This sociological study explores the past and current higher education (HE) experience of educationalists at Gaza’s universities and how this experience may be evolving in the shifting socio-political context in the Arab World. The thesis is motivated by three questions: 1. What are the perspectives of academic staff in the Faculties of Education at Gaza’s universities on their own past HE experiences? 2. What are the perspectives of students and their lecturers (academic staff) in the Faculties of Education at Gaza’s universities on students’ current HE experiences? 3. How do educationalists in the Faculties of Education at Gaza’s universities perceive the shifting socio-political context in the Arab World, and what current or future impact do they think it will have on the education context at Gaza’s universities? To examine these questions, I conducted an inductive qualitative study. Using 36 in-depth, semi- structured interviews which lasted between (90-300 min), I collected data from educationalists (15 academic staff; 21 students) at two of Gaza’s universities. Due to difficulties of access to the Gaza Strip, the participants were interviewed via Skype from Cambridge. Informed by the literature review, and triangulated with other research activities, such as reviewing participants’ CVs, browsing universities websites, and keeping a reflective journal, a thematic analysis was conducted on the interview data. Theoretically, although this study has benefited from conceptual insights, such as those found in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and in Pierre Bourdieu’s work on symbolic violence, it is a micro-level study, which is mainly data driven. The findings of this research show that in the past, educationalists were relatively more passive in terms of shaping their HE experiences, despite efforts to become resilient. In the present, students and their lecturers continue to face challenges that impact negatively on their participation and everyday life at Gaza’s universities. However, how the HE experience will evolve out of this context in the future is uncertain. The Arab Spring revolutions have had an influence on Gaza HE institutions’ campuses as they have triggered more awareness of students’ grievances and discontent. Because of some political and educational barriers, however, students’ voices are a cacophony; they remain split between “compliance” and resistance (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 471; Swartz, 2013, p. 39). Previously, Sara Roy (1995) rightly indicated a structure of “de-development” in the Gaza Strip (p.110). The findings from this research show that the impact of occupation and of the changes in the Arab World on the educational context in Gaza are more complex than previously thought. There is a simultaneous process of construction and destruction that is both external and internal to educationalists and which undermines academic work at Gaza’s universities. Based on this, the study concludes by explaining six implications of this complex structure for academic practice at Gaza’s universities, offering nine policy recommendations for HE reform, and highlighting six areas for future research.

Existe-t-il un pluralisme démocratique, une démocratie différente de celle des normes « occidentales » ? C’est la question que nous nous sommes posés dans notre recherche, en partant sur une hypothèse affirmative, dans un contexte spécifique qui est celui de l’alliance communément contestée entre démocratie et religion. Nous avons décidé de nous pencher sur les démocraties du Proche-Orient, sur leurs particularismes liés au rapport étroit qui existe dans ces pays entre politique et religion. Les pays de la région qui sembleraient à nos yeux les plus démocratiques à ce jour sont le Liban, Israël (en incluant une étude des Territoires palestiniens également), et la Turquie. En tenant pour principes démocratiques l’égalité et la liberté, présents dans leurs constitutions respectives, nous avons décidé d’étudier les spécificités de chaque pays ; celui d’être un Etat confessionnel pour le Liban, un Etat Juif pour Israël, un Etat sans Etat pour les Territoires palestiniens, un Etat à la fois laïc, turc, et islamique pour la Turquie. Il existe des failles démocratiques dans chacun de ses Etats, que nous avons mises en évidence, tout comme des évolutions positives. Le nationalisme présent dans chacun de ces pays est particulièrement prononcé, selon les différentes communautés d’appartenances, ce qui fait de l’appartenance ethnique principale une appartenance nationale ; d’où notre choix ambitieux d’appeler ces Etats des démocraties ethniques, se basant sur l’ethnos (l’appartenance communautaire du peuple). C’est aussi en raison de cette condition qu’ils connaissent surtout des lacunes vis-à-vis de la reconnaissance d’autres appartenances, leurs minorités respectives. / Does a democratic pluralism exist, implying a democracy different from the "Western" standards? Based on a positive assumption, this is the question that we attempt to answer to in this research within a specific framework, namely the commonly contested alliance between democracy and religion. We have decided to study Middle-Eastern democracies with their specificities related to the narrow link that exists in those countries between politics and religion. The countries of the area that seemed, as of today, the most democratic to us are Lebanon, Israel (including a study of the Palestinian Territories) and Turkey. Based on the democratic principles of Equality and Liberty, also present in their respective constitutions, we have decided to look into the specificities of each country; such as being a confessional state for Lebanon, a Jewish state for Israel, a state without a state for the Palestinian Territories and a state being at the same time secular, Turkish and Islamic for Turkey. In each of these countries there are democratic flaws that we have highlighted, as well as positive evolutions. The Nationalism present in each of these countries is particularly pronounced according to the different communities to which one belongs, which leads the main ethnic to become a national identification, hence our ambitious choice to name these states ethnic democracies based on the ethnos (people's identification to a community). It is also because of this specificity that they encounter weaknesses towards the recognition of other identifications such as their respective minorities.

