The other day I did a post saying that Arab students at Columbia were right to turn down the offer from the mini-Israel lobby at the school, called Lionpac, to have a private meeting about Nakba week and other public events involving Palestine. Lionpac wishes to try and end the rancor on campus over these issues. Columbia has been riven by these questions for many years now, and Jacob Shapiro of Lionpac was basically saying, Let’s stop having divisive fights. While in another statement, Lionpac implied that the Nakba in fact took place. Thereby not going in for the usual denial.
It was stupid and insensitive of me to say that there shouldn’t be dialogue. Of course there should be dialogue; I think the Arab students ought to accept Lionpac’s terms with the hospitality that is so often ascribed to Arabs. Big deal, it’s a private meeting. As Richard Witty pointed out, lots of people seek private meetings for lots of reasons. Maybe good can come of this.
My irritation reflected a sense that the Zionist kids want to bottle this stuff up in private. But they can’t; the issues are bigger than that. Also something that Zach Wales, a former grad student, told me last year: "I can’t
stand dialogue… It ends up being an
atonement session for people who support Israel, but feel the moral burden." A good point. So what. Arabs and Zionsts should meet. We used to use the words "raise consciousness." Maybe such a meeting would do that. I need to raise mine too.
