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

by Evergreen Communications Office
February 25, 2004

"The Israeli Right, Hamas and Obstacles to Peace"
on Thurs., Feb. 26, 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 fifth event in a six-part lecture series and community dialogue on "Search for Peace: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" on Thurs., Feb. 26, at the First Church of Christ Scientist in downtown Olympia. "The Israeli Right, Hamas and Obstacles to Peace" begins at 7 p.m. with lectures by Dr. Ilan Peleg from Lafayette College and Dr. Steve Niva from The Evergreen State College. 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 final lecture take place on March 4.

At Lafayette, Peleg has been the Charles A. Dana professor of government and law since 1990 and chairman of the Department of Government and Law since 1985. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Berman Center for Jewish Studies. He has held appointments as a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program, research fellow at Princeton University and fellow-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Peleg is author of "Begin's Foreign Policy 1977-1983: Israel's Move to the Right" (1987); "The Emergence of a Binational Israel: The Second Republic in the Making" (1989); "Patterns of Censorship Around the World" (1993); "Human Rights in the West Bank and Gaza: Politics and Legacy" (1995) and many articles. He is frequently heard as a political commentator for CNN, Voice of America and National Public Radio. Peleg earned a bachelor's and master's degree from Tel Aviv University, and a master's degree and a doctorate from Northwestern University.

Niva teaches international politics and Middle East studies at Evergreen. His primary areas of research and writing include U.S. foreign policy, globalization, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Middle Eastern political dynamics. He has conducted research projects on the rise of Islamic political movements and is currently preparing a study on the history of Palestinian militant-group suicide bombings, Israeli army assassinations and human rights abuses. He writes regularly for Middle East Report (www.merip.org) and is an associate at the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) in Washington, D.C. His writings have appeared in The Middle East Times, The Jordan Times, Al-Ahram Weekly, Z Magazine and Common Dreams. Niva earned a doctorate in political science and Middle East studies from Columbia University.

Funding for "Search 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.

The final session is on Thursday, March 4, with lectures from 7 to 9 p.m. and community dialogues from 9 to 10 p.m.:

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

"Local Peace Initiatives"


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