Hundreds of Penn affiliates gathered at Zellerbach Theatre at the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts for a conversation between former Israeli ambassador to the United States and former prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority on Tuesday.
The event, titled “'Waging Peace': Dialogue and Diplomacy in the Middle East,” was hosted by the David and Lyn Silfen University Forum. The event featured former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Itamar Rabinovich and former Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority Salam Fayyad.
Over 900 Penn affiliates registered for the event, half of whom were students, according to a University spokesperson. Attendees were required to register in advance for the event, and had to show a Penn ID upon entry.
NPR correspondent and 1989 College graduate Michele Kelemen moderated the discussion. Interim Penn President Larry Jameson gave brief opening remarks, saying “the most important tool to wage peace is education.”
Itamar Rabinovich is Israel's former ambassador to the United States and served as chief negotiator with Syria in the 1990s. He later served as the president of Tel Aviv University and was a visiting professor at Penn.
Salam Fayyad is the former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and founder of the nonprofit Future for Palestine. He is currently a senior fellow with the Middle East Initiative and a visiting senior scholar at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs.
Kelemen asked the speakers a variety of questions about the history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine as well as the current state of affairs in the region.
When asked about security, Fayyad said: “Security is as much an Israeli need as a Palestinian need.”
Both speakers emphasized the importance of the upcoming election for the future of the Middle East, and said that parties on both sides of the conflict are waiting to see the results.
Rabinovich offered insights from his time in the U.S. as the Israeli ambassador.
“Americans tend to vote based on their pocketbooks, not foreign policy," he said. "But in my observation, Americans like to know that the president has the capacity to conduct foreign policy."
When asked about the future of a potential two-state solution, Fayyad said that the “current government of Israel is definitely not willing to entertain any discussion of Palestinian statehood of any kind.”
Rabinovich supported President Biden’s plan to bring the Palestinian National Authority — the governing body of the Palestinian autonomous regions in the West Bank — to Gaza to begin negotiations on a two-state solution. Rabinovich also approved of normalizing relations with the Saudis and building what he described as a “counter-axis in the Middle East” to oppose Iran.
For the last 20 minutes, Kelemen took pre-submitted questions from the audience about the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations.
Jameson's opening remarks were followed by a statement from Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and professor of Health Care Management Ezekiel J. Emanuel. Emanuel recalled a conversation he had with a student after the events of Oct. 7, 2023 where the student remarked: “I need more to understand the situation.”
Emanuel said that conversation encapsulated the theme and purpose of the event.
On Oct. 18, Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine announced a demonstration against the forum event on Instagram. On Monday, PAO posted an update that the protest had been cancelled. The post called the speakers “genocidal maniacs" not worth “the time and effort of student organizers," but called on people to boycott the event.
PAO also posted a second time on Instagram, calling Rabinovich and Fayyad "careerist and neoliberal," while further explaining their opposition to the speakers.The post also described the event as "a space to peddle the Zionist narrative and legitimize the illegal apartheid state of Israel while distancing Penn from its crimes."
"Salam Fayyad and Itamar Rabinovich are two sides of the same coin committed to expanding the genocidal occupation," the PAO statement read.
College first year Yagiz Ozenci, who attended the event, said he appreciated the event as "a great opportunity to have both sides presented with equal representation at the same time" as a nonpartisan observer.
"I think it's such a uniquely amazing experience to be in a university which values knowledge and understanding, especially for those who are curious about the topic," he added.
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