Workshop on: "Gaza’s Tunnel Economy: Dependence or Independence?”

The Ibrahim Abu-Lughod
Institute of International Studies (IALIIS) at BZU held a workshop entitled: "Gaza’s
Tunnel Economy: Dependence or Independence?” The workshop is the fifth and
last one of workshop series on “Political Economy of Dependence and
Independence in Palestine.”

In her opening address,Top of Form the Vice President for
Community Affairs, Dr. Samia Halileh stated that
this workshop series aim to provoke serious discussions on strategic issues in
Palestine.

The IALIIS Director Dr. Abdul Karim Al-Barghouthi overviewed this
series, stating: the first workshop was held on Water in Palestine in November
2011, followed by a Workshop
on "The Internal and External Movement of Populations and its Impact on
the Palestinian Authority," held in January 2012. He added the third
workshop addressed International Aid and the fourth workshop
was titled: “Palestinian
Refugees and the State: A Human and Political Capital or an Economic Burden?”
For more information on these workshops, please visit

http://ialiis.birzeit.edu/etemplate.php?id=217

The first session dealt with " The Intertwined Relation between Gaza’s Tunnels and the Israeli
Siege ", in which
Nicholas
Pelham, Correspondent
for The Economist, talked about the tunnel economy and Gaza’s redevelopment
under Hamas (for abstract, please visit http://ialiis.birzeit.edu/userfiles/Abstract.The-Impact-g.pdf)

During  the second session,   the Speaker via Skype, Samir Abu-Midalala, Dean
of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Al-Azhar University,
Gaza presented a paper titled:  : “Gaza’s Tunnel Economy: A National
Necessity or an Economic and Social Crisis?” For abstract, please visit

http://ialiis.birzeit.edu/userfiles/Samir-Abu-M-ENGLISH[201209209105].pdf

The
third session focused
on "privatization of the tunnel economy",
where the Director General of the
Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), Dr. Samir
Abdullah, addressed the impact of the tunnel
economy on the private sector.  To access
the concept note, please visit http://ialiis.birzeit.edu/userfiles/samir-Abdullah-abstract1.pdf

For more
information on the workshop, please visit http://ialiis.birzeit.edu/etemplate.php?id=352