Maxwell School News and Commentary

“Each of the possible changes in the current conflict in Gaza looks improbable, until steps are taken to make it happen,” says Louis Kriesberg, professor emeritus of sociology and Maxwell Professor Emeritus of Social Conflict Studies.

“I think this is actually a significant—you know, it moves the needle. I think it sends an important signal to the civilian population in Gaza that we are concerned about them,” Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, says of the U.S. military's use of a floating pier to get food and other supplies to the people in Gaza.

“There are 1.4 million Palestinians now who have been displaced for the second or third time in seven months. ...They're living in camps, disease is rampant, we have famine spreading throughout Gaza, and the reality is unless the international community, led by the United States, steps in and brings a halt to this, we could be looking at a major disaster,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history.

"The public hand-wringing versus the actual demonstrative support for Netanyahu's government, politically, diplomatically, militarily is going to be difficult for Biden," says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. "It would be very difficult for him to explain that to the base and energize the base to come out in November," he says.

Omar Cheta, assistant professor of history, contributed a chapter titled “Hostages of Credit: The Imprisonment of Debtors in the Khedival Period” to the book “The Oxford Handbook of Modern Egyptian History” (Oxford Academci, 2024).

Iran's retaliation was a way to show the international stage that the country had a backbone after Israel's airstrike in Damascus, says Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs. But, more broadly, Saturday's attack shows just how effective Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel was at stoking chaos in the Middle East, he says.

“Peacebuilding Through Cooperation in Health Care and Public Health Between Israel and Palestine,” co-authored by Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Robert Rubinstein, was published in the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice.

The Maxwell School professor’s recent book is relevant as the state grapples with controversy over a Saudi dairy company’s farming.

“It is unprecedented in part because of who Senator Schumer is. He’s not only the Senate majority leader, he’s a democrat, but he’s also the highest-ranking Jewish official, the first Jewish Senate majority leader. So there’s a number of aspects here that are really important to and that add weight to what he’s saying,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history.

"What makes Arizona special is that when you have this desert land, you can grow alfalfa at an incredibly fast rate because of the amount of sunshine. So, as long as you have plentiful water, you can just grow," says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment.