Evergreen Hosts "The Search for Peace: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" Lecture Series and Community Dialogue

"U.S. Policy" on Feb. 19, 2004
7-9 p.m. lecture, 9-10 p.m. dialogue
First Church of Christ Scientist, corner of E. 8 th and S.E. Washington, downtown Olympia
Free and open to the public

The Evergreen State College, in partnership with members of the Olympia-area community, hosts the fourth event in a six-part lecture series and community dialogue on "Searching for Peace: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" on Thurs., Feb. 19, at the First Church of Christ Scientist in downtown Olympia. "U.S. Policy" begins at 7 p.m. with lectures by Dr. Naseer Aruri from the University of Massachusetts and Dr. Stephen Zunes from the University of San Francisco. The lecture is followed at 9 p.m. by a community dialogue session in facilitated small groups. Members of the public are invited to attend this popular free event whose two remaining lectures take place on Feb. 26 and March 4.

Aruri was born in Jerusalem, Palestine, in 1934. He received a bachelor's degree in history from the American International College and both a master's and a doctoral degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has been on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth since 1965, where he chaired the Department of Political Science from 1969 to 1977. He was promoted to the newly created rank of Chancellor Professor in March 1996. His 1995 book, "The Obstruction of Peace: The U.S., Israel, and the Palestinians" examines the political and cultural pratfalls that have thwarted both the peace process and the movement for Palestinian self-determination.

Zunes is an associate professor of politics and chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. He also serves as a senior policy analyst and Middle East editor for the Foreign Policy in Focus Project, and as a research associate at the Center for Global, International and Regional Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz. A native of North Carolina, Zunes earned a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College, a master's from Temple University and a doctorate from Cornell University. He has taught and lectured widely, holding faculty positions at the Ithaca College, University of Puget Sound and Whitman College. He is an associate editor of Peace Review and is on the governing council of the International Peace Research Association. He won the 2002 award as Peace Scholar of the Year from the Peace and Justice Studies Association.

Zunes is the author of scores of articles for scholarly and general readership on Middle Eastern politics, U.S. foreign policy, international terrorism, social movements and human rights.

Funding for "Searching for Peace" is made possible through an Atlantic Philanthropies grant and The Evergreen State College's Diversity Fund. For more information, contact Edie Harding at (360) 867-6453.

Future sessions are on Thursdays, with lectures from 7 to 9 p.m. and community dialogues from 9 to 10 p.m.:

"The Israeli Right, Hamas, and Obstacles to Peace" Feb. 26

"Women's Movements and Peace Movements in Israel/Palestine" and

"Local Peace Initiatives" March 4


Contact: Kate Lykins Brown, (360) 867-5213
Edie Harding, director of governmental relations, (360) 867-6453