On Peace, Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Two weeks ago, at an event hosted by Washington University Students for Israel (WSI) and the American Israeli-advocacy group StandwithUs, two Israeli reserve soldiers shared their personal histories and gave testimony of their service in the Israel Defense Force. I went to the event entitled, “Israeli Soldiers’ Stories,” and have spent the past weeks repeatedly speaking with students about what happened next: a scene of emotional protesters, shouting organizers, WUPD cars, upset and distressed students, and op-eds that seem to be describing completely different incidents.

The event is evidence of dramatic discord on this campus between “pro-Israel” and “pro-Palestine” students, and the need for a more nuanced and credible discourse around the conflict. This is due to the insular nature of the conversation occurring on this campus around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unfortunately, it seems that students on either “side” of the conflict have too little respect for their peers’ narratives. We must address this adversarial discourse where students are ill-equipped to understand views that deviate from their own. Being able to have these challenging, yet critical, conversations is essential to fostering a campus conversation that is both pluralistic and productive. The ultimate aim, however, is not just to have respectful dialogue. As students, we also need to engage in advocacy that supports a final status end to the conflict through a two state solution. Together, we must examine the disparate narratives of this conflict and act upon the dysfunctional structures of power that impede peace and security.

“Israeli Soldiers’ Stories” failed to address the deeply problematic and unsustainable reality of the Israeli occupation. The event has since been confusingly and disingenuously presented by WSI as a squandered chance for pro-peace dialogue while it really did nothing to advance this goal. At J Street U Wash U, an organization in which I serve as an executive board member, we believe in discourse that not only challenges our understandings of the conflict but also empowers us to work toward peace. As important American stakeholders, Wash U. students have the power to influence national leadership to finally secure a two-state solution. It is essential that the discourse on college campuses does more than just reinforce our beliefs. Dialogue can and must result in tangible and effective actions that turn our statements of support for Israelis and Palestinians into actual achievements.

Since WSI’s disrupted event, Wash U. has seen criticism flung at those of opposing views but very little respectful or productive discourse. Obscured in this facsimile of conversation are the real narratives of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples: the historical, the political, and the daily experience of conflict and occupation. Groups on this campus have the tendency to claim that they are pro-peace. However, these groups often simply reiterate their own understandings of the Israel-Palestine conflict, refuse to understand the narratives of the other, and fail to take constructive action. This “pro-peace” claim is both self-serving and ultimately self-destructive. While a StandWithUs student intern and a student in Students for Justice in Palestine may never agree, the last two weeks have demonstrated that they may not even be able to comprehend one another. This is untenable and counter-productive to the two-state solution.

We must realize that until the Israel-Palestine conflict ends diplomatically, it won’t go away from our campus. And, for the sake of Israelis and Palestinians, we as students must do all that we can to ensure that there is a diplomatic conclusion to this conflict. One of the ways that J Street U students take meaningful action to solve this conflict is by raising awareness of borders and how Israeli settlement expansion is the predominant obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Many Jewish institutions, especially those aimed at young people, present maps that do not include the Green Line, the border between land internationally recognized as Israel and the Palestinian territories that Israel has occupied since 1967. This omission erases a discussion of the injustices of the occupation and of Jewish communal complicity in the occupation through support for settlements, and also makes the idea of a Palestinian state seem intangible by eliminating the borders that must be a basis of a final status agreement. At J Street’s national Conference in March, this education and activism came to fruition as Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union of Reform Judaism, committed to only using maps with accurate borders in materials that serve the 1.5 millions Reforms Jews in North American.

Jacobs’ productive action is a stark contrast to the self-destructive dialogue that does nothing to change the broken political and communal structures that impede a resolution to the conflict. As students, before jumping to conclusions about the conflict, we must work to understand the grievances on both sides, as well as our responsibility and capacity to end these grievances. It is essential that our campus dialogue is both educational and empowering. We must act upon the power we hold to bring about a resolution for Israelis and Palestinians.