Roxana Anayat
UC San Diego’s department of anthropology is offering a study abroad program in Jordan and Israel over Winter Break 2025. The eight-unit course, ANAR 135: Ancient Mediterranean Civilization, is scheduled to take place from Dec. 14 to Dec. 30. Since its announcement on Oct. 4, some UCSD students have spoken out against the program, expressing that they feel it is inappropriate for the University to host a trip to Israel.
The program will be co-taught by professors Geoffrey Braswell and Zachary Dunseth from UCSD’s department of anthropology. Unlike most other UCSD study abroad opportunities, this program was advertised only through an email sent to all UCSD undergraduate students. Interested students must inquire with the professors directly to sign up for the trip, consistent with previous editions of the program. The course fee is $3,199, which is lower than the typical cost of eight-unit courses, due to the Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative’s financial contributions to funding the program.
Some students have organized an email campaign to Braswell to voice their issues with the program. The email being mass-sent to Braswell reads, “As the genocide in Gaza intensifies, as women, children, and men are sniped on the streets by Israeli soldiers and as the plight of Palestinians reaches the ears of all those who want to or don’t want to know about Israel’s onslaught onto them, I cannot fathom the talks of ‘fascination’ with an Apartheid state that has decimated the very ‘holy land’ they wish to covet.”
In 2022, the program named and visited Israel, Jordan, and Palestine. This year’s program is similar, but there will not be a visit to Jericho, which is located in the West Bank. In 2023, there were 1,200 requests for applications, but the program location was changed to Tunisia following Oct. 7. In 2024, the program involved a trip to Jordan but not Israel or Palestine.
This year’s trip includes stops in Petra, Jerash, Hazor, Megiddo, and several locations in Jerusalem’s old city, including the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Participants will also visit the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, and the Sea of Galilee.
Several of the sites on this year’s trip itinerary are located in politically contested territories, including Jerusalem, Golan Heights, and parts of the West Bank. Israel and Palestine dispute control over Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank, while Golan Heights is an internationally recognized territory of Syria, not Israel, as the program description implies. The United Nations has declared Israel’s occupation of Golan Heights as illegal under international law and affirms its status as Syrian territory.
The UCSD Guardian asked Braswell about the choice to visit Nimrod Fortress in Golan Heights. In an email, he responded, “There are no logistical, political or safety concerns with visiting the site that are not shared with visiting anywhere in Israel.”
The program description says the course is designed to help students learn about the ancient history of the region by visiting archeological sites. The announcement also notes that students will “learn about the contested and often painful history of modern Jordan, Israel, and Palestine by meeting people of very different religious and ethnic backgrounds.”
Braswell commented on the security concerns in the region. “Israel is given a Level 3 travel advisory by the US Department of State,” he said. “This is on par with most of northern and western Mexico, and also with Guatemala and Honduras–other places we often go to. Students visiting Los Cabos over Spring Break should keep in mind that the USDoS classifies it and Jerusalem at the same level of concern.”