Understanding the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is important for a greater understanding of the current state of sexual and reproductive rights of Palestinian women. Constant military occupation has been a determining factor hindering the development of comprehensive and coherent health policies and programmes. As a result of the Oslo Accords and the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement in 1994, the Palestinian National Authority was granted limited authority over portions of the West Bank and Gaza. In 2007-2008 a multi-national, multi-disciplinary study team undertook a national study to assess the reproductive health content of nursing education and identify gaps in curricular coverage and implementation. One component of this project included exploring final year nursing and midwifery students’ attitudes toward a range of sexual and reproductive health issues. This thesis analyzes these data and explores the demographic factors, including gender, region, and residence, associated with nursing and midwifery students’ attitudes toward abortion and contraception-related laws and policies. Our findings suggest that there is a considerable need to incorporate values clarification exercises as well as structured sessions dedicated to laws and policies governing sexual and reproductive health into the formal curricula of programs in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Our results also shed further light on the dynamics shaping abortion and contraception attitudes among health professions students in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

abstract: ABSTRACT This study explores some grammatical aspects of Rural Palestinian Arabic (RPA), spoken in the vicinity of the city of Tulkarm in the Northwest part of the West Bank, and compares the variety to Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Urban Palestinian Arabic (UPA). The study introduces an overview of the Arabic language and its colloquial dialects and the status of diglossia in the Arab world. Subject-verb agreement in MSA and RPA is also discussed. The focus of this study is on the pronominal system and negation in both MSA and RPA. It investigates the correlations between dependent subject pronouns and independent pronouns and their phonological and syntactic relationships. I argue that dependent subject pronouns are reduced forms of the independent subject pronoun. The study explains how dependent subject pronouns are formed by deleting the initial syllable, except for the first person singular and the third person masculine plural, which use suppletive forms instead. Dependent object pronouns are also derived from their independent counterparts by the deletion of the second syllable, with the exception of third person plural pronouns, which take the same form as clitics attached to their hosts. I argue that dependent subject pronouns are agreement affixes used to mark verb argument features, whereas pronominal object and possessive pronouns are clitics attached to their hosts, which can be verbs, nouns, prepositions, and quantifiers. This study investigates other uses of subject pronouns, such as the use of third person pronouns as copulas in both MSA and RPA. Additionally, third person pronouns are used as question pronouns for yes/no questions in RPA. The dissertation also explores the morphosyntactic properties of sentential negation in RPA in comparison to sentential negation in MSA. The study shows that the negative markers ma: and -iš are used to negate perfective and imperfective verbs, while muš precedes non-verbal predicates, such as adjectives, prepositional phrases (PPs), and participles. The main predicate in the negative phrase does not need the noun phrase (NP) to raise to T if there is no need to merge with the negative element. Keywords: Standard Arabic, Rural Palestinian Arabic, Urban Palestinian Arabic, independent pronouns, dependent pronouns, pronominal clitics, copula pronouns, negation / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2019

