Politics ON the College CampusGilad Chudler

Once upon a time, not so long ago, I was a student at UCLA eagerly absorbing every snippet of information I could get my greedy little paws on. I was fired up about politics and I loved the fact that there were always so many controversial things happening on Bruinwalk.

My mother is an Israeli and thus I was raised with what some may call a slight bias in favor of Israel. I remember watching the news in my teens, becoming flabbergasted any time somebody would criticize Israel. “How could they say that about Israel?” I would say to myself, “Look at the Palestinians. They are always trying to kill us, they all hate us.”

Nearly ten years later I still have a soft place for Israel in my heart, although hawkish university professors and a diverse student body taught me that no heated political situation is straightforward and that there are always several viewpoints through which one should examine a conflict. I have spent literally years of my life in Israel and most of my family resides there. There is one big difference in the way I interpret the Israeli-Palestinian conflict these days: I have learned to become critical of both Israelis and Palestinians.

When I first arrived at UCLA I wanted to get my hands dirty and really get involved in campus politics. Used to joining Israeli and Jewish youth groups, I naturally gravitated towards Bruins for Israel. I quickly realized, to my dismay, that this was not the group for me. I was in a point in my life where I was trying to expand my horizons and break out of my shell. I wanted to find people whose souls cried for understanding and peace: instead I found the usual crowd… a bunch of kids with Israeli parents who wouldn’t dare criticize Israel and always had a legitimate reason for hating the Palestinians.

I realized at that point that I could no longer be a part of such groups. I began to explore various options on campus. I went to speakers that were critical of Israel like Rashid Khalidi as well as avid supporters of Israel such as Alan Dershowitz. After each speaker, I found myself in a state of sadness. Every speaker that I went to, at the outset, would start of relatively politically correct. Unfortunately, as they would continue in their speeches, they would either become vehemently anti-Israel or anti-Palestinian. I remember during the Dershowitz speech that there were maybe half a dozen Muslim students and the inverse during Khalidi.

While at UCLA I worked closely with Professor Judea Pearl, a UCLA professor that has dedicated his life to creating dialogue between Jews and Muslims. I remember he asked Khalidi a poignant question and instead of taking him seriously Khalidi almost laughed him off, and there were derisive snickers that came from the audience. At Dershowitz, there were exasperated sighs when a young Muslim woman came up to the podium to ask him a question.

I also became quite disillusioned with the Muslim student groups on campus. UCLA has an annual Palestinian Awareness Week…I quickly learned to avoid the main Bruin avenue during those days. Instead of Palestinian Awareness, it was more like “Breed Israeli Hatred Week”. Posters likening Israel to the Nazis and a separation barrier jungle gym were just some of the tasteful attractions. Jewish and Muslim students would engage themselves in violent arguments trying to convince one another that their people are murderers and have no right to exist. I also remember Muslim students protesting Israel Independence Day. It was such awful sights on campus that made me disillusioned with student politics.

What is wrong with college campuses today? Are students not supposed to be open-minded beings, seeking truth and justice? Students are too young to be so hateful. Whatever happened to young idealism? I’m not going to write about whether the Israelis are justified in their occupation nor am I going to mention reasons why I believe the Palestinians do not have a state of their own yet.

What I am going to do is make a plea to the youth of the world to understand that by taking sides and not listening to others, we have sealed the fate of the human race. We will be doomed to a future of continued warfare, hatred, racism and misunderstanding.

Students are the future leaders of the world. What does the future hold for a generation that by age 18 already have such strong, righteous convictions about their own cause? If we do not begin to campaign for understanding instead of playing the blame game, the cycle of violence will perpetuate ad infinitum. For those of you who will end up reading this, if you take a vested interest in the current Middle East events, the next time you watch the news or pick up a paper do the world a favor—close your eyes and put yourself in the shoes of both sides. You may be surprised at what you find.