Leila Farsakh

Leila Farsakh (Arabic: ليلى فرسخ‎) (born 1967) is a Palestinian political economist who was born in Jordan and is an Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts Boston.^[1] Her area of expertise is Middle East Politics, Comparative Politics, and the Politics of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Farsakh holds a MPhil from the University of Cambridge, UK (1990) and a PhD from the University of London (2003).^[1]

Farsakh conducted post-doctoral research at Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and is also a research affiliate at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.^[1]

She has worked with a number of organizations, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris (1993 - 1996) and the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute in Ramallah (1998 - 1999).^[2]

In 2001 she won the Peace and Justice Award from the Cambridge Peace Commission in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[2]

Farsakh is the Project Co-Director for Jerusalem 2050, a problem-solving project jointly sponsored by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Urban Studies and Planning and the Center for International Studies.^[3] She has written extensively on issues related to the Palestinian economy and the Oslo peace process, international migration and regional integration.^[3]

Farsakh was also a member of the Board at the non-governmental organization RESIST (www.resistinc.org), founded in 1967 to provide grant money and support to grassroots movements advocating for social change.^[4]

Interview

• The Deteriorating Political Economy of Palestine A video interview with Leila Farsakh, interview conducted by Saul Landau on "Hot Talk" radio Cal Poly Pomona, March 15, 2004.

Published works

• Leila Farsakh Biographical Note

Books (partial list)

• Palestinian Labour Migration to Israel: Labour, Land, and Occupation (2005). Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom. ISBN 0-415-33356-3.^[5]
• Commemorating the Naksa, Evoking the Nakba, (guest editor), Electronic Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Spring 2008, MIT, Boston, 2008.

*Development Strategies, Employment and International Migration, (co-edited with David O’Connor), OECD Development Center Publications, Paris, 1996.

• Palestinian Employment in Israel: 1967-1997 (1998). Ramallah.

Articles (partial list)

• “The One State Solution and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Palestinian Challenges and Prospects”, Middle East Journal, vol.64 no.1, winter 2011, pp. 20–45.
• “Introduction – Engaging Islam: Feminisms, Religiosities and Self-Determinations” co-authored with Elora Chowdhury and Rajini Srikanth, International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 10, no.4 December 2008, pp. 439–454.
• A Legacy of Promise for Muslims, the Boston Globe, co-authored with Elora Chowdhury, 11 September 2007.
• with others: Statement: One country, one state 9 July 2007, Electronic Intifada,
• Time for a Bi-National State, March 2007 Le Monde diplomatique (also published in: Israel-Palestine: Time for a bi-national state, 20 March 2007 Electronic Intifada,
• The Economics of Israeli Occupation: What is Colonial about it?, 2006
• Independence, Cantons, or Bantustans: Whither the Palestinian State? vol.59, no.2, Spring 2005, Middle East Journal
• The Political Economy of Agrarian Change in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Working Paper, European University Institute, 2004.
• Israel: An Apartheid State? November 2003, Le Monde diplomatique
• Palestinian Labor Flows to Israel: A Finished Story?, issue 125, Autumn 2002, Journal of Palestine Studies,
• The Palestinian economy and the Oslo “Peace Process", the Trans-Arab Research Institute, 2001
• Economic Viability of a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza Strip: Is it Possible without Territorial Integrity and Sovereignty?, MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies, May 2001
• Under Siege: Closure, Separation and the Palestinian Economy 217 - Winter 2000, MERIP

Public Lectures

• Notes on Analogy: Israel and Apartheid, at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, 16 March 2007.
• Beyond Apartheid in Israel/Palestine: The Reality on the Ground & Lessons from South Africa, at Northeastern University in Boston, 19 November 2006.^[6]
• "Palestinian Labor Flow to Israel: Is it Over?", at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, 19 February 2002.^[7]
• Palestinian Perspective, Chomsky Lecture on Middle East Crises, December 14, 2000

References

1. "UMass Boston Political Scientist Focuses on a New Civic Blueprint for Jerusalem". University of Massachusetts Boston. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
2. "Political Science Faculty". University of Massachusetts Boston. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
3. "People". Jerusalem 2050. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
4. "Board & Staff". RESIST. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
5. David Bartram (2007). "Book Reviews: Palestinian and the Arab-Israeli Conflict". International Journal of Middle East Studies (Cambridge University Press) 39 (3): 475. doi:10.1017/S002074380707064X. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
6. Matt Horton (March 2007). "Waging Peace". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
7. "Middle East Forum Event Archive". Harvard University. Retrieved 2007-09-11.