Event Date: February 18, 2015
The JPC would like to thank Dr. Asaf Romirowsky and Dr. Alexander Joffe for their informative presentation on Palestinian refugee relief and how it impacts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today.
Dr. Asaf Romirowsky is the Executive Director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME). Trained as a Middle East historian he holds a PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London.Their book, “Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief,” examines the leading role of the Quaker American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in the United Nations relief program for Palestine Arab refugees in 1948-1950 in the Gaza Strip. It situates the operation within the context of the AFSC’s attempts to exercise new influence on the separate issues of pacifism and disarmament at a time marked by US efforts to construct a Cold War security regime in the Middle East and British efforts to retain influence and bases in Arab countries.
Dr. Alexander Joffe is a Shillman-Ginsburg Fellow at the Middle East Forum. Joffe is a writer on Israel and Jewish affairs. Trained as an archaeologist and historian, he holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern studies from the University of Arizona.
