Thesis advisor: David M. Scanlon / The purpose of this mixed-methods research was to examine the impact of mediated cognitive strategy intervention on the reading comprehension and self-efficacy of Palestinian-Arab middle school students with learning disabilities. Eighteen seventh-grade students with LD who were placed in two self-contained special education classrooms and their two special education teachers participated in this experiment for eight weeks. A multi-cognitive strategy reading comprehension intervention (the Five Mediated Cognitive Strategies: 5MCS) based on existing cognitive strategy models was introduced. The two classrooms were divided into two conditions: a) an Extended Condition, in which students received the cognitive strategy instruction for the full length of the intervention while using culturally relevant texts at the fourth grade level, and b) the Reduced Condition where students received four weeks of traditional instruction followed by the cognitive strategy instruction combined with the same texts that were provided for the Extended Condition. All students were assessed for their vocabulary and comprehension at pre and post intervention using a standardized measure and researcher-made weekly tests for their comprehension. Further, the students were assessed for their self-efficacy in reading using self-report surveys at three times and focus group interviews at pre and post intervention. Repeated-measures ANOVA results indicate that both groups improved their vocabulary and comprehension from pre to post intervention on both standardized and researcher-made comprehension measures. However, the Extended Condition achieved statistically significant gains in comprehension at posttest, whereas, the Reduced Condition achieved significant gains in vocabulary at posttest. No significant differences were found between the two conditions by time. Mixed results were revealed for self-efficacy in reading comprehension. Students who were identified as good decoders reported an increase in their self-efficacy from pre to post intervention, whereas students with poor decoding abilities reported a declined self-efficacy at post intervention. Thematic analysis of interviews with the participating teachers revealed that they considered themselves and their students to have benefitted from the 5MCS intervention. Implications for the study are discussed and recommendations for further investigations are provided for policy makers and educators. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: William A. Gamson / This work presents a longitudinal study of greater than 10 years, of all the major peace-building initiatives with an educational encounter-based approach in Israel and Palestine, during times of relative peace and times of acute violence (1993-2008). Interestingly, my results indicated that when the environment became more tumultuous and hostile, the effectiveness and even survival of these organizations depended to a significant degree on the ability of the organizations to manage the power asymmetry between the two sides and work as equally as possible. Organizations which failed to deal effectively with matters of equality, and the needs and desires of both sides, ended up struggling to maintain commitment, or were doused in conflict that could have been tempered if they strived for more equality. This study, which involved fieldwork, participant observation, and interviews with Palestinian and Israeli peace-builders prior to, during, and post-the 2nd Intifada, is in many ways a natural experiment of peace-building organizations operating in radically different contexts. Involving various fields, this research contributes to the broad fields of conflict resolution, peace studies, and organization studies. It offers critical insight into how organizations adapt in radically changing environments, what is problematic, what are their possibilities, and what allows some to survive while others do not. Practically speaking, this study also has political import as it suggests ways to strengthen and sustain peace-building efforts in different contexts and strengthen peace-building's symbolic, cultural, and political worth and value. In addition, it has significance for building sustainable coalitions across an arena of inequality, asymmetry, and difference. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Este trabalho pretende investigar a diáspora palestina no Brasil, através do olhar dos integrantes\\simpatizantes da Federação Árabe Palestina do Brasil (FEPAL). A entidade, fundada em novembro de 1980, uniu e politizou a comunidade palestina do Brasil, no mesmo momento em que o Brasil acompanhava o esgotamento do regime militar. A presença de manifestações políticas pelas Diretas Já! foi a oportunidade encontrada pelos imigrantes palestinos e descendentes de difundirem a causa palestina para o público brasileiro. Mais adiante, o aumento da violência contra os refugiados palestinos no Líbano na década de 1980 foi fundamental para a formação de uma segunda entidade, a Associação Cultural Sanaúd, em 1982, criada pelos jovens da comunidade síria, libanesa e palestina a fim de se manifestarem pela causa palestina em muitos eventos promovidos em São Paulo. A efervescência política em apoio à questão da Palestina durou até meados da década de 1990, o desânimo gerado pelos Acordos de Paz de Oslo interrompeu a militância política palestina até a sua retomada em 2000, quando estourou a segunda Intifada. Foi nessa ocasião em que foram formadas novas organizações nacionalistas: o Shalom, Salam, Paz (2000), uma