Israel Reflections & Lessons: The Cycle of Violence & Fear

In the next few days, I will post several blogs compiled of postings from my students who were asked this week to reflect on what they learned from the trip to Israel (earlier posts on our trip can be found on the blog starting here).  I’ll start tonight with  third-year student Katie Bricco’s overall take on the trip and understanding of the “other”:

We had the opportunity to meet some extremely bright and influential people in the Israel-Palestinian debate.  When I think back to the speakers we heard from, my mind turns to the three Arab men that we met.  [Ed. note–We met with Justice Joubron of the Israeli Supreme Court, Ali from the Parent’s Circle, and Youssef Jabareen from the Arab Center for Law & Policy.]  Many of the Israelis (Jews) that we met were committed to the concept of peace and, likewise, were very open minded and tried to present fair assessments of how the conflict affects everyone involved.  I felt that I got a very good sense of the conflict from the Israeli perspective, but we often got the Palestinian and Arab Israeli perspective through the lens of an Israeli Jew.  There was something about hearing these concerns from people within the affected community that made me want to pay attention.  For me, understanding the human rights concerns that the Arab population in Israel faces  helps me to understand a facet of war that I have never been able to relate to.

Essentially, Israeli (Jews) are concerned about safety.

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What Did You Do for Your Spring Break?

Over spring break, Dispute Resolution Program Coordinator Natalie Fleury and I were privileged to take 20 Marquette students to Israel as part of their class on International Dispute Resolution. We were joined on the trip by 10 students from Arizona State University’s law school and our colleague Art Hinshaw. The trip was an amazing experience with a mix of law, dispute resolution, and important religious and tourist sites. Before we went, short student papers and presentations focused on some the elements of the trip so that we would be better informed. The presentations included the Israeli legal system, the structure of the Palestinian Authority, history of the Middle East in the 20th century, the Druze religion, what a two state solution might look like, etc.

We traveled to Jerusalem, the Galilee (where we slept at a kibbutz right on the Sea), Safed, Nazareth, the Golan Heights, Haifa, and Tel Aviv. In addition to visiting important religious sites along the way, our itinerary included tours of the Supreme Court and the Knesset, visits to Haifa, Bar-Ilan, and Tel Aviv University law schools, meetings with co-existence groups like the Parent’s Circle (a group of bereaved families from both sides) and Ir Amim (an NGO working on Israeli and Palestinians equality in Jerusalem), a briefing from the legal advisor to the Northern Command of the Israel Defense Forces, meetings with practicing attorneys, a meeting in Nazareth with a lawyer from the Arab Center for Law and Policy, and so on.

One clear highlight near the end of the trip included dinner at Aharon & Elika Barak’s home. You might recall that Justice Aharon Barak was our Hallows speaker this past fall. As former president (chief justice) of the Israeli Supreme Court, Aharon Barak is widely considered the “John Marshall” of Israeli law. His wife, Elika, just stepped down as Deputy Chief Judge of the Labor Court. Not only did they help coordinate the visit to the Israeli Supreme Court at the beginning of our trip, which included a meeting with the first Israeli Arab judge on the court, they provided a home-cooked meal in their backyard while discussing judicial activism and the role of dispute resolution in the court system!

Over the next few days, I’ll be posting some of the student reflections from the trip. We are also hosting a public debriefing of the trip at the Law School this Monday, April 4th in Room 267.  The entire community is invited.

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Can You Grow From a “No”?

On occasion, my brother-in-law and I get to thinking about the same topic.  His venue is a weekly sermon often linked to the Torah portion, while mine is the classroom and the blog.  I had much fun talking with him last week as he wrote his sermon “Can You Grow From a No?”  and I am delighted to link to his full sermon from two weeks ago in which I am the obliquely-referenced sister-in-law.  As he said,

To be human is to be in constant negotiation with other people, and those negotiations will either end in “yesses” or in “no’s.” And because we have needs, because we know what we think we want, because we are vain and have egos, we want those exchanges to end with a “yes.” We want our cravings to be met, our opinions proven true and our positions affirmed. A “yes” brings satisfaction. Our will has prevailed, our efforts have paid off, our selves have been validated. A “yes” means we were right.

“No’s” are less fun. “No’s” signal defeat. When someone tells us “no,” we feel a little piece of us die. We are bruised and we are hurt, diminished in the eyes of others and in our own eyes.

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