In the coming weeks and months, there will be a variety of events across Brown to provide our community a chance to learn about and discuss current events in Israel and Gaza. View a full listing of University events.
The following events are open to the Brown community:
Spring 2024
February 8: "Resistance Literature from Pre-Islamic Arabic to Palestine" with Huda Fakhreddine, whose work focuses on modernist movements or trends in Arabic poetry and their relationship to the Arabic literary tradition.
February 15: "Siri, Is Zionism Settler-Colonialism? The pre and post 10/7 discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in Academia and Activism," an informal discussion with Arnon Degani, a Fellow at the Harman Center at the Hebrew University and a senior researcher at Molad.
February 22: "Responsibility to imagine: A future for Israelis and Palestinians without Zionism," an informal discussion with Nadim Rouhanna, Professor of International Negotiation and Conflict Studies, the graduate school of global affairs at Tufts University.
February 28: "Israel and Palestine beyond the Israel-Hamas War," a discussion with Gershon Baskin and Samer Sinijlawi, moderated by Professor David C. Jacobson. Co-sponsored by Judaic Studies.
February 29: "Historical Reflections on Academic Freedom, Universities, and Democracies in Times of Crisis and War", an informal discussion with Eugene Sheppard, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought, Director of the History of Ideas program, Associate Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, and associate editor of the Tauber Institute Series with Brandeis University Press
March 5: "Israel, Palestine, and the Old-New Middle East" with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer, the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.
March 7: "The Israeli Working Class and Israel’s 'Fascist Turn'" with Zvi Ben-Dor Benite’s, whose research centers on the interaction between religions in world history and cultural exchanges across space and time.
March 14: "Before the Settlers: Gazan Jews, The history of Jews in Ottoman Palestine, and the War", a discussion with Orit Bashkin, the Mabel Greene Myers Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Chicago.
March 21: "Living Together After “Ethnic” Violence" featuring Melani Cammett, Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government and Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
April 11: "Israel, Palestine and the One-State Solution in the Aftermath of the War on Gaza" with Professor Leila Farsakh, whose focus includes Middle East Politics, Comparative Politics, and the Politics of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
April 18: "The Laws of War, International Crimes and the Israel-Palestine Conflict" featuring Melanie O’Brien, Visiting Professor at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, USA, and President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS).
April 25: "(Where is) Gaza in International Law?" featuring Karin Loevy, manager of the JSD Program at NYU School of Law and a researcher at the Institute for International Law and Justice (IILJ) where she leads the History & Theory of International Law workshop series.
Fall 2023
October 19: The Center for Middle East Studies will host "Gaza: A Community Conversation," featuring four panelists from Brown University and moderated by Nadje Al-Ali, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies.
October 20: "Gaza 101: Gaza in Context: A Collaborative Teach-in Series" moderated by Bassam Haddad.
October 25: "There Is No Solution, So Now What?" featuring Ian Lustick, author of "Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality."
November 1: "Does International Law Matter? The Israeli Occupation and Beyond" featuring Nathaniel Berman, author of "Passion and Ambivalence: Colonialism, Nationalism, and International Law."
November 8: "Current Events in Israel–Gaza: with Shaul Magid and Youval Evri" featuring Shaul Magid, author of "Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical" and Yuval Evri, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies on the Marash and Ocuin Chair in Ottoman, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jewish Studies, Brandeis University.
November 15: "Competing Narratives in the Israel-Hamas War" featuring Ora Szekely, author of "The Politics of Militant Group Survival in the Middle East: Resources, Relationships, and Resistance."
November 20: "The Abuse of Historical Analogy in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" featuring Derek Penslar, who recently authored "Zionism: An Emotional State."
November 29: "The Time of Catastrophe in Jewish and Islamic Cultures" featuring Shahzad Bashir, author of "A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures" and Nitzan Lebovic author of "Zionism and Melancholy."
November 29: "Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitic? NEW PERSPECTIVES ON A CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE" featuring Professor Ethan Katz. Co-sponsored by Judaic Studies.
December 5: "Community Conversations: The Hamas Attack and Israel's War in Gaza: Historical Context, Significance and Future Scenarios," featuring three panelists from Brown University and moderated by Nadje Al-Ali, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies.
December 6: Beshara Doumani & Amahl Bishara will host an informal discussion on the current events in Israel-Gaza. Beshara Doumani is the former director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University and former president of Birzeit University. Doumani is also the author of "Family Life in the Ottoman Mediterranean: A Social History." Amahl Bishara is Associate Professor, Anthropology, Studies in Race, Colonialism and Diaspora, Tufts University.