MERIP Media Resource List, January 19, 2006

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topics:
- Palestinian legislative elections, January 25
- Israeli settlers in Hebron

Palestinian elections:

MOUIN RABBANI
Mouin Rabbani is senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group, specializing on Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a contributing editor of Middle East Report . Rabbani is also available to discuss Hamas' participation in the elections, the subject of the ICG report " Enter Hamas: The Challenges of Political Integration ." He commented today: "Palestinian legislative elections are a key milestone in efforts to reconstitute the national movement as an effective political force. However, it remains an open question whether they will indeed be held as scheduled and, if so, whether there will be efforts to sabotage them. In any event, there are huge challenges ahead for the Palestinians, the most important of which continues to be Israeli occupation."

DEBORAH J. GERNER
Deborah J. Gerner is professor of political science at the University of Kansas, co-director of the Center for International Political Analysis and a member of the editorial committee of Middle East Report . Gerner is editor of Understanding the Contemporary Middle East (2004) and author of One Land, Two Peoples: The Conflict over Palestine (1994). She commented today: "The combination of upcoming Palestinian and Israeli elections and the end of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's political career has created a sense of tremendous uncertainty in the region. Hamas is likely to obtain significant representation in the Palestinian Legislative Council, putting that body on a potential collision course with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and with the Israeli government. If Kadima, the new Israeli political party founded by Sharon, succeeds in dominating the March elections as expected, the unilateral, power-based approach that Sharon has been pursuing toward the Palestinians in recent years will be given increased credibility."

GLENN E. ROBINSON
Glenn E. Robinson is associate professor in the Department of Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. Robinson is the author of Building a Palestinian State: The Incomplete Revolution (Indiana University Press, 1997) and co-author of two RAND Corporation books, Building a Successful Palestinian State and The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State (2005). He commented today: " Parliamentary elections represent a milestone in Palestinian political history, the first such elections after the death of Yasser Arafat. How Palestinians sort out the post-Arafat political order will tell us a lot about where the Palestinians -- and the peace process, such as it is -- are headed in the years ahead."

Settlers in Hebron :

CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAM in Hebron
CPT works to reduce violence through nonviolent intervention. CPT has had a team in Hebron since 1995 to accompany Palestinians harassed by settlers, document human rights abuses and "get in the way" of military occupation . CPT members are available to discuss their firsthand observations of the conflict between Israeli settlers and Palestinians -- a problem that is much bigger than the current clashes between Israeli soldiers and settlers.

JERRY LEVIN was CNN's Middle East bureau chief in Beirut in 1984 when he was
kidnapped by extremists and held for a year. He now works full-time with CPT in Hebron.

DIANE ROE has been working in Hebron off and on for ten years.

RICH MEYER
Rich Meyer is Palestine project support coordinator for CPT. He spent six years as CPT support coordinator in Hebron and has just returned from over two months in Hebron where he also worked on the effort to free the four CPT members being held hostage in Iraq.

STEPHANIE KOURY
Stephanie Koury is a lawyer and research fellow at the Hotung Programme on Law, Human Rights and Peacebuilding in the Middle East at the University of London. She served as a legal adviser on Israeli settlements for the PLO's negotiating team from 2000-2004. She commented today: "The clashes in Hebron between the Israeli army and settlers are a consequence of official government tolerance towards settlers and their violence against the Palestinian population, which is intended in part to force Palestinians out of the area. If Israel was really serious about ensuring rule of law, it would relocate all of its settlements back to the state of Israel, and end this false dichotomy of ‘legal' vs. ‘illegal' settlement."

Background :

+ Robert Blecher, "Broken Ranks in the Palestinian National Movement," Middle East Report Online , January 1, 2006

+ International Crisis Group report, "Enter Hamas: The Challenges of Political Integration," January 18, 2006

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For more information, contact Michelle Woodward, MERIP Media Coordinator, at (202) 223-3677, or merip.media@merip.org.  Media Resource Lists are an initiative of the MERIP Media Outreach Program.

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