The armed dispute between Israel and the Hamas group continues to shock the world with the resulting devastating loss of thousands of human lives.
For a deeper understanding of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine, the Social Sciences Department of Ateneo de Zamboanga University (AdZU) held a discourse called “Conversations: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” on October 20, 2023, at the Fr. Jose T. Bacatan SJ Library, American Corner.
School of Liberal Arts (SLA) Professor Hezekiah Concepcion spearheaded the event, which had Ms. Araceli D. Bernardo, MA, from the Social Sciences Department and Elpidio F. Biton, Jr., PhD, from the Religious Sciences Department as resource persons.
Ms. Bernardo focused on the historical background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where she explained that the ongoing strife is complex.
She highlighted the timeline of the long feud between Israel and Palestine where she discussed “Biblical Israel,” the Jewish diaspora, Arab Nationalism, and Zionism.
She added that social media representations of the issue may mislead people, influencing their sentiments.
“It’s okay to be sentimental and supportive in solidarity, however, when we see conflicts like this, we need to understand the background first,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Elpidio tackled the importance of Peace Education where he discussed holism, values formation, and dialogue as key elements in resolving conflicts.
“It is not the time for us to pinpoint as to who are the good guys and the bad guys, who are the victims and the oppressors, we have to look for a very fruitful and meaningful solution to this problem,” Mr. Elpidio said.
Mr. Elpidio discussed that military solution to this problem is never the solution and there is a need to organize lobby groups to frontally advocate the solution to the issue.
The SLA faculty and some students from different Academic Organizations attended the event.
After the discourse, the audience engaged in an open forum.
