Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Creative Writing/Fiction

DANCING WITH BIRDS is a historical fiction that follows the Al-Hani family from the 1930s Palestinian Resistance Movements to the Six Day War of 1967. It is a story about a family's effort to keep a sense of belonging during a time where the familiar transforms to the unthinkable, from Palestine to a new state called Israel. Told chronologically in five parts representing fragmented identities, the story first follows Ibrahim, who is forever torn between defending his nation or protecting his family throughout the 1930s and, then, again at the 1948 Haganah intrusions into his village. It follows his son, Hamza, after a harsh separation, taking the reader on a route from Haifa to Acre as Hamza leads his family to refuge. It follows Ehud, a Jewish boy loved to Ibrahim as his own son, as he struggles with his newfound Israeli identity in his post-Palestine 1950s homeland. The Six Day War of 1967 then sheds light on these characters and their families, who are left haunted by the past and the future alike. It is a story of fatherhood and of boyhood—of a father who struggles to protect his family and his nation, of a son who comes to age during a time of war, only to balance responsibilities of adulthood and desires of childhood. It is a story of sacrifice for something greater than oneself, of family and patriotic duty at the same time, of friendship, and of identity. Following over two decades of time, this novel's real estate (approximately 110,000 words) takes its reader on a journey through time that shares the pains of war and loss, of hope and faith, of responsibility and resilience.

Committee: Lawrence Coates Ph.D. (Advisor); Brad Felver M.F.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Language Arts

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2015, International and Comparative Politics

The following paper fills a gap in the literature of nonviolent resistance (NVR) by investigating when and under what circumstances it is necessary for nonviolent resistance campaigns to enlist the support of outside actors in order to achieve strategic success. Using Gene Sharp's pillars of power theory as a comparative framework, the author pairs the method of process-tracing with a most-similar-systems design in order to fashion a time-series experiment measuring the strength of each pillar of power propping up the target regimes of South Africa and Israel. The results reveal that these variables are interacting. The paper also reveals that the U.S. played a key role in both conflicts due to the extent to which it helped prop up both regimes during the period of study and makes recommendations to help improve the chances for success of Palestinian nonviolence and other NVR campaigns.

Committee: Vaughn Shannon Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Liam Anderson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Pramod Kantha Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

BA, Oberlin College, 2010, Politics

The arguments presented in this paper attempt to fill particular gaps in the scholarly knowledge of the transnational solidarity movement for Palestine. Chapter One is a descriptive history of transnational solidarity for the Palestinians since the beginning of the second intifada (fall 2000). The next chapter puts the US based component of the Palestine solidarity movement in a comparison with recent US solidarity movements for East Timor and Central America. Chapter Three connects the subjective transnational framing tactics of the movement to the objective, structural conditions of the international system. Chapter Four extends the analysis in Chapter Three by examining the role of new media such as viral videos and low-budget documentaries in the construction of the solidarity movement.

Committee: Stephen Crowley (Advisor); Benjamin Schiff (Other) Subjects: Political Science

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2013, History

This paper examines Leopold von Mildenstein, the chief of the Judenreferat of the SD, the intelligence service of the Nazi SS and his attempt to solve the so-called Jewish Question through Zionist emigration in prewar Nazi Germany. Mildenstein's Zionism was contingent upon the German Zionist movement's success in effecting Jewish emigration to Palestine. When international factors such as the Arab revolt made this impossible, Mildenstein left the SD and joined the Propaganda Ministry where he worked to undermine his former policies by inciting Arabs in Palestine against British rule and Jewish colonization. Mildenstein's story is exemplary of the broader radicalization of Nazi Jewish policy. It demonstrates the importance of international factors as well as the reluctance of the SD and its parent organization, the SS, to implement more radical measures to solve the Jewish Question.

