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 & 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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