Conference Call - Israel at 70 | Perspectives on Arab Citize...

This year, the State of Israel celebrates 70 years of existence. This milestone evokes much celebration and reflection among Jews around the world about the country's history, developments and future. For Arab citizens, 21% of Israel's population, these national milestones are more complicated. To what extent do Arabs living within Israel feel part of the country's prospects as a nation and a society? How have Jewish-Arab relations changed over the years, and what are the hopes of this population for their role in Israel's future?

Join us on Wednesday, May 23rd for a conference call with Dean of the School of Law at Zefat Academic College, Dr. Mohammed Wattad, and Israel Public Radio's Arab Affairs Correspondent, Eran Singer, for an in-depth discussion of Israel at 70 from the perspective of its Arab citizens, with insights into Jewish-Arab relations, shared society, and Israel's delicate balance as a Jewish and democratic state.

Event Details
Wednesday, May 23 - 12 PM ET
Call-in details provided upon RSVP

Please RSVP to [email protected]

About the Speaker

Dr. Mohammed Wattad 
Mohammed Wattad is a legal scholar specializing in international and comparative criminal law, comparative constitutional law, international law and legal issues surrounding war, torture and terrorism. He is the 2015 winner of the Best Young Scholar Award on Israel Studies, and the 2007 and the 2008 winner of the Best Legal Oralist Award of the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences. Prof. Wattad is a graduate of Haifa University School of Law, including studies as an exchange student at Oxford University. He accomplished the Masters studies of the Direct Program for Doctoral Studies in Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prof. Wattad holds a Masters of Law degree from Columbia University, where he earned as well his Doctorate of Juridical Science in Law, as a Fulbright Scholar. He completed post doctorate work, as a Halbert Fellow, at the Munk Center and the Faculty of Law at Toronto University in Canada, where he was also a visiting scholar, and another post doctorate work, as a Minerva Fellow, at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Currently, Professor Wattad serves as an Assistant Professor of Law at Zefat Academic College in Israel. Between 2014-2016 he served as a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of California at Irvine, both at the Department of Political Science and the School of Law. Between 2003-2004, he served as a former legal clerk at the Supreme Court of Israel under the supervision of Justice Dalia Dorner. Between 2009-2013, he served as a member of the Legal Task Force of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. And, between 2010-2015 he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal 'Medicine and Law'. Prof. Wattad has expertise in the history of Israel and issues of self-image and identity in multi-cultural societies. He has written and spoken extensively on societal challenges confronting the Middle East and Israel, including relations between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens and Israel’s external relations with surrounding Arab states.

Eran Singer
Eran Singer (pronounced Zinger) is Middle East Editor for Israel National Radio, covering events in the Arab world and the Arab population inside Israel. Over the last 17 years, Singer has covered all major events related to the Arab world, including the IDF withdrawal from Lebanon, the second Intifada, the second war in Lebanon, the Arab Spring, the rise of ISIS, and in recent weeks the events connected to the wave of terror in Israel now being called “the Knife Intifada.” Eran is host of “MerhaBet” (Merhaba and Bet), a highly rated radio show focused on the lives and concerns of Arabs inside Israel – political, domestic, financial, cultural, etc. The main goal of this show is to explain to Israelis not familiar with Arab language, culture and society about the lives of a fifth of Israel’s population. Singer studied Arabic at both Haifa University and at Bar Ilan University, and served using Arabic in Israeli army intelligence. He is a frequent guest on Arabic language satellite channels and Arabic Israeli radio and television. He was recently given the “Champions of Shared Society Award” by the Abraham Fund Initiatives for his work on Merhabet.