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Emma Costa
Description: It is an understatement to say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is contentious, as we have seen at Harvard and on many campuses across the country. Rhetoric is often batted about – genocide, war crimes, apartheid – often with little regard to their legal definitions. This study group will examine those definitions and apply them to the facts of the conflict. The aim is to have a discussion based on facts and law rather than ideology. With that limitation, people of all perspectives are actively encouraged to take part.
The study group will take place three times over the Fall 2024 semester, twice in person and once remotely, on the following dates:
Session 1: Thursday, October 3, 2024 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm (Fainsod Room)
Session 2: Thursday, October 24, 2024 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm (Remote by Zoom)
Session 3: Thursday, November 7, 2024 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm (Fainsod Room)
Note: For those who are unable to make it to Session One on October 3, there will be a second Session One held on October 15th via Zoom. Please register for that session here.
This event is only open to HUID holders. Preregistration is required. Please be sure to register separately for each session you plan to attend.
Recommended Readings:
October 3 – Are War Crimes Being Committed in Gaza and the West Bank, and If So, What Are They?
Kenneth Roth, “Crimes of War in Gaza,” New York Review of Books, July 18, 2024: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/07/18/crimes-of-war-in-gaza-kenneth-roth/
October 24 – Is Israel Committing the Crime of Genocide in Gaza?
Aryeh Neier, “Is Israel Committing Genocide?” New York Review of Books, June 6, 2024: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2024/06/06/is-israel-committing-genocide-aryeh-neier/
Kenneth Roth, “The ICJ ruling is a repudiation of Israel and its western backers,” Guardian, January 26, 2024: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/26/icj-ruling-israel-western-backers
Kenneth Roth, “A case can be made that Israel has genocidal intent,” Boston Globe, April 22, 2024: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/04/22/opinion/israel-hamas-gaza-genocide/
November 7 – Is Israel Committing the Crime of Apartheid in the West Bank and East Jerusalem?
Human Rights Watch, A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution, April 27, 2021, summary only: https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution /
Moderator/Facilitator
Kenneth Roth served as executive director of Human Rights Watch from 1993 to 2022. He is currently a Visiting Professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. He has written extensively on the Israel-Palestine conflict, including a chapter in his forthcoming book, Righting Wrongs, to be published by Knopf in February 2025: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/739898/righting-wrongs-by-kenneth-roth/
Roth is a graduate of Yale Law School and Brown University. Before his time with Human Rights Watch, he was a federal prosecutor in New York and Washington.