Violations of International Law and the Impact of These Violations on Palestinian Lives
Purpose:
- To assist participants in becoming familiar with the international laws that serve as the legal and moral standards for protecting the human rights of people.
- To present participants with various stories and/or testimonies of Palestinian life under occupation and to have participants identify the specific international laws that are being violated.
Materials:
- An LCD projector (preferable, but not essential) and photocopying of various reading materials
- Participants should have copies of the “Documents of International Law Relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” which they received at the end of Session 5.
- Participants can either receive copies of articles about the Palestinian experiences OR the experiences can be projected. Each experience is identified as a reading, video, or audio.
Time:
Each lesson is designed to be completed within 55 minutes. Additional activities are possible for longer class sessions.
Scripture:
This is what the Lord says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.” Isaiah 56:1
Method:
PART A. Reviewing the international laws reading assignment
{5 minutes} Have participants explain what this verse from Isaiah means to them and how these words of God might be relevant to our study of international laws and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
{15-20 mins.) Ask participants to respond to the following:
- What did you know about international laws before reading the assignment?
- To what extent have you considered international laws when you shared opinions or made judgments about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?
- Scanning the list of laws, are there any specific laws that especially caught your attention?
- Which laws helped you to better understand life under occupation? Why these specific laws?
- Why is it that these laws primarily address violations against Palestinian lives?
PART B. Applying international laws to violations against Palestinian lives
¬{25–30 minutes}
Note: This first activity will serve as a model for all other similar activities that can be done with the whole group, especially if there are six or fewer participants. For more than six participants, it is suggested that groups of not more than 3 or 4 participants perform tasks 1 and 3 within the smaller groups (obviously sharing their ideas as they work together). Then all participants are brought back to the larger group, and each group shares the situations and the applicable laws and leads the discussion performing tasks 2 and 4.
- Give participants a link to Amnesty International information on Water Supply.
- Afterwards allow participants the opportunity to discuss what they’ve learned and to share opinions and reactions. It is always important to guide participants to think and react as Christians – What would Jesus say?
- Then ask the group to return to their copies of “Documents of International Law” and determine which laws are being violated. [Note: The two main laws that apply to this situation are Article 27 of the 4th Geneva Convention and the UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.]
- End this activity about this water crisis and the applicable laws by inviting participants to ask questions and/ or share their thoughts. [Note: Session 7 will be a continuation of Session 6. In order for you to expose participants to as many situations as possible, you may want to give them this homework assignment: Have participants read one, two, or three different experiences – depending on the number of small groups – and identify the applicable international laws. Then allow the groups to meet for a few minutes sharing their findings, and return to the larger group for discussions as outlined in tasks 2 and 4. In order for participants to do this assignment, you will have to make copies of one or two experiences, unless participants have access to computers.]