Class features diverse voices on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

A UC Santa Cruz class beginning this month will feature a speakers series with diverse voices on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"Perspectives on Israel/Palestine" is open to the public and will take place Tuesdays (with the exception of one Thursday) beginning October 7 from 6-7:45 p.m., at the Merrill Academy, Room102.

"The main goal is to help students and members of the public think in an informed and critical way about different narratives and perspectives associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," said Ella Ben Hagai, a UC Santa Cruz doctoral student in psychology who designed and will teach the class.

"We are hosting speakers with very diverse approaches to the conflict, and we hope this will help listeners synthesize different perspectives on the conflict into a multidimensional understanding of Israel/Palestinian issues," she said.

Featured speakers
 
October 7: Christine King, lecturer, Kresge College,  "Making Peace with Conflict."

October 14:  Jennifer Derr, history, UC Santa Cruz,  "The History of Palestine: From Colonialism to Occupation."

October 21:  Bruce Thompson, history and Jewish studies, UC Santa Cruz, "The History of Zionism: From Hertzl to Ben-Gurion."

October 28: Jean-Jacques Surbeck, executive director of Training and Education about the Middle East, "Israel and the World, a Unique Lesson in Double Standards."

November 4:  Hatam Bazian, Near Eastern Studies and Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley, "Palestine, Islamophobia and Global Dispossession."

Thursday, November 13: Stephen Zunes, politics and international studies, University of San Francisco, "Israel, Palestine, and the United States: The Failure of Governments and the Hope from Civil Society."

November 18:  Eran Kaplan, chair, Israel studies, San Francisco State University, "Changes in Israel society and the Peace Process."

November 25: Lee Ross, psychology, Stanford University, and Byron Bland, Stanford Law School, "Barriers for Peace."  

December 2:  Aaron Hahn Tapper, peace and justice studies, University of San Francisco,  and Tom Pettigrew, professor emeritus, psychology, UC Santa Cruz, "Contact, Intergroup Dialogue and the Question of Normalization."