La communauté internationale et le droit international sont confrontés à un défi majeur : trouver une solution mettant un terme au conflit israélo-palestinien. L’étude du conflit israélo-palestinien à la lumière du droit international montre les nombreuses difficultés relatives à l’émergence d’un Etat palestinien. En effet, ce dernier est une source de violation du droit international du fait notamment des manquements aux droits fondamentaux qui ne cessent de sévir sur ce territoire. Les violations commises à l’encontre du droit international remontent à l’époque du mandat britannique et sont finalement caractérisées par l’impunité des entités qui les ont commises. Cela permet donc de mettre en évidence les lacunes où même les faiblesses du droit international, plus précisément celles de l’ONU qui se trouve en difficultés face à un manquement constant à ces principes et à ces décisions. On a cherché à pallier à cette situation infernale par l’usage de techniques qu’offre le droit international dont l’objectif est de mettre un terme à un conflit. Il existe une technique qui paraît être la plus appropriée pour le conflit israélo-palestinien, il s’agit de la fameuse technique de la négociation. Cependant le processus de paix ayant débuté en 1990 se trouve aujourd’hui presque oublié.Malgré tout cela, la création d’un Etat palestinien se trouve être la base de la solution du conflit israélo-palestinien. Cette présente étude cherche à démontrer, sur la base de la définition de l’Etat selon le droit international, que la Palestine dispose d’une part, d’éléments avérés, mais imparfaits, permettant à cette dernière de constituer un Etat selon le droit international, et d’autre part que cette dernière ne peut accéder au rang d’Etat dans la mesure où certains éléments nécessaires à la constitution d’un État demeurent contestables. Ce qui manque à la Palestine pour se constituer en Etat c’est l’effectivité. / The international community and the international law are facing a great challenge: find the solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The study of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in light of international law shows many difficulties related to the emergence of a Palestinian state. Indeed, this conflict is a source of violation of international law specifically a violation of human rights that continues to strike in this area. Violations against international law go back to the time of the British mandate and are finally characterized by the impunity towards the entities that have committed them. Therefore, this allows us to highlight the weaknesses of international law, more specifically those of the United Nations that is confronted with the constant breach of its principles and decisions. We have tried to overcome this infernal situation by using the techniques offered by the international law that aims to put an end to a conflict. There is a technique that seems to be the most appropriate for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict known as the negotiation. However, the peace process that began in 1990 is now almost forgotten.Despite all this, the creation of a Palestinian state is the base to the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This present study aims to demonstrate, based on the definition of the State under international law, that Palestine has, on one hand, confirmed elements/components that are imperfect, allowing the latter to constitute a State under international law, and on the other, that it can’t achieve statehood to the extent that certain elements necessary for statehood remain questionable. What Palestine is missing is effectiveness.

Constructed Reality: A Critical Discourse Analysis of News Texts Surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict After the United States’ Recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel. Within hours the American announcement was international news with an almost unanimous UN Security Council condemning the act. The purpose of this study is to examine how the conflict is constructed in news articles from Sweden's two largest daily newspapers as well as two largest evening papers, ranging a week from the US recognition of Jerusalem. The study is conducted with a starting point in theoretical perspectives that deal with the media’s influence of people's perceptions of reality and their world view. The methods applied are first and foremost the overarching model of critical discourse analysis, with a combination of quantitative content analysis and qualitative text analysis. The study concludes that overwhelmingly, the newspapers represented the parties involved (Israelis and Palestinians) in a balanced, neutral fashion. The newspapers were however not as balanced and neutral when it came to which sources were cited.

