Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

GU Group, Speaker Address Arab-Israeli Relations

GU Group, Speaker Address Arab-Israeli Relations

Middle East Forum Seeks to Ease Tensions Among Arabic, Israeli Sympathizers at GU

By Nicole Clock Hoya Staff Writer

The first general meeting of the Georgetown University Middle East Forum was held Thursday, Nov. 19 in an attempt to alleviate Arab-Israeli tensions on campus. The forum includes members of the Arabic Club, the Jewish Student Association (JSA) and the Georgetown Israel Association (GIA), groups thathave disagreed in the past with each other’s actions and the campus events each has sponsored.

According to Evan Kohlman (SFS ’01), co-president of the GIA, the forum’s first meeting featured a “well-balanced” group of fifty participants. The meeting focused on defining the group’s goals and promoting social interaction among the Arab and Israeli groups on campus.

All 50 participants introduced themselves and their organizations, said why they were there and discussed possible plans for the upcoming year. The Middle East Forum is an extended form of Project Peace, a group founded last year by Benji Kacev (SFS ’01), vice-president of the JSA, to pacify Arab-Israeli relations. Kacev called the Middle East Forum “more extensive” than Project Peace.

One such issue was the conflict caused when a series of inflammatory fliers were posted around campus last April, one month before the 50th anniversary of the state of Israel. Two of these read, “Your Arabic Club at Work / Jew Haters” and “Palestinian Diplomacy Defined.” There were also concerns voiced by Pro-Israeli students that the Arabic Club received unaccounted-for funding from outside organizations, and claims were madethat speakers being brought to campus gave lectures that were not instructive or denied the existence of the Holocaust.

Kacev said the Israeli “side of the debate has historically been absent at Georgetown.” However, on behalf of his organization, Kacev said “JSA does not seek to balance the scale,” but merely to educate and promote students to look at more central, unbiased viewpoints on the conflict in the Middle East.

Robin Nahas (COL ’00), president of the Arabic Club, co-organized the Forum. “I don’t expect people to convince each other. But I hope they develop a healthy respect, if not for each other’s viewpoints, then for each other as people,” said Nahas.

“Hopefully, this will release some of the acrimony that’s been evident on this campus over these issues,” he added.

This year, GIA, a nonpartisan organization, has sponsored two speakers. Professor Barry Rubin , a Georgetown alumnus and senior resident scholar at Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, spoke in early November.

The second speaker, Avi Gronot, Minister of Interreligious and Public Affairs of the Israeli Embassy, spoke last Thursday night (see “Israeli Official Sees Wye River Potential,” p.1).

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