Encouraging vital discourse

This week, the Coalition of Hopkins Activists for Israel (CHAI) hosted the annual Israel Peace Week (IPW). A grassroots campaign that focuses on educating students about Israel's steps toward peace with the Palestinians, IPW attempts to respond to anti-Israel propaganda. As one of its events this week, members of CHAI stood on the breezeway, handing out chocolate bars with attached facts about Israel's recent attempts to attain peace.

This page supports CHAI and IPW's goals of respectful dialogue and discussion. We only hope that more avenues for discourse open in the future. For a truly comprehensive community conversation, we would like to see both sides weighing in on the very salient Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

We commend CHAI for attempting to engage Hopkins students in a highly controversial international debate. We also believe that CHAI has done the entire debate a great service by not launching negative attacks on the Palestinians, and instead sticking strictly to what Israel has done in the cause of peace.

This page has long held that the most sensible and efficient way to resolve disputes - especially in a University setting - is through constructive dialogue, in which each opposing side has a chance to present the facts as they see them. Undoubtedly, CHAI continues to do its part in this debate; the facts it has presented on the Israeli attempts at peace are, for the most part, well-founded and fair.

It is our hope, however, that Palestinians and supporters of Palestine on campus will be represented in this debate as well. Clearly, support for Israel pervades many facets of American society. From Congressional speeches in support of Israeli policies to films and literature championing Israeli history, it is difficult for many Americans to separate themselves from the debate and observe with impartiality. To this end, we hope the Palestinian perspective can emerge  and offer another view of the conflict.

In order to facilitate practical discussion and attain actual solutions, we encourage pro-Palestinian students and groups on campus to offer their side of the story. There are many questions left unanswered - many assertions left untouched. While IPW has been helpful in presenting the facts to Hopkins students, no informed conclusions can ever be reached unless both sides have a say. We hope that this debate at Hopkins is only beginning.