associação entre a comunidade judaica e palestina; o GT Árabe (2010) e o comitê Estado da Palestina Já! (2011). Foi através da observação participante nas reuniões do GT Árabe e do comitê Estado da Palestina Já! e através das entrevistas realizadas com 13 colaboradores que foi possível compreender as relações entre a FEPAL e o Hamas; o aumento da oposição às diretrizes da FEPAL em São Paulo e sobre as impressões da política externa entre o Brasil e a Palestina durante o governo Lula (2003-2010) e o início do governo Dilma Rousseff (2011-2012). O recorte para esta pesquisa começa desde o ano 2000, início da segunda Intifada e vai até a votação pelo reconhecimento do Estado da Palestina na Assembleia da ONU, em 2012. No mesmo ano que acontecia o Fórum Social Mundial Palestina Livre, na cidade de Porto Alegre-RS. / This work intends to investigate the Palestinian diaspora in Brazil, through the eyes of the members\\ sympathizers of the Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil (FEPAL). The entity, founded in November 1980, united and politicized the Palestinian community of Brazil, at the same time that Brazil was following the exhaustion of the military regime. The presence of political demonstrations for the Diretas Já! was the opportunity found by Palestinian immigrants and descendants to spread the Palestinian cause to the Brazilian public. Further, the increase of the violence against Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in the 1980s was the key to the formation of a second entity, the Sanaúd Cultural Association, in 1982, created by the youngers from the Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian communities to demonstrate the Palestinian cause in many events promoted in São Paulo. The political effervescence in support of the Palestine question lasted until the mid-1990s, the dismay generated by the Oslo Peace Accords interrupted the Palestinian political militancy until its resumption in 2000, when the second Intifada broke out. It was at this time that new nationalist organizations were formed: Shalom, Salam, Paz (2000), an association between the Jewish and Palestinian community; the GT Árabe (2010) and the committee \"Estado da Palestina Já! (2011). It was through participant observation at the meetings of the GT Árabe and at the committee Estado da Palestina Já! and through the interviews with 13 collaborators that it was possible to understand the relations between FEPAL and Hamas; the increasing opposition to the directives of FEPAL in São Paulo and on the impressions of the foreign policy between Brazil and Palestine during the Lula government (2003-2010) and at the beginning of the Dilma Rousseff government (2011-2012). The clipping for this research starts from the year 2000, at the beginning of the second Intifada and goes until the vote for the recognition of the State of Palestine in the Assembly of the UN, in 2012. In the same year that the Free Palestine World Social Forum took place, in the city of Porto Alegre-RS.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / This study focuses on Seeds of Peace, a peace education program whose purpose is to bring together teenagers from conflict regions, train them to be future leaders, and promote conflict resolution, reconciliation, and coexistence. The experiences of the Palestinian, Israeli-Jewish, and Israeli-Palestinian participants at the summer camp, during re-entry, and in subsequent years, particularly during the second intifada, are portrayed using qualitative methods. The study also describes and analyzes the Seeds of Peace program from 1993–2004, highlighting the implementation of the follow-up program in the home region. Theories from the field of social psychology, including social identity theory and the contact hypothesis, and literature on peace education interventions conducted in the context of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, are employed to explain sources of intergroup conflict and models of how they can best be addressed and overcome. Data collection consisted of interviews of participants and staff members, observations of the camp and follow-up program, and written documentation produced by the participants. The participants' journeys were fraught with difficulties, particularly during re-entry and periods of violent conflict. Following the onset of the second intifada, external asymmetric power relations had a greater impact on the functioning of the program and tendencies to revert to previously-held negative attitudes became more pronounced as each group faced increasingly negative messages from their communities regarding the other side. Furthermore, participants grappled with what they referred to as the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) dilemma' as Israeli-Jews approached the age of mandatory military service. However, despite these challenges, according to many of the participants interviewed for this study, contact with the ‘enemy’ group promoted greater understanding of the conflict and its various narratives, humanization of the other side, increased self-concept, and enhanced communication and leadership skills. The use of a mixed model with multiple categorization strategies and a follow-up program enhanced positive outcomes. The findings of this study, presented through a narrative format, should provide many insights into designing and implementing peace education programs between teenagers from groups involved in intractable conflict, particularly during a period characterized by acute violence and a lack of top-down peacemaking initiatives.

