This thesis describes a qualitative mixed-methods study carried out in a vocational-technical secondary school with second-chance adolescent learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a peripheral area of Israel. The learner population was characterized by complex, socio-economically disadvantaged family backgrounds and a high rate of learning disabilities. The study investigated the effects of a Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) intervention to support the development of basic EFL literacy skills by students who lacked solid foundational English skills. The intervention provided an interactive educational software application, The English Club™, on iPod Touch devices to scaffold learning and review of letter sounds and rules of English, integrate them into words and texts, and practice reading, writing and comprehension. Learners developed literacy skills depending on the level they reached in the application. The English Club follows a scaffolded Multi-Sensory Structured Language (MSL) approach, adapting for struggling EFL learners the Hickey Multi-Sensory Method (Combley, 2001), developed by Kathleen Hickey of the British Dyslexia Institute. Printed books containing the material complemented the use of the MALL. The English teachers at the school chose the learners who participated and determined how to integrate the intervention into their English classrooms. An investigation of the teachers' roles was included in the study. The methodology was primarily action research with case studies of individual learners and teachers. Pre-intervention and post-intervention data on learners' English knowledge, skills, attitudes and opinions and on teachers' attitudes and opinions about use of this MALL intervention was generated via skills assessments and semi-structured interviews. As a participant-teacher-observer, I observed the intervention's use in classes and in sessions with individual students. Changes in skills, attitudes and opinions were analyzed in the framework of Vygotsky's theories of language acquisition and the Zone of Proximal Development as elaborated in Scaffolding Theory. Theories of motivation, literacy and second language acquisition, and how struggling learners experience these, have provided additional lenses for analysis. My goals in performing this study were to understand in depth the whole picture of the intervention, both its effects on students' English skills and attitudes, and the factors that shaped these outcomes. The study's findings contribute to an understanding of the ways in which delivering a scaffolded MSL approach to literacy education via MALL can contribute to addressing the world crisis in literacy acquisition, and issues that must be addressed for this type of intervention to be effective. Findings showed that learners who actively engaged in the intervention made significant progress in their English literacy skills, increased their confidence in their ability to learn English and thus their willingness to engage in learning, and demonstrated increased awareness of the connection between their own investment of effort and learning. This success was shaped by many factors, including variation among individual learner profiles, the degree of teachers' support for the intervention, increasing students' motivation to invest effort, minimizing disruptions to the students' learning routine, and maximizing access to charged, working devices and to books. The individual MALL delivery platform enabled an untrained, inexperienced but committed teacher to provide the benefits of this scaffolded method, appropriate to her learners' needs, in multi-level English classrooms and to provide a solution for students returning from extended absences to catch up with missed classwork. Recommendations for policy and practice include use of such scaffolded MSL MALL applications with struggling language learners in conjunction with printed materials and closely accompanied by committed teachers, who do not have to be highly trained in specialized methods to support learning by struggling students. Schools engaging in such interventions need to ensure that the devices will be fully available for use during learning hours, minimize disruptions to the class schedule, and maximize students' use of the MALL app and books in class, during free time at school, and at home. If necessary, extrinsic rewards should be offered to overcome students' learned helplessness.

