Professors Celebrate 20 Years of ‘The Israeli Palestinian Experiment’

This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the popular and groundbreaking course GVPT309X/ISRL349X: Topics in International Relations: Conflict Resolution—The Israeli Palestinian Experiment. This interactive 3-credit course provides an in-depth understanding of this conflict using simulations exploring contending historical perspectives and the search for common ground. Topics include Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, water rights, border disputes and security concerns.

Professors Manuel Hassassian and Edy Kaufman—a Palestinian and an Israeli, respectively—developed the course two decades ago in order to foster dialogue, understanding and possible solutions to their nations’ centuries-old conflict.

“Reflecting on times of unmet expectations, wars and difficult personal experiences, we wish share our accumulated wisdom on what it takes to connect across the divide event at times of violent conflict,” Professor Kaufman said.

Watch the videos to learn more about the course.

Professor Hassassian is the Palestinian Ambassador in the United Kingdom. Professor Edy Kaufman has been the Director of both the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at UMD, and is concurrently teaching at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel.

The course meets Aug. 3-21 on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-9:20 p.m. in Tydings 1101. The the course will also meet on Saturday, Aug.15 and Sunday, Aug. 16 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day for an interactive conflict resolution workshop.

Students who wish to register for this section after July 17 are encouraged to contact summer@umd.edu.

Published on Thu, Jun 4, 2015 - 9:31AM