The conflict in Colombia… and What it tells about Palestine

On Tuesday, January 24, 2023, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies, in cooperation with the Department of Political Science / Faculty of Law and Public Administration at Birzeit University, organized a public lecture via the “Zoom” electronic platform, entitled “The Conflict in Colombia... and What It Tells Us About Palestine ", presented by Dr. Ibrahim Freihat, Professor of International Conflicts at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. The lecture and discussion was moderated by Dr. Lord Habash, Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Birzeit University.

Dr. Freihat started the lecture by saying that the comparison between models of international and regional conflicts provides a deeper and broader methodology in studying conflicts and evaluating other human experiences in the hope of crystallizing a more comprehensive and accurate perception of the nature of conflicts, and benefiting from the experiences of other peoples in their various cultural and political dimensions. Hence, says Dr. Freihat said that he made a research trip to Colombia in the Latin American continent, which witnessed more than half a century of civil war between the Colombian government on the one hand, and the rebel groups on the other.

It is a war that initially had an ideological character between the right and the political left. Through identifying the nature of the conflict there, from the battlefield, and interviewing parties to it, several lessons were concluded that he believes contribute to building a comparative framework of knowledge in the study of international conflicts, especially the Arab conflicts and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.