Seniors Qamar, Talwar Invite Scholars to Israel-Palestine Panel
In the coming weeks, Phillips Exeter will host a number of prominent figures involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict. This dynamic combination of writers, professors and activists will engage in a lively discussion about the issues surrounding Israel-Palestine relations. The panel will be moderated by four members of the Exeter community. History instructor Michael Golay will serve as a faculty moderator, while seniors Saisha Talwar and Zoha Qamar will fill the role of student moderators.
Qamar and Talwar planned and orchestrated it as part of their senior project. After being inspired by a Middle Eastern history course taught by Golay, Talwar and Qamar realized that they wanted to bring more attention to the conflicts in the Middle East. They decided to dedicate their senior project to this cause.
“We hope that anyone of any mindset can come to the panel and appreciate the conversation that is going on.”
The girls have proposed and organized a series of three events over the course of spring term. The first, which will take place on Apr. 16, will be centered around Israel-Palestine relations. The second event, which will most likely feature a speaker and a film presentation, will discuss the role of women in Middle Eastern society. The third and final event will be composed of a lecture by lauded historian and theologist Reza Aslan, during which he will address issues of religion in various Middle Eastern countries.
Qamar and Talwar planned extensively for the upcoming forum. Speakers had to be booked, flights had to be purchased and logistics had to be sorted out.
“They are very capable,” history instructor Michael Golay said of the two girls. “I put on a Great Depression Panel in the winter term, and there are a million details that you have to run down. And the girls are very good at that.”
Golay went on to express his excitement for the panel and his hope for the event. “This panel should be very interesting, and I hope they get a good crowd, because this is an important issue. It’s very much in the news because the situation has destabilized. It’s been complicated now by the Iran nuclear negotiations, which were tentatively discussed last week.”
The list of attendees includes Michael Cohen, a contributing writer for the Boston Globe who also works for an NGO involved in the conflict.
“[Cohen] works for the Century Foundation, which is a two-state solution group, and his perspective is to maintain the Israeli interests without having to sacrifice Palestine altogether, which is something that hasn’t been talked about as much, and has been a bit overlooked,” Qamar said. “We want to highlight that there are many different solutions to this problem.”
In addition, two Palestinian college students will join the panel, and will discuss their first-hand experiences with the conflict.
“Both of [the students] are from Hebron in the West Bank of Palestine. That area has been the site of a lot of violence and strife, and so it will be interesting to see their perspective on things,” Talwar said.
“However, they are college students. We’re having them here to not only get their perspective as Palestinians, but also as young people. They are really the only members of the panel who have experienced these issues firsthand.”
The final member of the panel will be former PEA faculty member Andy Hertig, along with a potential appearance by a representative of an organization known as AIPAC.
“AIPAC is a very powerful, comprehensive, large Israeli lobby that is right-winged,” Talwar said. AIPAC focuses on bringing knowledge and awareness of the Israel-Palestine conflict to Americans, particularly American Jews.
Qamar and Talwar also expressed their satisfaction with the amount of support they have received from the Academy.
“The school funding has been really helpful in organizing all of this, and in paying for a lot of the speakers to come out,” Qamar said. “The history department has helped us out a lot financially.”
This event is a sort of follow-up to the Voices from Gaza event that Qamar and Talwar organized this fall. With this panel, the girls hope to correct some of the issues that were present in the first event.
“We got some feedback from people saying that it was a bit one-sided,” Qamar said.
The girls hope that with this event, they will avoid focusing on one side or another.
“We are really hoping to have a very diverse panel, so as to negate any notions of bias,” Talwar said.
Nevertheless, with such a diverse panel discussing such a divisive issue, there could be conflict somewhere in the mix.
“We hope that everyone we invite will maintain their decorum and will all respect the views of their fellow panelists,” Qamar said. She went on to add that while respect is key in an event such as this, she hopes that there will be some difference in opinions amongst the panelists.
Golay agreed, and said that in order for an insightful discourse to take place, there must be a difference of views.
“I don’t think it would be of great interest if we had four or five people up there who agreed on everything,” Golay said. “This issue has been unresolved for a long time, so by definition it is a difficult one to solve. I think talking about it can actually be a good thing. And I think that the more people here understand about it, the better.”
Talwar echoed Golay’s sentiment. “While we are hoping that all the panelists are respectful of each other, we are a school that values diversity, and so we want this to be a diverse panel,” she said. “And with that, we understand that there will be a mix of opinions, and that’s not a bad thing. We want those opinions to be out there. We hope that anyone of any mindset can come to the panel and appreciate the conversation that is going on.”