Haim Cohn Chair in Human Rights - Report of May 2005

An Intellectual autobiography by Cohn (previously unpublished) with a special epilogue by his widow, Michal Smoira-Cohn, and an introduction by Yitzhak Zamir. A special double issue of the Israel Law Review in his memory was issued in April 2005, to which I wrote an introduction. In the series there will be a book on Cohn's Vision of Judaism, which I will edit.

 

During the 2003-2005 report period I continued to teach, do research, and actively participate in related activities. In October 2003 I stepped down as chairperson of the academic committee of the Minerva Center for Human rights and was replaced in that role by Professor David Kretzmer, but I remained a member of the academic committee. Under the directorship of Dr. Michael Karayanni we have secured a grant from the EU to develop teaching materials concerning the Arab-Jewish conflict to be taught in Jewish and Arab schools.

 

In November 2003 I received an honorary doctorate from the JTS (Jewish Theological Seminar).

 

In the framework of the Yahad group - A Public Committee, under the auspices of the President of Israel, to deal with Relations between religious and non-Religious in Israel – I worked on an attempt to enact an agreed-upon proposal dealing with the treatment of terminal patients. We are also seeking a negotiated appeal by religious leaders to promote transplants in Israel. This proposal has become a bill pending in the Knesset. Since 2004, a major subject of concern has been the Shabbat. A series of meeting was help all over the country in an attempt to promote a new social agreement (similar to the one proposed in the Gavison-Medan Covenant) which will permit cultural and entertainment activities and regulate commerce during the Shabbat.

 

Starting in January 1999, I am chairing, together with Professor Harry Frankfurt from Princeton University, a joint project of Mishkenot sha-ananim and the Princeton Center for Human Values, on the relationships between Equality and Integration. The project is planned as a series of three meetings, resulting in a volume of essays. The first meeting took place in Princeton in January 2001. A second meeting was planned for 2003 in Jerusalem, but we decided to postpone it to January 2004 in the hope that political conditions will permit it to be held here after all. We were not successful and the second meeting, too, was held in Princeton in February 2004. The meeting discussed the question when and how helping a disadvantaged group may help its integration and harmonious life within the larger society. The group included top experts in their fields from Israel and the US. We are now working on planning the concluding meeting, to be held in Jerusalem in June 2006. This time we hope the meeting will indeed take place in Jerusalem.

 

Since January 2004 I am a fellow in the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. My activity there relates mainly to Arab-Jewish relations and to work related to issues of educational implications of the fact that Israeli society is deeply multicultural and operates within an unresolved national conflict. Records of lectures and panels I participated in can be found in the VLJI site (www.vanleer.org.il).

 

My work with the IDI resulted by the full proceedings of the discussions among Jews and Arabs published in the IDI site, serving researchers. (They can be found in www.idi.org.il). A book about the process written by journalist Uzi Ben Ziman will be published during 2005.

 

Throughout the period I continued to be involved in Israel's constitutional process. Initially I did that as a member of the IDI’s public Council,. devoted to a promotion of constitutional discourse in Israel. The Council, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Meir Shamgar has met twelve times, and discussed the whole range of constitutional issues. I contributed papers on the Bill of Rights, on whether social and economic rights should be constitutionalized, and on the structure of the judicial authority. These can be found in the IDI site above, together with the proceedings of the meetings of the Public Council. In February 2005 the IDI team published its own proposed Constitution draft and I participated in its discussion in the IDI Public Council.

 

During the period September 2003 to January 2004 I was a member of the Public Committee, chaired by (emeritus) SC Judge G. Bach, that elected the new Attorney-General of Israel. The committee met a number of times, interviewed candidates, and made its recommendations. This was the first time the AG was appointed on the basis of this process.

 

In October 2004 I became a member of a group working under the auspices of the Neeman Institute in the Technion, seeking to address various aspects of Existential Challenges Facing Israel, led by Professor Avi Ravitzky. The group had a few meetings and will produce a series of working papers on these subjects by the end of the year.

 

Since March 2005 I have served as a senior consultant to the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in the Knesset, headed by Michael Eitan, in its own quest for a constitution for Israel. We have concluded meetings designed to deal with the chapter dealing with general principles. Proceesings of the discussions of the committee, in part in video, can be found in the committee's site.

 

In February 2003, the proposed New Covenant between Jews in Israel on Matters of State and Religion written by myself and R. Yaacov Medan was published jointly by Avichai and the IDI. In 2004 a website for the project was created: www.gavison-medan-org.il . The site contains short versions of the full documents in Hebrew, English and Russian. Avi Chai has funded a team that seeks to find ways to promote the values and proposals of the Covenant in various ways.

 

In March-May 2004 and again now starting February 2005 I have been promoted as a candidate for the Israeli Supreme Court.

