Harvard scholar offers vision of peace in Middle East

Public Lecture

Harvard scholar Dr Sara Roy, the daughter of holocaust survivors, will deliver the annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide on Saturday 11 October.

The lecture, now in its fourth year, honours the memory of one of the most famous Palestinian intellectuals in the world until his death in 2003.

Dr Roy is a political economist and senior research scholar at the Centre of Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. She has worked in the Gaza Strip and West Bank since 1985, conducting research on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and on US foreign aid to the region.

Her latest book, Failing Peace, published in 2007, draws on more than 2000 interviews and extensive first-hand experience to chronicle the impact of Israeli occupation over a generation.

Hailed by literary critics as a "must-read" of the Israeli/Palestine conflict, the book provides a powerful account of the reality of life in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Dr Roy devotes a large section of her book to her Jewish upbringing, arguing that her background does not exclude her from questioning the social laws that govern Jews.

The late Edward Said described Dr Roy as "humanely committed (to achieving peace) in ways that are unmatched by any other non-Palestinian scholar".

"The special thing about Sara Roy's writing is its combination of very high quality research - in this no-one matches her - with an equally high level of personal integrity and commitment," Said wrote.

Dr Roy's current research examines the social and economic sectors of the Palestinian Islamic movement and the critical changes that have occurred in the past decade.

She has authored more than 100 publications dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and is a well-known media commentator on the subject, writing for a host of international journals.

In addition to her academic work, Dr Roy has served as a consultant to international and human rights organisations, the United States Government, private voluntary organisations and business groups working in the Middle East.

Dr Roy will speak about her vision of a solution to the conflict when she delivers the Edward Said Memorial Lecture at Elder Hall at 5pm on 11 October.

The previous lectures - delivered by Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk, the late Professor Tanya Reinhart, and Palestinian-British author and academic Dr Ghada Karmi - have been sold out.

Tickets $10 if pre-purchased online at www.friendsofpalestine.org.au or from Digimob Australia at 246 Pulteney Street, Adelaide, and $15 at the door.

Story by Candy Gibson