With news of conflict in the Gaza Strip resonating around the world, about 50 people attended a discussion Tuesday night highlighting Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints.
Professor emeritus of Middle East history Arthur Goldschmidt presented the Israeli viewpoint.
Hamas, the political group in control of the Gaza Strip, seeks the destruction of the Jewish people, Goldschmidt said. He added that both sides of the conflict need to find a "middle ground."
"They need to ask themselves, is it better to live together or die together?" he said.
Lawrence Davidson, a professor of Middle Eastern history at West Chester University, offered the Palestinian perspective. He said whenever Palestine responds to Israeli oppression, Israel attacks with "disproportionate force."
"Israelis don't want peace," he said. "They want the land."
Though Davidson and Goldschmidt seemed to disagree over the particulars of the conflict Tuesday night, the two have written a book together, A Concise History of the Middle East.
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted the event.
The group invited several on-campus Jewish organizations and speakers to attend, including the Israel Alliance and Tuvia Abramson, former director of Hillel.
Abramson said he had initially been invited to speak with Davidson but declined.
Hillel and the Israel Alliance also declined to attend the event, though some members from the Israel Alliance still attended.
Abramson said the event seemed more aimed at promoting SJP's agenda than finding any common ground. He said he is not afraid of debate on any subject, and would be more than happy to discuss potential solutions to the conflict.
"The solution to the Middle East is a situation of two states, and not to keep labeling Israel as an architect of hatred and oppression," he said.
David McLaughlin (junior-physics and electrical engineering), a member of SJP, helped organize the event. He said he hoped the discussion would be informative about the Palestinian viewpoint.
"My view is that the U.S. media is highly propagandistic, and they omit facts about the conflict in order to distort how U.S. citizens view it," he said. "The value of this discussion panel is that we have alternative perspectives that cover things the mainstream media purposely does not cover."
