March 18, 2008

Regional Cooperation Cannot Come Without Genuine Peace  

“The strategies and policies of regional cooperation may not be implemented in the absence of a true peace that does not coincide with the logic of equal partnership…”, Dr. Norma Masriyyeh Hazboun, Chairperson of the Department of Social Sciences at Bethlehem University, said at a recent conference in Dubai. Her thesis challenges the prevailing notion that regional cooperation between the Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab countries will benefit all parties and contribute significantly to the peace process, a notion that the Israeli leadership shows overt support for, but, according to Dr. Hazboun, only for their own political and economic gains, especially by enhancing the agenda for the establishment of what is called “The New Middle East” project. “Such solution aims in principle at bringing an end to political and economic isolation of Israel , under the slogan “land for markets” rather than “land for peace”. By the same token, this solution may harm the Palestinian inalienable rights…”.  

Dr. Hazboun made these statements in her paper entitled “ A Critical Reading of the Arab-Israeli Regional Cooperation: Its Political Strategic Future Impacts ”, which she presented at the Inter-Asian Connections conference held in Dubai from February 21-23 during the “Initiatives of Regional Integration in Asia in Comparative Perspective: Concepts, Contents and Prospects” workshop. “My paper raised a lot of questions”, Dr. Hazboun said. “People were very much engaged in the discussion and genuinely tried to understand my argument, which is at variance with regional cooperation experiences elsewhere, particularly in view of a deficient balance of power in the favor of Israel ”.  

Dr. Hazboun was the only Palestinian from the Occupied Territories whose paper was selected in a highly competitive process in which 102 scholars were chosen to participate out of a total of 582 applicants that The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) received. The conference gathered academics from Harvard, Yale, Princeton , New York and Berkeley universities and other scholarly institutions who presented on topics ranging from Border Problems to Networks of Islamic Learning across Asia to Post-collective Economic Lives and Livelihoods to Neoliberal Globalization and Governmentality in Asia . The conference consisted mainly of 12 workshops supplemented by several larger panel discussions open to the public. “This must be the most crowning achievement of all your achievements”, Br. Robert Smith, acting Vice Chancellor and Vice President for Academic Affairs, said to Dr. Hazboun.  

The conference was co-organized by the Dubai School of Government, a research and teaching institution focusing on public policy in the Arab world, and the SSRC, established in 1923, which is known for its unique approach to understanding society and processes of social, cultural, economic and political changes, especially as it pertains to important public issues.