Examining environmental narratives among Palestinians and Israelis offers insights into a region that is rapidly changing in its social and environmental characteristics. Resource "scarcity", conflict related environmental degradation, waste, industrial and agricultural pollution, rapidly decreasing bio-diversity, urbanization, population change, economic dislocations and threats to unique natural areas are part of the transformation of the landscape and regional social relations. Efforts to move towards sustainability are also part of this transformation. We invite papers from academics and non-governmental organizations which approach Palestinian and Israeli environmental issues using narrative analysis. Papers may deal with such topics as:

I. Themes in Palestinian and Israeli constructions of the environment:

• how they define, perceive and conceptualize their environments
• how they see their relationship to nature
• what agency they perceive themselves to possess and how that agency is expressed in action
• how they perceive and relate to others through their environmental narratives
• how "sustainability" is introduced into regional environmental narratives

  II. Micro-level analysis: Community experiences and perceptions:

• identity and "sense of place"—how people relate to environmental change on the local level
• how environmental change has an impact on the routines of daily life
• how environmental issues are interrelated (with gender, class, ethnic and national identities at the center)

  III. Macro-level analysis: the intersection of national, regional and transnational environmental narratives on Palestine and Israel. Environmental "stories" told, for example, by:

• governmental institutions (through school textbooks, public rituals, and policy papers)
• NGOs and international organizations
• Academic scholars and institutions
• popular communications media

  The conference also welcomes papers on related themes:

• research in other settings which may inform research on Palestine and Israel
• methodological issues in environmental narrative research
• the relationship of physical science-based environmental study and environmental narrative research in Israel and Palestine.