Several students and a Harvard graduate debated whether or not Penn should divest its endowment funds from companies that do business in Israel last night.
Currently, Penn is still investing such companies, but there is a petition circulating campus in an attempt to persuade administrators to change their position on the controversial matter.
Sasha Costanza-Chock, a magnum cum laude graduate of Harvard University and current Annenberg School graduate student, and College junior Khalid Hadeed represented the pro-Palestinian side of the debate, while College freshman Justin Raphael and Wharton senior David Bard represented the pro-Israel side.
In Costanza-Chock's opening statement, he explained that the divestment campaign was inspired by the divestment movement in the '80s against apartheid South Africa, which he compared to the Israeli-Palestinian situation in the Middle East.
Raphael dismissed this comparison as absurd.
"Apartheid banned blacks from jobs, land and denied them representation in government. Israel does just the opposite on all three issues, and in fact grants the Palestinians the most freedom of any Arabs in the region," he said. "Divestment would, in fact, take money away from Palestinians whose main livelihood comes from their jobs in Israel."
The forum continued with statements and counterstatements in which the pro-Palestinian side focused more on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while the pro-Israel side kept more to the issue of divestment and repeatedly requested that Hadeed and Costanza-Chock stick to the topic as well.
The discussion was followed by heated audience questions.
A debate erupted when a member of the audience challenged the pro-Palestinian side, arguing that Israel has always been on the defensive and just wants to be left alone.
Costanza-Chock responded that this is also the main desire of Palestinians, but that if one looks at the 200,000 Israeli settlers that have moved in since the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians have also not been allowed to exist in quiet.
Raphael immediately countered by saying that at Camp David, the Palestinians were offered the disbandment of 98 percent of the settlements in return for peace, but the offer was rejected by the so-called "wanters to be left alone."
As 9 p.m. approached, closing statements began.
"I condemn all human rights violations, not just Israel," Costanza-Chock said, ending with a vow to "win the battle against human rights violations no matter how long it takes."
Bard responded to this in his conclusion, saying, "Sasha calls for as long as it takes to 'win this.' Battles are won, peace is negotiated. That is the problem in this issue."
Many students said they thought that Costanza-Chock held his composure best, while Bard was seen as the one who knew his facts and expressed his views the most effectively.
In the end, while students were glad that they had attended the forum, many harbored the complaint of Ahmaad Sadek, a neurology fellow at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
"The topic was not focused on [divestment] enough," he said. "You cannot solve the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict in two hours. But you can take one angle such as divestment and dissect it very well. That is what should have been done more."
The event was held in Houston Hall and sponsored by Penn Forum.
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