The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
A seminar with Lihi Ben Shitrit, MEI Research Fellow and Assistant Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia. Moderated by Tarek Masoud, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations, HKS and MEI Faculty Chair.
Abstract
Lihi Ben Shitrit will discuss her book manuscript, which explores three contemporary women’s movements in and around Jerusalem’s Sacred Esplanade: Messianic Jewish Orthodox women’s activism for access to Temple Mount/al-Haram al-Sharif; Pious Muslim Palestinian women’s activism for the defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque from Jewish claims (the Murabitat); and the Women of the Wall’s (WOW) interdenominational Jewish feminist mobilization against restrictive gender regulations at the Western Wall. Using these cases, the book demonstrates how attention to gender and to women’s engagement in conflict over sacred places is essential for understanding the intra-communal processes that make contested sacred sites increasingly “indivisible” for parties in the inter-communal context.