Defending Hamas - Sara Roy December 29, 2008

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/10/14/Sara_Roy_Beyond_Occupation

Sara Roy, research scholar in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, examines international opinions of Palestine's ruling Hamas party. Roy claims Hamas to be "a far more pragmatic movement than its typical representation in the West."

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Dr. Sara Roy, a senior Middle Eastern studies research scholar at Harvard University, discusses the economic impact of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and argues that Israel's policies are aimed at keeping the territory impoverished and dependent. -- ABC FORA

Sara Roy is a senior research scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University where she completed her doctoral studies in international development. Trained as a political economist, Dr. Roy has worked in the Gaza Strip and West Bank since 1985 conducting research primarily on the economic, social and political development of the Gaza Strip and on U.S. foreign aid to the region. Dr. Roy has written extensively on the Palestinian economy, particularly in Gaza, and has documented its development over the last three decades. Her current research, which was funded by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, examines the social and economic sectors of the Palestinian Islamic movement and their relationship to Islamic political institutions, and the critical changes to the Islamic movement that have occurred over the last decade. Her primary findings point to a restructuring and de-radicalisation of the Islamist movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip prior to the start of the second Palestinian uprising.