Religious leaders talk on prospects for Arab-Israeli peace

Two religious leaders proved Tuesday night that they were on the same page with regards to a highly controversial issue. In a talk titled "Palestine and Israel: Salam/Shalom From Theory to Practice," Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University, and Rabbi Howard Alpert, director of Hillel of Greater Philadelphia, talked about their religions' attitudes toward peace. In back-to-back 20-minute speeches, each speaker stressed the importance of shalom, the Hebrew word for peace, and salam, its Arabic equivalent, as meaning more than simply "not fighting," but rather a harmony with oneself and one's neighbors. "We wanted to get the point across that the problem is not religious," said College freshman Hasan Ansari, treasurer of the Muslim Students Association, which sponsored the event. "The religions are in perfect harmony. Shalom/salam can exist because of the closeness of both religions. Peace can be attained." After Hendi and Alpert spoke, they were joined by University Chaplain William Gipson and Philadelphia Imam Kenneth Nuriddin, who took questions from the audience. One of the more difficult issues raised dealt with the complaints of individuals by religious disputes. "There are grievances on both sides," Alpert explained. "At some point each side will have to hear the grievances of the other side. It has to be reciprocal." Gipson then offered a relevant quotation relating to the issue. He told the audience to go to the Penn National Commission's World Wide Web site at http://www.upenn.edu/pnc and look at the December 1998 meeting of the commission, which University President Judith Rodin first convened in 1996. During that meeting, a South African explained that making peace requires overlooking the traditional bitterness of the current generation and looking toward the future. Overall, the chaplain's message was to make the world better for those who are only children now. College senior Romana Kaleem, president of the MSA, said she was happy to see Jewish students at the event. "Our goal during Islam Awareness Week is getting non-Muslims to come to the events to learn more about Islam," she said. Nuriddin reiterated the purpose of the talk. "In the minds of the people here, this opened up the lines of thinking and communication," he said. The talk was also important, according to Alpert, because it allowed both sides to gain an understanding of one another. "We have to learn to know one another," he said. "Once we can recognize the common humanity, then the political issues can be dealt with." College freshman Ben Rosenau also felt the dialogue was valuable. "Without things like this, we're not going to get anywhere," he said. "Although there are skeptics -- as could be seen in the audience -- the more of these talks that take place, the less skeptics there will be." The discussion was co-sponsored by Hillel, the Penn Arab Students Association and the Office of the Chaplain.