Is Palestine Included in the Busan Partnership? Or Was the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness Just the Usual Haky Faady?
This Week in Palestine, no. 165, January 2012
Available for free at http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/
I arrived in Busan, Korea, on November 25, awed by the neon lights and by the possibilities. Global leaders were holding the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and I was an official delegate! It was the most important global meeting on aid policy since the Accra Agenda for Action was endorsed in 2008 and the Paris Declaration in 2005. Both were game changers in their own ways, although Palestine, distinguished as “most aid dependent” by many measures, reaped only negligible benefits. But the HLF4 in Busan was much more promising….
* * * * * *
The Emperor’s New Clothes All Over Again: A Tale From Palestine
Development, 2011, 54(4), pp. 514-19.
Available for purchase ($30 USD) at http://www.palgrave-journals.com/development/journal/v54/n4/pdf/dev201188a.pdf
In this scholar-practitioner journal dedicated to critical views on international development, I use my own experience to expose the incompatibility of the common ‘development’ worldview with political realities in Palestine; and I critique the development community for playing along with the charade that Palestine is “post-conflict.” Using the findings of research with grassroots civil society organizations, I show how dependence on development cooperation often contributes to the denial of Palestinians’ right to self-determination. I argue for honest self-reflection by the international development community, the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian civil society to end complicity with efforts that maintain structural inequality rather than challenge it.
* * * * * *
Putting the Istanbul Principles into Practice: A Companion Toolkit to the International Framework on CSO Development Effectiveness (104 pages), January 2012, by Christina Bermann-Harms and Nora Lester Murad
Available for free in English, Spanish and French at www.cso-effectiveness.org/-toolkits,082-.html
The Toolkit is one of the major outputs of the Open Forum process. It is designed for civil society organizations of all types and in all places that wish to put the Istanbul Principles into practice to make their own development work more effective.
* * * * * *
Community Philanthropy in Aid-Dependent Palestine
Thematic Issues on Philanthropy and Social Innovation, 01/09, pp. 131-137
In this scholarly journal, I describe community philanthropy in Palestine, including the obstacles created by dependence on aid. I also describe innovate initiatives that are underway to encourage local giving.
* * * * * *
Palestine’s Companies are Generous, but is Their Giving Effective?
This Week in Palestine, December, 2009, no. 140, pp. 15-18
Available for free at http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2945&ed=176&edid=176
My article in this popular English-language magazine gives an overview of private sector philanthropy and raises questions about the strategy and impact of corporate philanthropy in Palestine.
* * * * * *
Does International Aid Violate Palestinian Rights?
This Week in Palestine, August, 2008, no. 124, pp. 8-12
Available for free at http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=2537&ed=156&edid=156or in Arabic at http://www.dalia.ps/ar/node/122
This ground-breaking paper draws on international law, conventions, treaties and declarations to argue that current international aid procedures violate Palestinian rights. I argue that Palestinians should claim their rights from donors and international development actors and take initiative to reform the aid system, which in some ways denies self-determination in ways similar to the Israeli occupation.
* * * * * *
Palestinian Children Who Work in Israel: Psychosocial Development in Political and Cultural Context
International Journal of Behavioral Development, July, 2008, 32(4) by Hani Murad and Nora Lester Murad
Available for purchase ($25 USD) at http://jbd.sagepub.com/content/32/4.toc
This scholarly research article explores the psychological experiences of Palestinian children who work at intersections and in other informal parts of the Israeli economy.
* * * * * *
The Politics of Palestinian Refugee Participation
Forced Migration Review, 2006, 26, pp. 47-48 by Juliette Abu-Iyun and Nora Lester Murad
Available for free at http://www.fmreview.org/palestine.htm
Palestinian refugees should be allowed to choose and decide, based on informed opinions, whether or not they wish to return to their homes. This is their legal and moral right. Is it also their right to participate in discussions about their future? If so, how should they participate?
* * * * * *
The Politics of Mothering in a ‘Mixed’ Family: An Autoethnographic Exploration
Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, December 2005, 12(4), pp. 479-503
Available for purchase ($34 USD) at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/gide20/12/4
Interweaving excerpts from my personal journal with research and literature about mixed race, interfaith, and bicultural experience, I use autoethnograhic methods to explore the experience of mothering in an American-Jewish and Palestinian-Muslim family. I push the theoretical discussion beyond the experiences of “mixed” people to consider how the identity of otherwise monoracial/monocultural parents may be transformed through the experience of parenting across socially/politically significant differences, particularly national origin, culture and faith. I also extend theoretical discussion beyond the confines of identity to consider parenting a s a political process with an impact within and beyond families.
* * * * * *
Cultural Competence in Nursing: A Dialogue among Professionals.
American Journal of Nursing, cover story in August 1998(8), with part II in September 1998
Available for purchase (amount unknown) at http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Abstract/1998/08000/Cultural_Competence__A_Nursing_Dialogue.33.aspx
Two-part article based on a roundtable discussion exploring the complex issues of caring for a multicultural patient base.
* * * * * *
How Staff Get Burned (Out) by Social Change Work
Journal of Community Advocacy and Activism, 1997, 2(1), pp. 83-93 by Nora Lester, Melissa Lamson and Neil Wollman
Activists put their hearts and souls into the work but often feel ineffective, undervalued, emotionally spent, and financially or professionally insecure. Some activists, “wounded” by the internal politics of social change organizations, have left social change work altogether. This seems deleterious not only to individuals and organizations, but to the cause of social change. Why are so many professional activists “burned” both by the inherent demands of social change work and by the organizations they work for?