The dissertation "Modern Israeli short story" focuses on the form of the current short prose studied on the work of four of the renowned Israeli contemporary authors. Employing the method of text comparison we try to illustrate the specifics of the modern Israeli short story. The dissertation contains both the theoretical overview as well as analytical material. The authors were selected according to several criteria: two male and two female writers which enables us to determine whether "gender" plays a role - meaning if each author favors heroes of a specific gender or if they focus only on "female" or "male" contents. We also chose two native Israeli writers and two authors of foreign descent that immigrated to Israel which enabled us to study the linguistic angle and to realize whether the writer's background is reflected in his/her work. The analytical parts as well as the amendments contain a number of samples which prove our conclusions.

On October 7th, the over 75-year-long Israel-Palestine conflict escalated into an ongoing war,extensively covered by traditional and social media, global demonstrations, and politicalresponses. While previous research within library and information science regarding socialmedia has focused on information evaluation and media and information literacy, this studyaims to investigate students' digital and physical information practices in relation to theIsraeli-Palestinian war. Empirical data were collected through four semi-structured interviewswith Swedish students, resulting in two main themes and nine sub-themes. Using McKenzie'smodel of everyday information practices and Zimmerman's model of social noise, thethematic analysis reveals that passive forms of seeking and receiving information are muchmore prevalent on social media, whereas information sharing, regardless of context, can belinked to social noise, such as conflict management or cultural commitments. In physicalencounters, active seeking, receiving, and sharing of information are more common, alongwith passive forms like scanning. The conclusions show that passive information practicesdominate in digital contexts, while active practices balance passive ones in physicalencounters. Information practices are therefore context-bound, and social noise influenceswhat students share in both digital and physical environments. / Den 7 oktober eskalerade den över 75 år långa Israel-Palestina-konflikten ut i ett pågåendekrig, demonstrationer och politiska reaktioner har fått omfattande täckning i traditionella ochsociala medier. Medan tidigare forskning inom biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap omsociala medier har fokuserat på källkritik och medie- och informationskunnighet, ämnardenna studie undersöka studenters digitala och fysiska informationspraktiker i relation till detIsrael-Palestina-kriget. Empiriska data har insamlats genom fyra semistrukturerade intervjuermed svenska studenter, där resultatet gav två huvudteman och nio underteman. Med hjälp avMcKenzies modell innehållande vardagliga informationspraktiker och Zimmermans modellom socialt brus visar den tematiska analysen att passiva former av sökning och mottagandeförekommer i mycket större utsträckning på sociala medier, medan informationsdelning påoavsett kontext kan kopplas till socialt brus, som konflikthantering eller kulturella åtaganden.I fysiska möten är aktivt sökande, mottagande och delande av information vanligare,tillsammans med passiva former som skanning. Slutsatserna visar att passivainformationspraktiker dominerar i digitala kontexter, medan aktiva praktiker balanserar dessai fysiska möten. Informationspraktiker är alltså kontextbundna och socialt brus påverkar vad studenter delar i både digitala och fysiska sammanhang.

One of the most controversial wars in contemporary history, both in terms of the ideological powers behind it and its continued struggle for over 60 years, is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The most recent outburst of the conflict, commonly known as the Gaza War, has attracted extensive global media coverage. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, the thesis incorporates an extensive content analysis, to chart patterns and regularities within a large corpus of four broadcast media (namely BBC Arabic, BBC World, Al-Jazeera Arabic and Al-Jazeera English). It then integrates a more interpretative discourse analysis, to investigate the cultural ideas evoked linguistically and, to a lesser extent, visually throughout the coverage. Assuming a qualitative stance, it also draws upon focus groups conducted in Jordan and England to examine the public s knowledge and understandings of the events on the ground, in addition to their evaluation of both organisations levels of objectivity and impartiality. To allow for a comparative dimension, the thesis develops two frames of analysis that systematically looks at two recurring themes and scrutinises their discursive strategies and functions in the construction of meaning and ideology. These include Provocation, which examines questions of responsibility and culpability; and Proportionality which embraces matters of legitimacy and authority in relation to the humanitarian aspect of the war. The findings indicate that the actions of a protagonist may be deemed legitimate with regard to provocation, but illegitimate with regard to their proportionality. The peculiar circumstances of the war pushed the media in the direction of greater separation from the predominant ideologies ensued by the Israeli Army. It suggests that both networks lack a coherent discursive strategy at the level of the lexical in their reporting of Gaza. The empirical findings also confirm that meanings devised by viewers are pertinent to their behaviours, attitudes and beliefs. This conceptualisation formulated three readings shaped by political, cultural and social formations: an oppositional (counter-hegemonic) reading, a dominant reading and a subliminal (sub-conscious) reading.

