in addition to the program's departmental seminars, which are held once a month during the school year, the Swiss Center for conflict Research, Management and Resolution conducts at least once a year different conferences and workshops, some in cooperation with the Hebrew University institutes and other bodies
In cooperation with the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University.
The workshop discussed different aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict such as Ethical and Public Opinion; Decision Making; Regional Dimensions; Population Management and Political Violence. The program consisted of lectures and panels on various topics including:
Lecture I: How Ethical is the Palestinian Refusal to Recognize Israel as a Jewish State? - Prof. Amal Jamal, Tel Aviv University
Lecture II: Current Israeli Documentary Cinema and Questions of Ethics - Prof. Raya Morag, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Panel I - Legacies in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
Panel II - Israeli Decision Marks and Decision Making:
Panel III - Regional Dimensions and their Effects on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
Panel VII - Palestinian Perspectives:
Panel VIII - Urban Development in Jerusalem:
The workshop participants included the Following Guests: Prof. Andrew Kydd, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Prof. Ben Kiernan, Yale; Prof. Cameron Thies, Arizona State University; Prof. D. Scott Bennett, Penn State; Prof. Emanuele Castano, The New School for Social Research New York; Prof. Erik Gartzke, Univeristy of California, San Diego; Prof. Fotini Christia, MIT; Prof. Kanchan Chandra, NYU; Prof. Lee Ann Fuji, University of Toronto; Prof. Lee Jussim, Rutgers State University; Prof. Linda Tropp, UMass Amherst; Prof. Michael Horowitz, University of Pennsylvania; Prof. Robert Trager, University of California, Los Angeles
The Local speakers included: Akiva Eldar (Journalist), Prof. Alex Mintz, IDC Herzliya; Prof. Amal Jamal, Tel Aviv University; Prof. Avraham Sela, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Claude Berrebi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Prof. Dan Miodownik, Head, the Leonard Davis Institute for International
Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Daniel Bar-Tal, Tel Aviv University; Prof. Daphna Canetti, University of Haifa; Elias Levy Benarroch, (Journalist); ADV. Gaby Lasky; Prof. Gadi Wolfsfeld, Sammy Ofer School of Communication, IDC and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Galia Golan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Dr. Gilad Rosen, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Ifat Maoz, Head, the Swiss Center for Conflict Research, Management and Resolution, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Menachem Klein, Bar Ilan University; Prof. Oren Barak, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Prof. Raya Morag, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Dr. Yael Berda, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The participants of the workshop also took part in three guided tours:
Conference Chairs: Professor Dan Miodownik, Head, the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations and Professor Ifat Maoz, Head, the Swiss Center for Conflict Research, Management and Resolution.
Organizing Committee: Prof. Dan Miodownik, Head the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations; Prof. Ifat Maoz, Head, the Swiss Center for Conflict Research, Management and Resolution; Chanoch Wolpe; Chagai Weiss
Dates: May 29th – June 2nd 2016
Room 502, Maiersdorf Faculty Club
In cooperation with the Department of Communication and Journalism and the Smart Family Institute of Communication at the Hebrew University we held two international conferences
In cooperation with the Department of Communication and Journalism and the Smart Family Institute of Communication at the Hebrew University and with the support of the Social Science Faculty and the Eshkol Institute at the Faculty of Social Science.
The conference discussed different aspects and perspectives on conflict: discourse-related, perspectives centered on narratives, journalism, political communication, as well as psychological perspectives. The program consisted of panels on various topics including:
- Discourse: Actions, Interactions and Narratives
- Journalism, Politics and Conflict
- Public Opinion, Political Communication and Political Psychology
- Political Communication, Conflict Research, Public Opinion, Journalism
The conference program included two keynote lectures:
Keynote Lecture I Title: Can Surveys Measure Informed Public Preferences Regarding Government Policies? An Evaluation of the Contingent Valuation Method
Lecturer: Professor Jon Krosnick, Stanford University
Chair and Respondent: Professor Lilach Nir
Keynote Lecture II Title: Reflections on an Extraordinary Career: Elihu Katz and the Study of Mass Communication and Public Opinion.