The present dissertation offers a literary profile of the enigmatic Gaonic era work known as Pirqei deRabbi Eliezer (PRE). This profile is based on an approach informed by the methodology theorized in the Manchester-Durham Typology of Anonymous and Pseudepigraphic Jewish Literature, c.200 BCE to c.700 CE, Project (TAPJLA). It is offered as a necessary prolegomenon to further research on contextualising PRE in relation to earlier Jewish tradition (both rabbinic and non-rabbinic), in relation to Jewish literature of the Gaonic period, and in relation to the historical development of Judaism in the early centuries of Islam. Chapter 1 sets out the research question, surveys, and critiques existing work on PRE, and outlines the methodology. Chapter 2 provides necessary background to the study of PRE, setting out the evidence with regard to its manuscripts and editions, its recensional and redactional history, its reception, and its language, content, dating, and provenance. Chapters 3 and 4 are the core of the dissertation and contain the literary profile of PRE. Chapter 3 offers an essentially synchronic text-linguistic description of the work under the following headings: Perspective; PRE as Narrative; PRE as Commentary; PRE as Thematic Discourse; and Coherence. Chapter 4 offers an essentially diachronic discussion of PRE’s intertexts, that is to say, other texts with which it has, or is alleged to have, a relationship. The texts selected for discussion are: the Hebrew Bible, Rabbinic Literature (both the classic rabbinic “canon” and “late midrash”), the Targum, the Pseudepigrapha, Piyyut, and certain Christian and Islamic traditions. Chapter 5 offers conclusions in the form of a discussion of the implications of the literary profile presented in chapters 3-4 for the methodology of the TAPJLA Project, for the problem of the genre of PRE, and for the question of PRE’s literary and historical context. The substantial Appendix is integral to the argument. It sets out much of the raw data on which the argument is based. I have removed this data to an appendix so as not to impede the flow of the discussion in the main text. The Appendix also contains my entry for the TAPJLA database, to help illuminate the discussion of my methodology, and a copy of my published article on the cosmology of PRE, to provide further support for my analysis of this theme in PRE.

La thèse vise à examiner les politiques d'aide au développement de l'Union européenne (UE) et leur impact sur les conditions politiques, économiques, sécuritaires et sociales dans le Territoire palestinien occupé (TPO). De plus, elle vise à répondre à la question de savoir si ces politiques ont concrètement contribué à la construction d'une économie palestinienne solide conduisant à l'établissement d'un État palestinien, ou si elles étaient seulement des politiques destinées à protéger un processus de paix, délabré en permanence, et à maintenir le statu quo de l'occupation tout en répondant aux exigences de survie de la population palestinienne. L'étude met en lumière l'évolution de la politique d'aide européenne au peuple palestinien en accordant de l'intérêt à l'évolution de la politique étrangère de l'UE envers le conflit palestino-israélien et aux institutions en charge de la coopération au développement avec les pays tiers au sein de l'Union. La présente recherche a pour objet l'aide accordée par l'UE aux Palestiniens pour la période s'étendant de 1993 à 2014. Elle met en évidence un ensemble de résultats, dont le plus important est que cette aide a joué un rôle éminent afin d'éviter l'effondrement de l'Autorité nationale palestinienne (ANP) et d'aider le peuple palestinien. Elle s'est diversifiée au cours des années, en quantité et en qualité, afin de s'adapter à la situation politique, économique et humanitaire dans le TPO. Elle a contribué aux réformes réussies effectuées par l'ANP dans plusieurs secteurs, et elle a davantage soutenu les plans nationaux palestiniens de développement. Pourtant, cette aide n'a réussi ni à freiner les politiques de dé-développement pratiquées systématiquement par l'occupation, ni à mettre de la pression sur Israël. Cette recherche souligne que cette aide ne réalisera pas ses objectifs, notamment celui de l'établissement d'un État palestinien viable coexistant avec l’État d'Israël en paix et en sécurité, tant que l'UE n'utilisera pas son pouvoir économique et ne transformera pas sa rhétorique en actions concrètes sur le terrain. / The study aims to examine the policies of development aid of the European Union (EU) and their impact on the political, economic, security and social conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). In addition, it seeks to answer the question whether these policies have helped to build a strong Palestinian economy leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state, or if they were only policies to protect the peace process, permanently dilapidated, and maintain the status quo of the occupation while meeting the basic requirements of survival of the Palestinian population. The study highlights the evolution of the European political support to the Palestinian people by highlighting the evolution of EU foreign policy towards the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the institutions responsible for the development cooperation with third countries within the Union. This research relates to the aid granted by the EU to the Palestinians for the period extending from 1993 to 2014. It highlights a set of results, the most important is that this aid has played a prominent role in avoiding the collapse of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and in helping the Palestinian people. It has diversified over the years, both in quantity and quality, to fit the political, economic and humanitarian situation in the OPT. It contributed to the successful reforms carried out by the PNA in several sectors, and has further supported the Palestinian national development plans. However, this aid has not succeeded to curb the de-development policies systematically practiced by the occupation or to put pressure on Israel. This research underlines that this aid will not achieve its objectives, including that of the establishment of a viable Palestinian state coexisting with the State of Israel in peace and security, as long as the EU does not use its economic power and does not turn its rhetoric into concrete action on the ground.

