On Monday, March 10th, Dr. Ziad Asali gave a presentation at The Brookings Institution entitled “Daily Life in the West Bank and Gaza: Implications for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement.” The presentation was part of the three-day Brookings conference, “Inside the Middle East.” A link to event agenda and its impressive panelists can be found here: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/Course/Agenda/middle_east.pdf.

Dr. Asali spoke of the impact, on a human level, of Israeli policy decisions, and of the lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. His presentation was focused on the impact that the conflict has on the people caught in the middle of it. Drawing on a mix of personal experiences and knowledge of the conflict’s history, Dr. Asali provided insights into the many infringements on the basic rights of the Palestinian people. He spoke about the effect of humiliation as policy that Palestinians encounter daily at checkpoints, the disruption of daily life imposed by the wall/barrier and the web of roads connecting settlements, and the implications of economic deprivation.

The website for the “Inside the Middle East” conference can be found here:
http://www.brookings.edu/execed/programs/middleeast.aspx