The first international webinar marking the cooperation agreement between University of the Free State, South Africa, and Haifa University, Israel, will be hosted tomorrow, 14 October 2020.
This webinar has been organized by MoU Facilitator, Glen Segell (DPhil, FRGS) – Ezri Center for Iran & Persian Gulf Studies, University of Haifa, Israel and Senior Professor of Political Studies and Governance, Hussein Solomon of the University of the Free State.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the 2 prominent universities was signed in April of 2018. The first workshop was to be hosted by University of Haifa in March 2020 to mark the agreement, however it was postponed due to COVID-19.
Topics to be presented and discussed
Panel 1: Iran
Panel 2: The Persian Gulf
Panel 3: Israel and the Palestinians
Panel 4: Middle East and North Africa
The audience and participants will have the opportunity to understand the dynamics of the Middle East from leading experts and will be able to ask questions at the end.
The webinar is open to the public and can be viewed live, at 14:30 South African time: https://www.facebook.com/HaifaMaritime
Benefiting South Africa
Notably, this comes at a time when multiple Arab nations are normalizing relations with Israel and already benefitting from Israel’s advanced technological achievements.
Academic freedom and cooperation will allow different cultures to flourish together, and South Africa will have a unique opportunity to advance its Humanities studies and understanding of peace efforts required in the area.
South Africa is said to also have the opportunity to benefit from Israel’s technological advancements in the medical, agricultural, water and sanitation and energy fields.
