Around 70 students attended the Israel, Palestine and Me: Students’ Forum for Reflection and Dialogue event on Thursday evening. They were able to discuss the current events happening in Gaza and Israel in a safe and welcoming space. 

The event was hosted by the School of Communication Studies and the School of Peace and Conflict Studies. Their goal was to create a dialogue for the students in order to have constructive conversations. 

Johanna Solomon, an assistant professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, was a facilitator during the event and went into the conversation keeping students’ emotions and feelings regarding the conflict in mind. 

“We are all a part of Kent State and we generally all agree that we want other students and people at Kent State to feel included and safe,” Solomon said. “And that can at least give us room to have difficult conversations.”

During the event, discussion guidelines were presented to all students in a large room. After the guidelines were clear, the large group split into four smaller groups in separate rooms. 

“The importance is to give students at least a moment to connect as human beings that are all impacted by what is happening in the Middle East,” Solomon said. “This is only the start of a conversation, and definitely, hopefully, not the end of it.”

In the smaller groups, students were led by facilitators to have a deeper discussion about the events in Gaza and Israel. 

Jamil Al Wekhian, a professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, was a facilitator for the event and felt, as a professor, it was his obligation to help students fight disinformation. 

“Our objective is clear, to create a more plural society where everyone is welcoming regardless of background,” Al Wekhian said. “We also want to hopefully clear some of the misinformation that students are being fed by news outlets.” 

Al Wekhian said he thinks the event was needed and hopes to bring different students together from different backgrounds in order to break barriers and mitigate the fear. 

After the small group discussions ended, students came back into one large group where they reflected on anything they learned and shared their takeaways from the event. 

Chris Abou-Elias, a sophomore peace and conflict studies major, attended the event to quell their fears as an Arab student and to meet other people who want to create peace. 

“I really appreciate the professors of the peace and conflict studies department putting this on because in many instances, we don’t see this kind of dialogue happening,” Abou-Elias said. “It’s mostly TikTok and it’s an addictive algorithm that only shows you what you want to see and you don’t really hear how people are affected.” 

Abou-Elias said their biggest takeaway from the event is the need to understand and humanize people, and felt the conversation was a good starting point. 

Another student, senior computer science major Yaseen Shaikh, said the event acted as a restoring experience for him during a time of immense conflict.

“It’s refreshing, rather, compared to what I’ve been dealing with a lot lately, which has been basically lots of yelling and screaming,” he said. “It’s been a lot of people trying to shout over each other.”

Shaikh said the event offered students, including  himself, a way to facilitate and engage in insightful conversation to learn more.

“I think the event did what college is supposed to do, which is broaden people’s horizons and encourage them to challenge their own preconceived notions, biases and to help them embrace,  or at least familiarize themselves with, other points of view,” he said. “I think it’s fulfilled its purpose.”

Adrianna Quinlan is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].

Vanessa Davidson is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].