After Israel’s triumphant victory over its Arab neighbors in the 1967 Six-Day War, the State immediately began a policy of territorial seizure in the newly occupied areas. Tracing these seizure practices, their supporting spatial apparatuses and the legalistic manipulations which have enabled de facto annexation to occur, this thesis uncovers not only the involvement of military officials and political figures, but also shows the complex utilization of nature and landscape for geopolitical means. From Jewish-only settlements to closed military areas, nature reserves, unilaterally-seized areas of ‘State Land’ and the cantons of split Israeli-PA jurisdiction, the creeping practices of Israeli annexation in this conflict are occurring without regard for international law or for the purportedly crucial negotiation process. Traditional assessments of the current status quo correctly identify the catastrophic effects of the continued Israeli occupation on the economic, social and environmental systems of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Yet they fall short of realizing the unique potentialities for Palestinian resistance and subversion inherent within this same state of imbalance. This thesis therefore seeks to elucidate three ways in which the Palestinians can capitalize on unexploited opportunities within the current destabilized conditions of Israeli military occupation in the West Bank. It will argue that the agency of architecture provides a crucial means of political intervention in a protracted dispute where the traditional political figures are unable to affect change via the processes of the peace negotiations. Beyond spatial tactics of resistance, the designs herein propounded have been conceived to thrive in a political environment which is shifting, volatile and indeterminate. Harnessing instability, they suggest new means of social, economic and environmental improvement for the Palestinians while simultaneously addressing their desires to establish an independent state. Cumulatively, these design proposals argue against the futile despair felt by many Palestinians that self-determination will only come by means of the perpetually stalled negotiations process. Instead, they outline new avenues for redirecting the trajectory of this conflict on the ground, through the strategic choreographing of Palestinian actions within, and taking advantage of, the very landscape in which they inhabit.

Texte remanié de: Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät II--Universität Würzburg, Wintersemester 1999-2000. / Bibliogr. 683-724.

Texte remanié de: Diss. Ph. D.--History--Tel-Aviv--Tel-Aviv university, 5756, 1985. / Mention parallèle de titre ou de responsabilité : Pioneers in the maze of politics : the Kibbutz movement, 1927-1948 / David Zait. Table des matières trad. en anglais. Bibliogr. p. 271-275. Index.

Diss.--Åbo--University. / Bibliogr. p. 379-433.

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Universität Göttingen. / Bibliogr. p. 368-390. Index.

Texte remanié de: Diss. Ph. D.--Department of Land of Israel studies--Haifa--University of Haifa, 1996. / Mention parallèle de titre ou de responsabilité : Vanishing center : citizens' interests groups in Eretz Israel during the 1930s / Neomi Shiloach. Table des matières trad. en anglais. Bibliogr. p. 395-398. Index.

Partie de: Magisterarbeit--Universität Hamburg. / Bibliogr. p. 159-178.

Habilitationsschrift--Constance. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 424-446).

This thesis examines the case study of Jericho as an example of the unique challenges of intra-Palestinian water allocation. Over the past hundred years, Jericho has been under the control of five ruling governments: Ottoman, British, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian. This study begins with an investigation of local water allocation under foreign control. Throughout each period of rule, legislation about water was inherently connected with land control, and Jericho’s history as an agricultural city dictated how water was classified. Despite many of the nominal changes in law from one government to the next, local practice changed relatively little, as the community allocated resources in a fairly consistent way among community members. Jericho’s sustained level of agriculture has been possible because of the consistently high output of a large spring, Ein Sultan, just north of the contemporary city. The second chapter examines the transition from Israeli to Palestinian control of Jericho in 1994, which is now considered an Area A zone in the West Bank, and examines the relationship of nascent Palestinian water institutions with previous informal networks. The last section addresses the challenges facing Jericho today, referencing and analyzing the recently written Master Plan for Jericho’s water system undertaken by a Palestinian nongovernmental organization. The Plan effectively highlights problems within the system of allocation, including: poor water quality, inefficient domestic and irrigation networks, conspicuous local consumption, ineffective pricing systems, and lack of wastewater treatment. However, the plan does not provide long-term suggestions to address the underlying systematic problems with the allocation system. Although Jericho is theoretically a Palestinian controlled municipality, it faces serious obstacles to effective governance of its resources. The informal institutions dominated by the agricultural sector that sustained the community for such a long time, may not be able to adjust in the face of necessary water reform for the city. The local government may need to consider politically unpopular decisions, reform tariffs, and decrease reliance upon foreign aid if it hopes to continue maintain and manage Ein Sultan and other water sources for the growing city into the future. / text