Arab/Jewish Student Dialogue
Dates
Feb. 20-23, 2001
Overview
Eight Brandeis students and three recent Brandeis graduates spent four days on retreat in western Massachusetts exploring the contemporary situation in the Middle East and planning on how they can act publicly to work towards peace and coexistence. The participants were principally Arab and Jewish students from Israel and Jordan, many of whom are at Brandeis on Slifka "coexistence" scholarships.
Funding Partner
- Morton H. Meyerson Family Tzedakah Funds
Participating Students
- Judah Ariel ’04
- Taher Baderkhan ’03
- Michael Bavly ’00
- Yoav Borowitz ’00
- Forsan Hussein ’00
- Maisa Khshaibon ’03
- Daniel Langenthal (Heller/Hornstein)
- Zein Nasif ’03
- Marina Pevzner ’04
- Munther Samawi ’04
- Waseem Yahya ’03
Retreat Leaders
- Farhat Agbaria, Palestinian-Israeli Coexistence Facilitator
- Cynthia Cohen, Ethics Center
- Gordon Fellman, Professor of Sociology
- Daniel Terris, Ethics Center
Key Outcomes
The retreat suggests that Brandeis initiatives and programs can nurture strong intercommunal relationships and make possible productive conversations and work together among people who might be radically separated in their home communities. Students felt a sense of hopefulness and empowerment to act together in the face of the serious challenges to coexistence efforts that arise from current actions on the ground in their home region. The challenge for the future is to provide further opportunities for students to work intensively together on a variety of issues, in order to help nourish the qualities of candor and articulateness that will enable them to become leaders in their communities in the future.