Committee: Jay Geller Phd (Advisor); Kenneth Ledford Phd (Committee Member); John Broich Phd (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Creative Writing

You Don't Have to Look Up Every Time and Other Stories is a collection of braided short stories set and reaching from the present moment into the future of Palestine.The collection grapples with themes of nostalgia and memory, generational trauma, spatial politics, hope, and joy. Told from a unique set of points of view, the stories explore a diverse set of experiences and voices ranging from the Palestinian diaspora, to Palestinians in Palestine, to the fauna of Palestine, where one story is narrated by a species of gazelle native to Palestine. This textured exploration of social and political diversity aims to weave the complexities and nuances of Palestinian identity and views on sovereignty. The collection situates itself in contemporary Palestinian literature, while drawing inspiration from other liberation movements including Indigenous futurism and Afrofuturism. The collection plays with temporalization of space and memory, employing traditional, experimental, and fragmented forms to contemplate the state of wandering for refugees, exiled Palestinians, and those still living under occupation. You Don't Have to Look Up Every Time and Other Stories uses the speculative genre to radically imagine, or reimagine liberation and decolonization for Palestine, taking a daring leap into hope for a better future for Palestine.

Committee: Pauls Toutonghi Ph.D. (Committee Member); Reema Rajbanshi Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Fine Arts; Literature

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2023, Psychology/Clinical

The exposure to ethno-political violence is a salient form of violence exposure that impacts youth throughout the world and has been associated with beliefs supporting aggression (Dvir Gvirsman et al., 2016; Huesmann et al., 2017) and negative stereotypes about one's outgroup (Huesmann et al., 1983; Vollhardt, 2009). Thus, the present study aimed to discover whether the association between ethno-political violence and beliefs supporting aggression against one's outgroup might be mediated by the development of negative stereotypes about one's ethno-religious outgroup. The present study also aimed to see whether religiosity and callous unemotionality moderate the hypothesized mediated relationship involving the exposure to ethno-political violence, negative stereotypes about the outgroup, and beliefs supporting aggression against the outgroup. Religiosity and callous unemotionality (CU) were included as moderators in the present study due to the centrality of religiosity in the ethno-political conflict being studied (i.e., the Israeli-Palestinian conflict); and due to the extant associations between callous-unemotionality and aggressive beliefs. This study was conducted using data from a larger longitudinal study on the impacts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on youth entrenched in the conflict. Participants in this study ranged in age from 8-17 years, and data was collected over three years. Results indicated that negative stereotypes about the outgroup did not mediate the association between the exposure to ethno-political violence and beliefs supporting aggression against the outgroup. Moreover, neither CU nor religiosity moderated the associations among the exposure to ethno-political violence, negative stereotypes about the outgroup, and beliefs supporting aggression against the outgroup. However, some interesting associations were found. For example, the interaction between negative stereotypes and religiosity was found to predict greater beliefs supporting (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Meagan Docherty Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Eric Dubow Ph.D. (Committee Member); Annette Mahoney Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2023, Agricultural Communication, Education and Leadership

Youth in Palestine are experiencing a lack of leadership engagement due to inconsistent youth programs, an unsupportive and non-stable government, and an overall disconnect of what leadership means, in the Palestinian context. These factors have left youth uncertain about their futures with a mindset of survival only. During this very critical stage of human development, youth are forming ego identities (biological, cognitive, and social) and are in need of a variety of activities to help them form their own personal identities. Without these, they are unable to understand how they may best impact their communities as an engaged citizen; therefore, it is these youth who represent an opportunity for research and improved practice. To study this population, this transcendental phenomenology explored Palestinian youth ages 15-17 who reside in a small village, in the Ramallah District of the West Bank, in Occupied Palestine. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants (three females and three males). While individual experiences varied slightly, five themes emerged which merit the consideration of: the Palestinian government, Ministry of Education, teachers, parents, community business owners, religious leaders, human rights groups, and governments. This relatively nuanced area of research has the potential to transform the lives of Palestinian youth who experience the harsh realities of occupation daily. Although most Palestinians have access to education in school, it's often what's not taught in the classroom that develops them to reach their highest potential.

Committee: Jera Niewoehner-Green (Advisor) Subjects: Educational Leadership

Master of Arts in History, Youngstown State University, 2022, Department of Humanities

The Middle East has historically been a region of the world where peace has been hard to achieve. Nations and populations, such as Israel, Syria, and Palestinians, have been at odds since the end of the Second World War. The United States showed great interest in the Middle East following the Second World War, making them an important part of the historical narrative there as well. This thesis looks primarily at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, specifically through the career of Arlen Specter, a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania who served from 1981 to 2011. Facilitated mainly by primary source material from Senator Specter's career, this thesis illuminates the work of an often-forgotten politician who was very active in Middle Eastern politics. Specter saw Syria as an integral part of any prospect of peace between Israel and Palestine, and this thesis analyzes his personal efforts to develop relations with Syrian and Palestinian leaders in the hopes of achieving peace between Israel and Palestine, as well as between Israel and Syria. Overall, Specter's perspectives and actions work together to reveal a unique and nuanced approach to the Middle East that saw the importance of Syria, a nation that has been ostracized from the United States since 1979, in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The project begins with a historical narrative of Israel, Palestine, and Syria. Specter then becomes the focus, and his actions and work in and pertaining to the Middle East are examined, revealing Specter's uniqueness.

