Israel Reflections–Use of Force & Civilian Targets

In light of the events in Israel earlier this week – Hamas launched a missile attack on an Israeli schoolbus and the Israelis responded with missile attacks into Gaza – one of the speakers from our trip to Israel is particularly on point today.  How do you determine an “appropriate” response to the Hamas attack?  Here are one student’s reflections on our meeting with Roni Lev, the military attorney for the Northern Command of the Israel Defense Forces:

For me, Roni Lev was one of the most interesting speakers we had during the trip. She presented on the operational legal questions she would face in her job as legal adviser to the Northern Command of the IDF. I was most interested in how Israeli law has evolved to address targeting and weighing the risk of civilian casualties. It was fairly clear the Israeli military and legal system had devoted a considerable amount of time to those questions, and that Israeli ethics had weighed heavily in the determination of operational rules. The whole discussion was rounded out nicely by Roni’s father, who provided an anecdote from his Air Force days of an Israeli pilot who received orders to fire but chose not to because of the probability of substantial civilian casualties. The commanding officer expressed his disagreement but respected the pilot’s decision. Overall, it was an interesting look at how the law tries to solve difficult operational questions, but also how the law will never be able to govern the complex situations that confront the Israeli military.

Cross posted at Indisputably.

 

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Israel Reflections–Restorative Justice

In honor of the RJ conference that Marquette is hosting today (link here for the agenda on clergy abuse and healing), I thought I would post several student reflections on our meeting with the restorative justice group Parent’s Circle when we were in Jerusalem.  The Parent’s Circle is a group of bereaved family members on both sides of the conflict that work on reconciliation, and hearing their stories is truly an honor.  Below are two different student reflections, from Rebekah Thigpen and Juan Amado, on our meeting and the work of the Parent’s Circle:

When we arrived in Israel and began our sightseeing and touring, one of the things that struck me the most was how “normal” our surroundings were – people went to work, had families, and lived their day-to-day lives like the nothing out of the ordinary was going on in the region. Even though the conflict was not as apparent as I thought it would be, as the trip went on, we heard many different speakers with many different perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, some more favorable to Israel and some more favorable to Palestinians. However, it was during our time meeting with two individuals from Parent’s Circle that the consequences of the conflict became real while at the same time breaking down the barrier between the two sides.  During our Parent’s Circle meeting, we met with two individuals both of whom lost a loved one in the conflict. The older woman, Robi, lost her son while he was on active duty in the Israeli Defense Force and the younger Palestinian man, Ali, lost his brother at the hands of the Israeli Defense Force. At first blush, one might assume these two individuals would be natural enemies given their stories, but instead they have come together in their grief to move past the conflict. Although these two individuals, like many others who participate in Parent’s Circle, have come together as a result of unfortunate circumstances, I think it demonstrates a larger concept at the heart of resolving disputes peacefully. Participants in the Parent’s Circle, both Israelis and Palestinians, are able to move beyond the conflict because they each have something in common, something in common that humanizes one another. I hope that if more Israelis and Palestinians can come together based on common interests or common experiences such that each side realizes that the other is human, both living day-to-day lives as mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives and husbands, the conflict can fade into the background.

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Israel Reflections: Dinner with the Baraks

As followers of the blog know, one of the high points of our trip to Israel was dinner with Justice Aharon Barak and his wife Judge Elika Barak.  We were also joined by their daughter, Tamar, who is a mediator.  Interestingly from the dispute resolution perspective, Justice Barak was the judge who brought mediation to Israel through the Supreme Court, permitting cases to be referred to mediation.  In this post, student Olga Kordonskaya reflects on the evening:

The Baraks were open and willing to discuss various topics, including dispute resolution and their professions. Justice Barak spoke about criticisms made of him and discussed them in various contexts to help us understand what role he saw for himself in the judiciary. Justice Barak, who brought mediation to Israel, shared his opinions on mediation and its role in Israel and as a vehicle of dispute resolution. Judge Barak, with a different perspective as a labor judge, discussed the role of mediation in the labor courts, as well as her experience as a judge there and the challenges that the labor courts face.

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