This research explores the role of co-learning in addressing water issues, being both context sensitive and responsive to the needs, lived experiences and symbolic representations of people at the local level in the case of the West Bank. Water is essential to the wellbeing of all societies, not only due to the necessity of water for life, but because it connects us to stories about place, beliefs and norms, identity and others, through the meanings that it invariably comes to embody. This research critically examines the significance for learning of freshwater: as a physical necessity; as a metaphor; and, as a source of meaning in the context of community-based water interventions. The dominance of particular narratives around water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are discussed, as these have resulted in the acceptance of specific understandings about the problems and solutions to the water shortages that are experienced across the West Bank in differentiated ways. The effects of these narratives on water intervention processes and outcomes are observed, being most adverse in relation to local ownership, agency and identity as well as sustainability. A meaning-based framework is proposed based on an understanding of sense of place and a socio-political perspective of water shortages, as a way to reconnect the discourse with Palestinians' own accounts of water and place, and to provide opportunities to explore NGO engagement with divergent knowledges, perspectives, and priorities during interventions. It is argued that water interventions can be understood as a social learning process, which NGOs may be ideally situated to mediate. A model of learning and sustainable development is revisited and revised in order to consider the relationship between participation, agency and sustainability in relation to community-based water interventions.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:30:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ailton Jose do Amaral.pdf: 2402781 bytes, checksum: 17ac3152ead943994e5a8badeb31b734 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work aims to study the Palestinian immigration to the city of São Paulo. We will look at the history of those who, to escape the hardships imposed by the occupation of their territory, until then the decision to emigrate to another country, whose choice was Brazil, specifically São Paulo and its survival in our city. It is in fact to bring immigration through a case study: the Saga of "Seu Abdul". Although this work contains images, these have only illustrative purpose / Este trabalho tem como objetivo, estudar a imigração Palestina para a cidade de São Paulo. Analisaremos a trajetória daqueles que, para escapar dos sofrimentos impostos pela ocupação de seu então território, até a decisão de emigrar para outro país, cuja escolha foi Brasil, especificamente São Paulo e sua sobrevivência em nossa cidade. Trata-se na realidade de trazer a imigração através de um estudo de caso: A Saga de Seu Abdul . Embora este trabalho contenha imagens, as mesmas têm apenas propósito ilustrativo

This thesis adopts a bottom-up, qualitative approach to Palestinian identity construction in East Jerusalem and asks how the new politics and altered geography of the city since Oslo are recreating Palestinian subjectivities and redefining Palestinian struggle. I make the case that East Jerusalemites are doubly marginalised, first as Palestinians spatially and politically dislocated from the West Bank, then as residents of Israel, inside the politics and economy of the state but permanently excluded from the national project. Distanced from both state projects and from the discursive structures through which Palestinian identity was constructed after 1967, East Jerusalem residents are redefining from below what it means to be Palestinian in ways that are unfamiliar to Palestinians elsewhere in the occupied territories. Drawing on the vocabulary and theoretical contours of discourse theory, I problematise the top-down optic favoured by mainstream academic approaches which essentialises identities and privileges an occupation/resistance binary. I suggest that a ground-level approach to everyday practices in East Jerusalem sheds light on the extent to which existing nationalist and resistance discourses have either lost or changed meaning for Palestinian residents and makes evident the complexities of domination which are not visible from an elevated perspective. I suggest that the view from the ground in East Jerusalem is significantly underexplored and that from this position, the assumptions underlying existing analytic approaches to Palestinian identity and struggle are called into question.

