Forum focuses on Middle East

With the outline of the Center City skyline behind them, University students spoke frankly about the political and social issues facing the Middle East. About 40 people gathered in the rooftop lounge of High Rise East last night to hear the three students -- an Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian -- talk about their perspectives on the region. The forum was the first meeting of the newly established Middle East Awareness Program, which is jointly sponsored by Hillel and the Penn Arab Student Society (PASS). The program is the brainchild of College sophomores Melissa Brown and Nijimie Dzurinko, who organized similar meetings last year. "We want people to come together and see each other face-to-face, so people don't think about it as blocks of [other] people," Dzurinko said. Brown added that they also hope to attract people who may already have preconceived notions about Middle East issues. "We're hoping to attract people who may already have set ideas and show them what else is out there," she said. The three member panel included Ammar Maraqa, a Management and Technology junior from the town of Ramalah in the West Bank, College junior Nadim Kayyali, a Jordanian of Palestinian descent, and Wharton sophomore Ben Nelson, who is from Haifa, Israel. Topics ranged from their experiences in the U.S. as compared to their former countries to the peace process and their predictions for future reform. "No one can ever really understand the Middle East until you go there -- it's unlike anything else," Nelson said. "Americans really don't understand the nitty-gritty of what it is like to be in the territories." He also said that the prospect for peace is simply "too good financially to give up." "The catalyst will be Jordan," he predicted. "When Jordan and Israel cooperate financially, it's going to be the envy of the world." Kayyali spoke about the situation of Palestinians living in Jordan. "Many Palestinians in Jordan came from Israel, what was Palestine, after the war," he said, adding that he even knows the family names of Jewish-Jordanian tribes. Audience members and panelists alike felt it was a productive and successful meeting. "I think it was really good," Kayyali said. "At least we all know where we are starting from. I am happy." Hakan Tunc, a graduate student in political science, said that while the level of knowledge the audience conveyed was disappointing, the forum was nonetheless useful.