In December, along with my Western Law colleague, Associate Dean of Law Michael Lynk, I made my first visit to Israel and the West Bank.
The main purpose of our visit was to visit Al Quds University to discuss co-operation between our two law faculties. While we were there, we took advantage of this unique opportunity to meet with a number of other individuals and organizations to receive briefings on the state of affairs on both sides of the divide between these two peoples.
On the Israeli side I met with a spokesperson from the office of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the local head of the Canada-Israel Committee, a political science professor, and the designer of the Barrier between Israel and the West Bank. I also had a very fruitful meeting with the director of the student legal clinic at Hebrew University and found that we had many common issues in our respective clinics.
On the West Bank, in addition to meetings at Al Quds, Prof. Lynk and I met with the Canadian representative to the Palestinian Authority (in effect the ambassador) in Ramallah.
We also met with three UN agencies who gave us their views.
By meeting with both sides, I was able to look at the Barrier (also called the Wall or the Fence) that has been built by Israel along much of the border with the West Bank through the eyes of both Palestinians and Israelis. The Barrier is a powerful symbol of the divisions between Israelis and Palestinians.
I came home with a sense of pessimism, even foreboding. Despite the best efforts of President Obama, I do not see a path to a settlement between Israel and Palestine.
We arrived in Jerusalem in the middle of a dust storm. It was a fitting analogy for the situation as I see it in the Middle East. I am very concerned that another storm will begin to build in the near term, one that will bring pain to both peoples.
This is the first of a four part series of blogs on my visit to the Middle East where I will try to set out my understanding of the positions of both sides as they have been explained to me. I will compare them to what I saw on the ground, and examine their strengths and weaknesses from my point of view.
Next: Part II – The Barrier and the West Bank