<p>The aim of this paper is to examine if the two latest Peace Plans in the Palestine-Israeli con-flict observes the sources of the conflict and presents measures in the purpose of solving them. The point of departure is William Azar’s theory of protracted social conflict (PSC). According to Azar, the internal sources of a PSC lies in three clusters of variables: the com-munal content of a society, the deprivation of human needs as an underlying source of PSC, and the role of the state in the deprivation or satisfaction of human needs. The study is de-signed as a multiple-case study where the units of analysis are the Roadmap to Peace and the Geneva Initiative. An analyze instrument, based on operationalization of Azar’s three clusters of internal sources of a PSC, is developed and used to analyze the Roadmap to peace and the Geneva Initiative. The conclusions are that the two Peace Plans observes and present meas-ures to solve the communal content of the conflict, but both Peace Plans are unsatisfactory in presenting measures aiming to solve problems related to the role of the state and human needs. Especially the acceptance need within the state is missing in the contents of the Peace Plans.</p>

This thesis applies securitisation theory to the Israeli-Palestinian case with a particular focus on the potential for desecuritisation processes arising from Israeli-Palestinian cooperation/coexistence efforts in peace education and water management. It aims to apply securitisation theory in general and the under-employed concept of desecuritisation in particular, to explore the limits and prospects as a theoretical framework. Concepts, arguments and assumptions associated with the securitisation theory of the Copenhagen School are considered. In this regard, the thesis makes a contribution to Security Studies through its application of securitisation theory and sheds light on a complex conflict situation. Based on an analytical framework that integrates the concept of desecuritisation with the concepts of peace-building and peace-making, the thesis pays attention to desecuritisation moves involving Israeli and Palestinian civil societies through peace education and water management. The thesis contributes to debates over the problems and prospects of reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, so making a significant empirical and theoretical contribution in the development of the concept of desecuritisation as a framework for analysing conflict resolution. The thesis develops an analytical framework that combines political level peace-making with civil society actors' peace-building efforts. These are seen as potential processes of desecuritisation; indeed, for desecuritisation to occur. The thesis argues that a combination of moves at both the political and societal levels is required. By contrast to securitisation processes which are mainly initiated by political andlor military elites with the moral consent of society (or 'audience' in Copenhagen School terms), processes of desecuritisation, especially in cases of protracted conflicts, go beyond the level of elites to involve society in cultural and structural peace-building programmes. Israeli-Palestinian peace education and water management cases are employed to illustrate this argument.

This dissertation focuses on the 'theo-political' core of US Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism. The political militancy characterizing two Millenarian/Messianic movements such as Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism constitutes a still under-researched and under-theorized aspect that, at present, is paramount to address for its immediate and long terms implications in the highly sensitive and volatile Israeli-Palestinian issue, in the US and Israeli domestic domain, and in the wider international community. Although processes of the 'sacralisation of politics' and 'politicisation of religions' have already manifested themselves in countless forms over past centuries, Christian Zionism and Jewish Religious Zionism are unprecedented phenomena given their unique hybridized nature, political prominence and outreach, mobilizing appeal amongst believers, organizational-communicational skills and degree of institutionalization.

Recognising water as a central relational location of the asymmetric Israel- Palestinian conflict, this study critically analyses the peacebuilding significance of Israeli, transboundary water and peace practitioner discourses. Anchored in a theoretically-constructed framework of hydropolitical peacebuilding, it discursively analyses the historical, officially-sanctioned, as well as academic and civil society water and peace relations of Israelis and Palestinians. It responds to the question: How are Israeli water and peace practitioners discursively practicing hydropolitical peacebuilding in the Middle East? In doing so, this study has drawn upon a methodology of interpretive practice, combining ethnography, foucauldian discourse analysis and narrative inquiry. This study discursively traces Israel's development into a hydrohegemonic state in the Jordan River Basin, from the late-19th century to 2011. Recognising conflict as a power-laden social system, it makes visible the construction, production and circulation of Israel's power in the basin. It examines key narrative elements invoked by Israel to justify its evolving asymmetric, hydrohegemonic relations. Leveraging the hydropolitical peacebuilding framework, itself constituted of equality, partnership, equity and shared ii sustainability, this study also examines the discursive practices of Israeli transboundary water and peace practitioners in relationship with Palestinians. In so doing, it makes visible their hydrohegemony, hydropolitical peacebuilding, and hydrohegemonic residues. This study's conclusions re-affirm earlier findings, notably that environmental and hydropolitical cooperation neither inherently nor necessarily constitute peacebuilding practice. This work also suggests that hydropolitical peacebuilding may discursively be recognised in water and peace practices that engage, critique, resist, desist from, and practice alternative relational formations to hydrohegemony in asymmetric conflicts.

This thesis aims to examine both continuity and change in Egyptian foreign policy between 1970 and 1981. The overarching question of this work is: Why and how did President Sadat affect changes in foreign policy? More specifically, the thesis examines the evolution of Egyptian foreign policy in three concentric circles: the Superpowers, the Arab world, and Israel. The broader aim of the thesis is to provide a detailed study of Egyptian foreign policy in this period, which witnessed a multitude of watershed events. The topic is important because Egypt is a leading state in the Arab world, a core actor in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a strategic ally of the superpowers during the Cold War. The thesis offers a detailed chronological account of Egyptian foreign policy during the 1970s. It advances a revisionist interpretation of the early Sadat years, arguing that there was much greater continuity with the foreign policy of Gamal Abdel-Nasser than is commonly believed. The account ends in 1981, with the assassination of Anwar Sadat and the succession of Hosni Mubarak. It is argued that Sadat not only managed to reverse Nasser’s radical path in foreign policy, but that he also succeeded in institutionalising his most significant policy changes: peace with Israel and the removal of Egypt from the Arab-Israeli conflict. The methodology of the thesis is principally empirical and qualitative in nature. The thesis is based on extensive archival research, recently declassified official documents, memoirs of policymakers in English and Arabic, and oral histories in the form of interviews and transcripts of discussions with former Egyptian policymakers.

