Hillel hosts panel on Mideast peace

Expressing hope for improving Israel's relationship with the United States, members of several national organizations and student groups convened yesterday to discuss the leadership and social skills necessary to face a changing world. The conference, "A New Congress: A Changing Middle East," included a panel discussion with Political Science Professor Ian Lustick and a speech by U.S. Rep. Jon Fox (R-Pa.). The event, sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Hillel and IsraeLink, offered students an opportunity to learn how to help ensure a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, according to Wharton sophomore Rachel Glazer, a member of AIPAC. Wharton sophomore Matt Engel, College sophomore Elisia Abrams and College sophomore Leslie Adelson organized the event after attending a similar conference in Boston. "As we approach the dawn of a new age and the coming of a new millennium, the Middle East peace process has offered hope that some of the oldest people on Earth, who have been clashing for thousands of years, may be on the verge of a possible everlasting peace," Glazer added. The event illustrated Hillel's commitment to the needs of the University's Jewish community and included leadership seminars designed to instruct the participants on methods of dealing with the media, public speaking and involvement in the workplace and campus community. Members of the panel took opposing views of the peace process and the direction it will move in the coming months. Lustick, an expert on the Middle East, said every step by Israel and the Palestinians over the past decade has been a small movement toward Israel's unavoidable split into separate states. "Ten years ago the Israeli hawks and doves argued over who should settle but now they talk about what kind of Palestinian state and what powers it will have -- we're closer now than ever before," he said. But Daniel Pipes, editor of Middle East Quarterly, argued that Israeli fears of further Palestinian land demands after gaining statehood will prevent Israel from making concessions. Steve Abrams, a lobbyist for AIPAC and Elisia Abrams' father, said he foresaw a positive future for U.S.-Israel relations and focused on the histories of key figures in both administrations. Promoting a strong U.S.-Israel relationship was a reflection of the strong ties many diaspora Jews feel toward Israel. "It's a home for the Jewish people -- it was created by people coming out of the Holocaust as a place to go and be amongst people like yourself and to feel safe," said Adelson. Both students and participants stressed that despite the fears, political tensions and security issues that plague Israel, feelings of safety and home underlie their attitudes toward the state. Gabi Raubitschek, a representative of Philadelphia's Israel Aliyah Center, said his family spent six months fleeing the Nazi Holocaust before landing on the shores of Tel Aviv. Raubitschek's organization uses the word "aliyah" -- Hebrew for "going up" or "going home" -- to describe their efforts to help diaspora Jews emigrate to Israel. "Since 2000 years ago, Jews have been scattered through war and other historical events and they all dream of going home," Raubitschek said. Following the panel discussion, Fox spoke about the close relationship between the U.S. and Israel, focusing on congressional attitudes toward the state. "This session of Congress has a special opportunity to come together and strengthen the relationship with Israel," Fox said. He described the relationship as "the closest maintained by the U.S.," based on emotional and democratic bonds between the two countries.