This study attempts to assess the various impacts of the separation barrier on the sense of affiliation and identity, the economy and the spatial organization of the Arab population in Israel. The study points to the unequivocal message to the Arabs in Israel, that they will continue to be citizens of the state in any future agreement with the Palestinians.The fence however, creates a barrier between them and their brethren, their families and cultural affiliations across the other side. The fence makes economic ties with Palestinian urban centers more difficult, but on the other hand it accelerates local demand in Arab localities on the west side, thus contributing to a certain rate of growth in business and services which hitherto suffered a slump. Concurrently, localities in close proximity to the fence return to their pre 1967 peripheral status which stunts their development potential.

This study examines the impact of two concurrent processes on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the changing leadership and governmental reshuffle on the one hand and the Israeli disengagement on the other hand. The relationship between the Palestinian Authority and its residents are also examined as are the means used to present the Oslo Accords to them, and other functioning characteristics underlying the political stalemate. The Palestinian reactions to disengagement are considered, the power struggle developing among the various foci of power and the impacts on the inter-organizational relationship. The researcher attempts to point out possible directions of development in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship after the stabilization of the Palestinian government and the implementation of the disengagement program.

This study analyzes options for redistributing revenues from local taxes and levies on non-residential real estate among local authorities, with the aim of reducing fiscal disparities among local authorities.

The study recommends considering the implementation of alternatives at the local and regional levels, with clearly defined limits on conditions that permit revenue redistribution without the consent of involved parties. Implications in the direction of strengthening local government or concentration of power in the hands of government ministries depends on the manner of implementation: imposition subject to restraint and clear constraints, in which the central state is considered to be a fair broker, or an arena for bitter conflicts and for controversial decisions that are largely motivated by the need to alleviate short-term fiscal problems of the central state.

An alternative solution to the local government crisis with respect to the declining capacity of many municipalities to secure services for their residents. The proposal shifts away from the horizontal perspective, which identifies the change in local government with the changing municipal map, to a vertical perspective, which emphasizes the structural change in local government. Supra-municipal options for service provision are examined on the basis of a 'bottom-up' delegation of authority and regulating services.

This study examines the world views, ideologies, traditions, norms and social and cultural networks prevalent in development towns among various protagonists and groups – governmental and civic. The study highlights the crossroads, conflict and junctures which develop in a tenuous social field, and offers decision-makers an alternative strategy in light of this cultural and political labyrinth.

This publication examines those issues which should be included in the Ministry of Interior's agenda along two axes: the right of citizens to decent local services and the obligation of the ministry to provide them.

This study examines the value of social capital in crisis management under the circumstances confronting the settlers of the Gaza strip in recent years. Its findings show that the security risks and the threat of disengagement contributed to strengthening social capital in all settlements, and that social capital greatly contributed to the resilience of settlers in their confrontations. However, challenges are influenced by the cultural affiliations of each group, and it is this environment which ultimately determined the quality and long term influence of social capital. The study clearly concludes that wherever communities stuck together even after disengagement, their ability to face the crisis of evacuation improved.

This book deals with two main questions: what are the barriers to the equality and the development of the Arabs in Israel? and how can the effect of these barriers be reduced?

The picture presented by the book is that despite certain improvements in the social area, especially in the area of education, the inequality between Jews and Arabs remains as it was.  The book offers a preliminary background for the analysis of the fundamental barriers preventing equality between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

This book attempts to develop a new conceptual view of local government in Israel and possible paths of institutional development towards the next decade. The urgency of such a task is based on two key assumptions. First, and mostly, the emergence of a new public agenda that shifts the traditional dominance in Israel of security related issues towards social and civic concerns. Second, the exhaustion of present patterns of governing and public governance and the consequent need for institutional change.

The book describes the key features of a new type of local government in Israel  (the ‘4th generation’) and explores three different scenarios for its actual emergence.

Proposals to cede Arab localities from Israeli to Palestinian sovereignty, presented as "populated land exchanges", involve forcibly revoking the citizenship of tens of thousands of Arabs. Since the October 2000 events these proposals penetrated the heart of public discourse. The Arab leadership and public vehemently oppose these proposals. This study examines the Jewish discourse supporting the idea alongside Arab opposition to it in Israel and the territories as well as its implications on the character of the State of Israel. It examines Israeli and international legal perspectives and demographic and territorial implications. The study emphasizes the danger and folly of this idea and recommends discussing the idea as part of the Arab-Jewish discourse and as part of the status of the Arab minority in a democratic Jewish state.

The research addresses the shifts in the post Arafat era and examines their impacts on the disengagement plan. The main focus of the research is to examine the viability of the plan as originally intended by prime minister Sharon, as a divorce arrangement, or whether it can be used to lay the foundations for long range political agreements or even a final status solution,which recognizes the limitations of both sides.

This research examines the attempt to establish the role of Lithuanian Yeshivas as a spiritual alternative to western culture, such that will facilitate the real vocation of every young Haredi man - to come closer to God. The Haredi concept of western culture is one that focuses on "body building" and material possessions and is therefore limited. By contrast Haredi society and the Torah world in particular are viewed as focusing on the spiritual, reaching for a closeness to God and aspiring to sanctity, and hence unlimited. The research examines the difficulties in realizing this utopian vision, so central to understanding the Haredi society of scholars, and these are described against a background of crises in the yeshiva world in recent years and a significant drop from Haredi learning establishments.

This study examines patterns of cooperation between small municipalities both in israel and abroad. Cooperation frameworks aim to achieve efficacy and reduce expenditure as well as to improve the quality of services to citizens, reduce risks, solve mutual problems, develop municipal and economic projects and to forge nucli of power to confront central government.Undoubtedly, mutual trust is a fundamental factor in any arrangement as is a good working relationship between employees in positions of power, whether elected or professional.

This study focuses on the attitude of the Arab community of Jaffa to the Hassan Bey Mosque in Tel Aviv-Jaffo. The Hassan Bey Mosque serves as a point of reference for discussion on the means employed by the Arab-Palestinian minority in Israel to preserve historical, religious and cultural assets, substantiate its civic status and enhance its inner cohesiveness by creating a stronger, more comprehensive collective identity. The mosque became a symbol and bastion of the Jaffa community’s struggle for possession over its historical assets, its desire for spatial expression and for the fundamental need of individuals and groups alike to enhance their proximity and affiliation to the landscape which they occupy.