Plus de 70 ans après la création de l'État d'Israël, un quart de siècle depuis la signature des accords d'Oslo, les espoirs de paix entre l'État d'Israël et les Palestiniens s’estompent. Le conflit israélo-palestinien ne s’en trouve pas forcément exacerbé, mais plutôt bien enlisé. Étonnamment, la sortie de cette impasse ne semble pas être une priorité pour les actuels leaders politiques des parties au conflit, le premier ministre israélien, Benyamin Netanyahou, et le président de l'Autorité palestinienne, Mahmoud Abbas. S’appuyant sur des travaux en analyse de politique étrangère argumentant que les conflits interétatiques peuvent s’avérer un moyen de diversion utilisé par les leaders politiques pour esquiver des problèmes de politique interne, ce mémoire se penche sur les raisons qui pourraient expliquer l’intérêt des leaders israéliens et palestiniens à maintenir le statu quo dans le conflit. La période observée s’étend de 2009 à 2019, soit une période à laquelle les deux hommes politiques se trouvent respectivement au pouvoir. Basé sur des travaux scientifiques, sur des analyses de think-tanks et sur de l’information collectée dans les médias israéliens et palestiniens, le mémoire s’appuie également sur une série d’entrevues menées entre décembre 2019 et mai 2020 en Israël et en Cisjordanie avec des universitaires, journalistes et décideurs tant israéliens que palestiniens. Question de recherche: « Si un règlement au conflit israélo-palestinien semble souhaitable, pourquoi les leaders israéliens et palestiniens ne font-ils pas davantage d’efforts pour résoudre le conflit? » / More than 70 years after the creation of the State of Israel and a quarter of a century since the signing of the Oslo Accords, hope for peace between the State of Israel and the Palestinians is fading. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not necessarily exacerbated, but rather immobilized. Surprisingly, ending this stalemate does not seem to be a priority for the current political leaders of the warring parties, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. Building on foreign policy analyses which argue that inter-state conflicts may be a diversion used by political leaders to evade domestic issues, this research looks at the reasons that might explain the interest of both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in maintaining the status quo of the conflict. The researched period extends from 2009 to 2019 – a period in which the two politicians are respectively in power. Based on scientific work, think-tanks analyses, and information collected in Israeli and Palestinian media, the work also draws on a series of interviews conducted between December 2019 and May 2020 in Israel and in the West Bank with Israeli and Palestinian scholars, journalists, and policy-makers. Research question: "If a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems desirable, why are Israeli and Palestinian leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas not making more efforts to resolve the conflict?"

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The following dissertation develops a theoretical framework for guiding the strategy of democratic states in successfully countering the hostilities of nationalistic substate terrorist organizations (NSTOs), and effectively manipulating the terrorist group’s (and its supporting elements’) decision-making calculus. In particular, the theory of strategic coercion has been chosen as a basis for formulating this framework, based upon: 1) the invaluable guidance it offers in dynamically drawing upon all instruments of national power—economic, diplomatic, military, etc.—to accomplish politico-strategic objectives; and 2) the unique insights it provides into making strategic moves aimed at influencing the choices taken by an adversary. However, strategic coercion theory as it currently stands is inadequate for applications against substate terrorist organizations. As a quintessential cornerstone for prescriptive policy in strategic studies, such a looming deficiency vis-à-vis one the most important security threats of the modern age is unacceptable. The new theoretical framework established in this dissertation—entitled the Balance Theory of strategic coercion—addresses this deficiency. The Balance Theory stresses that three key coercive elements of strategic coercion are fundamentally important for successfully ending the hostilities posed by NSTOs, being: A) Isolation of external/international support; B) Denial; and C) Isolation of popular support. It posits that these three aspects of strategic coercion serve as the sine qua non for success in countering an NSTO’s campaign of violence and effectively manipulating its decision-making process. Implementation of these three elements, moreover, must be pursued in tandem, taking care so as not to sacrifice one aspect for the other. The Balance Theory is tested through the employment of case-study analysis. In pursuing this end, both cross-case and within-case analyses are performed, accompanied by the utilization of the methods of focused, structured comparison. The cases examined are those of: 1) The United Kingdom versus Republican NSTOs (1969-2007); and 2) Israel versus Palestinian NSTOs (1967-present). The dissertation concludes with an examination of how the Balance Theory may provide insights for the formulation of counter-terrorism strategy against Al Qaeda in the current "War on Terror".