By Tabitha Johnston, The Shepherdstown Chronicle
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — Last Thursday night, community members gathered together in Storer Ballroom to hear a group of four panelists share their personal experience and perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
The Community Forum: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Perspectives and Dialogue on Recent Events was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Shepherdstown, who also streamed the event on Zoom.
“One thing we want to emphasize, is that this will be different than the average panel,” said Rotary member Richard Anson. “I’m sorry that this conflict is not going to end soon, given the history, but let’s hope that the war ends soon.”
While much discussion on the conflict has proven inflammatory, since the severity of violent attacks between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples escalated with an attack that killed 1,200 and wounded 5,000 in Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, this panel proved to be a unique opportunity for both sides of those effected by the conflict to be heard. Two Palestinians, international human rights lawyer Moien Odeh and Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace founding member Philip Farah, and two Israelis, George Mason University Carter School of Peace and Conflict Resolution professor Adina Friedman and defense sector senior executive Ronnen Payton, answered questions on the history of the two people groups’ century-long conflict around the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and the reason this conflict will be difficult to resolve, if not impossible.
“The violence is ongoing. For Israelis, it’s the worst they’ve ever experienced,” Friedman said. “They’re not in a good listening place right now. Israelis are still going to funerals, still waiting for hostages, half of whom may not be alive, even.”