Seating Arabs and Israelis at the same table is apparently as difficult at Penn State as it is in the Middle East.

For disputed reasons, a nationally known pro-Israel speaker did not attend Wednesday night's panel discussion, "Perspectives on the War."

"Originally Glenn Mones was scheduled to appear. For reasons I can't fully explain he cannot be with us tonight," moderator Dennis Gouran told the audience before Wednesday's discussion.

Organizers from the Middle East Studies Committee, the group that sponsored the event, said they made several attempts to obtain a pro-Israel speaker from the University community. After no volunteers accepted, the organizers said they "conceded" to allow Mones to participate, but he later declined.

Arthur Goldschmidt, one of the panelists and former chairman of the Middle East Studies Committee, said he repeatedly tried to schedule a speaker sympathetic to the Israeli viewpoint. He said the committee preferred a local panelist and could not fund Mones' trip to State College.

"I went to five faculty members that I know to be pro-Israel," Goldschmidt said.

Members of Yachad, Penn State Friends of Israel, originally suggested that Mones participate, but supported his decision not to attend. They said Mones would not appear because the panel could not guarantee it would avoid unfair comparisons between the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and the Arab-Israeli conflict. They also said the panel would have been one-sided if Mones was the only pro-Israel participant.

"Yes, we would have had a voice, but it would have been unbalanced," said Yachad's treasurer, Shari Berger.

Mones, unlike other panelists, requested payment for his participation. Yachad's officers said they would have sponsored Mones if a second 'pro-Israel representative sat on the panel.

A similar complaint was voiced by pro-Israel groups in 1989, when pro-Zionist Wolf Blitzer, CNN's Pentagon correspondent, participated in a campus discussion on the Intifada.

After that discussion Rabbi Seth Mandell, director of B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation, said, "The panel was clearly stacked against Mr. Blitzer. I don't understand why a second pro-Zionist was not made available to the public."

Blitzer exchanged heated comments with pro-Palestinian Norman Finkelstein during that debate.

"(Blitzer) wasn't very adept at battling all those questions," said Yachad co-President Amy Stainman.

"As far as we've seen from this example and from the past, their intent is to make (the panel) stacked against the Israeli side," she said in reference to Wednesday night's panel.

Wayne Husted, who participated in and helped organize the event, said he asked Mandell to suggest faculty members that would express the pro-Israel standpoint.

"I was discouraged somebody couldn't be on the panel despite our efforts," Husted said. "I think Rabbi Mandell tried as much as he could to find someone in the community."

Despite the cancellation of Mones, an advertisement appeared in The Daily Collegian listing Mones as a participant.

Goldschmidt said the advertisement was placed prior to Mones' cancellation and could not be rescinded.

The faculty members who participated were Goldschmidt, professor of Middle Eastern history; Husted, instructor of religious studies; Abbas Aminmansour, a native of Iran; and Samuel Zamrik, an Arab-American.

Members of Yachad distributed a pamphlet titled "Where is Glenn Mones?" to audience members.

The pamphlet read, in part: "Due to the opinions of the panelists, it was felt that a 'linkage' between the occupation of Kuwait and Palestinian-Israeli issue would arise. Mr. Mones rightfully would not participate in a panel which would make this illogical linkage."

After the discussion, Berger said she was pleased the panelists did not make that "illogical linkage," but many had expressed anti-Israeli sentiment.

Goldschmidt said he would like to see the University's various Middle East interest groups come together and discuss their differences.

He said food should be served because "people eating together are better than people glaring at each other."