MIT/Harvard Gaza Symposium: March 30-31, 2009

The second annual Gaza symposium, this year jointly organized by MIT and Harvard, will host a series of panels on the role of US and international actors, as well as human rights and international humanitarian law in the wake of recent events in Gaza. Bringing together experts in the fields of human rights, history, political science, US foreign policy and law, the two-day symposium will include a range of views from US, Israeli, Palestinian and UN/NGO perspectives.

Speakers include:

Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; Meron Benvenisti, former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem; Henry Siegman, Director of the U.S./Middle East Project; Congressman Brian Baird, Representative, Washington State (D-03); Rami Khouri, Director of the Issam Fares Center at the American University of Beirut; William Corcoran, President of ANERA; Karma Nabulsi, Lecturer in International Relations at Oxford University and former PLO representative; Gabriel Piterburg, Professor of History at UCLA; Irene Gendzier, Political Science Professor at Boston University; George Bisharat, Professor of Law at UC Hastings College of Law; Barry Posen, Director of the MIT Security Studies Program; Sara Roy, Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard; Husam Zomlot, Visiting Scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard; Anat Biletzki, Former chairperson of B'tselem and Professor of Philosophy at Tel Aviv University; Sami Abdel Shafi, Writer and co-founder of the Emerge Consulting Group in Gaza; Andrew Whitley, Director of the Representative Office of UNRWA; Craig Mokhiber, Deputy Director of NY Office, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Monday, March 30, 1:30 - 6:00 pm
Wong Auditorium, MIT Bldg E51, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge

Tuesday, March 31, 1:30 - 6:00 pm
Austin Hall, Harvard Law School, 1515 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge

The symposium is free and open to the public; please come in advance as seating is limited.

Sponsors at MIT:
The Center for International Studies; The Program for Human Rights and Justice

Sponsors at Harvard:
The Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School; The Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; University Committee on Human Rights Studies; Human Rights Program at the Harvard Law School

Updated Program on Symposium websites at Harvard and MIT:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/middleeast/MEIevents/gaza09.html
http://web.mit.edu/cis/eventposter_033009_gaza.html

Join Event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=55785674238