Earlier tonight I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Alice Rothchild speak at St. Martin's University. Dr. Rothchild spoke about her book, Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience. She also spoke about her experience traveling to Israel and Palestine, and her position on the conflict, as a Jew. She discussed the immoral nature of many aspects of the current occupation of historically Palestinian territory. The Doctor spoke of a moral obligation that people of all faiths (or lack thereof) and ethnic backgrounds, but especially Jews, have to speak out about the tragedy of violence, and the criminal policies of Israel, which are doing such grievous harm to both the Palestinian and the Israeli peoples.

She read some very moving and eloquent passages from her book and talked about some of the people that she met while traveling in Israel and Palestine. She compared traveling to Israel as a youth with later travels as an adult who was by then confronted with the moral dilemma posed by the relationship between Israel and Palestine. Other topics included the historical background of Zionism, Israel and Palestine, and accusations of anti-semitism as they relate to those who question and/or oppose Israel's policies towards and treatment of Palestinians. It was a great talk and I heartily recommend her book to anyone who is concerned about the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

She expressed exceptionally clear ideas about healing and how to pursue the peace process. It was especially interesting to hear of her experience on the ground in Israel/Palestine as a medical physician and as a Jew.

Her website for the book (linked above) is chock full of information, including a chapter by chapter analysis of her book. I encourage you to check it out if you're at all interested or just curious about the topic of reconciliation between Israel and Palestin.

More information about the event can be found here.

The event was sponsored by the Rachel Corrie Foundation, the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project, and the St. Martin’s University Political Science/History Department. It was held at the St. Martin's University Worthington Center and was well attended. Though there were a couple empty seats so there would have been room for you too!