In the 1990s Palestinian refugees sought to secure a seat in negotiations alongside the PLO and Israel in talks to resolve their situation. Their efforts raise a number of basic questions concerning the right to political participation and the negotiation of durable solutions to refugee situations. First and foremost is the question of whether peace negotiations comprise a conduct of public affairs under international law entailing a concomitant right to take part. Second and related is the question of whether citizens, refugees in particular, have a right to take part in the conduct of public affairs when they are outside their country of citizenship voluntarily or otherwise. This study examines these questions through legal analysis of the right to political participation under international treaty law, jurisprudence and soft law and through empirical analysis of all negotiated settlements to armed conflict between 1990 and 2000. The study concludes that while refugees did not have a "right" to take part in the negotiation of durable solutions during the period under consideration, the PLO and Israel may have nevertheless had an obligation to facilitate the participation of refugees in a manner that would have allowed for substantial influence on decisions affecting their lives with the objective of shared ownership of agreements reached. The study also finds that between 1990 and 2000 few refugees appeared to take part directly in the direct negotiations to their situation. The implementation of durable solutions and agreements reached along with unofficial or indirect peacemaking mechanisms appeared to comprise the primary or most common domains for political participation. The study concludes that the negotiation of durable solutions for refugees is nevertheless a developing area of law and practice which has arguably strengthened in the decade since Israel and PLO sought to achieve a negotiated solution to the Palestinian refugee issue.

Many contemporary states and historic political entities walled their borders stressing the idea that these barriers would protect their homelands from external threats and thus, achieve security. Although this security argument has prevailed, the political science literature fails to offer a systematic empirical examination of the relationship between barriers and cross-border threats. This research attempts to bridge this gap by answering the question: What are the actual security outcomes of physical barriers on borders? And thus, under what conditions do barriers succeed/fail to achieve security? This paper posits that, in some cases, building barriers on borders to stop non-state actors’ attacks escalate conflict. It demonstrates that when militants have supply institutions, they will manage to increase their attacks and shift to new tactics despite the barrier. It also studies the Israeli Gaza Strip Fence and offers an analysis based on patterns of the relationships between features of the barrier and the Gaza attacks. these patterns are derived from a quantitative dataset built by the researcher and are also supplemented by qualitative data about the case. / text

The number of the Palestinian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has grown substantially in recent years. As the sector has expanded it has experienced a high level of internal competition especially due to scarce donor resources and their requirements such as greater financial accountability and clearer evidence of program influence. Therefore strategic thinking and the use of strategic management approaches are very much needed. While the volume of research on strategic management in large corporations is extensive research on strategic management in SMEs is relatively limited and the research on strategic management in NGOs is very limited. Therefore, following the recommendations of the prior researchers for further studies, this research is an attempt to shed light on the top mangers` perception of the importance of strategic management processes in NGOs in Palestine. This research discovered that more than half of the NGOs surveyed have strategic management systems indicating that a significant proportion of NGOs view strategic management as crucial. Managers of the studied NGOs perceived a strategic management approach as an important factor for increasing the quality of service delivery, achieving goals and increasing overall organizational performance. Regarding the internal organizational factors managers believed that employing strategic management techniques helped significantly in sorting out organizational problems, reducing organizational conflicts and aiding organizational development. The NGOs that have set a strategic management approach are more adjustable to environmental factors. The environmental awareness of managers in NGOs is very important. The managers` strategic awareness and their perception of the III benefits coming from a formal strategic planning approach within the NGO considerably impacts upon the success of the organisation. They perceived environmental scanning as a very important factor for NGO success. Environmental scanning is also perceived as a significant factor in the strategic management process and its impact upon performance. The studied NGOs placed most emphasis on a mission statement followed by evaluating and assessing and developing a vision statement and yearly goals. The respondents considered flexibility, adjustability and organizational development as important elements in implementing strategies. As the size of the NGOs increased their use of strategic management approaches such as developing a mission statement and objectives, annual and long term goals and employing formal strategic planning techniques increased. Managers of NGOs perceived the - value of leadership presented by managers' as the first priority in the factors which are significant for future success. This emphasises the significance of leadership as a crucial factor for success in all organizations in general and in NGOs in particular. In this research it has been recommended that donors from the international community, the Islamic and the Arab world should continue to support Palestinian NGOs. Indeed they have the right to ask the Palestinian NGOs to show transparency, accountability and to be moderate and well managed. On the other hand they should respect the Palestinian national agendas and priorities and not use the assistance being given as a political tool. The Palestinian National Authority should allow NGOs the freedom to operate effectively and ensure that the relationship between NGOs and Palestinian National Authority is a cooperative one.