Committee: David Simonelli PhD (Advisor); Jacob Labendz PhD (Committee Member); Martha Pallante PhD (Committee Member); Adam Fuller PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: History; International Relations; Middle Eastern History; Modern History; World History

BA, Oberlin College, 2021, Religion

Finding peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has been a daunting and, thus far, impossible task for the past 75 years. Many countries have attempted to negotiate and mediate peace between the two conflict groups, including the United States, Norway, and most Arab nations. With each of these failed attempts, Israelis and Palestinians sank deeper into violence and destruction, believing that retributive justice was the only solution to this conflict. This paper addresses the possibility of a different, non-violent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – forgiveness. Forgiveness offers Israelis and Palestinians a path to peace, co-existence, and reconciliation through personal relationships that the conflict has shaped; and allows those affected by the conflict the space to acknowledge their situation and move forward peacefully. By analyzing three personal relationships between Israelis and Palestinians, I will demonstrate that interpersonal forgiveness is the most productive solution to the conflict. I will also stress that forgiveness must be had authentically by all those touched by the conflict such that each Israeli and Palestinian has the opportunity to find peace, co-existence, and reconciliation. Further, this paper provides a means of achieving interpersonal forgiveness by embracing the conditions of forgiveness – understanding, compromise, and recognition.

Committee: Corey Ladd Barnes (Committee Member); Cynthia R. Chapman (Advisor) Subjects: Peace Studies; Regional Studies; Religion

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Geography

This dissertation calls into question dominant frames of territory by critically evaluating their ontological and epistemological assumptions. Relieving the temporal of its treatment as a controlled variable in spatial analysis, I conceptualize an ontology of dyslocation, informed by a methodology of nautical charting. The theoretical framework takes shape through considerations of the contested territory of Palestine-Israel. Through the case of Palestine-Israel, I argue that the territorial frames we are conditioned to use obfuscate actually existing complexities in ways that hinder the work toward just and sovereign futures in Palestine-Israel and beyond. These arguments develop through visual analysis of the Palestinian Land Loss Map and ethnographic analysis from immersive fieldwork among Palestine solidarity workers in Chicago.

Committee: Mathew Coleman (Advisor) Subjects: Geography; Middle Eastern Studies

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2020, Leadership and Change

This dissertation concerns how Jewish-Muslim and Israel-Palestine grassroots activism can persist in the face of threats to the safety, freedom, lives, or even simply the income and employment of those engaged in acts of sustained resistance. At the heart of the study are the experiences of participants in the Hashlamah Project, an inter-religious collaboration project, involving Jews and Muslims. Across chapters and even nations, chapters of this organization faced similar threats and found universally-applicable solutions emerging for confronting those threats and persisting in the face of them. This raised the question of whether revolutionaries and activists in general can persevere with such work in the face of this sort of menacing. The study found answers to this in determining what methods were most widely employed and which had the best results. The results of the study showed an array of widely-employed methods for navigating threats in high risk activism, and persevering with such work in the face of these threats. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/.

Committee: Philomena Essed (Committee Chair); Jon Wergin (Committee Member); Anne de Jong (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethnic Studies; History; Holocaust Studies; International Law; International Relations; Islamic Studies; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Studies; Multicultural Education; Near Eastern Studies; Peace Studies; Religion; Religious History; Social Psychology; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

