Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Usually the afetr effects of the Holocaust on German-Jewish relationships after the Holocaust are discussed separately from the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. This paper (panel?) tries to discuss the tense triangle of Germans-Jews and Palestinians. The author provides some evidence from his research to present this tense triangle and to discuss the relevance of triangles in current conflicts, suggesting that there is a "hidden particpant" that should be discussed openly in order to understand the dynamic that nurtures them.

Publication Type: Proceeding

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This three-year research program has focused on the prospects for the emergence of a functioning Palestinian state existing side by side with Israel in peace. We base our research on the proposition that we are witnessing the transformation of the Palestinian leadership from one whose authority rested on a narrow-patronage-driven support-base to a regime which includes many of the challengers to the former leadership. This authority has derived its legitimacy partly from its ability to win concessions from Israel concerning the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and more recently from open, competitive elections. Hamas’ victory has complicated the relationship between the Palestinian government and Israel, and pressed the E.U. and the U.S. into a waiting game. The authors have used a mixed methodological approach to identify the potential members of new coalitions and the kinds of constraints they would operate under in the political environment created since the death of Yasser Arafat. As well, both domestic and bilateral bargaining has been simulated under this approach.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: My paper will tackle the issue of ethnic identity and political action in the context of a nationalizing (Brubaker 1996) state. A nationalizing state may be procedurally democratic but nonetheless illiberal (Zakaria 1997), using the tyranny of a nationalist majority to mold the state in the image of the dominant ethnic group. The state is identified as belonging to the dominant ethnic group, and as a result the policies of the state are designed to serve its interests, usually at the expense of the minority. Extensive political, social and economic grievances emerge among the minority, and perhaps more importantly, an affective identification with the state is lacking that could serve to bind the minority to the state and its goals. Nationalizing states are particularly numerous in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, though they exist elsewhere, such as Israel in the Middle East, which serves as the case under scrutiny in my paper. The nationalizing state has crucial implications for ethnic mobilization and unconventional forms of political participation. Ethnic minorities' lack of affective identification with the state may free individuals to challenge the political and economic system that perpetuates their subordination. In cases where conventional political participation is ineffective, unconventional means may be used. My paper focuses on unconventional political behavior, such as mass protest and vote boycotts, that can be considered to be system-challenging (Binder 1962). I investigate political behavior at the individual level, in order to determine why some individuals engage in system-challenging action while others do not, given the same environment of institutional discrimination. In order to carry out this project, I constructed a survey that was administered in Israel by well-established research organizations to nationally representative samples of 1202 Arab Israelis and 503 Jewish Israelis. I supplement this data set with information gathered from over 50 interviews with Arab leaders, activists and academics in Israel to further illuminate the mobilizational context of ethnic-based action. Preliminary findings indicate that both individual self-identification preferences - in my case study, the extent of Palestinian identification among Israel's Arab minority - and ethnic-based grievances significantly impact the likelihood of engaging in system-challenging political action. In Israel, both Palestinian identity and ethnic grievances emphasize the historical and current injustices suffered by the Palestinian people by the Zionist movement, and indicate some degree of opposition to Zionism, upon which the nationalizing character of the Israeli state is based.
Although straightforward expectations would suggest that the more aggrieved a person is, the more likely s/he will engage in protest or related political behavior (Gurr 1970), my preliminary findings indicate that one's identity plays a key conditioning role in the grievance - action process. For those individuals who identify with the state and its goals (as Israeli), grievances have a relatively small impact on system-challenging behavior. This suggests that affective identification with the state - through meaningful Israeli identities - may be essential for reducing or preventing ethnic conflict.
The converse also applies: for those who identify with anti-establishment identities (as Palestinian), grievances play a very large role in promoting system challenging behavior. This finding suggests that the state can play an important role in promoting ethnic stability by cultivating favorable identification among minority groups. My paper will therefore address issues in the growing literature regarding ethnic stability and the management of ethnic conflict.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Commemoration of martyrs by national minorities tends to be hesitant, cautious and ambivalent. This argument is illustrated by analyzing the proliferation of memorial monuments among the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel from 1998 to 2003. First, the article analyzes the failed attempt in 1998 to establish memorial monuments for the Palestinian victims of the 1948 war; second, it discuss the wave of monuments which swept the Palestinian towns and villages in Israel after the events of October 2000, during which thirteen Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by the police. As a national minority involved in a continuous political struggle with the nation state, the Palestinians in Israel have an extremely low level of control over public space. In addition, the commemoration of Palestinian martyrs is interpreted by the Jewish majority in Israel as challenging the legitimacy of state sovereignty. These two factors have created an especially hesitant and vacillating process of commemoration. The trauma of October 2000 has partially transformed this pattern, since it invoked a growing awareness of the limits of the civil and political rights of Arabs in Israel.