Back to University!

Twenty years ago, I left the LSE having studied a BSc and MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics. Little did I know then that twenty years later I would  be passing LSE again regularly – to attend its rival, King’s College. I have been studying for an MA in Conflict Resolution in Divided Societies now for 2 terms of a 2 year course. It really has been an eye opening experience. A great group of students, a great group of teachers in the Middle East Studies Department and so fascinating courses. I have been a Hamas delegate in a mock Israel/Palestine negotiation, preparing now to be a UN mediator in a Syrian civil war mock negotiation, have studied conflicts that took place in Rwanda, Bosnia, Ireland, Burundi, East Timor, Israel (of course!) , Cambodia and more. Of course, we are not just studying conflict but also grappling with concepts in conflict resolution, and now the term often used more, conflict management. I have written essays on sectarianism in the Middle East, Palestinian national identity after 1967, and the impact of national ideology on the perpetration and prevention of genocide. This term I took a module in State Builders of the Middle East, looking at a veritable selection of famous Middle East leaders and how they balanced charisma (a concept developed by the sociologist Max Weber) and actual state building. Last week I had to present 5 minutes on whether the Egyptian leader Nasser ruled through his charisma or through building State institutions.

I have of course loved the chance to hear a variety of differing narratives, challenging how I think as a Jew and as a supporter of the State of Israel. These are elements of my identity. These are my anchors in a way. But none of our anchors should be worshipped blindly at the exclusion of other stories. And the challenge of conflict is that it is hard to hear the other side’s narrative, when it impacts negatively, when it negates your own. My feeling is that hearing someone else’s narrative does not mean that I have to agree with and does not itself show acceptance of it. I have heard some difficult opinions from my friends on the course regarding Israel’s policies and relations with the Palestinians. But I have also found people who are extremely critical of Israel, and yet are happy to agree with the sovereign right of Israel to exist. Supporting the sovereign rights of the Palestinian people, does not necessarily negate the sovereign rights of Israel to exist (even though to some it is either/or)

If you would like to read what I have written, then  click here for an essay on Palestinian Identity post 1967, and click here for an essay on the persistence of Sectarianism in the Middle East.

You may have heard some of the ideas from my MA enter my sermons. I have been particularly interest in national identity and the relationships we build with the other around this type of identity. For some, national identity is just one layer of a multi-faceted existence that can include religious identity, tribal or family identity and even gender. For many, national identity is central and core to one’s expressed identity. But how does this affect how I relate to the other? Do I end up being exlusivist in relating to other identities? With this I have looked at the difference between civic national identity and ethnic national identity – and have read a number of famous ethnologists…as one of my teachers said, many of whom are Jewish and who taught at the LSE!

Anyway, I will keep you up to date with what I am writing and thinking and hopefully have the time to write a lot more on the many topics that we are studying.