Since the end of the 19th century, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a hotbed of debate in both the Middle East and here in the United States.
Uri Zaki, the director for B’Tselem USA, a human-rights organization that has worked in the Gaza Strip and West Bank for the past decade, said he hopes to inform students throughout the country of what can be done about this debate.
“Here in the U.S., people either support or bash Israel. The debate here in the U.S. is a win-win, lose-lose situation,” Zaki said. “Many times, people just don’t know what they’re talking about. People should know.”
Zaki will speak about the Israeli enterprise in the West Bank and his own personal perspective as an Israeli.
In order to teach students about the conflict, Zaki has teamed up with Daniel May, director of J Street U, the student-led branch of J Street.
J Street is a national organization working to encourage the U.S. to take the action of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an effort to preserve Israel as a democracy.
“We are organizing J Street U (branches) on over 50 campuses around the country that are made up of hundreds of students that are creating a new voice on campus about the Israeli conflict,” May said. “We want to challenge politics and communities to speak out and take action to preserve Israel as a democratic state.”
Ohio University’s branch of J Street U was founded by Danielle Fultz, a sophomore studying French and history, and Eric Rudel, a junior studying political science, after they attended the J Street National Conference last winter.
“There is a weight on us because this is our first event,” Fultz said. “At the moment, we do not yet have a large group of supporters at Ohio University. We hope to be able to meet interested peers who can attend our events in the future.”
Although J Street is often considered a Jewish organization, its website advertises that the group is for “American Jews and other supporters of Israel.” Fultz said this event is targeted at a similar crowd.
“We want an audience of varying faith or non-faith backgrounds, political beliefs, and majors,” Fultz said. “J Street U is open to anyone who is interested in the Israel-Palestinian conflict and wants to join the dialogue.”
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