Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: From the earliest years the Middle East was known for it's wars and conflict. Religious differences and both the Jews and Palestinian Arabs lay claim to certain territories and religious sites. The fact that the conflict is based on religion makes it an explosive situation and very difficult to find a solution. When the state Israel was established the conflict took on a particular form and the existence of the Palestinian Arabs was threatened. Israel and Egypt were faced opposite each other regularly on the battlefield. Only with the help of a superpower they were able to be in active conflict with each other. Since the Second World War there were an alliance between Israel and the US and Egypt decided to approach Russia for a partnership. Both Israel and Egypt realised that they could not face each other on the battlefield if they were not getting aid and help from a superpower. The influence of the superpowers in this conflict in the Middle East brought a new dimension to the whole situation. The relationship between the superpowers after World War II was in such a bad shape that it gave way to the rise of the Cold War. The bad relationship between the superpowers had a direct influence on the countries in the Middle East. Due to the fact that the allies of the superpowers in the Middle East was entangled in a conflict that increased the mistrust between the superpowers. The course of the October war of 1973 was completely different than the rest of the Middle East wars up until 1973. The superpowers was drawn into the war because of the pressure that was put on the superpowers during this war. That what was feared by everybody were coming true. The conflict in the Middle East was developing from a regional war to the threat of a pending global war. It was very clear that the superpowers could not control their clients of the Middle East to such an extent to avoid a direct confrontation between them. The global crisis did not last long and ended very shortly after it started. During the period after the October war an intense period of negotiations took place between the relevant countries. The friendship between Israel and America was reasonably stable in comparison to the unstable relationship between Egypt and Moscow. Egypt was approaching Washington now to establish a friendship with them. America was the driving force behind the negotiations in the Middle East and with that tried to bring an end to the influence of Russia in the region. They were very succesful in doing that and agreements were signed between Israel and Syria as well as Israel and Egypt. The conflict between Egypt and Israel ended with the signing of the peace agreement between them but the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs has not ended. The grievances between them are extremely complex and a solution for peace looks very unlikely. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Midde-Ooste was vanaf die vroegste tye 'n gebied wat gekenmerk is aan oorlog en konflik. Die konflik spruit uit godsdiensverskille en die aansprake wat beide die Jode en Palestynse Arabiere het op grondgebied en heilige plekke. Die feit dat die konflik op godsdiens geskoei is maak dat dit 'n plofbare situasie is en uiters moeilik om 'n oplossing te verkry. Die konflik het 'n kenmerkende vorm aangeneem toe die staat Israel gestig is en die bestaan van die Palestynse Arabiere in die gebied bedreig is. Israel en Egipte het menigmaal te staan gekom teenoor mekaar op die oorlogsveld. Beide kon dit net doen met die hulp van hul bondgenootskap met 'n supermoondheid. Israel en die VSA was bondgenote terwyl Egipte toenadering tot USSR gesoek het. Israel en Egipte het besef dat hul die hulp en ondersteuning van 'n supermoondheid nodig gehad het om suksesvol in hul stryd te wees teen die ander. Die invloed van die supermoondhede in die konflik in die Midde-Ooste het 'n nuwe dimensie gegee aan die stryd. Na die Tweede Wêreldoorlog het die verhouding tussen die supermoondhede sodanig verswak dat dit gelei het tot die ontstaan van die Koue Oorlog. Dié swak verhouding het 'n direkte invloed gehad in hul verhoudinge met die lande in die Midde-Ooste. Omdat hulle bondgenote ook in 'n stryd gewikkel was het dit verder bygedra tot die wantroue tussen die supermoondhede. Die Oktober-oorlog van 1973 het heeltemal anders as die ander oorloë verloop. Die druk wat die sitausie op die supermoondhede geplaas het, het daartoe gelei dat hulle direk in die konflik betrek is. Dit wat almal gevrees en oor gespekuleer het, het nou waar geword. Die konflik van die Midde-Ooste het nou ontwikkel van 'n streeksoorlog na 'n dreigende globale oorlog. Dit blyk baie duidelik dat beide supermoondhede nie genoegsame druk op hul bondgenote kon plaas om 'n direkte konfrontasie tussen hulle te vermy nie. So vinnig soos wat die globale krisis ontwikkel het so vinnig is dit beëindig. Die tydperk na die Oktober-oorlog was gekenmerk aan 'n intense periode van onderhandeling tussen die betrokke lande. Die verhouding tussen Israel en die VSA was baie stabiel teenoor die onstabiele verhouding tussen Egipte en die USSR. Egipte het al meer toenadering tot Washington gesoek. Amerika was die dryfveer agter die vredesonderhandelinge en het daarmee gepoog om die invloed van USSR in die Midde-Ooste tot 'n einde te bring. Hy was baie suksesvol daarmee en ten spyte van teenkanting is vredesooreenkomste gesluit tussen Israel en Egipte asook Israel en Sirië. Die konflik tussen Egipte en Israel is grootliks beëindig maar die konflik tussen Israel en die Palestynse Arabiere is nog in volle swang. Die twispunte tussen dié twee nasies is kompleks en "n vredesoplossing lyk hoogs onwaarskynlik.

