Conflict Transformation and the Palestinians
This book explores the challenges of transforming the violent conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinians into just peace.
There are many challenges involved in the bottom-up transformation of the violent structures that sustain the State of Israels occupation of Palestinian territory. This book examines these structures as it assesses the actors and strategies that are contributing to the termination of cycles of violence and oppression. Consisting of contributions from both peace practitioners and academics who have conducted research within Israel and the occupied territory, the volume utilises a multidisciplinary perspective to examine promising strategies for conflict transformation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. Moreover, it spells out the types of nonviolent strategy that are being used to expose and undermine occupation structures, and surveys the manner in which a variety of key actors are working towards the transformation of the ongoing conflict. As a whole, the volume presents a proposal for the transformation of the conflict between Palestinians and the State of Israel that embraces the constructive potential of conflict, engages with power asymmetry, and pushes for justice and accountability.
This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peace studies, Middle Eastern studies, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and IR in general.
Alpaslan zerdem is Professor of Peacebuilding and Co-Director of the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, UK. He is the author/editor of eight books, including most recently International Peace-building: An Introduction (Routledge, 2015).
Chuck Thiessen is Research Fellow in Peacebuilding at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University, UK.
Mufid Qassoum is Vice President for International Relations at the Arab American University of Jenin in Palestine.
Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution
Series Editors: Tom Woodhouse and Oliver Ramsbotham
University of Bradford
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com
Conflict Transformation and Reconciliation
Multi-level challenges in deeply divided societies
Sarah Maddison
International Intervention, Identity and Conflict Transformation
Bridges and walls between groups
Timea Spitka
Peacebuilding and Friction
Global and local encounters in post conflict societies
Edited by Annika Bjrkdahl, Kristine Hglund, Gearoid Millar, Jar van der Lijn, and Willemijn Verkoren
Resolving Deep-rooted Conflicts
Essays on the theory and practice of interactive problem-solving
Herbert C. Kelman
Edited by Werner Wintersteiner and Wilfried Graf
Climate Change and Resource Conflict
The role of scarcity
Judith M. Bretthauer
Ceasefire Agreements and Peace Processes
A comparative study
Malin kebo
Conflict Transformation and the Palestinians
The dynamics of peace and justice under occupation
Edited by Alpaslan zerdem, Chuck Thiessen, and Mufid Qassoum
Peacebuilding and Post-War Transitions
Assessing the impact of external-domestic interactions
Lisa Gro
First published 2017
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2017 selection and editorial material, Alpaslan zerdem, Chuck Thiessen, and Mufid Qassoum; individual chapters, the contributors
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: zerdem, Alpaslan, editor.
Title: Conflict transformation and the Palestinians : the dynamics of peace and
justice under occupation / edited by Alpaslan zerdem, Chuck Thiessen and
Mufid Qassoum.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, [2017] | Series: Routledge studies in
peace and conflict resolution | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016028739 | ISBN 9781315619330 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Arab-Israeli conflictInfluence. | Military occupation
Social aspectsWest Bank. | Military occupationSocial aspectsGaza
Strip. | Palestinian ArabsWest BankSocial conditions. | Palestinian
ArabsGaza StripGazaSocial conditions. | Palestinian Arabs
Civil rights. | Government, Resistance toIsrael. | BoycottsIsrael. |
DisinvestmentIsrael. | Economic sanctionsIsrael.
Classification: LCC DS119.76 C667 2017 | DDC 956.9405/5dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028739
ISBN: 978-1-138-66653-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-61933-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
The editors of this volume would like to thank Oliver Ramsbotham and Tom Woodhouse, the editors of the Routledge Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution series, for their support and input into this book project. We are also grateful to the team at Routledge, including Andrew Humphrys and Hannah Ferguson, who have guided us through the book production process. Further, Siobhn Burke has skillfully assisted us in copy-editing initial draft chapters. We would also like to extend our thanks to each of the chapter contributors who have bravely and diligently tackled complex themes and patiently worked with us on this project.
The development of this volume has substantially benefited from funding through a European Commission Marie Curie IRSES project, Conflict Transformation in the Middle East and Europe (CTMEE), that facilitated a three-year programme of cooperation between the Arab American University in Jenin (AAUJ) in the West Bank, Kadir Has University in Istanbul, and the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations at Coventry University. Several contributing authors in this volume were active participants on this project. This cooperation has also spawned, since 2013, an annual series of international conferences at AAUJ entitled Conflict Transformation in Palestine, at which many chapters in this volume received vital critical reviews.
Alpaslan zerdem (Principal Investigator of CTMEE) and Chuck Thiessen (co-Investigator of CTMEE) would like to thank the participating organizations and colleagues who took part in project staff exchanges between Coventry, Istanbul, and Jenin. The CTMEE project was an excellent opportunity for the three universities involved to build each others research capacities in an enabling process and it has laid the foundations of future collaboration in a wide range of research and teaching areas. A number of academic and project management staff from the three universities, namely Dr. Mufid Qassoum and Dr. Salih Bicakci as the projects fellow co-Investigators, as well as Dr. Sinem Acikmese, Elizabeth Davies, Areej Shalbak, Chris Tompsett, Kam Vadukul, and Professor Ayman Yousef worked tirelessly to organize a total of 84 months of research visits during between partners. Without their determination and hard work, it would have been impossible to organize the required research exchanges, as each visit meant overcoming several barriers posed by visa regulations, border controls, security concerns, and other logistical challenges.
