Roundtable meetings

The Forced Migration and Refugee Unit at IALIIS hosted Dr. Abbas Shiblak, an expert on the refugee issue, for a roundtable discussion on 'The Exodus of Iraqi Jews 1950-1952’. The roundtable discussion was chaired by Dr. Majid Shihade and was attended  by faculty members and M.A students of International Studies at Birzeit University .  

Shiblak presented the Iraqi Jewish community, their movement to and from Iraq, and their contribution to the formation of modern Iraq as well as the Iraqi’s Jewish community early encounters with the Zionist movement.

IALIIS hosted Professor Naseer Aruri for a roundtable discussion on 'The United States of America and the Vital Political Center: The Role of Intellectuals in the affairs of the Arab Communities’ The roundtable discussion was chaired by Professor Roger Heacock.

Dr. Aruri stressed that the argument of non-assimilation of the various American ethnicities is feeble and ill-founded as the reality of the American society proves to be cohesive and coherent within the framework of the vital political center.

IALIIS hosted Dr. Cordula Droege, a legal adviser in the legal division of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); Mr. Shawan Jabarin from Al-Haq's General Director; and Dr. Yaser Ammouri from the Faculty of Law and Public Administration at Birzeit University, for a roundtable discussion on Israel’s policy of deporting Palestinian nationals and particularly the recent deportation orders against members of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from East Jerusalem.

Garry Leech and Terry Gibbs, from Cape Breton University, discussed how the nature of contemporary capitalism inherently generates inequality and structural violence. Given that more than 10 million people a year needlessly die under the capitalist system, Leech argued that global capitalism constitutes a form of genocide. Within this framework, Terry Gibbs explored how a shift in values both at the level of individual consciousness and at a structural level will be required to move towards a more sustainable and socially just world.

Dr. Nimer Rizeq, from Kazan Federal University, talked about the geopolitical role of Russia, and explained that the Ukrainian crisis is one of the main reasons behind the imposed sanctions on Russia. He also highlighted that the European Union would get adversely affected by the sanctions given the economic relations between the EU and Russia, especially in fuel and energy fields.