Occupation 101
JVL Introduction
This Zoom online course comes highly recommended and we’ve been asked to pass on the details.
It starts on 1st October, with weekly sessions, and the first session is free. If you enrol after that, fees are used to raise money support the Sumarin family, Palestinians whose family’s house has been stolen by the Jewish National Fund.
Contact nimrodevron@gmail.com for details and to join the first session
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The facilitator, Nimrod Evron is an Israeli activist and educator. He has been active in the anti-militarization and refusers movement, in various direct actions with Palestinians, and in various social justice campiagns. He specializes in combining politics with critical education. He will be accompanied by different Palestinian guest speakers in several of the sessions.
Occupation 101: Learning about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, from the basics
Everything you wanted to know about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but were too afraid to be called out to actually ask
This is a really amazing course, which gave me a very nuanced and comprehensive account of very complicated situation. Nimrod is a great moderator, his explanations are very clear, and the guest speakers gave us a plurality of points of view that were really enriching. The atmosphere in the class is amazing. Highly recommended! “
– Chiara, course participant
Dates: Thursdays, 19:00-20:45 (UK time), beginning 1st october 2020
1.10, 8.10, 15,10, 22,10, 29.10, 5.11, 12.11 26.11, 3.12. 10.12, 17.12, 7.1., 14.1, 21.1
The sessions are weekly and online (zoom)
Contact nimrodevron@gmail.com for details and to join the first session
Aims of this Course
To give comprehensive basic understanding of the conflict and occupation, both for people new to the conflict and people that already find themselves involved but feel they just need a better understanding.
To create a safe space to study, discuss and to inner-reflect about one of the most relevant, yet hazardous-for-discussion topics on the agenda.
To give complicated, nuanced and helpful information and discourse on a topic which often lacks all of these in mainstream and social media.
Each session is 1.5-2 hours. The sessions will combine discussions, presentations, videos and guest speakers.
In addition, between each session you will get a tailored reading list to further learn about the subject of the week, which will include articles, film, clips and music, as well as a “Who’s Who” document – mapping the different forces and groups active in the conflict.
This course is supported by the Yalla Nakba Education – a led by young Palestinians and Jews to teach about the Nakba.
Fees
Come to the first session for free, and then decide if it’s right for you
Fees are used to raise money for the Sumarin Family. They are a Palestinian family in need of funds for legal fees in their fight to stay in their home after the the rights for it was stolen from them under racist motives. Read about it here. Fees are also used to help the facilitator (me) to have a living. So anything you pay is for a good cause!
Regular cost – £10 for each session (£140 for the whole course) + reading/watching list.
“If you please can” cost – £15 for each session (£210 for the whole course) + reading/watching list.
“If you can’t” – no one will be prevented from the course due to financial difficulties. Talk to me and we will arrange an amount that will work at for you.
You may break down the fee payments.
Warning: This is not a neutral course (there is no such thing). It does not aim to be “balanced” or “equal” to “both sides”. The violence between Israelis and Palestinians is far from being symmetric. There is a military occupation and a systematic disenfranchisement of Palestinian’s basic rights upheld by the state of Israel and the vast majority of Jewish-Israeli society. There is a dire need to resist this. However, the discourse promoted in this course aims to show that the clarity of having strong moral and political positions is not dimmed, but strengthened, by being supported by nuance and complexity.
Course Structure
For the full course structure, scroll bellow
The course is divided into three sub-sections:
Sessions 1-3 “The Basics” aim to “give us a footing” about the conflict, in understanding the group we are in, our personal, emotional and political positions, and having a wide (but brief) historical background (some of which will be expanded upon later).
Sessions 4-7 “The Issues” will dwell each time on a specific issue of the conflict, this will usually involve a guest as well.
Sessions 8-13 “Perspectives and Solutions” should help us understand both ideas of why and how the occupation is being sustained, current trends, what acts of resistance are being attempted, and finally to allow the participants to “try and solve the conflict” or at least think what are their stands about it now.
The course – session by session
The Basics
1. Introduction: why we are here, what is our presumptions, why can’t we usually learn properly about this, and how are we going to make it a proper space to learn and express our opinions.
2. Having basic navigational skills in the fundamentals of the conflict – Brief historical picture (19th century until 1967): The Zionist Dream, Palestine pre 1948, 48 war and the Nakkbah, The state of Israel and the Palestinians until 1967.
3. The six day war, Occupation of 1967, establishment of occupation, First Lebanon War, First intifada, Oslo Accords, Second intifada, Separation Wall, Disengagement plan, Hamas takeover, Gaza Siege.
The Issues
4. The Nakkbah and the refugees
5. The military occupation in the West Bank and living within it (as Palestinians and as settlers, including the military judicial and bureaucratic system)
6. Palestinian Israelis + the divided city of Jerusalem
7. Gaza (including also Hamas and rocket launching) + Palestinian prisoners
Perspectives and Solutions
8. The wider Arab-Israeli conflict
9. International actors in the conflict (additional wars, Golan heights, Hezbollah, Iran, Egypt, Evangelicals, AIPAC, Saudi Arabia, EU, USA, UN).
10. Israeli Jewish society and the Occupation (including the politics of inner-Jewish group relations).
11. Zionist perspectives.
12. Acts of resistance from Palestinians and in Israelis.
13. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the UK – discussion about BDS, anti-Semitism and its place in the UK left
14. Conclusion and finding a solution
Sounds interesting? Come to the first session on October 1st for free. Contact me at: nimrodevron@gmail.com
What do former participants say?
“The course allowed participants to come up with their own perspectives and values while hearing from different speakers, sharing their own perspectives and values” – Saskia.
“The content was rich and very well delivered. I thought the addition of guests brought the course to life and provided a deeper insight into the occupation. The reading list was fantastic, it was plentiful and varied and really allowed me to delve into the previous session’s theme in more detail” – Keisha
I’m pleased the course does not pretend to be ‘balanced’, there is no balance. There is no ‘right’ to be found on the side of the European Zionist colonisers whose intention from the start was to rid Palestine of Palestinians including Jewish Palestinians who objected to the Zionists’ plan.