27-28 January 2007, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Venue: Brunei Gallery

(Saturday 27th Jan, 9:00am-5:45pm) (Sunday 28th Jan 10:30am-6.00pm)

£20 (£10 concessions, and £40 organisations) 

To book your ticket, please send a cheque payable to SOAS Palestine Society to the above address or email palsoc@soas.ac.uk 
DAY ONE
(Saturday 27th Jan 9:00am-5.45pm) 
Registration (9:00am-9:30am)
Introduction (9:30am-10:00am)
Opening: Stephen Chan (Dean of Faculty of Law and Social Science, SOAS) 
Opening Remarks H.E. Manuel Hassassian (PLO representative to the UK)
Session One – The Palestinian Economy: Past and Present: (10:00am-11:00am)
The Palestinian economy under occupation: the dynamics and logic of economic subjugation (Atif Kubursi, McMaster University)
Palestine: from historical de-classing to a state of stand-by (Adel Samara, Independent Researcher)
Chair: Manuel Hassassian 
Coffee Break (11:00am-11:15am)

Session Two – Conflict and Economic Development: Theory and Reality (11:20am-1:00pm)
Conflict, accumulation and economic development (Chris Cramer, SOAS) 
Development under prolonged conflict in Palestine: concepts and praxis (Antoine Mansour, UN ESCWA)
The West Bank and Gaza Strip: de-development unabated (Sara Roy, Harvard University)
Chair: John Chalcraft (Department of Government, London School of Economics)


Lunch (1:00pm-2:00pm)

Session Three – Comparative Studies of Conflict (2:00pm-3:45pm)
Mandela in Palestine: probing South African lessons for peacemaking (Heribert Adam, Simon Fraser University) 
Is it time for an international administration over Palestine?: Lessons learned from other IAs (Mandy Turner, University of Bradford) 
The state and the unregulated sector: contradictory or complementary agents? Lessons from Afghanistan (Jonathan Goodhand, SOAS) 
Conflict in a global economy context: Lessons from Latin American resistance against neoliberalism (Alan Freeman, Greenwich University) 
Chair: (to be confirmed)
(Break 3:45pm-4:00pm)

Session Four – The Politics and Economics of International Aid (4:05pm-5:45pm)
The World Bank’s work on the Palestinian economy, 1992 – 1996 (Nigel Roberts, former World Bank Country Director for West Bank and Gaza) 
The determinants of donor behaviour pre- and post-Intifada (Sahar Rad, SOAS)
Why aid for peace failed (Nadia Abu Zahra, Oxford University) 
The NGOization, neoliberalism and the construction of a globalized elite in Palestine (Sari Hanafi, American University of Beirut) 
Chair: Manal Omar (Regional Program Manager for the Middle East, Oxfam) 

DAY TWO
(Sunday 28th Jan 10:30am-6.00pm)

(coffee and biscuits 10:30am-11:00am)

Session Five – The PNA, the Institutional Framework and Economic Development (11:00am-1pm)
State formation under Oslo and the prospects for state formation beyond Oslo (Mushtaq Khan, SOAS)
Palestine: development and international community interventions (Shaun Ferguson, economic consultant)
Private sector assessment of PNA economic policy (Mohamed Nasr, Birzeit University) 
Short and long-term policy implications of the Palestinian economic experience of the last ten years (Osama Hamed, Rutgers University)

Chair: Raja Khalidi (UNCTAD)
Lunch (1:00pm-2:00pm)

Session Six – Local Economic Realities and Regional Prospects (2:00pm-4.10pm)
Taking stock of the year that was: Palestinian socio-economic realities in 2006 (Mohammed Samhouri, Brandeis University)
The World versus HAMAS: financing a soft coup against the Palestinian National Authority (Geoffrey Aronson, Foundation for Middle East Peace)
Pauperization, informalization and the labour market (Samia Botmeh, SOAS and Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute MAS)
The Matrix of Control: Prospects for a Sovereign Palestinian State and a Viable Economy (Jeff Halper, Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, ICAHD)
Reconstituting the dual economy of Palestine/Israel 59 years after partition: a case for regional economic analysis (Raja Khalidi, UNCTAD)
Chair: Darrin Waller (Chief Executive, Medical Aid for Palestine)

(coffee break 4.10pm-4:20pm)

Roundtable Discussion – Whither or wither a sovereign Palestinian state and viable economy? (4:20pm-6:00pm)
Discussants: Jeff Halper, Mushtaq Khan, Raja Khalidi, Atif Kubursi, Sara Roy, and Adel Samara
Chair: Massoud Karshenas (SOAS, Economics Department)
Closing Remarks: (to be confirmed)



£20 (£10 concessions, and £40 organisations)
To book your ticket, please send a cheque payable to SOAS Palestine Society to the above address or email palsoc@soas.ac.uk

SOAS Palestine Society
Thornhaugh Street 
Russell Square, London 
WC1H 0XG 
Email:palsoc@soas.ac.uk
www.palestinesociety.org