RGP Cycle Two Grantees and Projects

Rita Giacaman: Rendering East Jerusalem Visible: A Case Study of Kafr 'Aqab

Despite the centrality of Jerusalem in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the voices of Palestinian East Jerusalemites have been largely neglected in discourses on conflict, social suffering and overall health and well-being. This research is a synthesis of the political, legal, economic, social and health consequences characterizing the predicament of East Jerusalem and its residents followed by a focus on Kafr ‘Aqab as a case study. Given the historical context of generations of displacement and dispossession, the peculiar situation of Kafr ‘Aqab, situated at the crossroads of the Israeli military Qalandia-checkpoint, inside Israeli-defined greater Jerusalem, but physically dislocated outside the Separation Wall, serves to provide a window into the multiple layers of insecurity, fragmentation and illegal treatment which Palestinians are forced to endure. Amidst the overwhelming diplomatic and political discourses dominating and superseding the voices of the everyday Palestinians who must endure an incredibly dire situation, this qualitative investigation is designed to utilize research in way that highlights the impact of Israeli-imposed measures and restrictions on Palestinians, through the voices of Palestinians themselves, including women, men and young people; as well as in-depth interviews with experts in the same fields, and a participant observation combined with conversations at the Israeli-controlled Qalandia-checkpoint.

Rita Giacaman is a professor of public health at the Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, occupied Palestinian territory. A founding member of the Institute, she was a researcher/practitioner in the 1980’s Palestinian social action, which led to the development of the Palestinian primary health care model. In the 1990s, she participated in building the Palestinian community based disability rehabilitation network. Since 2000, she has been focusing on the impact of chronic war-like conditions and exposure to violence on the health and well-being of Palestinians, with an emphasis on psychosocial health; and the development of measures suitable for assessing health and well-being in conditions of protracted violence. She has published extensively both locally and internationally. Her new co-edited volume Public Health in the Arab World was published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press. Rita was awarded an Honorary PhD from LSE in 2011 for having made an “outstanding contribution to the increased understanding or appreciation of ‘the causes of things’…”