Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

A distinctive
feature of social and
cultural life at CMC

 

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in Jewish Discourse: Identity, Justice, and Religion

Tue, March 6, 2018
Dinner Program
Tal Becker

Behind the leaders and negotiators in any conflict are the societies they represent. While most discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict tend to focus on the policy issues in dispute, an unspoken but no less important dimension is the way in which the conflict is viewed and experienced within each community and in the context of its own self-understanding. Tal Becker, senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, will review the nature of Jewish discourse with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both within and outside Israel, to illuminate the values, ideas, historical references, and narratives that shape this debate and offer a deeper perspective on the conflict and the challenges and opportunities associated with addressing it. 

Tal Becker, Ph.D., is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he leads educational initiatives on Israel and the Jewish world. In this capacity, he is a leading member of the Institute's "Engaging Israel" series which is the premier educational program on Israel engagement in North America that is working to strengthen and re-imagine the relationship between Israel and World Jewry. 

Becker also serves as the Legal Adviser of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has been a senior member of the Israeli peace negotiation team in successive rounds of peace negotiations. He has many years of experience as a veteran negotiator on the front lines of many of Israel's most pressing diplomatic, legal, and policy challenges and has also played key roles in behind the scenes for Israel in a wide variety of contexts. 

Among numerous previous positions, Becker has been a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, senior policy advisor to Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, a lead negotiator and drafter in the Annapolis peace talks, director of the International Law Department at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, counsel to Israel's UN Mission in New York, and an international law expert for the Israel Defense Forces. 

Becker earned his doctorate from Columbia University and, among numerous scholarly awards, is the winner of the Rabin Peace Prize and the 2007 Guggenheim Prize for best international law book for his book "Terrorism and the State.”

Dr. Becker's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the President's Leadership Fund and the Jewish Studies Sequence at CMC presentation and is part of the "Peace in the Middle East" series. 

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum

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