Extra Credit:

The discussion between the representatives of Israel and Palestine (Saeb Erakat, Chief Negotiator for Palestine, and Avi Gil, former Director-General of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israel's Ministry of Regional Cooperation) was extremely interesting, I was a bit surprised that they so readily agreed on the need for a two state solution considering the often conflicting feelings of the two groups. Though it was certainly refreshing to hear such an open minded discussion, it seemed too nice and now a little idealistic considering the outcome of the Israeli election, which put in place (from what I understand) Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative administration that is not open to ‘land for peace’ deals and the two state solution.
Either way, the two men presented the conflict over land as something that both sides sought an ‘historic’ end to because of the violence experienced by both. Avi Gil emphasized Israeli vulnerability because of the continuation of attacks on Israel even after the withdrawal from the Gaza strip and the Iranian’s president’s negative comments towards the state. Saeb Erakat emphasized Palestinian vulnerability saying that he had ‘no army, no borders, no power’ while Israel had the options with the strongest army in the Middle East. He also appealed to us as Americans saying that we are everywhere but we ‘cannot defend ideas with marines,’ and tried to make it clear that bias against Arab perspective and the belief that they are not for peace but violence is racist. Erakat’ speech directly attacked racism of the ‘West’ and Israel, mentioning the settlements in Gaza.
Both men agreed to negotiation based on equality which does seem to be possible now with new Israeli prime minister. The U.S.’s involvement, which we learned the history of in Smith’s book, was mentioned and is clearly sour issue from the Arab point of view. Overall the talk was educational but was too diplomatic.