Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (LAW-795IS-001)
Belgrade
Meets: 08:00 PM - 09:50 PM (W) - Room 314
Enrolled: 13 / Limit: 16
Notices
There are no notices at this time.
Description
This seminar is intent on tackling the same grappling issues that U.S. Presidents and Secretaries of States have grappled with for decades. While the conflict is ongoing, both Israelis and Palestinians believe that “the law” is on their side. Other states and international organizations have shown their support (or lack thereof) using legal justifications throughout. Even the United States is required to do the same, whether it means determining the location of its embassy in Israel, figuring how it could legally provide aid to the Palestinians when it was under Hamas control, describing on a U.S. passport the country with which Jerusalem is located, or providing loan guarantees to Israel conditioned on dismantling settlements in the West Bank. The seminar will utilize legal doctrines taught in the law school from other courses including International Law, Human Rights, Natural Resources, and National Security, to name a few. Using these and other doctrines, the seminar will focus first on the history of the conflict including its various “narratives.” It will proceed to the sources of law that have emerged from the conflict as well as an analysis of relevant treaties, agreements, statutes and policy documents. It will then focus on the core issues that are considered essential to its resolution: refugees, Jerusalem, security, and final permanent borders. Seminar requirements include mandatory attendance, class participation, a paper that will be due at the end of the last class, and a class presentation on your paper topic. I will be available to meet with students individually throughout the semester to ensure that the paper assignment and presentation will be ready as well addressing any other questions.
Textbooks and Other Materials
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Required Texts (all or significant portions of these texts will be assigned): THE ISRAEL-ARAB READER: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT (Laqueur and Rubin (eds.), 7th ed., 2008) – (“Laqueur & Rubin”) MALCOLM SHAW, INTERNATIONAL LAW (6th ed. 2008) – (“Shaw”) (excerpts only).
First Class Readings
Laqueur & Rubin: pp: 1-17, 41-42, 69-88, 116-120. U.S. Department of State: Background Note – Israel http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3581.htm; CIA World Factbook - Israel, the West Bank and Gaza https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/is.html; https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/we.html; https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/gz.html
Syllabus
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Adobe Acrobat (PDF)