Lecturer: Professor Jon Krosnick, Stanford University
Chair: Dr. Meital Balmas
The conference was followed by a research workshop for young researchers and doctoral students led by the keynote guest lecturer, Professor Jon Krosnick from Stanford University.
This very successful event - attended by various scholars including senior professors, young researchers and doctoral students as well as other university graduates and current undergraduate students - received excellent feedback from both audience and speakers who participated in the conference.
Conference Chairs: Professor Ifat Maoz and Professor Paul Frosh
Dates: March 14th-15th, 2016
Room 501, Maiersdorf Faculty Club
In cooperation with the Department of Communication and Journalism and the Smart Family Institute of Communication at the Hebrew University.
The conference discussed different aspects of new media, communication technology, journalism, culture, ethics, conflict and trauma. The program consisted of panels on various topics including:
- New Media, Culture, Conflict, Religion and Technology
- Mediation and the Suffering of Others
- Cinema, Conflict and Trauma
The program included two keynote lectures and a special plenary session in honor of Professor Elihu Katz:
Keynote Lecture I Title: Towards a Post-Humanitarian Solidarity? Historical Change in the Affectivities of Global Politics
Lecturer: Professor Lilie Chouliaraki, London School of Economics and Political Science
Chair: Professor Paul Frosh
Respondent: Dr. Amit Pinchevski
Keynote Lecture II Title: Affective Publics: News Story Telling, Sentiment and Twitter
Greetings: Professor Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Hebrew University.
Lecturer: Professor Zizi Papacharissi, University of Illinois at Chicago
Chair: Dr. Nicholas John
Respondent: Dr. Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt
Special Plenary Session Title: Chance, Ambivalence and Path- Dependence
Lecturer: Professor Elihu Katz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Chair: Professor Menahem Blondheim
The conference was followed by two research workshops for young researchers and doctoral students led by the keynote guest lecturers, Professor Lilie Chouliaraki from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Professor Zizi Papacharissi from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
The conference, attended by Israel Prize recipient, Professor Elihu Katz, attracted graduate and undergraduate students, research students and young lecturers as well as senior researchers, professors emeriti and guest scholars.
Conference Chairs: Professor Paul Frosh and Professor Ifat Maoz
Dates: May 30th-31st 2016
Room 501, Maiersdorf Faculty Club
"The Gatekeepers" conference was held on December 29-30, 2014, at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. This conference was organized and conducted as a joint project of the Swiss Center for Conflict Research with the Smart Family Institute of Communication, The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace and the Department of Communication and Journalism.
Chairmen, managers and organizers of the conference were: Prof. Raya Morag, Prof. Ifat Maoz, Prof.Esther Schely-Newman, Professor Menahem Blondheim and Tal Shenhav.
Writing about the conference - Prof. Moshe Maoz, The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace:
This is a time of unprecedented revolution and critical developments in Arab countries and in the relations between Israel and the Palestinians, with internal, regional and global effects: on the one hand, the uprisings of the "Arab spring", free and democratic elections in Arab countries and the rise of Islamic regimes, when in Tunisia The new regime is also democratic-liberal. On the other hand, the appearance of radical Islamic organizations, such as Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra, who conquered large parts of Syria and Iraq, and threaten their territorial integrity and the neighbouring countries. And in between, further deterioration in the relations between Israel and the Palestinians, began operation Protective Edge in Gaza to the growth of a Muslim-Jewish "religious war", Regarding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Regional powers like Iran and Turkey, and international powers - the US and Russia were involved in these developments, competing for strategic, political and economic influence in the area. There are number of risks in affairs assessment and reporting in this complex, using one-sided approaches, biased, disinformation, concealment of facts and figures and the preference of the heart.
Media and the academia in Israel should be "Gate Keepers" in front of these negative trends, and their purpose is to report and analyze the various developments in an open, balanced and impartial way as possible. Researchers and participants in this conference are indeed responsible for these positive attitudes, as well as cooperation and dialogues between Israelis and Arabs. The Hebrew University and theHarry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, in particular, has a long record and productive of such positive dialogues, the Smart Family Institute of Communication and the Department of Communication and Journalism specialized in issues of communication, conflict resolution and peace, on various aspects of them, and the Swiss Center for Conflict Research has a long and based tradition in teaching and research interdisciplinary about conflict and resolution. The "Gate Keepers" conference and additional activities of these organizations in particular and the Hebrew University in general, on issues of cooperation, dialogue, and presenting different and complexity perspectives, including critical perspective on issues related to conflict, negate the claims of international organizations such as "BDS" to ban Israeli academia.
