editor’s note: The special issue of this journal reviews civil society initiatives in both societies, and between the two societies. Most articles are available on-line at:

http://www.pij.org/current.php?id=78

Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture
Vol. 18 No. 2 & 3, 2012 – Civil Society Challenges 2012

Table of Contents

Editorial
# Civil Society Challenges 2012

by Ziad AbuZayyad

Co-Editors of PIJ win media award
# Co-Editors of Palestine-Israel Journal Honored for Outstanding Contribution to Peace

Focus 2
# Democratic Recession and the Changing Contours of Civil Society in Israel
Civil society activity continues to be a key counterweight to threats to Israeli democracy
by Naomi Chazan

# Civil Society in Palestine: Approaches, Historical Context and the Role of the NGOs
Palestinian NGOs need to develop a clear-cut political position and direct it toward both the issue of the occupation and the splits within Palestinian society
by Walid Salem

# What Have the Israeli Peace and Related Human Rights NGOs Achieved?
The most important achievement and potential of Israeli peace and human rights groups may be in shifting public discourse and public opinion toward ending the occupation and realizing the two-state solution
by Galia Golan

# Palestinian Civil Society Organizations and the Palestinian National Authority
Before 1994 NGOs were the primary source of political and economic development as well as educational, health and social welfare services; they now compete with and complement government agencies
by Nidal Fuqaha

# Building Bridges over the Void: The Role and Impact of Dissidents within the Israel- Palestine Conflict
To bring about the necessary paradigm shift in Israeli society, the Israeli left needs to appeal to affective, emotional elements that move the collective subconscious
by Meir Margalit

# Civil Society Organizations: Oslo as a Turning Point in Their Work Among the Masses
The role of civil society institutions is even greater than before Oslo: to build a system based on freedoms, respect for others and human rights — to act as a compass for the masses
by Nancy Sadiq

# More Relevant Than Ever: People-to-People Peacebuilding Efforts in Israel and Palestine
The best way to change mindsets and to foster ideas of self-determination, ending the occupation and peace is through dialogue, cross-border activities and physical interactions
by Ron Pundak

# Do Civil Society Organizations Have a Politicized Role or an Objective One?
The role of CSOs is a politicized one, be they American, European, Arab or Palestinian; governments benefit politically, socially and economically from taking advantage of them
by Omar Nofal Jayyousi

# Citizen Diplomacy – Creating a Culture of Peace: The Israeli-Palestinian Case
Civil society-led efforts should lay the groundwork for the long-overdue political settlement to the conflict
by Aviva Shemesh

# Civil Society: From Advocacy to Social Change
In a time of revolution and a deadlocked peace process, we need a civil society that can mobilize the political, social, economic, cultural and human potential of our societies for social change
by Hind Khoury

# Understanding the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict: Lessons from an Unusual Classroom
A fifteen-step joint approach to fairly and thoroughly teaching about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and approaching a mutual understanding of the region’s past, present and future
by Edward Kaufman and by Manuel Hassassian

# What’s Wrong with BDS?
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement’s biggest problem is that it will not work
by Hillel Schenker

# Coping with Anti-Normalization
As the definition of normalization has expanded and blurred, the anti-normalization camp should focus its criticism more narrowly; namely, to those on both sides of the conflict who perpetuate the status quo
by Riman Barakat and by Dan Goldenblatt

Interviews with joint projects
# All for Peace Radio

by Mossi Raz and by Maysa Baransi-Siniora

# Windows – Channels for communication

by Rutie Atsmon and by Zahiye Kundos

# Combatants for Peace

by Mohammed Owaidah and by Teddy Fassberg

# Directory List of Israeli and Palestinian Civil Society Organizations

Introduction
# Why a Civil Society issue

by Ron Pundak and by Sam’an Khoury

Views from the Outside
# The Role of Civil Society in the Northern Ireland Conflict
Civil society was a driving force both in the perpetuation of conflict and in peacebuilding in the Northern Ireland conflict
by Paul Arthur

# The Third Alternative Space: Bi-Communal Work in Divided Cyprus
Effective peace-building in Cyprus required a delicate balance of civil society work, political diplomacy, and international third-party legitimization
by Maria Hadjipavlou

# Prerequisites for Change
A personal account from the times of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement shows that calls against injustices can affect people more emotionally than calls for justice, leading to a general change in attitude towards those who are marginalized
by Byron Bland

# Can Palestinian Third Parties Make a Difference?
Wasatia, Palestine Forum and PNI could one day play a role in Palestinian affairs with the proper combination of Western support and domestic backing
by Michael Sharnoff

# Civil Society in Palestine: Determining the Effects of the Intersection of the Local and the Global
Palestinian civil society’s role changed from a highly political and unified one during the first intifada to a disaggregated and increasingly conflictual relationship afterwards, due in part to shifts in external actors
by Steven Weisman

# The Poetics of Refusal in Palestine
Refusal, rather than resistance, gives Palestinians a self-definition that goes beyond opposition to occupation and opens an opportunity to create their own lives
by Michael Hayes

Interview
# We want a change in the priorities, the system. We want democracy now!

by Aya Shoshan

Roundtable
# Civil Society Challenges
Saman Khoury, Dr. Ron Pundak, Hind Khoury, Mossi Raz, Azzam Abu-Saud, Tal Harris, HIllel Schenker, Ziad AbuZayyad

Viewpoint
# Changes in the Arab World and Their Repercussions on the United States of America and the West, Palestine and Israel
Peace in Israel-Palestine depends on the Arab World and the West in addition to their own governments; moreover, democracy and adherence to international law must be at the forefront of all four parties’ aspirations
by Saeb Erekat

# “Pink Washing” — Wash Delicately!
The struggle for LGBT rights must be a comprehensive struggle for human rights; ignoring the occupation plays into the hands of the Israeli “pinkwashing” campaign
by Marc Berthold

# The Road Not Taken to a Federal Bi-National State: The Committee for the Question of Jewish-Arab Relations 1939-42
In the current political impasse, there may be value in turning to pre-State of Israel ideas for coexistence between Palestinians, Israeli Jews, and Jordanians in the region
by Yakub Halabi

Book Review
# Why Civil Resistance Works by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan
Reviewed by Arman Hemani

# Prefiguring Peace: Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding Partnerships by Michelle I. Gawerc
Reviewed by Gili Ostfield

# Overcoming Evil: Genocide, Violent Conflict, and Terrorism by Ervin Staub
Reviewed by Riad al Khouri

# Israel and the European Left: Between Solidarity and Delegitimization by Colin Shindler
Reviewed by Benjamin Pogrund

# Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education by Nurit Peled-Elhanan
Reviewed by Rainer Kessler

Culture
# From Sadder Than Water

by Samih AI-Qassem

# Poems

by Kyoko Uchida

# Chapters on South African civil society from his book “Equalizer: Building the New South Africa”

by Alon Liel