Page 5 - S12

Since its creation, Israel has been at the center of interna-tional political debate, discussion, and perhaps most notably, con-flict. The tumultuous political development of Israel has bound its citizens together in a way experienced by few other nations. Israel is an anomaly in its region of the world from a cultural, political, and religious perspective. Its unique national identity and presence in international affairs is often portrayed from a single perspective through the eyes of the Western media. The Faces of Israel panel discussion, presented by Skidmore’s Hillel and the Honors Forum, shed light on the variety of perspectives regarding the fundamental question of what it means to be Israeli.

The panel discussion consisted of six Israelis from a wide variety of backgrounds. Members of the panel introduced themselves and told the audience about their unique experiences in Israeli socie-ty. The variety of lifestyles and perspectives became evident almost immediately. However, there were some commonalities, which ex-hibited several chronic issues facing the Israeli government and, more importantly, its people.

Israel’s participation in Middle Eastern conflicts over the last seventy-five years has been well documented. However, what gets lost in translation are the effects these conflicts have on the Is-raeli people. One speaker, Gal Menasheh, a lawyer from Tel-Aviv, spoke of losing a close friend in a suicide bombing in 1996. While Mr. Menasheh vehemently advocated for a two-state solution throughout the lecture, it is hard to imagine his view of Palestine being unaltered having suffered such a loss. Another speaker, a for-mer sergeant in the Israeli army, lost several soldiers during the con-flict with Lebanon whom he trained personally. Despite the losses, he too spoke of the need to maintain diplomatic relations, “They’re (Palestinians) not going anywhere and neither am I. We have to have a dialogue.” The panel’s commitment to upholding political relations with Palestine was uplifting. However, while ideological dialogue is often uplifting, the reality is a compromise must come from both the Israeli and Palestinian Governments.

A fundamental aspect of Israeli national identity is the com-pulsory military service that all eighteen year olds must endure. While the negative consequences of this service are evident, it also has yielded positive and life altering experiences for some of the panel’s speakers. One in particular, Reut Portugal, was put in charge of a squad of her peers shortly after she began basic training. Ms. Portugal was placed in many difficult situations dealing with soldiers’ anxiety, apprehension, and, in some cases, apathy. She said the experience she gained from those situations was, and continues to be, invaluable to her maturation. Another pressing international issue, which has garnered tre-mendous international attention, has been Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. In the light of President Ahmadinejad’s notorious diatribes regarding Israel, Israelis are naturally alarmed by Iran’s supposed urani-um enrichment program for civilian purposes. The panel unanimously regarded the Iranian threat as credible, while simultaneously making a key distinction, “Israel is not enemies with the Iranian people. There is a difference between Iranian regime and the Iranian people.” While this may be true, the international community is unsure of whether or not it will be enough to stop a potential conflict between the two countries. Ultimately, the discussion provided Skidmore students with a unique, personalized, and informative look into the diverse nature of Israeli society and people. However, it also served to illustrate how po-larized views on Israel are, particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mounting tensions with Iran. It also showed how important national-ism remains even in contemporary international politics. With only one exception, the panel’s speaker’s spoke, on multiple occasions, about the need for a two state solution. However, there were also many controver-sial statements about the ancestral heritage of Israeli land. These state-ments highlighted just how much sacrifice each party was or is willing to make to facilitate a peace process. It also became increasingly clear that if peace is to be attained by Israel and Palestine; neither side would walk away from the negotiations having attained all or even most of their original goals.

Warren Bianchi, Rachel Bier, Brendan Brust, Lauria Chin, Dominic Green, Alexandra Grossman, Jennifer Kauffman, Caitlin Kohl,

Emma Kurs, Timothy Lueders-Dumont, Devin Mellor, Matthew Rothenberg, Jaclyn Saltzman, Adam Schmelkin,

Eric Shapiro, John Walsh and Alison Wrynn

Class of 2013