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The Israeli Economy on the Brink

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Written by Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
Published: 29 January 2009 29 January 2009

On 11 December 2007, Shir Hever gave a lecture at the AICafé, located in the offices of the Alternative Information Center (AIC) in Beit Sahour. Shir, an economist, is author of the Economy of the Occupation series of the AIC.

His lecture, titled “The Israeli Economy on the Brink,” highlights the disparity between the way that the Israeli economy is generally depicted in the local and international media, and the economic reality.  In recent years, Israel’s economy has been portrayed as prosperous if not booming, and the political situation is represented as having little effect on the Israeli market.

However, Shir’s analysis gives evidence that the Israeli economy is deeply affected by the occupation of the Palestinian territories and by decades of unending military conflict. Through his analysis of the economic trends in Israel, we learn a lot about the potential directions the conflict may take, and possibilities for its eventual resolution.

 {audio}http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/NewsFromWithinPalestine/israel/~5/193878689/AIC.NfW.ShirHever_December27_2007.mp3{/audio}

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The Annapolis Conference in the Shadow of the One State Reality

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Written by Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
Published: 02 December 2007 02 December 2007

On 28 November 2007, Meron Benvenisti presented a lecture in West Jerusalem at the monthly Last Wednesday Forum of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), which it hosts together with its outreach center Daila. Meron Benvenisti served as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek from 1971 to 1978, administering the city’s annexed Palestinian sectors. In 1982, he established and directed the West Bank Database Project, one of the first attempts to gather comprehensive data on Israeli settlement and governmental policies in the West Bank. He is a regular contributor to the major Israeli daily Haaretz, and author of numerous books, including:  Jerusalem: The Torn City (1977); Intimate Enemies: Jews and Arabs in a Shared Land (1995); City of Stone: The Hidden History of Jerusalem (1996); and Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948 (2000). 

{audio}http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/NewsFromWithinPalestine/israel/~5/193878689/AIC.NfW.MeronBenvenisti_December02_2007.mp3{/audio}

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The Annapolis Conference and the Left and Democratic Movements in Palestine

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Written by Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
Published: 02 December 2007 02 December 2007

On Sunday, 18 November 2007, I spoke with Dr. Naim Abu Tair. Dr. Naim operates a private medical clinic in East Jerusalem. In addition, he was formerly the director and president of the Palestinian Health Work Committee, and is currently the General Director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development and co-chair of the board of the Alternative Information Center. 

We spoke about the situation for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, and his assessment of the Hamas/Fatah split and the competing Palestinian governments in Gaza and the West Bank. We also discussed the Left and Democratic forces in Palestinian society, and a forecast of the results of the upcoming US backed Middle East conference in Annapolis, which is due to take place at the end of November.

{audio}http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/NewsFromWithinPalestine/israel/~5/187383576/AIC.NfW.NaimAbuTair_November19_2007.mps{/audio}

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The Prospects for War or Peace in the Middle East

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Written by Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
Published: 02 December 2007 02 December 2007

On 2 October 2007, I spoke with Prof. Dror Ze’evi, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Ben Gurion University and President of The Middle East & Islamic Association of Israel. He is the author of An Ottoman Century: The District of Jerusalem in the 1600s, and more recently Producing Desire: Changing Sexual Discourse in the Ottoman Middle East, 1500-1900. He also writes periodically on current issues for the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

We spoke about the situation in the Gaza Strip, US/Israeli relations, the issue of academic and economic boycott, rising tensions between Israel, Syria and Iran, and the prospects for war or peace in the region.

The following are the personal views of Prof. Ze’evi, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Middle East & Islamic Association of Israel.

{audio}http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/NewsFromWithinPalestine/israel/~5/167159355/AIC.NfW.DrorZeevi_October8_2007.mp3{/audio}

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An Analysis of Current Israeli Approaches to the Palestinian Situation in the Wake of the Hamas Take

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Written by Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center Bryan Atinsky, Alternative Information Center
Published: 02 December 2007 02 December 2007

We continue in this podcast with highlighting lectures from the recent conference, The Bilbao Initiative: Another Future is Possible, held in Bethlehem on Friday, 27 July 2007. The conference was sponsored by the Alternative Information Center (AIC), The Palestinian Health Work Committies (HWC), the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), and the Bisan Center for Research and Development. 

In this show, we bring you the lecture of Naomi Chazan. She examines the current political situation in Israel and various Israeli approaches to the Palestinian situation in the wake of the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip and end of the Palestinian unity government. 

Naomi is a former Member of the Knesset for the Meretz Party and currently a professor of Political Science and researcher at the Hebrew University’s Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace.

{audio}http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/NewsFromWithinPalestine/israel/~5/143324205/AIC.NfW.NaomiChazan_August12_2007.mp3{/audio}

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More Articles ...

  1. The Takeover of Gaza: What Next?
  2. Cheap Wars and Israel's Roaring Economy: An Interview with Political Economist Jonathan Nitzan
  3. Till the Last Drop: The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank, Part II
  4. Till the Last Drop, The Palestinian Water Crisis in the West Bank
  5. Binational Currents in Israel and Palestine on the Anniversary of 40 Years of Occupation
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