Israeli and Palestinian peace activists are looking to the Jewish and Palestinian communities in North America to influence their leadership to support a negotiated peace in the Middle East.
To this end, the Israelis, Palestinians and American Jews and Palestinians who attended a peace dialogue Sunday sponsored by American Friends of Peace Now (AFPN) suggested activities to promote peace, dialogue and greater understanding between Jews and Arabs both in the Middle East and in North America.
Galia Golan, a leading figure in Peace Now, the non-partisan Israeli peace movement, and one of Israel’s foremost experts on the Soviet Union, said the American Jewish and Arab communities can be instrumental in moderating both Mideast camps.
Hanna Seniora, editor of the Arabic daily Al-Fajr and one of two people approved by both Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization to represent Palestinians in negotiations, said American Jewish and American Arab organizations could cooperate to defend their rights and prevent stereotyping of each group.
The second half of Sunday’s conference focused on activities for Americans to promote peace in the Middle East. The suggestions included:
Dialogue groups — small, intimate encounters with equal numbers of Arabs and Jews meeting regularly to discuss Middle Eastern conflicts. Professor Richard Schwartz of Syracuse University Law School, who started a dialogue group in Syracuse, NY, said “we want to meet in a living room, we want to meet as human beings…to communicate across the giant chasm between Palestinians and Jews.”
Research — Steven Cohen, an author and professor of sociology at Queens College (NY), suggested a project to research Jewish and Arab images of each other in the Middle East and in North America. Cohen currently does an annual survey for the American Jewish Committee on American Jewish attitudes on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Coalition for dialogue — Schwartz also suggested that the American Coalition for Middle East Dialogue, a confederation of six dialogue groups, extend its activities. He called on the group to reach out to the Congress and American Jewish and Arab leadership with ideas for dialogue and to seek support for a negotiated peace.
Arab-Jewish reconciliation week — This program would be aimed at breaking down the sense of alienation and separateness between Palestinian and Jewish activists, especially on the college campus. During the week, both communities would sponsor joint activities, films, lectures, and encounter groups.
Media monitoring — Citing a proliferation of anti-Arab and anti-Jewish stereotypes in the American media, Mark Rosenblum, AFPN executive director, suggested monitoring the American media and eventually creating a newsletter to review the results of the project.
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