simulation-exercise-gaza
You
have been invited to participate in a meeting called by the United
Nations for UN Security Council member states to engage in a strategic
assessment of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza,
which continues to threaten regional and international stability. Please
begin by identifying the UN Security Council member state you
represent, as well as your country’s position, interests, needs, and
values with respect to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Countries will
be selected on a first come first serve basis with no duplication. Your introduction should be made by Tuesday of Week 5.
********PLEASE SEE ATTACHED “MY INITIAL POST”********
Once you have introduced yourselves, the tasks facing the simulation
participants is to assess the situation in Gaza and to discuss a
potential UN Peacekeeping Operation. As representatives of UN Security
Council member states, each student should complete the following steps
(in this order):
1. conduct a system-wide analysis of the situation, assessing the overall security of Gaza:
a. political issues,
b. humanitarian (life saving) needs,
c. human rights violations, and
d. the military situation.
2. propose a conflict resolution and peace-building intervention, describing
a. who will actually provide the intervention,
b. what its goals will be, and
c. how to best deal with the situation on the ground; and
3. identify strategies for obtaining the consent of the parties.
For ease of reference, I recommend posting this work in bulleted or outline form rather than in paragraph form. These three tasks should be completed and posted to the Forum no later than midnight on Friday. At
a minimum, students should prepare for the simulation by researching
recent developments in Gaza through the UN website, the U.S. Dept. of
State Background Notes, The World News Network, Associated Press, or
Reuters.
Once participants’ ideas are on the table, they are expected to debate
the merits and build consensus on the proposed interventions, by
identifying the recommendations made by other participants that they can
live with or cannot live with and by fine-tuning or re-defining
recommendations on the table so they are palatable to everyone involved.
This is a fast moving and time consuming assignment, so begin early in
the week. Students will have until midnight on Sunday of Week 5 to
try to come to an agreement on the best course of action for a UN
intervention.
In week 6, students will complete a 3-5 page paper sharing their
reflections on the simulation experience and describing the benefits and
limitations of UN interventions. Students must support the analysis in
their paper with research from academic and other credible sources. The
paper should include:
1. An introduction that explains the purpose of the paper and the importance of the topic;
2. A discussion of the strategic assessment process and its role in a successful intervention;
3. A discussion of planning considerations in peacekeeping operations;
4. A discussion of the benefits and limitations of UN interventions; and
5. A summation that draws general conclusions about the topic and the simulation experience.
****PLEASE SEE ATTACHED FOR CLASSMATES POSTS*****