Correction Appended
AU's Dialogue Development Group assembled members of the AU community Monday evening for what was for some their first experience conversing with each other on issues regarding the violence in the Middle East.
DDG, a student group created as a forum for using dialogue skills learned in the classroom, hosted a group of about 25 students and faculty for the dialogue. According to SIS professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer, DDG's faculty adviser, this was one of the only successful dialogues on this topic to have taken place recently at AU.
Irene Nasser, a graduate student in the School of International Service's program of International Peace and Conflict Resolution, said she thought the event went well.
"There was a good group of people, some of whom have very close connections and family in Gaza," she said.
Nasser and fellow SIS grad students Sarah Beller and Emily Siegel served as facilitators for the discussion.
"I think [the event] provided a space for [participants] to talk about what they've been going through in recent weeks," Nasser said.
Because peaceful dialogues do not often occur between dissenting groups, according to Beller, so the event on Monday was a valuable time for those in the AU community affected by the violence in Gaza.
"Unfortunately, that is not a type of space that often exists," she said. "When conflict occurs, people tend to ... form tight groups with people who all agree with them."
Josh Jacobs, a freshman in SIS whose family is from Israel, said he was happy to interact with a Palestinian in a respectful environment.
"I had never been able to talk about this topic on a person-to-person level with a Palestinian and have it be civil," he said. "That was probably the biggest thing I took away from it."
But Siegel said that discussion participants found it difficult to bridge the gaps in their opinions and beliefs.
"Something that was brought up over and over again in the discussion was just how challenging it is to actually dialogue," she said. "When there are events that are so tragic and so massive in scale, it really challenges people."
SIS professors Abu-Nimer and Boaz Atzili, representing the Palestinian and Israeli sides of the discussion, respectively, gave introductory remarks before the group discussions.
Abu-Nimer, who is also the faculty adviser of DDG, said during the event that dialogues between the Israeli and Palestinian communities are particularly difficult now after the recent violence.
"Because of the 1,400 Palestinian people killed and thousands injured recently, it is not reasonable to expect Palestinians to welcome negotiations and peace talks with the same Israeli government that just bombarded them with this attack," he said.
A struggle over which side is in the right or in the wrong would be futile at this point, Atzili said.
"Using 'justice' rhetoric will only worsen the problem," he said.
During the event, students recognized their feeling of removal from the turmoil, according to Nasser.
"We talk about how there are many tragedies in the world," Siegel said. "But one girl pointed out that for the people [in Gaza], this is the tragedy."
Nasser said she agreed that for those in Gaza, the problem is a reality.
"[To them] it's not just another news flash," she said. "These are actual losses they are going through."
Students in Abu-Nimer's class - Dialogue: Approaches and Applications - first founded DDG in the spring of 2006. One of their first dialogues was about the war in Lebanon that summer, Siegel said.
This semester, DDG will be holding weekly discussion groups over the course of seven weeks. Participants can apply to be in a group of their choosing, and they will discuss their respective topic each time they meet, Nasser said.
"It's a process," Beller said. "You need to build trust and relationships with the people you talk with. Entering a dialogue is saying 'I am not going to reject some perspectives in preference for mine.'"
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Correction: In "AU discusses Gaza conflict," The Eagle incorrectly reported that Emily Siegel and Irene Nasser were graduate students in SIS. In fact both have already graduated from the university. The Eagle regrets the error.
