Asher Susser, visiting scholar in modern Israel studies at the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, will present “Israel, Jordan and Palestine: One State, Two States or Three?” as part of the center’s Shaol Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series.
The talk will be held Monday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Tucson Jewish Community Center and is also part of the Israel Center’s “Heartbeat of Israel” series.
Israel, Jordan and Palestine were all born out of the British Mandate in Palestine that was established after World War I. Susser will explore the volatile relationship of conflict and convergence of interest that has developed among them over the years. He will also discuss the question of whether it is still feasible to establish a stable political order in the region.
Susser teaches in The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University and in 2006, received the Faculty of Humanities outstanding teaching award. He is the author of many books, including “The PLO after the War in Lebanon” (1985), “On Both Banks of the Jordan: A Political Biography of Wasfi al-Tall” (1994) and most recently, “Challenges to the Cohesion of the Arab State” (2009).
A pre-lecture dinner will be held at 5 p.m. The cost is $75. To register, contact Judaic studies at 626-5758 or jus@u.ari zona.edu.
The Shaol Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series is made possible by the support of the Pozez families and The Pozez Family Fund at the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona; Tucson Marriott University Park hotel, The Tucson Jewish Community Center and a Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona compelling needs grant.
Susser’s lecture in also part of Judaic Studies’ “Israel Yesterday and Today Lecture Series,” which will continue Feb. 28 at noon with Vered Shemtov’s presentation of “Jerusalem in Palestinian and Israeli Poetry” on the UA campus, in room 490 of The Louise Foucar Marshall Building.
Shemtov is director of Hebrew language and literature and co-director of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies at Stanford University. She will discuss poems by the leading Israeli and Palestinian poets, Yehuda Amichai and Mahmoud Darwish, as well as works by two of the most well-know female voices in the area, Naomi Shemer and Fairuz.
Shemtov has authored numerous articles and book chapters. Her book, “Changing Rhythms: Towards a Prosodic Theory in Literary Context,” will be published this year by Bar Ilan University press. Her current book project is entitled “Notions of Home: Jewish Perspectives of Space in Contemporary Hebrew Literature.”
For more information, visit www.fp. arizona.edu/judaic/.
