Israel/Palestine Dialogue Group
Following the success of our Israel/Palestine seminar series, and in particular the interest generated by Danny Habel’s excellent lecture ‘Israel: Hero or Villain?’, the centre is about to initiate an Israel/Palestine discussion group which will meet once a approximately month at the University of Winchester. Each session will focus on a specific issue agreed by the group, and will begin with a short talk or presentation to introduce the subject with the majority of the time will be given over to group dialogue. The group will explore issues such as:
- Can anyone listen to Hamas while it has its current Charter?
- Does NGOs involvement in the Middle East hinder the peace process?
- Are Jewish settlements around East Jerusalem interfering with peace negotiations?
- What international law(s) is Israel breaking, if any?
- Should Israel be a Jewish state?
- What role can/does religion play in the peace process?
- Can discussion groups in diaspora ever do anything about conflicts elsewhere in the world?
As our seminar series has demonstrated this is an issue which understandably is extremely emotive. The intention of this initiative is to allow all participants to have the opportunity to voice their views respectively and constructively, with the ultimate objective of articulating some potential ways forward for the peace process. St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace will support the project by offering speakers for relevant sessions and providing trained group facilitators when required. For more information, or if you are interested in joining the group, please contact Dr Mark Owen: mark.owen@winchester.ac.uk