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South Africa's lessons show alternatives for Middle East conflict
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October 6, 2004
An international conference at SFU Harbour Centre campus Oct. 15 and 16 featuring academics from Israel, Palestine and South Africa promises to show how lessons learned from the conflict in South Africa could be useful to solving the ongoing problems in the Middle East.
Negotiating Compromises in Divided Societies: Lessons from South Africa for Israel/Palestine will address key issues of political violence, religion, human rights and peacemaking in ethnic conflicts. Its aim is to help improve understanding of the reasons for failed conflict resolution in Israel/Palestine by contrasting it with successful peacemaking in South Africa. It will also critically probe analogies between the two disparate situations, and draw specific lessons from the South African experience for alternatives in the Middle East.
SFU sociology professor and conference organizer Heribert Adam, an expert in South African politics and society, says given the ongoing strife and centre stage for the unresolved Palestinian question after Iraq, new insights and fresh policy approaches “seem a pressing issue, both for academic comparative politics and policy practice.”
The opening session, with an address by South African writer and activist Breyten Breytenbach, is Friday evening at 7 p.m., with sessions continuing all day Saturday. The event is sponsored by SFU graduate liberal studies and the Koerner Foundation.
The event is free but registration is required, contact 604.291.5100.
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Negotiating Compromises in Divided Societies: Lessons from South Africa for Israel/Palestine will address key issues of political violence, religion, human rights and peacemaking in ethnic conflicts. Its aim is to help improve understanding of the reasons for failed conflict resolution in Israel/Palestine by contrasting it with successful peacemaking in South Africa. It will also critically probe analogies between the two disparate situations, and draw specific lessons from the South African experience for alternatives in the Middle East.
SFU sociology professor and conference organizer Heribert Adam, an expert in South African politics and society, says given the ongoing strife and centre stage for the unresolved Palestinian question after Iraq, new insights and fresh policy approaches “seem a pressing issue, both for academic comparative politics and policy practice.”
The opening session, with an address by South African writer and activist Breyten Breytenbach, is Friday evening at 7 p.m., with sessions continuing all day Saturday. The event is sponsored by SFU graduate liberal studies and the Koerner Foundation.
The event is free but registration is required, contact 604.291.5100.
-30-