Policy Analysis

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung Ramallah welcomed Barbara Unmüßig, the co-president of the hbs, from 01 April to 05 April 2012. Ms Unmüßig attended numerous meetings with civil society actors and conducted three field trips, starting with a tour to Al Walajeh , the separation  wall and the settlements  in the area around Bethlehem, led by George Rishmawi from the Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies. 

The IJS is a branch of Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS), a highly respected institution, which is very influential in the Palestinian context. For the last six years IJS cooperated closely with Heinrich Böll Stiftung (hbs), mainly in publishing the Jerusalem Quarterly (JQ) journal.

Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies (MASARAT) in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Stiftung started on 2011 a project to facilitate communication between different young Palestinians in different locations: West Bank, Gaza Strip Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. The communications was mainly through video conferences and internet.

The sound of heart beats was deafening in Sanaa’s 20th street when protestors moved in the demonstration’s forefront. Around 15 snipers were positioned on rooftops on two sides of Dairi street intersection with 20th street. Protestors planned on Friday, March 18th, to expand the sit-in area and to erect new tents at the intersection. An account of the people’s revolt in Yemen prior to the departure of Ali Saleh by Nadia Al-Sakkaf/ Chief Editor of the Yemen Times......

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung in Ramallah invited Raji Sourani, head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), to Germany. During the trip he briefed officials, NGO activists and politicians from all parties represented in the German Parliament about the current situation in Palestine and the Gaza strip

Over 30 guests attended the theme night “The Stasi And Its Aftermath - Reflections On The Legacy Of The East German Secret Police, STASI” on Tuesday 9 February 2010 at the Franco-German Cultural Center in Ramallah.

Interview with John Ging, head of the United Nation's Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip and speaker at Heinrich-Boell-Foundation's international conference "The Transformation of Palestine" in March 2010

Kerstin Müller, the foreign policy spokesperson of the Greens/ Alliance 90 parliamentary group in the German Bundestag and former Minister of State at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs the Palestinian Territories. The program included meetings with Sabri Saidam, senior presidential aide and Hanan Ashrawi, member of the PLO executive committee and Chairperson of Miftah, (the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy). Prior to her trip, Kerstin Müller had the opportunity to meet Prime Minister Salam Fayyad during his political visit program in Berlin.

Israel’s raid on a flotilla of humanitarian aid has refocused global attention on Gaza’s isolation. In a new Q&A, Taghreed El-Khodary, visiting scholar on hiatus from reporting in the Gaza Strip for the New York Times, details what’s happening on the ground in Gaza and how the incident will shape politics in the area. El-Khodary says that Israel’s action helps Hamas and the group is now operating from a position of greater strength.

Democracy protests in Egypt:EU has to decide whether it will continue with its support for authoritarian Arab regimes and their security apparatuses that, for decades, have prevented democractic change? or whether they are willing back a difficult, possibly chaotic process of democratic change.