Hillel Issues Its Stance on Mideast

Even with the world calling out for peace, Arabs, Jews and Muslims at Harvard have been having as much trouble as their counterparts in the Middle East with agreeing on who is at fault and what should be done.

Last night, members of the three groups took a step forward, setting next Thursday as the date for a 30-person roundtable discussion about the recent violence in the Middle East.

The agreement didn't come easy. Representatives from Harvard Hillel's Interethnic Committee, Harvard Islamic Society (HIS), and the Society of Arab Students (SAS) have been working for over a week to hammer out a date and venue for bringing their members together to discuss their views on the Middle East controversy.

But discussion is only the beginning of a much longer and harder process of listening and understanding.

The three groups have struggled, internally, and with one another, to clarify their stances and create a framework in which they can work together.

Following a two-hour community meeting on Friday morning, Harvard Hillel's Coordinating Committee issued a statement yesterday about its position.

In addition to mourning the death of the two Israeli soldiers killed last week and calling for the return of all missing Israeli soldiers, the statement called for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to "end the violence."

"Harvard Hillel stands in solidarity with the State of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people," the statement said. "We support Israel's right to exist, its right to defend itself, and its citizens' right to live free from fear. We mourn the loss of all life in the Middle East, and we hope and pray for a just and lasting peace in the region."

In an interview, Zayed M. Yasin '01, president of the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS), reflected on Hillel's statement and elaborated on the perspective of the Muslim and Arab community at Harvard.

"We agree on several core things," he said. "First, that peace is essential, but peace will not be possible without a just peace and without an understanding of the inequities and injustices that have dominated recent Middle East history."

"We have a lot of hope for the current cease-fire," Yasin added. "But if the solutions are temporary and cosmetic, then the peace will be temporary and cosmetic, and that would be a real tragedy."

Last week representatives of Hillel approached the Society of Arab Students (SAS) and HIS about holding a joint vigil to mourn the loss of life in the Middle East.

The groups ended up holding two separate vigils, one organized by Hillel and one by SAS and HIS, when they were unable to come to an agreement on who and what was being mourned.

Following that thwarted effort, "there was a sentiment that [the Arab, Muslim and Israeli communities] would like to do something constructive together towards the situation," said Sarah D. Beller '03, co-chair of Hillel's Interethnic Committee.

Yasin said his group and Hillel have yet to settle on a way to create avenues for dialogue.

Beller and Rayd K. Abu-Ayyash '01, president of SAS, are spearheading the effort for their respective groups.

The initiative "will have a component of dialogue with the aim of understanding where each of us is coming from, and also a social component to build interpersonal relationships," Beller said.

Pressure has mounted both from the public and from within the Arab, Muslim and Israeli communities to cross cultural and religious lines in pursuit of peace and mutual understanding.

But even halfway around the world here at Harvard, finding consensus within their communities is proving to be a more difficult process than many had hoped--despite good faith efforts on both sides.

"On a personal level, I have been very confused about the situation in Israel and have had enormous difficulty trying to reconcile the facts I receive from various sides.," Beller said. "Regardless of how similar a group of people may look on the outside, it is always hard to get everyone to agree."

Even within the particular communities, not all students agree.

"In my experience, the Harvard Jewish community has the full range of opinions," said Simon L. Sternin '01, a Jewish member of the SAS. "Some people are sympathetic to Palestinian concerns, but on the other end are people who are completely unsympathetic to the Palestinian cause in any way, shape or form."

The many groups and subcommittees within Hillel reflect the wide range of views within that part of the Jewish community. On one end is Harvard Students for Israel (HSI), whose members' opinions tend to be less sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

"We all have to recognize that the nature of war is that there are incidents that occur [that] no one wished would have happened," HSI Vice President Myles S. Brody '01 wrote in an e-mail message. "However, the State of Israel is committed to reducing the amount of casualties in this unfortunate conflict, and we are proud of this commitment. This came shining through when the Israelis gave the [Palestinian Authority] three hours notice before they bombed Ramallah and Gaza City so that they could defend Israel's safety with minimal loss of life."

On the other end of Hillel's spectrum of belief stands its Interethnic Committee, which has reached out to HIS and SAS in pursuit of understanding.

"A lot of people definitely want to see joint programming with the SAS," Beller said. "Some others have reservations about it and wonder how effective or helpful it would be, but I am very optimistic about the upcoming program."

Some of Harvard's Jews said they felt their relative sympathy for the Palestinian cause was mistaken as anti-Israeli sentiment.

"I am in favor of the state of Israel, but that does not mean that I support every action of the Israeli military," Sternin said. "If you're in favor of rights for Palestinians, that does not mean you're anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic. People tend to set up a false dichotomy there."

While members of the Arab and Muslim community hold an equally wide range of views, the groups' relatively small size make it easier for it to find common ground.

Though most estimates peg the College's Jewish population at one-quarter of the student body, Yasin estimates that the aggregate Muslim and Arab community at Harvard only numbers between 100 and 150 people.

Because of the community's small size, HIS and SAS do not have separate committees or subgroups representing different ideologies, Yasin said.

"There is a spectrum of opinions, but I wouldn't say factionalization," he said.

All of the communities involved agree that there is a general lack of good information in the U.S. about the history and greater significance of this most recent conflagration.

The recent violence was set off when Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon, accompanied by several hundred armed police officers, made a visit during prayer time to the Noble Sanctuary and Dome of the Rock, the world's third most sacred site for Muslims.

The small hill in Jerusalem's old city is sacred for all three of the religions that trace their origins back to Abraham--Christianity, Islam and Judaism. As such, it has been the epicenter of virtually unending religious conflict for the last 2,000 years.