 

In May-June 2005 I was involved in an attempt, with R Medan, to write Rules of the Game for the Disengagement from the Gaza strip in order to reduce the fear that the disengagement will lead to violence and bloodshed.

 

 

Conferences and Panels

 

During this period I have participated in a number of conferences and panels devoted to related subjects:

 

July 1^st, 2003: Board of directors, Melton Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Solidarity Today

July 9^th, 2003: Khan Theatre, Analysis of Contemporary Implications of Plato's Criton

July 11-14^th , 2003, Heidelberg: international conference on the problem of Palestinian Refugees

July 24^th, 2003, VLJI: lecture in memory of Leon Shelef: Religion and Nationality in Judaism

September 16^th, 2003: Eilat, IDI constitution workshop

September 23^rd, 2003: Human Rights and Democracy, in an Israeli-Jordanian teachers' conference

October 22^nd, 2003: IDI, panel discussion of preparing for evacuation of settlements

November 3^rd, 2003: Israel Academy, Conference in Honor of Shmuel Eisenstadt, panel: Constitutionalism in Plural Societies

November 6^th, 2003, Jerusalem: Award of honorary doctorate, JTS

November 13^th, 2003: Radio interview, Yaacov Agmon

November 14^th, 2003: TV program, Amnon Zichroni, Israeli democracy

November 16^th, 2003, HU Jerusalem, panel: Judicial Activism (available on the net)

November 24^th, 2003: Yahad council conference: Between a Constitution and a Covenant

November 26^th, Jerusalem: Ceremony of awarding the EMET prize

December 12^th, 2004, Dead Sea: Association for Public Law, lecture, Collective Rights

January 20^th, 2004, Jerusalem: Educational leadership of NRP: Gavison-Medan Covenant

January 31^st, 2004, Jerusalem: Talk, 10 years memorial of Marcia Kretzmer: Women's Rights in the Gavison-Medan Covenant

February 2^nd, 2004: Hastings Law School: Constitutionalism and judicial Activism

February 2^nd, 2004, SF: dinner: Issues of Israel

February 3^rd, 2004, Berkeley, Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state

February 4^th, 2004, SF temple, Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state

February 5^th, Stanford, Public lecture: Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state

February 6^th, Stanford, Democratization and human Rights

February 10^th, USC Hillel, Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State

February 12^th, 2004: UCLA, lecture: Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state

February 17^th, 2004: Ann Arbor, Michigan: The Role of Israel in Modern Jewish Identities

February 20-22, 2004: Princeton: Conference on Eqaulity and Integration

March 2^nd, 2004: IDI, the Gavison-Medan Covenant

March 15, 2004, Modi-in, Shabbat, Gavison-Medan Covenant

March 21^st, 2004, Maale Hahamisha, lecture: The Limits on the Right to be Elected.

April 21^st, 2004: Hartman Institute, School Directors Seminar: Gavison-Medan Covenant

June 13^th, 2004: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lectures on HR in the OT to the Red Cross

June 20^th, 2004, Constitution Committee, President's House, The Jewish state and Rights of the Minorities

June 21^st, 2004: Faculty of Law, panel: the AG's decision re the corruption charges of the PM

June 22^nd, 2004: Strategic meeting with the board of Ir-Amim

June 27^th, 2004: presentation to the Dovrat task force on pluralism amd civic cohesion in education

June 29^th, 2004: Hartman Institute, panel, On Reconiciliation

July 2-7, 2004, Banff, Canada, conference on Legislatures and Constitutionalism

July 12^th, 2004, HU faculty meeting: The ICJ decision on the fence

July 20^th, 2004: HUC, talk to Greensboro delegation on the fence and HR in the OT

August 13^th, 2004: Mishkent, Meet the Press: Judicial Activism in Israel

August 15^th, 2004: Dovarat Task Force, subcommittee on Communities

August 18, 2004: TV interview, Dan Margalit, Mussaf Hamussafim

August 29-31, 2004: Berlin, ICJ, biannual international meeting

September 8^th, 2004: Lessons of Gavison-Medan Covenant to the Left-Right Rift in Israel (Menuchin)

September 9^th, 2004: TLV, The Liberal Midrasha: panel: The SC in public life

September 16^th, 2004: Radio talk: A New Year Assessment

October 14^th, 2004: Radio talk: Legitimacy of the disengagement decision

October 22^nd, 2004: Elul, lecture: The meaning of the Rabin Memorial Day

November 1^st, 2004: Law school, coffee talk: The legitimacy of the disengagement decision

November 3^rd, 2004: President's House: Secular-Religious Covenants

November 5^th, 2004: Jerusalem: workshop: Gans' book on Nationalism

November 8^th, 2004: District Advocacy, Jerusalem: The Role of Lawyers in Public Law litigation

