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Faculty of Graduate Studies at the Arab American University Ramallah Campus hosted the former South African Ambassador to the State of Palestine Mr. Rafique Gangat in a lecture for Conflict Resolution and Development Master Students, to talk about interlocking boundaries between strategic and effective communication on one hand, and conflicts resolution on the other, knowing these two fields are intertwined with each other and with other knowledge fields.
Part of the former South African Ambassador lecture
The Ambassador Ghangat was welcomed by the Conflict Resolution and Development lecturer at the Faculty of Graduate Studies Dr. Ayman Yousef and Administrative Director of Ramallah Campus Mr. Mohammad Saba’na.
The lecture was attended by the conflict resolution and development program students who interacted with great passion as the lecturer used interactive tools, brainstorming and humor to manage the lecture, which had a great impact in making a change in them, conceptually and theoretically as all these theoretical methods were linked to the Palestinian case reality.
Ambassador Gangat explained that one of today’s most important communication problems is the lack of message clarity and absence of vision, as in many cases listening to the lecturer or trainer isn’t for understanding and reasoning, but to prepare to respond which wastes effort and the message real contents.
Adding, communication can’t be separated from other skills and living experiences that contribute to resolving the conflict, especially negotiation, communication, mediation, arbitration and facilitation. This package is an integrated one to change effective communication contents to resolve conflicts in their political, social and cultural contexts.
The lecture addressed the importance of considering a range of variables and factors to conduct an effective communication process, including personality, community culture, human nature, and conflict parties, and the importance of excluding stereotypes and prejudices to move forward in effective influence and human communication. To do so we must use symbols, body language, literature, sports, art, spoken and non-spoken expressions, stories, novels and jokes. This is what Nelson Mandela used as the leader of the liberation movement and president of South Africa after the end of apartheid era, especially his passion towards sport and continued support for his country's football, cricket and rugby teams.