This dissertation examines two literary works and two rap songs by Palestinian citizens of Israel (`48 Palestinians) that challenge the Jewish state: Emile Habibi's satirical novel Saeed The Pessoptimist (1974); DAM's rap song “Innocent Criminals” (2000); MWR's rap song “Ashanak Arabi” (2001); and Sayed Kashua's semi-autobiographical novel Dancing Arabs (2002). Habibi and Kashua participated in Israel's mainstream literary scene: their two novels were read by contemporary Israeli readers and published by Israeli presses. The rappers of MWR and DAM participated in an underground `48 Palestinian rap scene in Israel: aside from MWR's short-lived radio popularity, the selected rap songs were not consumed by mainstream Israeli listeners, played on Israeli radio, or produced by Israeli record labels. How can we account for these discrepancies? I suggest they are more reflective of attitudes within Israeli society than differences between the works themselves. As a result, factors such as genre (rap or literary text); candor (explicit or implicit critique); and language (Hebrew or Arabic) allow the artists to accomplish different things through their art. With a horizontal form of analysis that replaces more traditional hierarchical genre analysis with an emphasis upon the similar rhetorical force of both oral and written communications, I maintain that the “low” art of rap contains as much depth, substance, and nuance as the “high” art of written fiction.

Committee: Naomi Brenner (Advisor) Subjects: Comparative Literature; Near Eastern Studies

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2019, Journalism

Coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is widespread and far-reaching. Many international outlets are covering the conflict alongside local media, and the conflict has intense political ramifications that spread far past the Middle East. In this thesis, I examine two points of coverage during the Second Intifada in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and compare coverage amongst three different news outlets. The intifada broke out right after the turn of the century and was covered in a heavily global context. There is a sufficient existing literature examining media coverage of the Second Intifada, but my research focuses on two periods of involving the disengagement plan brought forth by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. My research will examine the connection between politics and journalism in the conflict by taking political role conception theories and applying them to Israeli and U.S. media outlets covering the conflict. I will examine how these media outlets crafted certain political role conceptions in their coverage and also analyze the framing devices through which they were conveyed.

Committee: Andrew Alexander (Advisor); Nukhet Sandal (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism; Political Science

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2018, International and Comparative Politics

Separatist polities that have managed to break away from their parent states and meet the basic criteria for statehood seek other states' formal recognition to achieve full statehood and membership of the international society. There is no established pattern to explain external recognition of statehood empirically and theoretically. Kosovo declared independence and attained widespread recognition while Somaliland, despite successful separation from Somalia, has not. What factors explain states' recognition decisions, or the selective conferring of recognition? The existing literature indicates that national interests, domestic politics, systematic level factors, international legal and normative standards, regime type, and identity politics shape recognition decisions. This thesis attempted to enhance the literature by focusing on less-explored factors through a Large-N cross-national quantitative analysis of ten cases. This study argues that when all other potential explanations are constant or absent, susceptibility of states to domestic separatism, regime type, and religious affinities influence states' recognition decisions.

Committee: Vaughn Shannon Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Liam Anderson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Carlos Costa Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; International Law; International Relations; Political Science; Religion; Social Research

PHD, Kent State University, 2018, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This dissertation is a postcolonial study of selected writings of the Palestinian intellectual, journalist, political activist, and author, Ghassan Kanafani. Using postcolonial theory to create a single framework for the study of selected writings of Kanafani, this dissertation will also contribute to the analysis of the postcolonial Palestinian novel. This study hopes to achieve these goals by investigating the ways in which Kanafani's literary works can serve as means to explore the importance that Palestinians attach to the history of their struggle for freedom and cultural preservation. It is within this postcolonial context that Men in the Sun (1963), All That's Left to You (1966), and Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa and Other Stories (1969) will be discussed in this dissertation. The novellas and short stories are prime examples of traumatic experiences that Palestinian refugees faced during Kanafani's lifetime. The writings reflect Kanafani's understanding of the permanent exile, fear, isolation, loneliness, and despair that he and many Palestinians experienced during major parts of the twentieth century as results of Zionist occupation of Palestine. Kanafani's realistic depictions of these harsh situations are key factors that make his works ideal for postcolonialist analysis.