November 13^th, 2004: Jerusalem, talk: Israel as a Jewish and Democratic state

November 17^th, 2004: Jerusalem, Comment on Dotan's Essay on Courts and Social and Economic Rights

November 18^th, 2004: Rishon Lezion: panel: Social and Economic Rights in Israel

November 21^st, 2004: Truman Institute, HU: Discussion of proposed Agency for the Arab Minority

November 25^th, 2004: Atidim, lecture: Israel in 2025

November 29^th, Constitution Committee, the Knesset: Collective Rights to the Arab Minority

December 3-4, 2004: Washington, the Saban Center, Israel-US RElations

December 6^th, 2004: Police Leadership: Human Rights and Toleration

December 9^th, 2004: Discussion of ways to establish an effective representative organization for handicapped people

December 17^th, 2004: Shefayim, The Yahad Council: panel: The Cultural Meaning of the Shabbat

December 21^st, 2004: VLJI: panel: Difeference and Civic Cohesion in the Dovrat Report

December 26^th, 2004: Joint, Gvanim: Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State

January 4^th, 2005: Mandel school of Educational Leadership: Right to Culture? The Duty of the State Towards Cultural Minorities

January 9^th, 2005: TV mock trial of De Gaulle and Algiers

January 10^th, 2005: Jerusalem HU: panel: Equality and Separation in Education: 50 years to Brown

January 11^th, 2005: TLV University, Panel: 10 years to the Gay Rights Revolution

January 18^th, 2005: TV panel on the recommendations of the Dovrat Committee

January 23^rd, 2005: Maale Hahamisha: Constitution Committee: Discussion of the IDU draft Constitution

January 30^th, 2005: Knesset TV: The Constitutional process in Israel

February 1^st, 2005: Lecture in memory Of Ilana Gastwirt: Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State

February 17-18, 2005: Jerusalem, IDI Public Council to discuss the IDI Constitution draft

February 23^rd, 2005: Jewish Agency: The Role of Israel in Modern Jewish Identities

February 23^rd, 2005: Knesset, Israel-US Forum: state and Religion in the Constitution

February 24^th, 2005: Yotveta: The Prospects of the Jewish state

March 8^th, U Haifa: Implications to National Security of Israel's Jewishness

March 9^th, Technion, Haifa: Relationships between Religious and Secular Jews in Israel

March 11, 2005, Haifa: Disengagement and freedom of speech

March 14, 2005: Constitution Committee: The Preamble to the Constitution

March 21^st, 2005: Constitution Committee: Citizenship 1

March 28^th, 2005: Constitution Committee: Citizenship 2

March 29^th, 2005: Faculty of Law, HU: Freedom of Expression and the Disengagement

April 5^th, 2005: Knesset, Constitution Committee: Law and Religions 1

April 7^th, 2005: Jewish Agency, lecture to shlihim: The law of Return

April 10^th, Jerusalem, The Association for Advancement of Arab students: The status of the Arab language in Israel

April 11^th, 2005: Tel Aviv U: The (in)Applicability of Human Rights Discourse to the Palestinian Right of Return

April 12^th, 2005: Constitution Committee, the Knesset: Law and Religions 2

April 17^th, Jerusalem: Day in memory of Adi Dremmer: Individual and community in Israel

April 18^th, 2005: Lecture, Shalem Center: Constitution in Israel.

May 1^st, 2005: Maale Hahmisha, panel: The Day after the Disengagement?

May 2^nd, 2005: VLJI, chairperson: One state vs. Two states? (available at www.vanleer.org.il )

May 4^th, 2005: Comment on Waldron's paper The Case Against Judicial Review

May 6^th 2005, Jerusalem, A workshop on Waldron's Law and Disagreement

May 22^nd 2005, UCLA, USA: panel on Israel as a Jewish, Democratic and Western State

May 23^rd, 2005, Washington USA AIPAC's plenary: Lecture: International law, Human Rights and the Fight Against Terror

May 29^th, 2005, Van Leer JI: International conference on civics education: panel on civics education education for a multicultural Israel

May 30^th, 2005: Knesset. Constitution Committee, Rights of Minorities: Collective Rights

May 30^th, 2005: Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, panel with MK Azmi Bshara on Israel as a Jewish and Demographic State?

May 31^st, 2005, Hadassa Dental School: Lecture in Memory of Professor Yael Michaeli: Freedom of Expression and the Disengagement

June 2^nd, 2005: Haifa University, International conference: The Influence of WW2 on Legal Theory

June 6^th, Shalem Center Board of Trustees: The Emerging Constitution Drafts

June 6^th 2005, HU, Jerusalem: presentation of paper on the Neve Shalom school in international conference on peace education

June 7^th, 2005, Knesset. Constitution Committee: Rights of Minorities: symbols, language, culture

June 7^th, 2005, TLV: meeting, IDF Legal Advisor and team with representatives of 'Breaking Silence'

June 8^th, 2005: Faculty seminar, Hebrew University Law School: The Implications of the Jewishness of the state.

