CONFERENCE - Challenging the Boundaries: A Single State in Palestine/Israel - London - November 17/18

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Challenging the Boundaries: A Single State in Palestine/
Israel
London, 17/18 November 2007 | The Brunei Gallery - SOAS - University
of London


Conference Program

Saturday, 17th of November 2007

9:00-9:30 AM

Registration SOAS Brunei Gallery, Lobby

9:30-9:45 AM

Opening Statement SOAS Brunei Gallery
Nur Masalha, Reader in Religion and Politics and Director of the
Centre for Religion and History and of the Holy Land Research Project
at Saint Mary's College, University of Surrey (UK)

9:45-11:45 AM

PANEL I: Why one state?
Panel Chair: Ghada Karmi, University of Exeter, Author of In Search
of Fatima: A Palestinian Story (2002) and Married to another Man:
Israel's Dilemma in Palestine (2007)

The historical roots of the One State idea
Ilan Pappe, University of Exeter, Author of The Modern Middle East
(2005) and The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006)

A matter of immediate urgency, not a distant utopia
Joseph Massad, Columbia University, Author of The Persistence of the
Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism an the Palestinians (2006) and
Desiring Arabs (2007)

The state of the One-State Idea
Ali Abunimah, Co-founder of Electronic Intifada, Author of One
Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (2006)

11:45-12:00 AM

Tea Break

12:00-13:30 PM

PANEL II: Mapping the geopolitical landscape: past, present and future
Panel Chair: Haim Bresheeth, University of East London, Chair of Media
and Cultural Studies

Leaving the Cake Whole
Ghazi Falah, University of Akron, Ohio, Co-editor of Geographies of
Muslim Women: Gender, Religion, and Space (2005) and Author of Galilee
and the Judaization Plans (in Arabic, 1993)

Local politics: the one state and the Palestinians
As'ad Ghanem, University of Haifa, Author of The Palestinian-Arab
Minority in Israel, 1948-2000: A Political Study (2001) and The
Palestinian Regime: A "Partial Democracy" (2002)

With an eye to the future
Leila Farsakh, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of
Massachusetts-Boston (US)

13:30-14:30 PM

Lunch Break

14:30-16:00 PM

PANEL III (Presentations): Land, Citizenship, and Identity: Rethinking
the nation-state
Panel Chair: Leila Farsakh, University of Massachusetts, Boston,
Author of Palestinian Labor Migration to Israel: Labor, Land and
Occupation (2005)

This panel provides a platform for internal debate on the desired
institutional and constitutional formation of the state which is
commonly dichotomized into the bi-national model on one side and
multicultural democracy on the other.

Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Author of The
Censor, the Editor, and the Text: The Catholic Church and the Shaping
of the Jewish Canon in the Sixteenth Century (2007)

Nadim Rouhana, George Mason University, Author of Palestinian Citizens
in an Ethnic Jewish State: Identities in Conflict (1997)

Omar Barghouti, Political and Cultural analyst, Founding member of the
Palestinian Campaign for Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

Tikva Honig-Parnass, Political Activist, Co-author of Between the
Lines: Readings on Israel, the Palestinians, and the U.S. "War on
Terror" (2007)

16:00-16:15 PM

Tea Break

16:15-18:00 PM

PANEL III (Discussion): Land, Citizenship, and Identity: Rethinking
the nation-state
Panel Chair: Leila Farsakh


Sunday, 17th of November 2007


10:30-12:30 PM

PANEL IV: Looking at the past, rethinking the future
Panel Chair: Ali Abunimah

Drawing lessons from the case of South Africa
Louise Bethlehem, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Co-editor of South
Africa in the Global Imaginary (2005) and Violence and Non-Violence in
Africa (2007)

Northern Ireland: power sharing in a divided society
Kathleen O'Connell, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Lebanon: the "re-unification"
Gilbert Achcar, SOAS, Co-author of Perilous Power: The Middle East and
U.S. Foreign Policy (2007) and The 33-Day War: Israel's War on
Hezbollah in Lebanon and its Consequences (2007), Author of The Clash
of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder (2006)

India - Pakistan: the partition
Sumantra Bose, London School of Economics, Author of Kashmir: The
Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace (2003) and Contested Lands: Israel-
Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia, Cyprus and Sri Lanka (2007)

12:30-13:30 PM

Lunch Break

13:30-16:00 PM

PANEL V: One state from within civil society social movements, and
grassroots activism
Panel Chair: Omar Barghouti

The lived experience and stories of the invited activists will portray
the current public mood in regards to the One-State option, and point
at both the difficulties and the opportunities for promoting this line
of thought among the various social movements and civil society
organizations that are operating within the different communities.
This mosaic of personal accounts and observations will provide the
foundation for the following discussion about 'the way forward'.

Haidar Eid, Al-Quds University Gaza, Co-founder of One-State Group in
Gaza

Eitan Bronstein, Political Activist, Zochorot ("Remebering")

Eyal Sivan, Goldsmith University, Film Director of The Specialist
(1999) and Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel
(2004)

Yousef Faker el Deen, Political Activist, Founder of Al-Jaras Al-Awda
("Bells of Return"), Syria

Rajaa Omari, Political Activist, Founder of Natrinkum ("We are waiting
for you"), Haifa

16:00-16:15 PM

Tea Break

16:15-18:00 PM

PANEL VI: The way forward

A roundtable with several participants of the conference will discuss
the necessary immediate actions required for advancing the discussion
about alternatives to the two-state paradigm, and for developing the
One-State idea into a meaningful political agenda


General Information


Fees:

30 £ (includes lunches, coffee, tea and biscuits)
20 £ Concession (includes lunches, coffee, tea and biscuits)

Registration (please note that SEATS ARE LIMITED book in
advance):

by email: bookings@xxxxxxxxxxxx

by cheque payable: send cheque payable to ONE STATE GROUP
Please post your cheque with attached note of email address to
C/O SOAS Palestine Society
Thornhaugh Street
London WC1H 0XG

Location:

SOAS Brunei Gallery
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
London, WC1H 0XG

Coming from the airport - From Heathrow Airport, it is possible to get
to Russell Square on the Piccadilly Line (journey time about 45
minutes). There is a rail service from Gatwick to King's Cross and
Victoria Stations.

by underground - The nearest underground stations are Russell Square
(Piccadilly Line), Goodge Street (Northern Line), Tottenham Court Road
(Central and Northern Lines), and Euston Square (Circle, Metropolitan
and Hammersmith & City Lines).

by rail - Euston, St. Pancras and King's Cross mainline stations are
all within walking distance. It is about fifteen minutes by taxi to
the Channel Tunnel Rail Terminus at Waterloo.

by bus - There are regular bus services to Russell Square, including a
service to and from Heathrow Airport by Airbus.

by road - Limited metered parking is available in the streets near the
Brunei Gallery. There are public car parks in Bedford Way, Woburn
Place/Coram Street, and Marchmont Street.

For bus and underground information you can also see the London
Transport website at: www.transportforlondon.gov.uk

For a detailed map on how to get there see the Brunei Gallery website
at: www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/findus.html


Contact Info:

+44(0)77 33 235 760

Web Site:

www.onestate.net

Organizer:

One State London
Group

Supporters:

SOAS Palestine Society
SOAS University of London
SOAS London Middle East Institute





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