Part A traces back the origins of the conflicting claimsto sovereignty over the area now called the West-Bank. The analysis shows that a sovereignty vacuum ensued after Turkey relinquished by treaty its rights and title over Palestine and that subsequently that vacuum remained in the area earmarked for an Arab Palestinian State. Part B peruses the constituent elements for the legality or illegality of the sovereignty claims invoked by the parties concerned: the use of force and the act of selfdefence. Part C demonstrates that Israel has eroded the law of belligerent occupation through a system of military orders, which virtually precludes the West-Bank Palestinians from exercising their valid claim to sovereignty. Part D reviews feasible options for a solution of the conflicting claims to sovereignty over the West-Bank. The last chapter proposes a solution which, taken in consideration the legally correct view, would entitle the Palestinians to fill up the sovereignty vacuum through an internationally guaranteed exercise of self-determination / La partie A retrace les origines des revendications contradictoires de souveraineté sur la région de l'actuelle Rive occidentale. L'analyse démontre qu'il existe un "vide" de souveraineté après l'abandon par la Turquie par traité de ses droits et titres sur la Palestine. Ce vide juridique persiste dans la régiondesignéepourla création d'un EtatPalestinien.LapartieBpasseenrevuelesélémentsconstitutifsdelalégalitéoul'illégalitédesrevendicationsdesouverainetéprésentéesparlespartiesconcernées:lerecoursàla forceetl'acte d'auto-défense.La partie C tend à prouver que Israël a vidé de son sens le régime juridique du droit d'occupation militaire par le truchement d'un système d'ordres militaires empêchant les palestiniens de la Rive occidentale d'exercer leur revendications légitimes de souveraineté. La partie D discute la gamme des solutions se référant aux revendications contradictoires de souveraineté sur la région de la Rive occidentale. Le chapitre final esquisse une proposition, qui autoriserait les Palestiniens, compte tenu de la position juridique correcte, à combler ce vide de souveraineté par l' intermédiaire de l'exercice, garanti au plan international, du droit à l'autodétermination.

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This study was designed to explore the relationship between attitudes toward help seeking, the ethnicity of the psychological help provider, and the level of cultural mistrust toward Jews. A sample of 102 Israeli Arab undergraduate students from Haifa, Israel, participated in this study. It was hypothesized that attitudes toward help seeking, as measured by Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help-Short Form (ATSPPH-S) and the Beliefs About Psychological Services (BAPS), will be related to the ethnicity of the psychological help provider and to the level of cultural mistrust toward Jews. A 2 x 2 between subjects multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed. No significant relationship was found between attitudes toward help seeking, the ethnicity of the psychological help provider, and the level of cultural mistrust toward Jews. However, ANOVAs revealed that Freshmen had more favorable attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help as measured by ATSPPH-S than fourth and fifth year students and that sophomores had more favorable attitudes toward seeking psychological help as measured by BAPS than fourth and fifth year students. The results of the logistic regression indicated that Muslim and Christian participants are three times more likely to choose an Arab help provider than Druze participants. Further, the probability of choosing an Arab psychological help provider increased significantly as the participant’s level of cultural mistrust, in the domains of Politics and Law and Interpersonal Relations increased. On the other hand, the probability of choosing an Arab psychological help provider decreased significantly when participants had previous psychological help, and when their level of cultural mistrust increased in the domain of Business and Work. Results indicated strong significant correlations between attitudes toward help seeking and variables such as father’s highest level of education, previous psychological help, age, and year in school. Significant correlations between beliefs about psychological help and year in school and gender were found. The level of cultural mistrust correlated significantly with religion, ethnicity of psychological help provider, previous psychological help, age, and gender. Limitations and implications for future research and practice are presented. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

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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 analyzes the activities and conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon within the framework of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the political developments in Lebanon. Their relations with the Lebanese state and public and their role in the domestic and regional political developments are discussed along with the roles of the outside actors such as Israel and Syria. In addition, the role of the UNRWA in Lebanon is analyzed from a historical perspective as an attempt to give a complete picture of the context surrounding the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The study shows that the Lebanese state totally rules out the resettlement of the Palestinian refugees because of sectarian and economic reasons and implements restrictive policies to prevent their resettlement. The legacy of the Civil War and the post-War problems in Lebanon are additional factors for the rejectionist policies of the Lebanese state. In the regional context, Syria has been the most important actor in Lebanon. It is found that Syria has total control of the Lebanese politics and Palestinian politics in Lebanon. Regarding the UNRWA, it is concluded that the Agency has operated as a quasi-state organ for refugees but the financial difficulties and its mandate prevents it to improve the conditions of refugees. The Agency has been very crucial for the refugees in Lebanon because the refugee community in this country is totally dependent on the Agency service.

Thesis (M.A.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2002. / Cover title. "June 2002." AD-A406 184. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-62). Also available via the World Wide Web.