The conference was very successful, interesting and varied and attracted many people that came and participated.
Two sessions were devoted to the film "The Gatekeepers". The discussions focused on issues that arose from the movie and on the complex relationship with the Palestinians over the years. Participants: The director of the film, Dror Moreh, and security officials: Carmi Gillon (former head of the Shabak and vice president of the Hebrew University), Reuven Merhav (formerly senior Mossad and Shabak and Foreign Ministry Director) and Danny Yatom (formerly Mossad Chief, the military secretary of Prime Minister Rabin and Chief of Staff of Prime Minister Barak).
The lectures were interesting, enriching, and engaged in political and cultural processes in the Middle East: Communication and Media in the Arab world, politics, conflict, gender and identity, relations between Israeli Jews and Palestinians and more.
YPI 2014, youth peace initiative, is an initiative that has been set up to get Israeli and Palestinian youth involved in the peace negotiations between their nations.
Seventeen young adults, five each from Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and seven from the rest of the world (Korea, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, the United States and the Netherlands) met in The Hague. They toured the Netherlands to get to know the country and each other. Yet, what happend after these initial days was truly crucial: they stayed together in the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael, (think tank and diplomatic academy) and worked on their own roadmap for a permanent peace between Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
On the 18th of October the YPI-participants have left the Hague, city of peace and justice.
After a week of dialogue, reconciliation and negotiation, YPI 2014 is proud to present the final document: Our common future!
During the press conference on October 17 the document has been handed over to the Israeli ambassador and the head of the Palestinian delegation.
International Conference in honor of Prof. Yaacov Shamir, upon his retirement from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The conference was held on the 2nd of January 2013 at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel (at the Beit Meirsdorf Faculty Club). Prof. Shamir, An Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism is a leading scholar in the Political Communication and Public Opinion domain and an expert on the role of public opinion in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The goal of this conference was to present cutting edge research that deals with the Many Faces of Public Opinion in Israel, the Middle East and the international arena and with public opinion regarding conflict and conflict resolution in protracted conflicts such as the Israeli-Palestinian one. The Key Note speaker in this conference was Prof. Mark Tessler, from Michigan University, that presented his seminal work on Public Opinion in the Arab World. This conference was a collaborative project in which the Swiss Center joined the Department of Communication, the Smart Communication Institute, in order to hold this important academic event with the support of the Eshkol Institute at the Faculty of Social Science
Date: Jan. 2, 2013
Location: Maiersdorf Faculty Club, The Hebrew University, Mount Scopus
The entier confernce was taped, you can listen here
An international workshop was held in by the Swiss Center, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in Collaboration with The Center for Study of Rationality, the Smart Communications Institute and with the support of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The conference was held on June 6-7, 2012. It was aimed at identifying the most important theoretical and empirical work that is relevant for understanding dynamics that initiate conflict as well as dynamics that resolve conflict and bring reconciliation. This deeply interdisciplinary workshop—drawing from scholars in media studies, political communication, social psychology, and judgment and decision making—aimed to clarify the role of morality in structuring the dynamics of asymmetric inter-group conflict, particularly when morality takes the form of moral concern, moral judgment or moral emotions.
This focus seemed justified to us not only because previous research establishes that moral factors play important roles in both interpersonal and inter-group conflict, but also because of the way that emerging user-driven media systems increase popular exposure to information and images that invite moral responses to asymmetric conflicts. Today’s conflicts are subject to intense and ongoing media coverage, both among the parties themselves but also among international audiences. These conditions raise the possibility that exposure to media images and genres traditionally used to depict others’ suffering can evoke moral concern among viewers even when those others are ‘the enemy’. It also means that parties can be made aware of the destructive force of their own violence against others. With specific attention to asymmetric conflict, we submitted that the asymmetry of power between conflicting parties can create asymmetries of moral response, along with associated emotions of guilt, shame and processes of identification and dis-identification. The workshop thus included a discussion among experts in different disciplines, including media studies, psychology and rationality on morality and inter-group conflict.