Tikkun National Organizer MARISA HANDLER urges students gathered at Winthrop House Friday to use student activism as a way to push for peace in the Middle East.

Student activism has the power to push the U.S. government to end the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, an organizer from the Tikkun Community told a handful of students at Winthrop House Friday.

The meeting was part of a nationwide push by the Tikkun Community—a politically liberal organization with Jewish roots that advocates peace and spirituality—to build activism on college campuses.

“We support a middle path, the most constructive possible path,” said Tikkun National Organizer Marisa Handler.

Until now, Handler said, the only political attitudes toward the conflict in Israel and Palestine have been extremes.

According to Handler, Tikkun’s solution—called “The Third Path”—is one of moderation.

After going around the room and asking everyone to name their favorite books, Handler began to describe the Tikkun vision for the Middle East.

In part, the group’s plan calls for an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, giving the Jewish parts of Jerusalem to Israel and the Palestinian parts to Palestine and international guarantees of security for a stable new Palestinian state and for Israel.

Despite the harrowing experience of receiving hate-mail and death threats—a first for her—Handler said she has been amazed by the enthusiasm for Tikkun’s plan, even among novice activists.

“This is something that people were waiting for,” she said.

She said that when Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun’s magazine, called around 25 members of Congress, they encouraged him in his mission. All that was missing was the support of the constituents, she said.

Handler’s trip to Harvard is part of a bid to get that constituency. Tikkun organizers have been traveling to campuses across the country, Handler said, to build the Tikkun Campus Network, which she hopes will become a cohesive front with political power.

“There are a lot of local groups. We’re looking to bring that together,” Handler said.

One crucial aspect of that effort is a conference in New York City, scheduled for Oct. 11-14. Boasting such speakers as Cornel R. West ’74, the former Fletcher University professor who left Harvard for Princeton this year, the conference is titled “Healing Israel and Palestine: Strategies for Peace and Reconciliation.”

Handler, who will also be speaking at the conference, said she hopes that campus activism, along with the New York event, will bring the “Third Path” nationwide attention.

Recruiting Harvard students is a special opportunity, Handler said.