On Tuesday, Oct. 8, a year and a day after the start of the war in Gaza, Hillel hosted Diplomat Dennis Ross and former Negotiator Gaith al-Omari, to discuss the past, present, and future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Executive Director of Hillel Joy Getnick gave a speech introducing the speakers.
Getnick noted that it is hard for many students on campus to imagine a world different from today’s — one where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not lead Israel and where Hamas does not control Gaza. A world where the concept of hope abounds is hard to picture, she said.
“The opportunity to hear from people who have lived that past, who are working on the present and still have insightful hope for what a practical, realistic, but yet much better future could be, was to me the most honorable way to spend [Oct. 8], in honor of everybody who’s been affected for decades by this tragedy,” Getnick added.
Diplomat Ross, who played a key role in the Middle East Peace Process, opened with a joke about how working with Arabs and Israelis was simpler than working with Republicans and Democrats, tying it to Getnick’s assertion that there was a time when circumstances were different from how they are now.
The only workable solution Ross envisions is a two-state solution, stating that, “You are trying to reconcile two rights […] These are two national movements, two national identities […] competing for the same space. They both have a profound connection to the land […] Neither one is going to surrender that identity.”
Ross then addressed the legacy that October 7th left in Israel, saying it impacts everyday life because what was an unthinkable possibility is now a reality.
“It was a shock because Israelis might have been used to terrorism, but they were not used to anything quite like this. They were not used to children being killed in front of parents, and parents being killed in front of children. They were not used to the sexual violence. They were not used to hostages being kidnapped as young as nine months old and as old as 85.”
According to Ross, the Israeli leadership underestimated the potential threat of Hamas. “The whole senior Israeli leadership had a view that Hamas was not interested in war,” he said.
But beyond just Israel, Ross asked the audience to be empathetic towards Palestinians. He asked them to put themselves in the shoes of Palestinians who have suffered as well.
“How can you not be overwhelmed by the devastation?” Ross asked. “How can you not also have a profound sense of pain and trauma by the number of Palestinians killed?”
Similar to Ross, former Negotiator al-Omari declared his strong support for a two-state solution due to how both sides have roots in the same land. The idea for a two-state solution, proposed by the Israeli government and Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993, was not an “epiphany of happiness,” al-Omari said, but a last resort when neither side felt they could win.
“We, the Palestinians, they, the Israelis, have tried everything in our power since the conflict started in 1948, and then after that in 1967, everything in our power to eliminate the other side,” al-Omari said.
Per Ross and al-Omari, the two parties’ shared past prevents them from making changes on their own. “We have to work with the Arabs,” they stated, adding that the U.S. must stop alienating them, particularly the Saudis, and work with them to take advantage of Saudi Arabia’s willingness to help improve conditions in both Israel and Palestine.
Both Ross and al-Omari ended by directly calling out to Hillel members because of their “caliber of questions” and “genuine curiosity” as hope for a future of cooperation.
“In the middle of this hell that is happening there, there are still courageous Palestinians and Israelis who are working together,” al-Omari said. “We do not hear much about them, but they exist […] deserve our support, our moral support, our highlighting their work, and in whichever way possible, we can support them.”
