Faculty that teach classes on the Middle East are adapting their course curriculum to account for ongoing developments in the war in Gaza.

Faculty in the Elliott School of International Affairs and the departments of political science and history in the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences are adding or expanding upon lessons on the war in Gaza in classes on Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Faculty said students have grown more curious about the regional conflict since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, and the classroom offers an open space for students to learn about and discuss the topic.

Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 in a surprise assault that killed around 1,200 people, including kidnappings of more than 250 people. Israel Defense Forces responded to the attacks with airstrikes and artillery in Gaza. Since Oct. 7, at least 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military’s ground and air campaign and famine had spread through the region. About 97 Israeli hostages remain in Hamas’s captivity, as of Sept. 1, according to Israeli officials.

Joyce Karam, an adjunct professor in the political science department who teaches the course Arab-Israeli Conflict, said she updated her curriculum after Oct. 7 to include lessons on the increased absence of peacemaking, the element of radicalization in Israeli and Palestinian societies and the “situation” in Gaza and its connection to Hamas’s attack. She said she also plans to discuss the rise of the current far right Israeli government and Hamas’s shift to the right.

Karam said since Oct. 7, she notices “more engagement broadly from the whole class,” compared to previous years when only students who completed course readings participated in discussions. Karam said she will update her curriculum throughout the semester to reflect any developments in the war in Gaza but hopes that the updates will soon pertain to more talks and “peacemaking” and less violence and division.

“Whether it’s about the occupation, whether it’s about terrorism, whether it’s about other elements, we’re always updating it,” Karam said.

There have been numerous protests on campus condemning the war and demonstrations to mourn killings in Israel and Gaza since Oct. 7 and before. In April, pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up encampment in University Yard for 13 days to demand officials disclose all investments and academic partnerships, drop all charges against pro-Palestinian student organizations and divest from companies supplying arms to Israel. Pro-Palestinian protests have continued this year as demonstrators marched to University President Ellen Granberg’s F Street House on the first day of classes, passing by the barricades installed around U-Yard during the clearing of the encampment.

Ned Lazarus, a teaching associate professor of international affairs, said his class Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding normally focuses on the history of the conflict, but after Oct. 7 he added a permanent part at the beginning of every class session to discuss ongoing developments in the region.

“Every class, we take time at the beginning to talk about what’s happening and certainly the first meetings after the Hamas attacks, we spent a lot of time,” Lazarus said. “I just kind of had an open forum for people to ask questions and to discuss and explain to the best that I knew what was happening and to hear how people are feeling and responding.”

Lazarus said instead of “antagonistic” and “polarized” discussions, students have engaged in productive and respectful conversations on the topic. He said when students asked him about the  “controversial slogans” projected on Gelman Library by Students for Justice in Palestine in October, he let students share their opinions and then explained his own thoughts on the subject.

Lazarus said he hopes to bring in guest speakers who are Israeli and Palestinian “peacebuilding activists” or hold an event this semester so students can hear from people involved in the conflict.

“The goal of taking these courses is you would be able to understand what’s happening now in a much more detailed way on the basis of what you’ve learned in the course,” Lazarus said. “I guess we’re trying to practice that in each lesson when we talk about what’s happening now and related to the material.”

Scott Weiner, a professorial lecturer in the political science department who teaches Comparative Politics of the Middle East, said students’ genuine curiosity for learning more about the conflict propels respectful discussion in class.

“We talk about how a lot of anger is rooted in fear, and a lot of fear is rooted in pain, and so whether you agree with the politics around someone’s pain, that pain is real, and so it’s something that deserves to be validated,” Weiner said. “So when I mentioned that kind of as a part of my overview to discussing the conflict, students are generally pretty receptive to that.”

Sina Azodi, an adjunct professor at the Elliott School who teaches International Relations of the Middle East, said his course dedicates two class sessions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — one class on its history and one on the Oslo Accords. He said since Oct. 7, he and his students have “naturally” spent a lot of time discussing the war in Gaza.

“It’s a very sensitive topic, there are a lot of emotions and feelings involved and everybody can make a very solid arguments of why they’re upset, why they’re angry,” Azodi said. “The first thing that I tell my students is that, ‘You can express yourself, and it’s your right to express yourself, as long as you’re courteous to the others, and you have to remember that others have the same exact right.’”

Ibrahim Al-Assil, an adjunct professor in the political science department, said many students took his Comparative Politics of the Middle East class this semester because of their interest in learning more about the regional conflict. He said the class won’t formally discuss the conflict until the end of September, but the topic has already surfaced in class discussions.

“I see this as a positive sign of student engagement and understanding of these dynamics,” Al-Assil said in an email. “The students are curious, and in an academic setting, curiosity should be nurtured and rewarded by being responsive. I want to keep this class as dynamic as possible to respond to developments in Gaza and in other hot spots in the region.”