This dissertation is a study of Palestinian women’s roles following the First Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which began in 1987. This study considers whether Palestinian women found greater participation in their social life outside of the home during the challenges of the Intifada. In Palestinian society, traditional family roles and the various interpretations of Islamic teachings about to the family have severely restricted the role of women in society, and these limitations have served to increase the desire of these women for greater participation outside of the home. This dissertation will focus on how religious forces, in addition to education and political participation, have influenced the roles available to Palestinian women. In addition, it will focus on whether family roles changed during the First Intifada and whether any of these changes has a lasting impact. An examination of the history and social back ground of Palestinian society, Muslim, and Arabic culture will help demonstrate the impact of religion, education, and political participation, on Palestinian women roles after the First Intifada, during the years 1987-1992. The study was conducted by a team from Brigham Young University (BYU) during 1994-1995. The BYU team included professors Bruce Chadwick, Brain Barber, Tim Heaton, Camille Fronk, and Ray Huntington. The intent of study was to understand the family life of Palestinians. The study focused on marriage, family size, gender roles, education of women, marriage between relatives, and location of residence after marriage. Questionnaires were obtained from approximately 7,000 ninth grade students and from both their parents. The youth and parent questionnaires were developed by the team and then translated into Arabic by Palestinian translators. The Arabic questions were reviewed by several Palestinians who recommended some minor corrections. Before distributing the survey, BYU team pre-tested the questionnaires with a sample of youth and adults living in East Jerusalem. Questionnaires were printed by a Palestinian business in the West Bank. The survey team then distributed the surveys in 64 secondary schools in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, which were operated by the United Nation Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The research team was pleasantly surprised by the number of parents who returned the questionnaires. Completed surveys were returned by 92 to 97 percent of students (n=6, 923), by 85 to 94 percent of the fathers (n= 6, 253), and by 84 to 90 percent of their mothers (n=6,024). A ball-point pen was given to each student and a calculator to each head teacher as gifts for their cooperation in distributing, completing, and collecting the questionnaires. To express appreciation to the schools who participated, the research team presented a report of the data school officials. A structural equation model was used to predict the effects of education, religion, and political participation on family roles. Figure 2 shows the predicted model with B- coefficients. The previous results suggest little change is family roles in Palestine. Thus, given this lack of change in family roles, the model had little to predict and it is not surprising that only 2% of the variance was explained (CFI= .874, χ2 = 80.5, and df=6). Overall, the final model suggests that education, religion, and political participation had a limited impact on women seeking changes in family roles. As expected, higher levels of religiosity defined by stronger commitment to Islam were significantly associated with lower likelihood of women seeking change in family roles (β-coefficient= -.059, p-value= .009). On the other hand, increases in women’s level of education (β-coefficient= .114, p-value <.001) and higher levels of political participation defined by participation and involvement in the Intifada (β-coefficient=.065, p-value < .001) were significantly associated with a higher likelihood of women seeking change in the family roles. It is also unsurprising that education was the strongest predictive factor. Research indicates that as education increases, women seek change in their familial roles. On the other hand, it is surprising to find only a weak relationship between women’s involvement in the Intifada and a desire for change in family roles.

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Conclusions of this case study on Ramallah imply that an effective water management strategy will have a dual intent: incorporate "trickle-up" municipal level water management strategies and integrate conflict reduction measures. This study finds that Ramallah's cooperation with the Palestinian Authority and environmental Non-governmental organizations has a strong influence on water management and water conflict alleviation. Palestinian municipal and regional water management processes, can potentially contribute to effective water management and water conflict reduction between Israelis and Palestinians. The study focuses on Ramallah, a centrally located, mid-sized town in the West Bank. This research uses interviews of Palestinian water managers and researchers, gathered in the West Bank throughout the summer of 1999, as well as secondary sources. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

This dissertation conceptualizes a Palestinian archipelago based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the chronotope, and uses the archipelago model to illustrate the situation and development of Palestinian consciousness in diaspora. To gain insight into the personal lives of Palestinians in diaspora, This project highlights several islands of Palestinian identities as represented in the novels: Dancing Arabs, A Compass for the Sunflower, and The Inheritance. The identities of the characters in these works are organized according to the archipelago model, which illustrates how the characters rediscover, repress, or change their identities in order to accommodate life in diaspora. Analysis reveals that a major goal of Palestinian existence in diaspora is the maintenance of an authentic Palestinian identity. Therefore, my description of the characters’ identities and locations in the archipelago model are informed by various scholars and theories of nationalism. Moreover, this dissertation illustrates how different Palestinian identities coalesce into a single national consciousness that has been created and sustained by a collective experience of suffering and thirst for sense of belonging and community among Palestinians. Foremost in the memories of all Palestinians is the memory of the land of Palestine and the dream of national restoration; these are the main uniting factors between Palestinians revealed in my analysis. Furthermore, this project presents an argument that developing a Palestinian exceptionalism as both a response and a solution to the problems Palestine faced in the 20th century has already occurred among diasporic Palestinians as well as those settled in the West Bank. In addition, a significant finding of this dissertation is the generation clash in regarding to the methods of modernization of the West Bank society between the settled Palestinian and those returning from diaspora. Nevertheless, a Palestinian homecoming will require a renegotiation of Palestinian identities in which generation gaps and other disagreements will be resolved and transcended in favor of nation-state building.

