This research focuses on the internal discourse of the Gush Katif settlers, exposes their socio-political perceptions, and attempts to understand the motives and the socio-psychological reasoning determining the settlers’ conduct. An understanding of the settlers’ discourse entails understanding their perception of “a home” -  a geographic location strongly tied with their individual and community identity.  The research highlights the frequent tension between the humane, individual and communal discourse and the national-religious discourse.

The year 1996 marked a shift in the attitude of ultra-orthodox society to vocational and academic training for men. Also noted were changes in and expansion of vocational and academic training for women. Across Israel institutions of higher learning for Haredi men and women sprang, adapted to the special heterogeneous needs of this population. Thousands of men and women study in them and prepare themselves for a life of earning and integration into the labor market. This study reviews the shift from ideological, historical and socio-political perspectives and proposes recommendations to substantiate and expand this phenomenon.

• This essay details the urban consequences of the Al Aqsa Intifadah and the separation barrier project on Jerusalem. In West Jerusalem, the onset of terror, and specifically a wave of suicide bombings, hastened the city’s decentralization. Rapid decline of the economy and the disappearance of tourism further battered the city’s vitality. Israel’s  increased barriering of the city, culminating in the separation barrier project, was a major low for the city’s Arab inhabitants, and the urban fabric of East Jerusalem. Neighborhoods inside and outside the barrier were divided, with massive effects on daily life, work opportunities, property values, and relocation patterns. The paper argues that without a strategic package of urban recovery measures, Jerusalem is in danger of becoming locked in a spiral of decline.