The foundation of the modern State of Israel in 1948 is commemorated by countless Palestinians as a day of „catastrophe.‟ Many Palestinian Christians claim that it was also spiritually catastrophic as the characters, names, events, and places of the Old Testament took on new significance with the newly formed political state and thereby caused vast portions of the text to be abandoned and unusable in their eyes. The present dissertation investigates this issue and asks, “How do Palestinian Christians read the Old Testament in light of the foundation of the modern State of Israel?” “Is it markedly different from that which preceded it?” “And what is the solution to the problem?” These questions form the basis of the present dissertation, “Palestinian Christians and the Old Testament: Hermeneutics, History and Ideology.” Chapter 1 introduces the dissertation. Chapter 2 looks at the basic elements of contemporary Palestinian Christian hermeneutics of the Old Testament, outlining the opinions of Naim Ateek, Mitri Raheb, Naim Khoury, Yohanna Katanacho, Michel Sabbah, and Atallah Hanna (Hermeneutics). Chapters 3-5 examine the degree to which Palestinian Christianity has developed and PCHOT has changed over the years (History). Chapter 3 looks at the years prior to 1917 and analyzes among other things the views of Chalil Jamal, Seraphim Boutaji, and Michael Kawar. Chapter 4 then surveys the years between 1917 and 1948, and chapter 5 reviews the years since 1948. Chapters 6-7 then look at how Palestinian Christians might read the Old Testament in the future (Ideology). Chapter 6 examines proposals made by Michael Prior, Charles Miller, and Gershon Nerel. Chapter 7 then outlines this author‟s own hermeneutic and provides an in depth analysis of Deuteronomy 7. Chapter 8 concludes the dissertation and proposes a way forward for Palestinian Christians and their reading of the Old Testament.

Thesis advisor: Pierre D. Lambert / Initially the British administration in Palestine assumed responsibility only for Arab public schooLs. A dual school system evolved when the government designated as public, Zionist schools hitherto considered private. This change brought increased government subvention and supervision, but on a more limited scale than that of Arab schools functioning completely under the government's authority. The Hebrew system was nearly autonomous. This study uses the methodology of historical research to investigate the development of public education from 1920 to 1946 and seeks to gain an understanding of each school system rather than explicitly to probe for comparisons between the two. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 1981. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Education.

La question de la détermination des frontières de l’Etat hébreu est au centre du conflit opposant Israël à ses voisins arabes depuis 1947, année d’adoption par l’Assemblée générale du plan de partage de la Palestine. Elle renvoie à la définition des aires de contrôle militaire dans la région du Proche-Orient entre les différents protagonistes, la répartition des terres se révélant, en effet, être le produit de diverses actions armées dont les deux principales sont la guerre israélo-arabe de 1948-49 et la Guerre des Six Jours de 1967. La contradiction entre les termes de l’acte des Nations unies et le découpage effectif sur le terrain interpelle le droit international public à de multiples niveaux. Tout d’abord, il s’agit de déterminer le caractère contraignant ou non de l’acte de l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies, celle-ci n’ayant par principe qu’un pouvoir de recommandation. Le cadre spécifique des mandats ainsi que la question de la délimitation d’un ancien territoire sous tutelle vont toutefois conférer au plan de partage une opposabilité erga omnes. Ainsi la discordance entre les frontières de ce plan et les délimitations existantes actuellement doit être analysée sous le prisme de la distinction entre occupation militaire et annexion. De là, il ressort que les espaces contrôlés par Israël en sus des termes de la résolution de l’Assemblée générale révèlent deux régimes différents : une partie des terres ayant juridiquement été annexée et l’autre étant soumise à un régime militaire et donc différencié de l’ordre interne israélien. Ce nouveau découpage imposé par les faits se voit validé par les Nations unies en 1967 avec l’adoption de la résolution 242. Par cet acte, le Conseil de sécurité transforme des lignes de front en frontières internationales, contredisant ainsi le principe de l’inadmissibilité de l’acquisition de terres par la force et démontrant son incapacité à assumer sa responsabilité particulière en matière de maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales. La solution adoptée alors se révèle être contreproductive puisque n’ayant pas même contribué à forger définitivement les frontières sur le territoire de l’ancienne Palestine mandataire. Le régime juridique s’appliquant sur les zones soumises au contrôle militaire israélien –et destinées à servir de base au futur Etat palestinien, s’il est différencié de celui de l’ordre interne israélien, laisse entrevoir une possibilité d’absorption de terres supplémentaires par Israël, Jérusalem-Est étant le symbole le plus criant de ce risque. Le processus de paix des années quatre-vingt-dix a achoppé en particulier sur cette question. La situation proche-orientale actuelle place donc l’ordre international face à une contradiction qui, pour l’heure, paraît difficilement surmontable. / The question of the determination of the Hebrew State’s boundaries is central in the arab-israeli conflict since 1947, when the partition plan for Palestine was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It leads to the surfaces definition of military control areas in the Near-East between the different protagonists. Indeed, the land dividing appears to be the product of diverse armed actions of which the both principal are the Israel-Arab war of 1948-49 and the Six Days War of 1967. The contradiction between the terms of the United Nations act and the effective cutting up on the ground affects the international public law at various stages. First of all, we have to determine the binding ability (or non-ability) of the United Nations General Assembly act, this one just having on principle a recommendatory power. However, the specific framework of the mandates and the issue of boundaries delimitation of a former territory under tutelage are going to confer an erga omnes opposability to the partition plan. So the discordance between the partition plan frontiers and the existing demarcations has to be analyzed through the distinction between military occupation and annexation. It brings out that spaces controlled by Israeli State in addition to the terms of the General Assembly resolution reveal two different regimes: one part of lands having been juridically annexed and the other being subdued to a military regime and then differentiated from the internal israeli order. This new cutting up imposed by facts sees itself validated by United Nations in 1967 with the adoption of the resolution 242. By this act, the Security Council transforms front lines into international boundaries, which belies the principle of “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war”, and demonstrates its incapacity to assume his specific responsibility in the matter of maintaining international peace and security. Then the borrowed solution seems to be counterproductive since it has not even contributed to forge the boundaries definitely on the former mandatory Palestine territory. The juridical regime applying on the zones subdued to the Israeli military control -assigned to serve as bases for the future Palestinian State, is different from the regime applied on the Israeli internal order, but it leads also to catch sight of a possible additional absorption of lands by Israel, East-Jerusalem being the significative symbol of this risk. The peace process of the nineties has stumbled on this specific question. Then, the current Near-East position leads the international order to a contradiction which appears still difficulty surmountable until now.

