Although violence may be erupting in the Middle East, Washington University students are finding peaceful ways to discuss the recent conflict in Gaza.

Political groups on campus are trying to help increase student awareness and understanding of the recent events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the process, Students for a Peaceful Palestinian-Israeli Future (SPPIF), Amnesty International and the Peace Coalition have joined together to host an event in early February.

During the past few weeks, the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, shot a barrage of rockets out of Gaza into Israel. In response, the Israelis conducted a 22-day military campaign in Gaza. More than 1,300 people died in the conflict.

Although a cease-fire is currently in place and the fighting has stopped, the final results of the conflict remain to be seen.

The lull in the violence, however, does not mean that the groups aren’t still talking about the situation. SPPIF, a discussion-oriented group, hosted a session on Gaza last week. Discussion ranged from the purpose of the war and its merits and faults to the eventual outcome.

Although there was much back-and-forth, junior Robert Fares, president of SPPIF, said he is hopeful that the group’s joining with Amnesty and Peace Coalition will help keep people informed.

“I think education and moderation are the best ways [to communicate]. [With the] operations in Israel and the Palestinians, people on both sides get really angry,” Fares said.

Fares said he has witnessed such anger firsthand. He grew up in the Middle East and returned to the region during winter break “when it all kind of broke out.”

“I was around a lot of people [who] started to get a lot more angry, say a lot of terrible things about Israel—calling it genocide—all these things that don’t really make a lot of sense, and talking about supporting Palestinian civilians,” Fares said. “They wouldn’t normally say things like that, but when they get angry they want to.”

He said, however, that given the distance between the United States and the conflict, the anger of those involved may be hard to understand.

“Coming back to the U.S. and Wash. U., some people are unable to recognize that there’s suffering in Gaza and unable to understand why 1,300 people didn’t have to be killed for Israel to accomplish its mission, mostly just because they’re angry and not willing to listen to the other side,” Fares said, “But I feel like if you just tone down that anger and get people to actually listen to the other side, they can find the truth or at least reason—look at everything with common sense.”

The event in February will have two speakers, including an Israeli who Fares expects will know what it’s like to be under Palestinian fire, and a Palestinian, who will share his experience and insight growing up and living in the area.

Although the details of the event are not yet ironed out, everyone involved is excited, and the groups have been meeting almost every week.

“Each of our groups is different. Wash. U. Peace Coalition often does demonstrations, SPPIF holds discussions and we’re action-based with letter writing, etc,” said junior Hannah Wroblewski, president of Amnesty International on campus.

The Student Justice Center has been asked to moderate the event.

Although the groups vary in both style and position, they have found one thing in common: a desire for peace.

“It’s actually been wonderful working with the other groups. Our opinions are often different…but we have a common interest—basically peace,” Wroblewski said.
Although the events in Gaza caused loss of life, Fares said that the silver lining may be a renewed dedication among students to seek peace in the region.

“As soon as the conflict in Gaza came up, that started getting people a lot more interested,” Fares said. “There’s a greater sense of urgency on campus because there are always people dying on both sides.”

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Tags: discussion, Gaza, israel, rockets, spiff

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Campus Events, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.