In Boylston Hall last night, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Student Council (WCIASC), Harvard Hillel and the Society of Arab Students (SAS) came together to organize a panel discussion on the topic of "The End of War?: A Search for Lasting Middle-Eastern Peace."

Although the groups were discussing the long and often bloody conflict between Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East, the Ticknor Lounge discussion was calm and respectful, according to attendees.

Melissa W. Inouye '01, president of WCIASC, began the event with two videos that focused on the Arab-Israeli history.

The first outlined the ways in which Israel established independence and then fought to keep autonomy, while the second showed the Israeli settlement and the consequent expulsion of Palestinians.

Professor of the History of Science Evertt I. Mendelsohn, the panel moderator, discussed his own involvement in Middle Eastern politics.

"For about 30 years I've been involved in bringing groups of Palestinians and Israelis together to discuss key issues," he said.

He stressed that the important question facing the Middle East today is, "Can the principles annunciated at Oslo [in the Oslo Accords] come to fruition?"

David P. Honing '99, who was one of the panelists, said he was in Jerusalem when two Hamas terrorists went on a killing spree, shooting one of his friends. He said he became convinced at that time that peace was not possible.

Two years later, though, Honig was again in the area to watch the national elections. He regained faith in the idea of peace after a Palestinian guard protected him from terrorists.

According to Mohamad M. Al-Ississ '99-'00, president of SAS, "Our [the Palestinian] cause has been just and is just, and the facts will show it," he said.

Al-Ississ discussed the history of Israel as seen from the Palestinian perspective. He said Israelis have driven 750,000 Palestinians out of their homes.

"We wanted to live in peace with our neighbors," he said.

But this was impossible, he said, because of a 1947 United Nations accord giving 77 percent of land owned by Palestinians to Israel.

"The establishment of a Jewish state was a declaration of war," he said. "They gave rights to Jews that were denied to me."

Miriam B. Goldstein '99, another panelist, said she spent two years in an Arab village in 1997.