Claiming equal rights – is this the best strategy for change?

Independent Jewish Voices is pleased to invite you to join us for a our spring conference, organised in conjunction with Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities and the Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue.

EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL: A NEW PATH FOR ISRAEL-PALESTINE? 

14 - 16 MARCH 2015, BIRKBECK

Register early as places are limited. 

SPEAKERS TO INCLUDE:

§  Sam Bahour – Palestinian-American business consultant, policy adviser to Palestinian Policy Network Al-Shabaka, and writer

§  Brenna Bhandar – Senior Lecturer, SOAS School of Law

§  Bashir Bashir – political theorist, Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

§  Moshe Behar – Middle East historian, University of Manchester

§  Avraham Burg – author, MK, Former Speaker of the Knesset, former Chairman of the Jewish Agency

§  Taghreed El-Khodary – Journalist and Visiting Scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

§  Leila Farsakh – Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts

§  Salma Karmi-Ayyoub – criminal barrister, former litigator with Al-Haq, Ramallah-based human rights NGO

§  Menachem Klein – Middle East historian, Professor in Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University

§  Michelle Pace – Professor (MSO) with Special Responsibilities in EU-Middle East Relations, Roskilde University

§  Yossi Rapoport – Islamic historian, Queen Mary, University of London

§  Leila Shahid – General Delegate of Palestine to the EU

§  Avi Shlaim – Emeritus Professor of International Relations, Oxford University

§  John Strawson – colonial legal historian, co-director, Centre on Human Rights in Conflict, University of East London

§  Nimer Sultany – lecturer in Public Law and constitutional theorist, SOAS

§  Abu Ahmed Tawahina – clinical psychologist, human rights and peace activist, chairman of Gaza Dignity, a new human rights and mental health organization

§  Limor Yehuda – former director, Human Rights in the Occupied Territories dept, Association for Civil Rights in Israel

TOGETHER WITH TONY KLUG, JACQUELINE ROSE AND LYNNE SEGAL

Full programme available to download below.

The failure of the Kerry peace plan, the devastating bombardment of Gaza in July and August 2014, and the annexation by Israel of more land in the West Bank have delivered another setback to both the prospect of Palestinian statehood and an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict. More broadly, 47 years of military occupation have denied the Palestinians inhabiting these territories almost every basic civil and human right. It is time therefore for an objective appraisal of the reality of life for Palestinians, a thorough understanding of the nature of the Israeli-controlled military and civil regime that prevails in the entire Israel-Palestine area, and a recognition that there will be no solution that can secure the viability of a peaceful life for Israelis and Palestinians unless it is grounded in the principles of universal human rights and international law. Shifting attention from discussions focused solely on a one-or-two-state agreement, the fundamental question this Conference seeks to address is how to achieve equal rights for all who live in Palestine-Israel.

In pursuit of these objectives, the conference will also aim to highlight the real impact of occupation and ask how it may be brought to an end; seek to facilitate co-operation between Palestinians and like-minded Israeli Jews; and issue a rallying call for the international community.

Conference topics

• Can a renewed emphasis on rights help overcome the failures of the international community to broker a just and sustainable peace and an end of the occupation?
• Attaining full and equal rights for all: what does this mean in practice? Specifying the civil, political, social and economic rights and the required political and constitutional changes
• Mapping the balance of power and control in Palestine-Israel
• National self-determination: reconciling competing nationalisms
• Defining a new politics of belonging for Israeli Jews and Palestinians
• Protecting minority rights in Palestine-Israel
• Working together: how can a joint Israeli-Palestinian movement for civil and political rights be created?
• International pressure to achieve change: international law, diplomatic pressure, BDS, new media, diasporas
• What constitutional structures might most successfully enshrine and protect equal rights for all?
• Next steps: linking with other initiatives, transforming words into deeds

Click here to download the Equal Rights for All – IJV Conference Programme.