EVENT:
Edward Kaufman, a longtime professor at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Manuel Hassassian, executive vice president of Bethlehem University and ambassador of the Palestinian General Delegation to the United Kingdom, will lead a public forum titled "The Role of Israeli and Palestinian Civil Society in Peacebuilding."

WHEN:
7:30-9:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27

WHERE:
Social Science Lecture Hall, Room 100, UCI campus. Map: www.uci.edu/campusmap

INFORMATION:
Free and open to the public. For event information, call (949) 824-5181 or visit www.vcsa.uci.edu/projects/DifficultDialogues/.

BACKGROUND:
Over the past 12 years, Kaufman, an Israeli from Jerusalem, and Hassassian, a Palestinian from Bethlehem, have developed an evolving approach to teaching about violent conflict situations. Together, they teach a course at the University of Maryland called "Conflict Resolution: the Israeli/Palestinian Experiment."

Kaufman has been a senior research associate at the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland since 1991. He was a senior research associate and executive director of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1983 to 2004. Kaufman has dedicated much of his time to the teaching and training of conflict resolution and human rights in Israel and worldwide. He has authored and co-authored 12 books and more than 60 academic articles about international relations with an emphasis on human rights and conflict resolution.

Hassassian has made significant scholarly contributions in the field of political science during his tenure at Bethlehem University with the publication of more than 100 reviews, articles and chapters on topics such as the peace process, democracy and elections, refugees and civil society in Palestine. He is a board member of the Center of Non-Violence in Palestine and a member of the Arab Association for Human Rights.

ABOUT THE UCI DIFFICULT DIALOGUES PROJECT: The forum is made possible through a $100,000 grant awarded to UCI in December by the Ford Foundation to promote academic freedom and constructive dialogue on campus. It is part of UCI's Difficult Dialogues project, which includes new courses to educate students about contemporary issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, traditions of religious conflict and tolerance, and peacebuilding.