Committee: Babacar M’Baye Dr. (Committee Chair); Ali Erritouni Dr. (Committee Member); Ryan Miller Dr. (Committee Member); Joshua Stacher Dr. (Committee Member); Ann Heiss Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Literature; Middle Eastern Studies

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, History

Freya Stark was a British traveler, author, and propagandist who authored two dozen books on her experiences in the Middle East and along the Mediterranean coast. Stark's decades of experience in the Middle East provided her with a unique vision for the future of the region, which she saw becoming an area containing modern, independent nations after the end of World War II. Stark's 1943-1944 tour of the United States of America provided her with an opportunity to explain this perspective. Yet, due to the timing of the tour coinciding with the increased tension surrounding Zionism in the United States and abroad, Stark faced personal criticism that was both inappropriate and avoidant. Freya Stark is now a neglected figure in history, whose vision for the Middle East and experiences in defense of this vision merit examination.

Committee: John Broich (Advisor) Subjects: History; Middle Eastern History

PHD, Kent State University, 2017, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

The historiography surrounding the role of the United States in relation to the creation of Israel is wide-ranging and covers a variety of perspectives. The voices of Arab Americans, however, are largely absent, due in part to a belief that the Arab American population was too small, fragmented, and disinterested in politics to have tried to influence American politics. This dissertation challenges that idea by examining the rhetoric, imagery, and messages of Arab American groups and their supporters in comparison with those of Zionist organizations and their proponents, with a specific focus on the efforts of the Institute of Arab American Affairs. By doing so, this work shows that members of the Institute viewed the United States as a reference culture and sought to convince Americans that the Arabs of Palestine were the best reflection of American identity and ideals. This work is thematically organized, examining how the Institute engaged with issues such as race and religion, democracy and justice, national security, and modernization to challenge previously held stereotypes regarding both Arabs and Jews and their respective claims to the Holy Land. Thus, this work shows that not only were Arab Americans politically active prior to the June War of 1967 between Israel and its Arab neighbors, they had a sophisticated understanding of what issues and ideas were important to a (white, Christian) American audience and sought to win that audience's support in order to influence policy makers, while combating Zionists' use of similar arguments to gain American support for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. The failure of the Institute and other Arab organizations during this time period to secure U.S. recognition of an Arab state in Palestine was not, therefore, due to inaction or indifference by the Arab American community, but rather to its inability to break through the dominant frames promoted by Zionists and their supporters that a Jewish state i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mary Ann Heiss (Committee Chair); Timothy Scarnecchia (Committee Member); Janet Klein (Committee Member); Julie Mazzei (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1971, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: History

Undergraduate Honors Program, Malone University, 2016, Honors Thesis

This paper explores potential links between interpretation of scripture and actions towards Israelis and Palestinians, with a particular focus on the interpretations associated with the Antichrist and the Third Temple. The evidence presented here seeks to demonstrate that dispensationalist and Jewish interpretations of scripture are indeed hindering peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Committee: Scott Waalkes (Advisor) Subjects: Bible; Biblical Studies; History; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Studies; Peace Studies; Political Science

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Art History

In the last quarter century, Palestinian cinema has appeared as a major artistic force on the global scene. Deeply rooted in the historic struggles for national self-identification and self-narration, this cinema is among the most important artistic expression of a suffering people. Despite the increasing significance of Palestinian cinema in the global scene, most of these films are from the perspective of refugees outside of the conflict zone and there is no significant film from the heart of the conflict. 5 Broken Cameras, while as a documentary film covers conflict occurrences in the village of Bil'in (the village on the border of Israel and Palestine) gives a first-handed perspective of a citizen's family life involved in the conflict. The thesis has been shaped in three chapters. The first chapter examines representation of the landscape as a sublime object (land as the lost object and the Israeli city-landscape as astonishing and horrifying complexes that symbolize the civilization and leave the Palestinians out of its territory.) In the second chapter, the subjectivity of the Palestinian bodies in the cinema is studied and it is argued that the trauma is the main constitutive of the Palestinian visual and cinematic narration. The third chapter focuses on the film as an independent subject that carries significant testimonial weight. It argues that amateur film with blurred images and original raw sound because of a hyper-mobilized camera work creates a sense of muteness and paralysis around the trauma. The third chapter proposes that 5 Broken Cameras as an example of citizen camera witnessing is a form of alter-narration of the Palestinian national history and it strongly affects the top-down organization of media system. Finally, in all the three chapters, this thesis argues that “speechlessness,” passivity and dysfunctionality constitutes a very important part of the film's representation of the situation, whether in the director's attempt to represent the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Morgan Thomas Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Nnamdi Elleh Ph.D. (Committee Member); Ethan Katz Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History