*ABJURE

Tag: Class Project

THE PALESTINIAN SCHISM

Posted:   |   Tags: class project, regional

This semester, I took a class called Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding (IAFF 3352), which took a dual narrative approach to studying their history. This meant analyzing various historical developments from the perspectives of both Israelis and Palestinians, identifying ‘chosen traumas’ that drive the intractable nature of the conflict. The capstone of the class was intended as two papers analyzing a ‘final status issue’, meaning a key matter that needs to be resolved before peace can be brought about. Options included water sharing policy, territorial disputes, and more. For my analysis, I chose to discuss the split between Hamas and Fatah, synthesizing a comprehensive story of the roots of their schism and addressing its implications for the peace process. (Un)fortunately, the professor was a bit slow with grading, and cancelled the second paper, which was supposed to be more oriented towards analysis using peace studies literature. As some consolation, I have decided to take elements of the paper I did write, expand upon them a bit, and turn it into a blog post.

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SCYLLA & CHARYBDIS

Posted:   |   Tags: class project, security policy

Earlier this month, I was assigned to participate in a group project for a class I’m taking called “Evolution of Warfare”. It’s taught by a Captain in the marine corps. The goal of the project: to develop a plan to deploy marines in littoral waters in order to counter aggression from the fictional “People’s Republic of Azuria”. The goal of our incursion was to deny operational freedom to Azurian forces while asserting freedom of navigation for civilian vessels in surrounding waters. We chose Scylla and Charybdis as the operation’s designation, a homage to the great leviathans blocking Odysseus’ path in the Odyssey.

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