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The commitment to improving scientific literacy is voiced by governments throughout the world. One of the main objectives is the development of an informed and active citizenry able to participate in decision-making processes concerning socio-scientific issues (SSIs). There is a growing literature which suggests that engaging with the complexity of SSIs demands a high level of critical-thinking skills. These skills include: open-mindedness, independence, and scepticism. This three-year long study attempted to develop an intervention which will, in particular, provide subjects with an ability to be more open-minded, evaluate counter opinions, and respect those holding such opinions. The importance of developing an ability to value the ‘other' emerged from years of teaching academic English within an Israeli university, where initiating fruitful classroom discussion was problematic. The lack of dialogue resulted from individuals voicing strongly held opinions and seeming to be unable to acknowledge, and evaluate opposing views. This project was designed as an action research study. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected, and analysed within an interpretive framework. As both the researcher and researched, many of my teaching methods were modified during the course of this study, including the introduction of pair-work in class. The study was conducted in three cycles over three consecutive years, primarily with two classes (one humanities and one science) in the pre-academic, mechina, program of an Israeli university. The mechina is a year-long programme and the students I taught had a single semester of English. This meant that three different cohorts of students were studied, (there were always 25-30 students in each class, so about 50 students were studied each year). The classes I taught were proficient in English, and were required to do a research project as part of the course. This project became my intervention. I developed a project based on devil's advocate which required them to choose an SSI that interested them, write a statement of their opinion, and then, much to their astonishment, find evidence to support the counter opinion. I gave a lesson on how to evaluate sources available on the internet. Although the project was set up as a standard research exercise, which is what they expected, the majority of students identified that this project made them more aware of the value of counter opinions – more ‘open-minded'. The primary method for collecting feedback on the project, and on other aspects of my course, utilized a projective technique – students wrote their views anonymously on a piece of paper; these are then analysed by coding the responses. This study also employed questionnaires, which were given to all students. These showed that the majority had little or no science education in high school, and yet registered high levels of interest in science and technology on a three-level Likert item. These findings add support to research that shows the more science studied in high school the lower the interest in the subject. Furthermore, by including a standard VOSTS (Views On Science-Technology-Society) I was able to show that my students believed the general public should participate in governmental decisions relating to SSIs. Responses to open-ended questions showed that most students, including those in the humanities, believed everyone should take science courses at university, and should have science classes in school (though not the current curriculum). In conclusion, this research indicated that interest in science was not related to studying the current school science curriculum. And feedback from the intervention demonstrated that students could be aware of a change in their cognitive skills, and independently acknowledge the importance of being open-minded – an important step towards promoting an active, informed, scientifically literate society.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Religion)--Vanderbilt University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-261). Also available on the Internet.

Diss.--Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 2003. / Notes bibliogr. Index.

Proefschrift--Godgeleerdheid en godsdienstwetenschap--Groningen--Rijksuniversiteit, 2002. / Résumé et curriculum vitae de l'auteur en néerlandais. Bibliogr. p. 340-360.

Thesis (master's)--Jāmiʻat al-Qāhirah, 1962. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 618-625).

Much of the research on the Palestinian Resistance Movement focuses on the period of its most active international terrorism, roughly between the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war and October 1977. These studies focus largely on the violent acts of the movement’s operatives and the movement’s Marxist political theory during this time. Less has been written, however, about the movement’s development prior to 1967, or the relationship between traditional forms of anti-colonial resistance and tribal violence in Palestinian society and the forms of resistance that manifested within the Palestinian Resistance Movement. This thesis analyzes the development of political critiques and theories on the use of political violence within the organizations of Palestinian Resistance between the nakba in 1948 and the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, tracing them back to the traditional sociopolitical structures that regulated authority and tribal violence in Palestine prior to the twentieth century. Due to a variety of economic and political forces at work in the region, political authority among Arab Palestinians shifted from rural kinship-based networks to urban patronage-based networks between roughly 1858 and 1922. This resulted in a disconnection between those wielding political and economic influence and the population’s center of mass, which remained in the rural hinterlands. This dual structure, which ultimately contributed to the failure of nationalist Palestinian leaders to effectively harness peasant anticolonial resistance during the British Mandate to strategic ends, was a central element in the critique of mid-century Palestinian Resistance Movement thinkers, and informed the theories they generated during this time. As an illustration of Palestinian resistance thought during this period, I analyze the content and editorial perspective of Filasṭīn, a newspaper published by the Arab Nationalist Movement from 1964 to 1967. Through this newspaper, the ANM clearly articulated a position on Arab government and the use of violence for political ends which remained a major influence in the theories of the movement after 1967. / text