Assignment
Mission 1: Military operations
Brief: You have now played the first mission in Global Conflicts: Palestine, and are expected to discuss and reflect on the experiences. Below you will first find questions related to the game and then questions of a more general nature. Finally, you can write an article drawing on the game experience and the additional material on this website.
To answer the questions in this worksheet use your experiences from the game and refer to the material on this web-site.
1. Game review:
a). Please provide a short factual resume of the mission.
b). Please explain the motivations, actions and perception of the key people you ran into (one line each).
Roi:
Omri:
Mordechai:
Khaled:
Nabil:
c). Please give your own explanation of what happened in the game mission.
d). How would you have acted as an Israeli or Palestinian?
e). How do the different soldiers in the IDF (Roi, Omri & Mordechai) perceive the Palestinians? What is the basis for this perception? Consider the role of culture, history, religion & ethnicity.
f). How does Khaled perceive the IDF? What is the basis for this perception? Consider the role of culture, history, religion & ethnicity?
2. Beyond the game
You may have a hard time answering the questions below if you were a sloppy and superficial journalist. Luckily, you can either go back and play the game or use some of the material on the website /.
a). What implications do the military operations have for the Israeli-Palestinian relations?
b). What role do essecurity play for the Israelis? How does security serve as an explanation for the raids? Is the Israeli perception of security threats reasonable? What is it based on? Consider both the current situation and historical roots.
c). How are the suspected terrorists treated and are their rights respected by the IDF? Try to consider what rights apply and why the international community has set them up. What could the reasons be for violating a suspect's rights? Would such violations be acceptable? Why/why not?
d). How would you criticize the IDF's conduct? What arguments do you think are valid for such raids?
e). How would you criticize the Palestinians? Do you think the Palestinians are innocent victims? Why/why not?
f). Choose at least three sources from the theme material or video section that each have their own perspective on the military operations. Discuss the background for the accounts and underlying agendas of the sources.
(For example: Video on IDF raid, Human rights report and the brief on military operations by the IDF).
g). Do you think that Israelis & Palestinians are guilty of stereotyping each other? If so, why does this happen? Why do we use stereotypes?
3). Write a better story
In the game you have a limited amount of time for writing and researching the story with access to only a few sources. Now you have a chance to pursue an even better researched story by using sources on our website and from other places. In general there are three different types of stories you can choose from: news story, feature story & opinion story.
Use one of the three templates to help you make the best story. Remember you can use quotes, pictures and sources from this web-site.
Choose between the following subjects from the game world:
a). Palestine Today: Is interested in getting stories about the soldiers' abuse of prisoners. They would like for you to document the way the suspects are treated and they want to hear about corruption and brutal interrogation methods, as well as the potentially innocent people who might be arrested.
b). Global News: Is interested in you covering the conflict up close. What events take place? What happens during this kind of military action? How are possible prisoners treated and how dangerous is it for the soldiers?
c). The Israeli Post: Is interested in a story about the way in which the IDF protects the Israeli citizens against terrorism. Talk with the soldiers and get their stories, try to talk with any possible prisoners and see if you can report about life on the border between life and death.