This thesis explores intersecting processes of inclusion and exclusion among Palestinians in Tel Aviv, a city considered to be essentially Jewish-Israeli. It looks at Palestinians from diverse backgrounds and statuses who engage with the city in search of employment, higher education, political activism, or an urban lifestyle. Although this self-consciously liberal city creates social and economic openings, unequal power relations and conflict prevail over urban civility and citizenship. The Palestinians face a paradox: the deeper their inclusion into Tel Aviv’s political economy, the stronger their estrangement and the more serious their dilemmas. Because their urban inclusion is limited, mobility and constant adaptation become obligatory and eventually disempowering. As they oscillate between conflicting desires and senses of solidarity or identification, the Palestinians in Tel Aviv struggle with intersecting forms of cultural and political power. They seek individual opportunities within a political system they oppose, demand recognition of their identity and history but also seek urban anonymity as unmarked individuals. Their balancing acts resemble acrobats: they walk a tightrope between contradictory worlds, unable to reconcile both into a stable balance and simultaneously prevented from ever fully arriving at the other end. They live in exile ‘at home’.

This thesis studies the effect of education on youth within vulnerable settings to resist joining armed groups. Two alternate causal mechanisms are derived from existing research. The first explanation hypothesizes that higher education increases the resistance among youth to join armed groups, since it reduces grievances by promoting social cohesion and equality. The second explanation posits that higher education increases the risk of youth to join armed groups, since raised awareness of injustices and discrimination fosters grievances. To test these hypotheses and further explore the causal relationship, the thesis is designed as a qualitative case study. Palestinian youth living in refugee communities in Lebanon who attend schools are compared to those who do not attend school. A field study to Lebanon was conducted in late spring of 2018 to interview representatives of organizations working with Palestinian youth. Eight in-depth interviews serve as material, which are analyzed using the method of structured, focused comparison. Considering the empirical evidence within the limitations of the study, I evaluate the explanatory power of the two causal mechanisms and provide an account of additional factors that may inform the foundation for future research.

The purpose of this study was to investigate child rearing in a Palestinian refugee camp and the values affecting these patterns . The areas investigated were: independence, dependency, aggression, methods of control, sex role training, mother-child interaction, maternal role, maternal expectations of the child in the present time and the future, and the role of the father as perceived by the mother. An interview was undertaken in October, 1974 at the Al Hussein refugee camp in Amman, Jordan with forty Palestinian in-camp refugee mothers. Since the review of literature did not contain specific references in the psychology, or sociology of either the personality development, or child rearing patterns of the Palestinian refugee, the findings of the study were relevant. Overall, the refugee mothers were imitating the traditional culture in their child-rearing values and methods and expected their children to do the same. In spite of their rootlessness, they did not abandon their rural heritage. Sex role differentiation was the most outstanding finding of the study. It prevailed in all areas investigated. The differences in sex role training at the age of three-and-one-half to four-and-one-half years were already established. The findings also indicated that the mothers were the main power in childrearing, and that they all used methods of control and punishment rather than training as methods for achieving their goals. Another finding points to the street culture as a source of values for the growing male child. It is believed that the specific findings de scribing the childrearing practices have some important implications for the description of present, and the projection of future. personality and values of the Palestinian in-camp residents. As a result, intrapersonal relationships of Palestinian families and their internal power structure could be described. Some of these findings and recommendations are also of value for further study and research of the Palestinian and Arab culture throughout the Arab World.