April 28, 2003

Contact: Robert C. Rowland, Communications Studies, (785) 864-3633.

Expert on Israeli-Palestinian conflict to present lecture May 2 at KU

LAWRENCE -- David Frank, co-author of a recent book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, will present a lecture from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Friday, May 2, in the Relays Room of the Burge Union at the University of Kansas. The lecture is titled "Trajectories of Israeli-Palestinian Symbol Use: The Case of Yitzhak Rabin."

Frank, director of the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon in Bend, along with KU faculty member Robert "Robin" Rowland, co-wrote the recent book "Shared Land/Conflicting Identity: Trajectories of Israeli and Palestinian Symbol Use." Rowland is professor and chair of communication studies at KU.

In the lecture, Frank will lay out the thesis of the book: that the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is shaped not only by issues of land and water but also by the symbolic systems that the two peoples use to create a sense of shared identity. According to Frank, one example of how symbols shape the conflict is in the contrasting ways that Israelis and Palestinians view the ongoing Palestinian Intifada.

"Where Israelis see terrorists, Palestinians see freedom fighters struggling for justice," Frank explains. "Given these conflicting views, it is understandable that the conflict has been so difficult to resolve."