Asaf Romirowsky

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Asaf Romirowsky is a Middle East historian and political commentator. He is the Executive Director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) and the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA). [1]

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Biography

Asaf Romirowsky holds a BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a doctorate from King's College London. [2] He is the executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME). [3] [4]

Trained as a Middle East historian, he holds a PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King's College London and has published widely on various aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, American foreign policy in the Middle East, as well as Israeli and Zionist history.

Romirowsky is co-author of Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief and a contributor to The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel. [5] Romirowsky's publicly-engaged scholarship has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, The American Interest , The New Republic, The Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Ynet and Tablet among other online and print media outlets. [6]

Romirowsky is a critic of Palestinian terrorism. [7]

In late 2007, his invitation to take part in an academic panel at the University of Delaware was rescinded by student organizers after another member of the panel, political science professor Muqtedar Khan, objected to sharing a podium with a former Israeli soldier. [8] [9] [10] [11]

UNRWA and Palestinian refugees

Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief, the 2013 book Romirowsky co-authored with Alexander H. Joffe, [12] examines the origins of the UNRWA in the endorsement by the British authorities in Mandatory Palestine of efforts by the American Friends Service Committee to assist Arab refugees during and after the 1947–1949 Palestine war. Romirowsky and Joffe argue that the UNRWA's attitude towards Israel is rooted in the "foundational belief" of the American Friends Service Committee "in a supersessionist Christianity that could not reconcile the possibility of a rebirth of Jewish nationhood in the Land of Israel." [13] [14]

Romirowsky believes that UNRWA is an "anomaly within the world of refugee relief" and that it encourages the refugees it cares for towards terrorism and intransigence. [15]

Romirowsky favors limiting the definition of who is a Palestinian refugee so that descendants of those who fled or were expelled by Israel during the 1948 war would not be counted as refugees. [16] Marouf Hasian Jr. criticizes Romirowsky by arguing that he is minimizing the existestential dangers facing the Palestinians by complaining about how UNRWA categorizes refugees. According to him, Romirowsky's message is that "happy and carefree generations of Palestinians don't mind being refugees, and the UNRWA revels in its role as dispenser of aid" which he thinks is false. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNRWA</span> United Nations agency to support Palestinian refugees

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the 1948 Palestine War and subsequent conflicts, as well as their descendants, including legally adopted children. As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli–Palestinian conflict</span> Ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant. Beginning in the mid-20th century, it is one of the world's longest-continuing conflicts. Key areas of the conflict include the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders, security and water rights, as well as Palestinian freedom of movement and the Palestinian right of return.

Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–1949 Palestine war and the Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refugees live in or near 68 Palestinian refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 2019 more than 5.6 million Palestinian refugees were registered with the United Nations.

The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 is a resolution adopted near the end of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. The Resolution defines principles for reaching a final settlement and returning Palestine refugees to their homes. Article 11 of the resolution resolves that

refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.

International aid has been provided to Palestinians since at least the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Palestinians view the aid as keeping the Israeli–Palestinian peace process going, while Israelis and other foreign policy authorities have raised concerns that it is used to fund terrorism and removes the imperative for Palestinians to negotiate a settlement of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. As a provision of the Oslo Accords, international aid was to be provided to the Palestinians to ensure economic solvency for the Palestinian National Authority (PA). In 2004, it was reported that the PA, within the West Bank and Gaza Strip, receives one of the highest levels of aid in the world. In 2006, economic sanctions and other measures were taken by several countries against the PA, including suspension of international aid following Hamas' victory at the Palestinian Legislative Council election. Aid to the PA resumed in 2008 following the Annapolis Conference, where Hamas was not invited. Aid has been provided to the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian non-governmental organizations (PNGOs) as well as Palestinian political factions by various foreign governments, international organizations, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and charities, besides other sources.

Issues relating to the State of Palestine and aspects of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict occupy continuous debates, resolutions, and resources at the United Nations. Since its founding in 1948, the United Nations Security Council, as of January 2010, has adopted 79 resolutions directly related to the Arab–Israeli conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">'Azza</span> Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight</span> Expulsion and flight of Palestinians during the 1948 Palestine war

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Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Galloway, was a senior British Army officer. During the Second World War, he was particularly highly regarded as a staff officer and, as such, had an influential role in the outcome of Operation Crusader during the Western Desert Campaign in late 1941. He later commanded the 4th Indian Infantry Division at the Battle of Monte Cassino during the Italian Campaign in early 1944.

<i>History Upside Down</i> 2007 book by David Meir-Levi

History Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression, is a book by David Meir-Levi, professor of archaeology, Near Eastern history, and Middle Eastern history at San Jose State University about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Meir-Levi argues that Israel and Zionism have become the targets of antisemitic historical negationism by Arabic and Muslim bigots.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Hearing</span>

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<i>Deception: Betraying the Peace Process</i> 2011 book by Itamar Marcus

Deception: Betraying the Peace Process is a book published in 2011 by the Israel-based media watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch. Deception analyses a year of cultural, educational and general media sources in the Palestinian Authority (PA), beginning from May 2010, the month that indirect Israeli–Palestinian talks were initiated by the US. The book concludes that the PA systematically fomented anti-Israel sentiment and promoted violence to undermine the peace process and a two-state solution. It reports hundreds of examples of the "PA's policy of" glorifying terrorism and demonizing Israelis and Jews, in print, websites, videos, and school texts. It states that the Palestinian leadership is deceiving the international community, presenting itself in English as pursuing peace, while propagating hate speech and support for violence in Arabic.

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References

  1. ↑ Redden, Elizabeth (19 August 2014). "Boycott Battles Ahead". Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "Asaf Romirowsky". Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
  3. ↑ "Staff". Middle East Forum . Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  4. ↑ Parente, Audrey (18 August 2011). "Middle East analyst to talk at temple". The Daytona Beach News-Journal . ProQuest   884230752.
  5. ↑ Wise, Christopher (2017). "Deconstruction, Zionism and the BDS Movement". Arena Journal . ProQuest   1953316313.
  6. ↑ "Articles authored by Asaf Romirowsky - SPME Scholars for Peace in the Middle East". SPME. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  7. ↑ Tabachnick, Toby (10 July 2014). "Third intifada? It's happening, says scholar, and Hamas' strategy (kidnappings) is set". Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle . ProQuest   1551728649.
  8. ↑ Vasoli, Bradley (2007-10-30). "Professor Kicked Off Panel For Military Record". The Bulletin - Philadelphia's Family Newspaper. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
  9. ↑ Jaschik, Scott (2007-10-31). "Israeli Booted". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  10. ↑ "Israeli veteran disinvited from panel". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2007-10-30. Archived from the original on 2012-05-23. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  11. ↑ Militano, Alison (2007-11-09). "Controversy surrounds speakers at Middle East panel". The Review (University of Delaware's Independent Student Newspaper Since 1882). Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  12. ↑ "Failed Religious Diplomacy at the Birth of Israel". The National Interest . 31 March 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  13. ↑ Shwayder, Maya (20 May 2014). "Prosor publicly blasts UNRWA. Envoy to UN: NGO fuels 'fiction' of Palestinian 'right of return'". The Jerusalem Post. ProQuest   1535197662.
  14. ↑ Brackman, Nicole (23 May 2014). "When other interests get in the way (book review)". The Jerusalem Post . ProQuest   1541634067.
  15. ↑ Wisse 2011: Scholars Asaf Romirowsky and Nicole Brackman have rightly called UNRWA an “anomaly within the world of refugee relief” for the way it prolonged suffering and anger to become “a weapon to encourage [generations] toward terrorism and intransigence.”
  16. ↑ Guttman 2012.
  17. ↑ Hasian 2016, p. 194.

Sources

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