I believe the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is an inter-subjective debacle, at once complex, dynamic, and grounded in human experience, phenomenology, and history.

Last week, students of the Washington University community affirmed their support for the disinvitation/boycott of Marvin Casey from the US-Mideast Hip-Hop Exchange Week in support of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS).

Students say they were taken aback to hear that a week meant to bring Middle Eastern cultures together has actually highlighted the conflicts between them. Universal Beatz removed an Israeli and two Palestinian hip-hop artists from the roster of performers for its Middle Eastern Hip-Hop Week.

The Middle East is on fire. Every day, even though it seems as if things couldn’t possibly get any worse, a new report comes out of Libya, Iran or Egypt telling us just how bad things have gotten in that part of the world. Its kind of hard to be in St. Louis, far away from just about everything, and not be able to do anything.

The Arab world is exploding. Angered citizens in Egypt and Tunisia have ousted their governments. Riots and protests are breaking out in every Muslim nation from Mauretania to Iran. Videos are appearing on the Internet of soldiers gunning down peaceful protestors in Bahrain. The leader of Libya is ordering the army to bomb his citizens. [...]

As of today, protestors continue to flood the streets of Egypt demanding the removal of thirty year “President” Hosni Mubarak. The 82 year-old ruler’s response has been dissolving the government (except himself), releasing his thugs upon the protestors, and stating that he won’t run again in September. Mubarak further enflamed Egyptians by stating last week that if he stepped down as leader, the country would sink into chaos.

The two Washington University students spending the spring semester abroad in Egypt have safely been evacuated from the country following political unrest. Junior Parsa Bastani, who was studying in Alexandria at the School in the Middle East at Alexandria University, is now on his way back to St.Louis from Prague and is contemplating various options for finishing out the semester. Junior Allegra Skurka, studying at Cairo University, flew to Athens this week and plans to finish the semester in Jordan.

In 2006, Hamas won a resounding victory in the first free elections to ever be held in the Palestinian territories. Israel, the United States and the European Union have long designated Hamas a terrorist organization, and displaying a stubborn refusal to negotiate, they responded by besieging Gaza. Vital humanitarian and medical supplies, as well as [...]

Amnesty International is a non-partisan organization that campaigns to protect human rights both locally and globally. We were greatly disturbed by the recent conflict in Gaza, and we were surprised that, upon arriving back from winter break, we did not hear more discussion on campus about this issue. Washington University Amnesty believes that neither side [...]

If we are to aspire to a serious dialogue about Operation Cast Lead or recent developments in the Middle East, we must, as a campus, commit. A recent article in Student Life, “Rockets in Gaza fuel discussions” (Feb. 2, 2009) does not show such a commitment. Patting ourselves on the back for “discussing” an issue [...]