel) helps its guests with this reframing through in-depth qualitative interviews conducted on-site with members of the hostel management and staff, and through participant observation conducted by the researchers in Ramallah. Findings shed light on the hostel’s ability to enable Israelis and Palestinians to cooperate within tourism, and how Palestine has much more to offer tourists than conflict-related tourism, thus challenging the master narratives of the region which have suggested quite the contrary. A key finding is the hostel's on-going attempt to remove ignorance about the situation in the region and promote fact-based learning. The results also suggest that the very characteristics of a hostel assist in achieving this mission through the intimate interactions that are inherent in a hostel setting. Hostels can, therefore, be part of a wider approach to ensuring tourism is used to promote alternative, positive narratives of contested space, as opposed to promoting division and externalising the conflict, as is so often the case.

摘要

之前的研究表明, 旅游业在挑战以色列-巴勒斯坦背景下的破坏性主导叙事方面可以发挥作用——这些话语传统上想来围绕宗派主义、异己和暴力展开, 现在依然如此。我们的案例研究集中在巴勒斯坦城市拉马拉的一家青年旅社, 它大胆地尝试挑战游客看待巴以关系和巴勒斯坦作为旅游目的地的方式。我们通过在现场深入访谈青年旅社管理人员与员工,以及通过由拉马拉研究人员的参与观察, 研究了该旅社试图实现这一目标的方式, 以及在这一新框架下该旅社是如何帮助客人的。调查结果有助于了解该青年旅社有能力使以色列和巴勒斯坦人在旅游业内进行合作, 以及巴勒斯坦向游客提供的服务如何远远超过与冲突有关的旅游, 从而挑战了该地区的主流叙述, 而这些叙述的观点恰恰与实际相反。一个关键的发现是, 青年旅社正在努力消除对该地区情况的无知, 并促进基于事实的学习。研究结果亦显示, 青年旅舍的特色有助于透过旅舍环境所固有的亲密互动来达成这一使命。因此, 青年旅舍可以成为一种更广泛的方法的一部分, 以确保旅游业被用来促进对有争议的空间的替代的、积极的叙述, 而不是像通常情况那样促进分裂和将冲突外部化。     

无望的对抗格局--三论世界历史上的大清帝国

当近代西方殖民列强东来的时候,它们面临的是一个走向衰亡的明王朝和一个崛起的清王朝。上升时期的大清帝国,特别是其康雍乾盛世,国家生命力旺盛。无论是葡萄牙、西班牙还是荷兰、英国,都无法阻止其繁荣昌盛。然而伴随着西方资本主义的发展,西方列强轮番兴起,由于各种内部因素,如中国封建王朝自然经济的发展规律,中国封建社会晚期皇权压制下海商集团的命运,大清帝国反而逐渐耗尽了国家生命力,终于沦为列强的半殖民地并走向衰亡。     

Implications of shifts in the Israeli water discourse for Israeli-Palestinian water negotiations

Most studies analyzing the Israeli–Arab and Israeli–Palestinian water issues focus on the international level, looking at countries as singular entities, and on the physical features of these issues. However, the outcome of negotiations is likely to be determined, to a significant extent, by the ability of negotiators to meet the expectations of different internal constituencies. The win-sets available to negotiators are molded by the sanctioned discourse within societies. Hence, the potential for reaching agreements should not be analyzed without due regard to internal discourses. This paper analyzes the shifts in the internal Israeli water discourse. It argues that despite the seemingly immutable water policy scene within Israel, the previous unison discourse has fragmented in the last decade as a result of structural changes in the Israeli society and economy. These changes have the potential to increase the win-sets available to negotiators. However, the specific implications for the negotiations will be effected by the relative power of the different discourse coalitions identified in the paper, and their ability to sanction their story lines.     

Artistic identities and professional strategies: Francophone musicians in France and Britain

This article will focus on the ways in which musicians of North African origin—either born in North Africa or in France and living in France and Britain—define their musical and artistic identities in relation to their national origins, place of birth, migration trajectories and location in which they perform their music. In particular, the article will focus on how perceptions of musicians’ national and post-migrant identities vary according to their location on either side of the Channel but also according to how the musicians themselves choose to present their music, depending on whether they are based in France or Britain. In addition to the individual strategies adopted by musicians, the article also considers how the shifting socio-political contexts in post-9/11 France and Britain have affected the choices and opportunities available to artists of North African origin in both national contexts.