The first International Conference
Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding in Palestine:   Challenges and Future Perspectives
 
Arab American University, Jenin (AAUJ) – Palestine
1 – 2 June 2014
Agenda  
 
Registration: 9:00-10:00

 
First Day, Sunday, June 1^st, 2014
 
First Session: Exploring the core issues of the Israel-Palestine conflict
10:30-12:00
Chairperson: Dr. Mufid Qassoum (AAUJ)
 
Speakers:      
 
1. Dr. Manar Makhoul: (Badil Center, Bethlehem): The Palestinian refugees, the right of return and the “Peace Process”
 
2. Dr. Jad Isaac: (Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem-ARIJ): Israeli settlements and their strategic implication on conflict transformation
 
3. Prof. Yousef Jabaarin: (Um-Fahim): Israel planning strategies in Jerusalem and the violations of the Palestinian right to the city.
 
4.Noa Shaindlinger: Imagining futures: Planning the return of the Palestinian refugees
Break: 12:00 -`12:15
 
Second Session: Popular and nonviolent resistance
12:15- 13:45
 
Chairperson: Dr. Chuck Thiessen (Coventry University)
 
Speakers:                  
1. Dr. Marwan Darwish: (Coventry University): Palestinian popular resistance against the construction of the separation wall and settlements
 
 2. Dr. Mazen Qumsiyeh: (Bir Zeit University): Popular resistance role in the conflict transformation.
 
3. Dr. AbdulrahmanTamimi: (Al-Quds University): The future of the popular resistance under a temporarily/peace framework agreement
 
4. Mr. Mahmoud Zwahre: (Coordination Committee of PRF, Bethlehem): Popular resistance as a fourth phase towards third popular nonviolent Intifada.
                                                 
5. Dr. Diego Checa Hidalgo: (University of Granada, Spain): Struggling against the occupation: Nonviolent international interventions for conflict transformation in the occupied Palestinian territories
 
6. Ana Sanchez: Palestine/Israel NOVACT Delegate. International Institute for Nonviolent Action:  The role of civil society in peace building and conflict transformation: legitimacy war and the case of Palestine 
 
 
Lunch Break: 13:45-15:00
 
Third Session: The role of language, literature, art and intellectuals in forming, deforming and transforming the conflict
15:00-16:30
 
Chairperson:  Dr. Rasem Kayed (AAUJ)
 
Speakers:      

 1. Prof. Ahmad Atawneh: (The University of Hebron): Analysis of Israeli political discourse of the Israeli-Arab conflict

 
2. Prof. Mohammad Dawabsheh: (AAUJ): The image of the “other” in the Israeli-Arab conflict’s literature.
 
 3. Prof. Eser Selen: (Kadir Has University-Istanbul): Experiences under occupation: An exploration of conflict transformation through Palestinian and Israeli artists’ lives and works.
 
 4. Dr. Zuhair Sabbagh: (Bir Zeit University): The role if Israeli academics in the formation, deformation and transformation of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict
 
__________________________________________________________   
Second Day, Monday – June 2^nd 2014
 
First Session: The Israeli demand of the “Jewishness” of the State of Israel as a hindrance to conflict transformation
 
9:00-10:30
Chairperson: Dr. Zuhair Al Sabbagh
 
Speakers:
                              
1. Prof. Ghazi Falah (University of Akron, Ohio): The territorial implication Of Israel’s demand to be recognized by the Palestinians as a “Jewish State”.
                                               
2. Dr. Mohannad Mustafa: (Um-Fahim): The meaning of the “Jewish State” according to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government
 
3. Mr. Antwan Shalhat: (The Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies-Madar/Ramallah): The “Jewishness of the State” construct as an insurmountable obstacle for conflict transformation and peace.
 
 
                              
 
 
 
Second Session – A: The Role of women and youth in conflict transformation
 
10:30-12:00
Chairperson: Prof. Yousef Jabaarin (Um-El-Fahim)
 
Speakers:
             
1.Prof. Ayman Yousef& Razan Abu Libdeh: (AAUJ): Changing strategic priorities of the Palestinian youth movement in the age of conflict transformation: critical appraisal.
 
2. Dr. Saira Orakzai: (University of London): Historical dialogue process as an approach for conflict transformation: The case study of Israel-Palestine conflict 1948.
 
 3. Dr. Momen Zyoud: (University of Ottawa): The role of women and children during the conflict and the peace building process.
  
4. Mr. Casey Davison O'Brien: Understanding division and unity among Palestinian youth: the impact of the fragmentation of Palestinian identity on the nature of coexisten​ce and dialogue among Palestinian youth from either side of the Green Line (Coventry University)
 
5.Dr. Bhawna Sharma: (Jawaharlal Nehru University-JNU/India): Women as peace builders in Israeli-Palestinian conflict: past, present and future.
 
Second Session-B: Media, cyberspace and historical narrative in fuelling the conflict and/or its transformation
 
Chairperson: Prof. Eser Selen: (Kadir Has University)
10:30-12:00
 
Speakers: 
    
1.Dr. Khalid Rabayah: (AAUJ): The Arab/Palestinian-Israeli conflict in cyberspace.
 
 2. Mr. Said Abu Mualla: (AAUJ): Palestinian-Israeli cyber conflict: An analytical study of the Israeli propaganda in social networks: Facebook as a case study.
 
3. Ms. Sonja Astley: (Coventry University): Changing entrenched narratives: What can be learnt from the case study Dresden for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
 
Break: 12:00-12:15
 
Third Session: The political economy of the “peace process” and the “economic peace”
12:15-13:45
Chairperson: Prof. Ayman Yousef (AAUJ)
     Speakers:
 
1.Prof. Fadle Naqib: (University of Ottawa): The political economy of the “Peace Process” and the meaning of “Economic Peace”
 
2. Dr. Rasem Kayed: (AAUJ): Israeli-Palestinian economic initiatives and conflict Transformation
 
3. Dr. Mufid Qassoum: (AAUJ): Does Israel want peace? Preventers and transformers of the Zionist/Israeli-Arab/Palestinian Conflict. 
 
4. Dr. Abdul Hamid Musa (Jordan): The “Economic Peace” and Peacebuilding especially in the aftermath of Oslo era.   
 
Lunch Break: 13:45- 15:00
 
Fourth Session: Dialogue, Social Capital and Conflict Transformation
 
Chairperson: Dr. Marwan Darwish (Coventry University)
 
15:00-16:30
 
Speakers:      
1.Dr. Chuck Thiessen: (Coventry University): The dilemmas of dialogue: Are intergroup meetings transforming the Israeli-Palestine conflict
2. Prof. Raffaella Nanetti: (The University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of LUM Bari Jean Monnet (Italy) and Esoclab (London): The Social Capital as a means of conflict transformation.
 
3. Dr. Alessandra Ricciardelli: (LUM Bari Jean Monnet University- Italy): Universities as sites of Social Capital building towards conflict transformation and sustainable development: The Post-conflict Croatian Model
 
 
Closing Session/Press Conference: Summary, Recommendations and Certificates
16:30-17:30
 
Participants:

1. Dr. Rasem Kayed (AAUJ)





2. Dr. Mufid Qassoum (AAUJ)





3. Dr. Marwan Darweish (Coventry University)





4. Dr. Chuck Thiessen (Coventry University)





5. Dr. Eser Selen (Kadir Has University)





6. Dr. Alessandra Ricciardelli (LUM Bari)