This study examines Palestinian theatre practices in the West Bank and East Jerusalem within their spatial contexts, analysing how theatre responds to its geopolitical environment as an act of cultural resistance. It argues that space in Palestine is not monolithic, and is subjected to three main structural forces – the Israeli military occupation, international neoliberal humanitarian regime and the Palestinian Authority – which influence Palestinian space at different levels depending on the specific location. As there are multiple spaces in Palestine, I use a number of complementary theories to explain each site, utilizing Sari Hanafi’s composite theoretical framework of ‘spacio-cide’ as an ‘umbrella’ theory, the different components of which are applied to the relevant space whilst bearing in mind its overall conceptualisation. I suggest that the ‘urbicidal’ policies of the Israeli military executed during the second intifada is no longer a relevant theoretical framework, particularly for the main urban sites; however, contentious areas exist in a ‘post-urbicidal’ state. I argue that Palestinian theatre practices respond to the particular spatial condition in which it is being performed. I analyse three particular spaces in Palestine: the mainstream non-refugee urban space which is under the international humanitarian regime; the refugee camp located within the ‘state of exception’; and the site of extreme contention, which is located at the peripheries of Palestine, and which is being subjected to ‘post-urbicidal’ actions by the Israelis. I examine a number of plays and theatre practices in relation to these spaces, to argue that Palestinian cultural resistance through theatre is a tactic through which Palestinians can challenge the conditions under which they live, whilst promoting the continuation of non-violent resistance and Palestinian culture.

The present thesis seeks to understand and explain the rhetoric and behaviour of the rejectionist 'current' within the Palestinian national movement. It proceeds from the view that extant scholarship, primarily from within the fields of terrorism and security studies, has profoundly misunderstood rejectionist speech and behaviour by ignoring the explanatory capacity of Emic - the research subject's perception - as well as the influence of the sociocultural milieu within which rejectionism exists. The thesis proceeds to set up a 'socioculturally sensitive' analytical framework drawn from social identity theory, a heuristic, non-reductionist model for understanding group interaction and conflict. Emphasizing cultural norms and cues identified by anthropologists as salient in the eastern Mediterranean, the thesis suggests that the social value of honour, patron-client dynamics and a firmly entrenched group orientation must be significant elements of a model for understanding rejectionist behaviour. The main analytical narrative suggests that for reasons derived from ideology, patron-client relations and group dynamics, what has distinguished the rejectionists from the mainstream have been a qualitatively different set of preconditions for, and objectives of diplomatic negotiations. To the main rejectionist factions the goal of liberating Palestine has always been inextricably intertwined with the goal of restoring national honour; one without the other has been impossible and to claim otherwise would mean a depletion of factional and personal honour. To the rejectionists, there has never been any question of deviating from the fundamental goals - national recognition, repatriation, self-determination and independent statehood, not even for tactical reasons. This 'higher standard' likely derives from their structurally and politically subordinate position within the national movement, and the need to creatively enhance their own social status and appeal.

Thesis. 1978. Ph.D. cn--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / Ph.D.cn

This thesis is an exploratory examination of identity construction and children’s media, with a focus on the Palestinian political groups of Fatah and Hamas. It looks at how children’s media are framed within the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It examines how internal and external social factors contribute to identity formation and the interaction among these elements during times of conflict and war. This thesis hypothesizes that both Fatah and Hamas use various myths to differing degrees in order to frame their conception of a Palestinian identity. Specifically, it explores the use of the Myth of Battle, the Myth of Hero, the Myth of Victim, the Myth of Religion, the Myth of Land and the Myth of Other. It seeks to determine which of these myths each group emphasizes through a qualitative and quantitative visual ethnographic content analysis. The quantitative analysis uncovered interesting, albeit not statistically significant, differences between Fatah’s and Hamas’ use of all of the myths in their videos. Specifically it found that both groups made equal and great use of the Myth of Religion; that Hamas produced the videos with the greatest focus on the Myth of Battle and the Myth of Hero; and that neither group greatly emphasized the Myth of Victim, the Myth of Land or the Myth of Other. Finally, the analysis discovered positive correlations between the Myth of Hero and the Myth of Battle as well as between the Myth of Battle and the Myth of Other.