The Palestine–Israel Journal is an independent, non-profit, Jerusalem-based quarterly that aims to shed light on and analyze freely and critically, the complex issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians. Half of every issue is devoted to exploring a major theme on the joint Israeli-Palestinian agenda, while the other half contains regular departments relating to Culture, Economics, Viewpoints, Book Reviews, Documents and a Chronology of Events. The Journal’s goal is to promote rapprochement and better understanding between Palestinian and Israeli people, and striving to discuss all issues without prejudice or taboos. The Journal is a unique joint venture promoting dialogue and the quest for a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Journal operates on the basis of cooperation, understanding and equality between the Israelis and Palestinians who comprise its joint staff. All decisions and work are shared and managed equally and in cooperation between a joint staff of Palestinian and Israel co-editors, managing editors and other staff. The fact that decisions are made together through dialogue and understanding is a matter of principle as well as a working strategy of the Journal.
The editors of the Journal are Palestinian journalist and former Minister Ziad Abu-Zayyad and veteran Israeli journalist and commentator Hillel Schenker. The editorial board is composed of an equal number of Israeli and Palestinian academics and journalists. Every issue contains an equal number of articles by Israeli and Palestinian contributors, with the addition of a few international articles.
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The Palestine-Israel Journal was founded in early 1994 by Ziad Abu-Zayyad and veteran Israeli journalist Victor Cygelman (1926–2007) who was former deputy-editor of the Israeli peace journal New Outlook. The Journal was established, concurrently with the first phases of the Oslo peace process, as a response to a much-needed avenue for dialogue among the opinion and policy-makers of the region. It was obvious from the start that, alongside the institutional efforts of Palestinians and Israelis, channels of communication had to be opened for academics and other experts; opinion, decision and policy makers, as well as grass-roots organizations and activists, to voice their views, promote and take part in the public debate for a democratic and just solution to the conflict.
The first issue was entitled "Peace Economics", analyzing the economic problems and opportunities arising from the structural changes taking place after the Oslo Accords came to light in autumn 1993. Other issues have dealt with “Jerusalem,” “Right of Return,” “National Identity,” “Violence and its Alternatives,” “Narratives of 1948,” “Media and the Second Intifada,” “Women and the Conflict,” “Youth,” “Two Traumatized Societies,” “The Role of the International Community,” “The Quest for Regional Security,” “Education in Times of Conflict,” “Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” “People-to-People: What went wrong and how to fix it” and “Going it Alone? Unilateralism vs. Negotiations.” The four most recent issues have dealt with: "1948: Sixty Years After", "Human Security", "The Refugee Question", and "A Nuclear Free Zone in the Middle East: Realistic or Idealistic?".
Many prominent academic experts, political figures, journalists and activists have written for the Journal. Among them are Prof. Shlomo Ben-Ami, Mohammed Dajani, Shlomo Gazit, Manuel Hassassian, Shimon Peres, Rashid Khalidi, Ghassan Kanafani, Benny Morris, David Newman, Sari Nusseibeh, Yoav Peled, Don Peretz, Desmond Tutu, Khalil Shikaki, Prof. Daniel Kurtzer, Johan Galtung, Salim Tamari, Moshe Amirav, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan and A.B. Yehoshua.
When Cygelman retired, he was replaced by Prof. Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel Aviv University, who served as the Israeli co-editor from 2001-2005.
After each issue is published, the Journal holds public discussions aimed at promoting widespread public debate on the topics raised by the issue. For each issue, three discussions are organized: one in Arabic for Palestinians, one in Hebrew for Israelis and one joint Palestinian-Israeli event run in English.
On January 27, 2010 Palestine–Israel Journal held a conference on Jerusalem entitled Israeli Settlements, Palestinian Refugees, and Gaza & the Two-State Solution. The conference coincided with the release of three position papers on these subjects, which were commissioned by the European Union. Speakers included Isaac Herzog and Ziad AbuZayyad.
On June 8, 2010 Palestine–Israel Journal held a conference in conjunction with the Veneto Region under the auspices of the Peace Education through Media Project and with the support of the European Union's Partnership for Peace Project. The conference, entitled, "Peace Education Through Media", examined the role of the media and journalists in encouraging or discouraging violence, particularly in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Most recently, on June 18–19, 2010 Palestine–Israel Journal and the International Dialogues Foundation held a conference in The Hague, Netherlands on the subject of, "Jerusalem: Dialogues for Justice and Peace". Speakers included Ziad AbuZayyad, Menachem Klein, Walid Salem, and Moshe Maoz.
On August 11, 2009 the Palestine–Israel Journal awarded the first Simcha Bahiri Youth Essay Prize. The contest was open to Israeli and Palestinian writers aged 17–24 on the subject of, "The Day After the Gaza War: What can young people do to strengthen the prospect of peace?". The inaugural winners of the award were Maya Wind, age 19, for her essay, "We Need an Israeli-Palestinian Doubt Forum" and Khadrah Jean JaserAbuZant, also 19, for her essay, "We Need Healing, Engagement, and Reconciliation".