This thesis looks at illegal public art produced on state built barrier walls. The focus is on the artist Ron English, and his artworks produced on the Berlin Wall, Israeli Barrier Wall, and Mexican Border Fence. I examine English’s works in their respective contexts of Cold War divisions, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and tensions at the border between United States and Mexico. I also situate English’s works in relation to other artworks produced on these barriers. I argue that English is doing something different from other barrier wall artists in his work in Palestine and Mexico, offering a framework for understanding the primary motivations and tactics behind barrier wall art and highlighting English’s unique contributions.

This research examines the identity perception of Maronite adolescents in Israel as part of the Israeli Palestinian Arab Christian community. The research was carried out between the years 2009-2011, involving 25 Maronite adolescents ranging from ages 16 – 18 years. Views on identity were also sought from the parents of this group. The research looks at the implications of their identity perception on their future orientation, career, place of residence, culture and heritage amidst the ongoing unstable social and political situation in the region. The research is inductive in nature and follows a non-positivist, qualitative, ethnographic approach, seeking depth in capturing and presenting the elusive nature of the “soft data” of the self-identity construct. The data were gathered and triangulated by a variety of methods: adolescents’ in-depth interview, parents’ semi–structured ethnographic interview, narrative text tools and a focus group. Findings revealed that the two leading components in the identity perception of the participants were the “Israeli Arab” national component, and the “Christian” religious component. Findings also indicated that the identity perception influences the choice of the participants’ careers; choosing from what was offered to them, rather than pursuing what they liked, and their place of residence having to deal with the limitations imposed on minorities regarding where they can, or cannot live. The participants expressed their need for leadership, religious or secular, to strengthen their involvement in the social and political agendas, educate the younger generation about their identity and heritage, offer a supportive and empowering framework for their ambitions and future plans and improve their socio-political presence among the other communities. The outcomes of this research contribute to a better understanding of the identity perception among Maronite adolescents and constitute a basis for understanding how they can be better supported as a minority group within a multi-cultural society in an unstable region. Further research is required to gain a deeper understanding of how the unstable periods influence belonging and identity issues among Christians in Israel and the Arab world, and to consider gender, socioeconomic and place of living variables.

O presente estudo tem por objetivo caracterizar as Guerras do Líbano (1975-90) como resultantes do processo de desintegração do Império Otomano no quadro definido pela aceleração histórica de acordo com Yves Lacoste. Ela evidencia o processo/projeto balcanizador, ou seja, de divisão territorial em base étnica, do Líbano e do Oriente Médio iniciado com o expansionismo europeu a partir do séc. XIX e a continuidade dada a tal processo pelas modernas geoestratégias israelenses, as quais, com suas rupturas, logram imprimir moto próprio à sua operação na Região. Desta forma, traçamos um painel histórico da evolução do Líbano dentro do quadro de tensões geopolíticas regionais e internacionais, como a queda do Império Otomano, a fundação de Israel e os movimentos nacionalistas árabe e judeu, os refugiados palestinos e as crises no Golfo Árabe-Pérsico (as Guerras do Iraque de 1980 e 1991), que se constituíram em fatores de instabilidade para o território libanês. Assim, as Guerras do Líbano (1975-90) permitiram que o território libanês passasse a servir como campo de batalha para as guerras do Oriente Médio, nas quais se insere as invasões israelenses do Líbano, em 1978 e em 1982, com seus intentos balcanizadores. / This study aims to characterize the Lebanon War (1975-90) as a result of the process of disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the framework defined by historical acceleration according to Yves Lacoste. It shows the process / project balkanizing, i.e., territorial division based on ethnic, Lebanon and the Middle East started with the European expansion from the Nineteenth century and continuity to this process given by modern geo-strategic Israelis, which, with its ruptures, manage to print their own motto accord to its operation in the region. Thus, we draw a historical overview of developments in Lebanon within the framework of regional and international geopolitical tensions, as the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the founding of Israel and the Arab and Jewish nationalist movements, Palestinian refugees and the crisis in the Gulf Arab Persian (Iraq wars of 1980 and 1991) that formed factors of instability for the Lebanese territory. Thus, the Lebanon War (1975-90) allowed the Lebanese territory passed serve as the battleground for wars in the Middle East, which falls in the Israeli invasions of Lebanon in 1978 and 1982, with its attempts balkanizing.

The central question this thesis poses is how and why the modes of Palestinian political activism have changed from the first to the second intifada. The thesis will explore the underlying major political, territorial and social developments that created a new environment for the second uprising that was no longer conducive to the mass protests and acts of civil disobedience, which had dominated the first intifada in the late 1980s. The decline of civil society, the reassertion of Palestinian political factionalism and the unique geographical dislocation of the Palestinian territories, which created new physical obstacles to resistance but also caused division within society, were the key factors in reshaping the context of the second intifada. In addition, rising support for violent resistance among the population was rooted in the sense of hopelessness and frustration that re-emerged over the Oslo period. Much of the population’s frustration was directed at Israel’s colonial regime but in part it was also a response to the rule of the Palestinian Authority, which had failed to fulfil its commitments to its own population in view of its obligations under Oslo toward Israel. In the absence of alternative non-violent outlets within either politics or civil society, what took root instead was individual activism via militant organisations. As such, this thesis offers an account of the development of Palestinian political action (and in particular political violence) that is indebted to an effort to employ historical and contextual analysis in ways that deepen the insights available from explanations of behaviour drawn from political science.

