Khalid Turaani, executive director for American Muslims for Jerusalem; and Joshua Ruebner, executive director and co-founder of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel, spoke at the 9-11 Open Response Committee Forum concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, its causes, and possible remedies. An audience of students and faculty listened as the two talked about their visions of peace and freedom in Palestine and Israel. While both presented different perspectives on the issue, one Jewish and one Muslim, both agreed that the cycle of violence in the region cannot stop without an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and to the killing of civilians on both sides.
Turaani, a Palestinian, was born in a refugee camp where he lived for 17 years. Years later, “I can still remember the taste of the warm lumpy milk that the UN used to provide for us,” he said. The United Nations, to this day provides many of the children in refugee camps with food and books for studying.
Ruebner, an Israeli-Jewish-American gave up a prestigious and well-paying position as an analyst of Middle Eastern Affairs at the Congressional Research Service, to commit his time to JPPI. “I felt that was what my [conscience] was telling me,” he said. Ruebner came to this decision “through a long period of studying and reflecting to understand the narrative of the Palestinian people,” he said.
It was Turaani’s studies that brought him to America right after college to get a degree in physics, and he has remained here since. “I liked this country and the opportunities that it provided me,” he added. A Palestinian and a refugee, however, will be part of his identity, just like “second and third generation refugees—if you ask them, they will tell you they are Palestinian,” he said.
Ruebner wanted the JPPI to be a grassroots organization whose purpose was to promote just peace, “[ending] Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza; dismantling [of] settlements; establishment of a viable Palestinian State,” he said. To him, achieving these goals will make peace for Palestinians and Israelis an achievable goal. Such high aims and goals started as an idea between Ruebner “and a Jewish roommate in college, after the intifada of 2000,” he said.
When it comes to their ideology on peace and fair settlement, Ruebner and Turaani’s differences fade. With a slightly different rhetoric, both tried to convince their audience that the cyclical violence will end, but the sooner the better.
The reactions of the audience were mixed. “As a university our primary responsibility is not so much to argue or position but try to take a step back in respect to difference and other opinions that we try to cultivate,” said Mike Fortun, moderator of the event. This event was hosted by the 911 Open Response Committee and co-sponsored by different campus groups.