June 8^th, 2005: Minerva Center for Human Rights, Chair: Human Rights Aspects of the Constitution

June 14^th, Knesset, Constitution Committee: Discussion of Land and Settlement Policies in the proposed Constitution.

June 14^th, Tivon: Lecture in memoty of Adv. Benny Strass: Jurists in Democracy

June 15, 2005: Jerusalem: discussion of Gavison-Medan's proposed 'Rules of the Game' for the disengagement.

June 19^th, 2005, VLJI: lecture on the dividing and the common in thinking about the core curriculum in Israeli schools.

June 22-23, 2005, Jerusalem: Participation in an international forum concerning the future of the Jewish People under the auspices of the President of the State of Israel.

 

 

Media

 

Throughout this period, I expressed views on related subjects in the Israeli media. I publish regularly on these issues in the national press (mainly in Yediot Aharonot), and I am a frequent speaker on radio and national TV.

 

 

Teaching

 

In 2000-2001 I started teaching a mandatory course for the LLM called ‘Law and…’, which I continue to teach until now. It illustrates the relationships between law and other disciplines and perspectives.

 

Starting in the academic year 2002-2003 I teach a masters course within the Gilo center for civics and democracy on Human Rights and Democracy in Israel. It is a course looking at the conceptual basis of human rights and democracy and illustrates the way a number of basic rights are treated in the Israeli legal system.

 

In 2003-2004 I started to teach a seminar on: The Law of Return and the Palestinian Right of Return. I have now taught this seminar twice and it has proved to be a very moving experience as the students learn about these very charged issues, and come to grips with the complexity of the perspectives involved.

 

I will teach all three courses in the academic year 2005-2006 as well.

 

 

Recent Publications

 

*56. (With Allan Shapiro), Introduction to the Hebrew Edition of the Federalist Papers, Shalem 2001 (In Hebrew). 2002, 11-72.

 

*57. The Lessons of The Federalist and Israel’s Constitution, Tchelet 11, 2001, 21-27 (Heb), adapted as: A Constitution For Israel? Lessons from the American Experiment”, 12 Azure (2002), 133-192.

 

58. 'On Human Rights and Prayer in the Kotel'' 1 Masechet 2002, 161-194 (Heb)

 

59. 'Yes to a Jewish Public Sphere', Meimad 24, 2002, 7-11. (Heb)

 

*60. “What Belongs in a Constitution?” in Stefan Voigt and Hans Wagener (eds.), Constitutions, Markets and the Law, Elgar, Cheltenham, 2002, 1-25. A slightly abridged version appeared in 13 CPE (Constitutional Political Economy) 2002, 89-105.

 

*61. “The Relationships between Civil and Political and Social and Economic Rights”, in Coicaud et al (eds.) Globalization of Human Rights, UNU Press 2003, 23-55.

a modified version is published in Hebrew: Rabin and Shani (eds.) Social, Economic and Cultural Rights in Israel, 2004,

 

*62. (With Eitan Levontin), “On the (non) Bindingness of the opinions of the Attorney-General, in A. Barak (ed.) 2003, Book in honor of M. Shamgar, Vol. 1, 221-286. (Heb)

 

*63. ‘The Jewish State: Legitimacy and Character’ (Hebrew), Tchelet 13, 2002, 50-88; 'The Jewish Right to Sovereignty', 15 Azure (2003) English, 70-108.

 

64. 'Privacy', The New Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 2002

 

*65. ‘Constitutions and Political reconstruction? Israel’s Quest for a Constitution’, International Sociology 18(1) 55-73, ‏2003

 

66. 'The Significance of Israel in Modern Jewish Identites’, in Ben Rephael and others (eds.) Contemporary Jewries: Convergence and Divergence, Brill, 2003, 118-129. In Hebrew: In Bareli (ed) Iyunim Bitkumat Yisrael, 2003,

 

67. Implications of The Jewishness of the State to Immigration, 2003, Heb, 27 Meimad, 4-7

 

68. Neve Shalom: An Island of Co-existence in a Sea of Conflict: a Jewish-Arab school in Israel” (Hebrew) forthcoming, Magnes 2005; English version: in Bekerman and MacGuinn (eds.) 2005, Education for Peace.

 

*69. "Implications of the Jewishness of Israel", in Ravitzky and Stern (eds.) Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State, IDI 2005 (Hebrew)

 

*70. "Legislatures and the Quest for a Constitution: The Case of Israel", forthcoming in T. Kahana (ed) Legislatures and Constitutionalism (2005)

 

*71. "The Israeli Constitutional Process: Legislative Ambivalence and Judicial Resolute Drive" forthcoming, 2005

 

72. "On th