“At face, our government says that we need to focus on peace, but we’re actually supporting Israel, and that support extends to the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. It’s awful.”

Natosha Knight, junior. Spanish and Anthropology major.

“To me, the situation is just like that of when white people came and took the land from Indians. When white people came, the Indians tried to help them, because a lot of them were prisoners, or came against their will … from what I heard, in Palestine, Jews were sometimes brought to Palestine against their will … so the Palestinians tried to help them, just like the Indians, who taught the white people to farm and use the land … but soon so many white people came that the Indians lost everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if Palestinians ended up like Indians in America …a people still losing their ground and respect, no longer a nation but a semi-sovereign nation.”

Third Big Day, senior. Criminal Justice and Justice Policy Studies major.

“Although I haven’t followed the subject closely, I think it all comes down to prejudice. The whole concept of the Israeli state seems to be “Jews Only!” – a state created by the Jews, of the Jews, and for the Jews alone …”

Michael DeGruy, sophomore. Music major.

“There are enough similarities between Palestine’s struggles and those of the Irish Independence Movement of the 1920’s to tug on my heart strings. At this point, I don’t know what else we can do but support Israel … as evil as the situation is, we can’t just leave because all the countries that Israel has alienated at this point would jump at the chance of an abandoned Israel. We are in a Catch 22.”

Fedelma McKenna, first-year. Political Science and Peace & Conflict Studies major.

“It seems that no one cares about the issue in a half-assed kind of way … if someone feels something about it they feel it strongly. The places where the Israelis are willing to compromise are not the places where the Palestinians are willing to compromise, and vice versa. Mistakes have been made and bad things have been done on both sides, but for me it comes down to the fact that the Israelis have repeatedly returned to negotiation and the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly spurned their offers, and those offers have been damn close to what the Palestinians are asking for.”

Rachel Brandt, sophomore.
History and Political Science major.