Back in the Saddle

I have been traveling the past two weeks, leading a group of 25 of my law students on a two-credit course on International Humanitarian Law in Israel and Palestine.   How does a U.S. contracts prof teach a course on the law of armed conflict in Israel?  I get by with a little help from my friends.  We teamed up with an Israeli law college, Sha’arei Mishpat Academic Center (SMAC), and I had the pleasure of c0-designing, co-directing and co-teaching the program with the very accomplished Professor Yaël Ronen (pictured).  My students’ experience was enriched by the fact that eight Israeli students from SMAC also participated in the course.

We partnered with Mejdi Tours, which provided us with two tour guides, one Jewish Israeli, one Muslim (Palestinian) Israeli.  Together they gave us their versions of the dual narrative that continues to unwind, side-by-side, each informing the other even when the two sides do not acknowledge the other’s perspective.  Nothing beats teaching a course in the place where the subject matter of the course has been written and is being supplemented on a continual basis.

My students chronicled our trip as we went, and those chronicles are in the process of being posted on a Mejdi Tours blog.  While we were teaching our students international humanitarian law, they gave me a lesson in the art of the selfie.

Thanks to Myanna Dellinger and Nancy Kim for keeping stuff happening on the blog while I was off on my frolic and detour.  We now return to our regular programming. . . .