The Rabbi Marshall Meyer Great Issues Lectures On Social Justice

More and more, one hears that the two-state solution is no longer a plausible way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But what if the problem has always been the simplified way two states have been envisioned? Can a confederal approach yet redeem the two-state solution?

The Dickey Center hosted a rare event: a discussion of confederation among three leading experts—Yossi Beilin, the former Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister and architect of the Oslo Accords; Omar Dajani, who was on the Palestine Liberation Organization's Negotiations Support Unit; and Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

Michael Breen '02 is president and chief executive officer of Human Rights First. Established in 1978, HRF's mission is to ensure that the US is a global leader on human rights. The organization works in the US and abroad to promote respect for human rights and the rule of law. Before joining Human Rights First, Breen served as president and CEO of the Truman National Security Project, a nationwide membership organization of diverse leaders inspired to serve in the aftermath of 9/11. Prior to his work at the Truman Project, Breen led soldiers in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan as a U.S. Army officer, including by serving for a year as a platoon leader in the Pech and Korengal Valleys with the 173rd Airborne. After leaving the military, he served in the Office of White House Counsel and co-founded the International Refugee Assistance Project, working with refugee families in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.

Dr. Welton Chang '05 is Chief Technology Officer at Human Rights First. Prior to joining Human Rights First, Welton was a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) where he led teams and developed technical solutions to address disinformation and online propaganda. Before joining APL, Welton served for nearly a decade as an intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency and in the Army, including two operational tours in Iraq and a tour in South Korea.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein assumed his functions as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 1 September 2014, following the General Assembly's approval on 16 June 2014 of his appointment by the United Nations Secretary-General. He is the sixth High Commissioner to lead the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Thomas Buergenthal, Judge on the International Court of Justice (2000-2010), Holocaust Survivor.

Harold Hongju Koh, Professor of International Law, Tale Law School, Legal Advisor of the U.S. Department of State (2009-2013).

Justice Barak will discuss the origins of the notion of human dignity, tracing the concept through classical antiquity, the great world religions and philosophy as well as its incorporation into modern constitutional law. The discussion will further explore how the notion of human dignity plays a role as a foundation for constitutional rights and as a value for interpreting those rights. He also will address a range of contemporary issues involving human dignity and questions of law. 

Aharon Barak was President of the Supreme Court of Israel from 1995 to 2006. Prior to that, he served as a Justice on the Supreme Court (1978–95), and as the Attorney General of Israel (1975–78). He currently teaches at the Radzyner School of Law at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel and is a Visiting Professor at Yale University School of Law and at the University of Toronto School of Law. 

Read more about Justice Barak's visit here. 

Elisa Massimino, President and Chief Executive Officer, Human Rights First.

John Prendergast, Human Rights Activist and Co-founder of !Enough.

Aqqaluk Lynge, Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, is a world leader, poet, and teacher. He is the leading voice of the circumpolar Inuit peoples of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia, and he has devoted his life to being an advocate for basic human rights for all indigenous peoples. Mr. Lynge was instrumental in the success of Dartmouth's NSF IGERT graduate training grant proposal to the National Science Foundation on Polar Environmental Change. Greenland is on the front line of climate change, and Mr. Lynge is a central figure in the debate about how Northern societies will adapt to rapid environmental and social change. As he often says, "Climate change is not just a theory to us."

Shelia Watt-Cloutier, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Citizen Advocate in Arctic Climate Change and Canadian Inuit Activist.

Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen and author of New York Times Bestseller, The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor.

Kul Gautam '72, Recipient of the Lester B. Granger '18 Award for Lifetime Achievement

Helen Epstein, public health specialist and molecular biologist.

Robert Jay Lifton, M.D., Lecturer in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, City University of NY.

Ambassador Hector Timerman, Consul General of Argentina and Director of the Promotion Center of Argentina, New York.