About Le Anne Clausen Expertise I can answer questions about human rights work as a vocation, human rights as they pertain to the Middle East and/or Muslim world, particularly Palestine/Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan. While in Iraq, I helped to investigate prisoner abuses, including those at Abu Ghraib. I can also answer questions on women's rights in the Middle East. I cannot give you legal advice.
Experience I was a human rights worker for four years in the Middle East, including Palestine, Israel, and Iraq. I also participated in a human rights delegation to Afghanistan in summer 2005. I have an MA in Christian-Muslim relations, with special study on women's issues; I also worked one year for an Arab women's grassroots human rights organization. I am currently working to build an interfaith peace-teams based human rights organization
Publications "Be the Healers" (considering next steps for addressing the Abu Ghraib scandal), July 2004 edition, "The Lutheran" magazine.
Also: www.christian-muslim.net; www.young-activist.blogspot.com; additional interviews and articles about me are available via Google search.
Question My teacher has assigned me a book essay in which he asks What is occupation? (Use examples from the book Strangers in the House: Coming of Age in Palestine)
I was having problems organizing my essay and developing a thesis statement. I was thinking the book is referring to the military occupation of the Palestineans under the Israeli forces. How would i go about Further developing my essay? i have all the examples i would like to use from the novel but I don't know how develop a strong thesis statement. I was wondering if you could help and get back to me asap. thank you
Answer Greetings Henna, and thanks for your question. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the book, so I can't help specifically with developing the essay. A good way to come up with a thesis statement is to ask the question of what the book tries to explain. Otherwise, if you have all the examples you want from the book (which demonstrates you've read the book), this is a good reason to go back to your teacher, to get help with organizing your ideas.
Incidentally, I define a military occupation as one in which a foreign military presence is sustained in a country and holds control over most if not all aspects of daily life for its residents. This is how I would define Palestine, as well as Iraq.