Author: Asya Meytuv Institution: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Nám. Jana Palacha 2, 116 38, Prague 1, Czech Republic Field of Studies: Hebrew Studies, M.A. Study program Title: Gender Themes in Contemporary Israeli Cinema Supervisor: PhDr. Pavel Sládek, Ph.D. Number of pages: 64 Number of attachments: 1 Key words: Israeli cinema, homosexuality, judaism, male character, zionism, Israel Abstract Present thesis analyses the representation of sexual minorities in contemporary Israeli cinematography, concentrating especially on a manner of displaying other than heterosexual character to the audience. The depiction of a male character in early Israeli cinema will be compared to the contemporary production. The phenomenon of male homosexuality and its film representation will be researched in the context of cultural, social and religious aspects of Israeli reality. Original interpretations of several key Israeli films of the last decade pertaining to homosexual issues in specifically Israeli context are included in the present paper.

Saisir la nature de l’approche israélienne à la question palestinienne et définir les facteurs qui déterminent son évolution, tell est l’objet de notre thèse. L’examen de la question palestinienne à travers le débat politique parlementaire et extra-parlementaire israélien, dans la première partie de notre travail, nous a permit de déceler les fondements idéologiques de l’approche de chaque camp de gauche comme de droite. Par cette analyse nous avons souligné plusieurs caractéristiques propres au système politique israélien telles que l’interférence entre le politique et le religieux ou l’interaction entre le politique et le militaire. Des facteurs déterminants au niveau de la définition de la politique palestinienne d’Israël. Notre approche historique à la question nous a également permis de revenir sur les origines lointaines de la régression politique de la gauche et de la confirmation de la droite dont le contexte de la seconde Intifada n’a fait qu’accélérer le processus. Dans un second temps, la thèse fait porter l’analyse sur le débat intellectuel en Israël. En effet, le consensus israélien autour de la question palestinienne qui a prévalut durant la seconde Intifada et le triomphe des thèses de la droite nous a amené à nous nous interroger sur les forces dites de paix en Israël. Et si nous avons tenté de déceler quelques éléments de réponse à travers le camp de la paix, c’est en analysant le débat intellectuel en particulier de gauche que nous avons cherché une approche alternative à celle de la droite. Nous avons abordé dans un premier temps le débat académique israélien. Une attention particulière a été accordée au post-sionisme dans la mesure où il rompe avec l’approche sioniste officielle. L’examen du champ d’influence de ce courant de pensée nous a permis de mesurer l’apport mais aussi les limites du débat post-sioniste par rapport à la question palestinienne. Notre intérêt dans cette thèse à été également porté sur les réactions de l’intelligentsia pacifiste israélienne dans le contexte de la seconde Intifada. Cet examen nous a permis de pointer les phénomènes de la droitisation et de la radicalisation du milieu intellectuel israélien. Deux phénomènes alarmants et qui ont fait réagir quelques intellectuels critiques, auxquels nous avons consacré le dernier chapitre de notre thèse. / The objective of our thesis is to analyse the nature of the Israeli approach in the Palestinian question and to define the factors which have determined its evolution. The examination of the Palestinian question through the Israeli parliamentary and extra-parliamentary political debate, in the first part of our thesis, has allowed us to reveal the ideological foundations of the approach of each camp: the right as well as the left. This analysis has highlighted several characteristics of the Israeli political system such as the interaction politics/religion and politics/military which defined the Palestinian policy of Israel. Our historical approach to this question has allowed us to return to the distant origins of the political regression of the left and the progress of the right. The context of the Second Intifada was accelerating this process. In the second part our thesis concerns the analysis the intellectual debate in Israel. The Israeli consensus around the Palestinian question which has prevailed during the Second Intifada and triumph of politically right wing ideas made us question the strength of the peace in Israel. While analyzing the intellectual left debate we looked for an alternative approach to that of the right. At first we approached the Israeli academic debate. Particular attention was granted to the Post-Zionist current witch break with the official Zionist approach. The examination of what influences this current opinion allowed us to measure the contribution but also the limits of the Post-Zionism debate with regard to the Palestinian question. In this thesis we are also interested in the reactions of the Israeli pacifist intelligentsia in the context of the Second Intifada. This examination allowed us to highlight the phenomena of the drive to the political right wing and the hardening of Israeli intellectual opinion. These Two alarming phenomena have made some critical intellectuals react and it is to them that we dedicate the last chapter of our thesis.