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Palestine, normalization with Israel and the effects of the pandemic
July 07, 20217:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
In order to attend this event in person, you must sign up in advance.
Register using this link.
In Spanish.
On the occasion of the presentation of issue 62 of the journal Afkar / Ideas, Casa Árabe, the European Institute of the (IEMed) and the journal Estudios de Política Exterior have organized this debate for July 7. Sign up now to attend in person or follow the event live on YouTube.
After a year away, marked by the pandemic, Afkar/Ideas has returned to analyze the highlights of a very complex 2020 that will continue to have an impact in the near future. What impact has the pandemic had on the region’s political systems? As Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio warns in his article, there is a link between the pandemic and the rollback of freedoms recorded in 2020, according to Freedom House. However, despite the lockdowns and restrictions on freedoms to slow down the pandemic, the MENA region has witnessed mobilizations in Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria and Tunisia, thus demonstrating the standoff continuing between rulers and people in the streets. At the same time, year 2020 and the Donald Trump presidency ended with the Abraham Accords for the normalization of Israel’s relations with certain Arab countries which, as Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal argues, have therefore formalized and strengthened an already existing situation. This caused the Accords to be viewed with skepticism by the Palestinians.
To discuss these issues, their impact in 2021 and potential future scenarios in the region, Josep Piqué, the director of Afkar/Ideas and CEO of Estudios de Política Exterior; Senén Florensa, the director of Afkar/Ideas and president of the IEMed Delegate Commission; Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal, coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa panel of Fundación Alternativas; and Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio, a professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, will be speaking. The event will be moderated by Lurdes Vidal Bertran, editor-in-chief of Afkar/Ideas, director of the Arab and Mediterranean World section of IEMed and scientific coordinator of the Connekt project.It will be introduced by Pedro Martínez-Avial, the General Director of Casa Árabe
Afkar/Ideas
Created in 2003 by the IEMed in Barcelona and Estudios de Política Exterior de Madrid, Afkar/Ideas is a quarterly journal conceived as a hybrid publication, between specialization and dissemination. It is also a space for reflection and debate on North Africa and the Middle East and the relations between the countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean and Europe. Afkar/Ideas is characterized by its wide range of themes, from international relations to cultural studies, as well as including voices from both the north and south shores of the Mediterranean, diverse identities and women participating as authors and important role-players in the region.
Josep Piqué Camps is the CEO of Estudios de Política Exterior S.A., a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Science and Technology, Minister of Industry and Energy and Government Spokesman. He is one of the most prominent and multifaceted leaders in the national business, political and academic worlds.
Senén Florensa Palau is a former director general and current president of the Delegate Commission of the European Institute of the Mediterranean, president of the General Assembly of EuroMeSCo and director of the journal Afkar/Ideas and the IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook. Until late last year he was Spain’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Office of the United Nations and International Organizations based in Vienna.
Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal has been the coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa panel at Fundación Alternativas since 2018, and a researcher at the International Mediterranean Studies Workshop at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio is a full professor with the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In the past, he has also been a professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Alicante, where he directed the Inter-University Institute for Social Development and Peace from 2017 to 2019.
Lurdes Vidal Bertran is the director of the Arab World and Mediterranean area of the European Institute of the Mediterranean; scientific coordinator of the European project CONNEKT, which studies the factors leading to radicalization and violent extremism among young people in the MENA region and the Balkans; and is also editor-in-chief of the journal Afkar/Ideas and scientific coordinator of the MAGIC project on gender Islamophobia.
To discuss these issues, their impact in 2021 and potential future scenarios in the region, Josep Piqué, the director of Afkar/Ideas and CEO of Estudios de Política Exterior; Senén Florensa, the director of Afkar/Ideas and president of the IEMed Delegate Commission; Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal, coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa panel of Fundación Alternativas; and Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio, a professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, will be speaking. The event will be moderated by Lurdes Vidal Bertran, editor-in-chief of Afkar/Ideas, director of the Arab and Mediterranean World section of IEMed and scientific coordinator of the Connekt project.It will be introduced by Pedro Martínez-Avial, the General Director of Casa Árabe
Afkar/Ideas
Created in 2003 by the IEMed in Barcelona and Estudios de Política Exterior de Madrid, Afkar/Ideas is a quarterly journal conceived as a hybrid publication, between specialization and dissemination. It is also a space for reflection and debate on North Africa and the Middle East and the relations between the countries on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean and Europe. Afkar/Ideas is characterized by its wide range of themes, from international relations to cultural studies, as well as including voices from both the north and south shores of the Mediterranean, diverse identities and women participating as authors and important role-players in the region.
Speakers
Senén Florensa Palau is a former director general and current president of the Delegate Commission of the European Institute of the Mediterranean, president of the General Assembly of EuroMeSCo and director of the journal Afkar/Ideas and the IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook. Until late last year he was Spain’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Office of the United Nations and International Organizations based in Vienna.
Itxaso Domínguez de Olazábal has been the coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa panel at Fundación Alternativas since 2018, and a researcher at the International Mediterranean Studies Workshop at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio is a full professor with the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In the past, he has also been a professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Alicante, where he directed the Inter-University Institute for Social Development and Peace from 2017 to 2019.
Lurdes Vidal Bertran is the director of the Arab World and Mediterranean area of the European Institute of the Mediterranean; scientific coordinator of the European project CONNEKT, which studies the factors leading to radicalization and violent extremism among young people in the MENA region and the Balkans; and is also editor-in-chief of the journal Afkar/Ideas and scientific coordinator of the MAGIC project on gender Islamophobia.