Discussing, defining and engaging with ‘terrorism’ has long been limited to the narrowly framed situations in which parties to an asymmetric conflict resort to the use of force and to the legitimacy they have in doing so. The problem with the limited understanding of ‘terrorism’ and ‘counterterrorism’ as ‘facts of objective reality’ is the lack of attention to the role of the extreme asymmetry of power in conflicts involving ‘terrorism’ that does not lend itself to analysis readily. This thesis introduces a new theoretical concept, the Terrorism Complex that signifies the complexity of power/knowledge relations and the complexity of power/knowledge practices that operate on a discursive and non-discursive level through time and are affected by the mechanisms of power that stem from the asymmetry of power between the actors involved in a conflict. The research into the Terrorism Complex involves an ontological and epistemological widening of the research focus to account for these effects of the interplay between power and knowledge on the production, construction and perception of ‘terrorism’. I draw on postmodern scholarship and the Critical Terrorism Studies to present a theoretical and methodological framework that is used to examine the production of knowledge in relation to the asymmetries of power. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is used as a case study for the study of power asymmetry in the political field that determines who will be labelled a ‘terrorist’ and who will be able to claim the moral high ground. The research also reveals the surprising extent to which the power over discourse obscures the role of the systemic terrorising exercise of state power in inducing ‘terrorism’. The final chapter concentrates on the media’s role in the Terrorism Complex. It applies the findings from other chapters to observe the Terrorism Complex in action.

The news media serve as the Canadian public’s main source of information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This thesis examines the ways in which the Canadian media portray the conflict, through a lens of Habermas’ (1962) public sphere theory, Foucault’s (1926 – 1984) ideas on discourse, and Rawls’ (1921 – 2002) conceptions of equality and justice. Building on these theories, Noelle-Neumann’s Spiral of Silence theory (1974), Said’s Orientalism (1978), and d’Arcy’s (1913 – 1983) conception of the right to communicate are examined to arrive at a framework for analyzing Canadian news. Looking at ideological representations, power manifestations, issue framing, and social responsibility within the media, this thesis explores whether the Canadian media portray the conflict in such a way that fosters a downward spiral of opinions within the Canadian public. A Critical Discourse Analysis of coverage in two national English Canadian newspapers, The Globe and Mail and the National Post, during three separate timeframes of increased violence in Israel and Palestine between 2000 and 2009 reveals that newspaper representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are often entrenched in predefined ways of portraying the Other, fostering an Israeli-Palestinian spiral of silence in Canadian media.

This thesis engages with the relationship between national identity, security-based narratives, and foreign policy. It focuses on the 1982 Lebanon War as the most controversial in Israel's history because it violated the Israeli societal norm of only fighting wars of self-defence (when there is no alternative to war). Through an examination of Israeli films about the 1982 war – Ricochets, Time for Cherries, Cup Final, Waltz with Bashir and Lebanon – this thesis studies the identity crisis experienced by Israelis after the invasion of Lebanon and the coping mechanisms that helped Israeli society reconcile the war with the security-based narratives that inform collective identity in Israel. / Cette thèse a pour objet la relation entre l’identité nationale, les récits sécuritaires et la politique étrangère. Elle se base sur la Guerre du Liban de 1982 en tant que guerre la plus controversée des guerres israéliennes en raison de sa contradiction avec la norme israélienne de seulement mener des guerres de légitime défense (à savoir lorsqu'il n'y a aucun autre recours que la guerre). À travers un examen des films israéliens qui traitent de la guerre de 1982 – Ricochets, Time for Cherries, Cup Final, Waltz with Bashir et Lebanon – cette thèse discute de la crise identitaire vécue par les Israéliens à la suite de l'invasion du Liban et s’intéresse aux stratégies d'adaptation qui ont aidé la société israélienne à réconcilier la guerre avec les récits sécuritaires qui font partie de la construction de l'identité collective israélienne.

First chapter - basic characteristics of Israel Second chapter - economy of Israel. Third chapter - Czech Republic and Israel. Balance of trade. Main export, import articles. Forth chapter - israeli culture.

The thesis focuses on development assistance to Palestine and on the role of this assistance within the Palestinian state formation and overall Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The work comprises evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of the development aid in general, based on several studies published by prominent researchers discussing the issues of the development assistance. In its core part, the thesis describes the evolution of the development assistance with Palestine, follows statistics about provision of the Official Development Aid (ODA) and discusses political and socio-economic implications of the development aid. Moreover, one part is devoted to the Czech development cooperation with Palestine and shows the effect of development aid on concrete project of electrification in Tubas district.