Speakers representing Israel and Palestine clashed in a Tuesday night debate over the Middle East peace process, prompting the 95-year-old father of government department chair Anne Sa'adah to stand up and voice his support for U.S. involvement.
Sa'adah, who moderated the Dickey Center event in Filene Auditorium, described the lecture as one in a series of difficult dialogues; something the Middle East has "had a lock on since biblical times," she said.
Henry Siegman, a senior fellow for the Council on Foreign Relations, made remarks from an Israeli standpoint, professing anger and despair toward the current situation in the Middle East.
Siegman said that a window of opportunity for serious change had opened with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death and current Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' election, but that Israel and the United States had failed to take advantage of it.
He blamed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and top Israeli officials as well as the United States for their failure to support Abbas.
This lack of support, Siegman said, has already crippled an able and genuine leader. "We are making a terrible mistake, we should be helping this man," he said.
Sari Nusseibeh, the president of Al'Quods University in Jerusalem who spoke on behalf of the Palestinians, presented a more long-term solution that would culminate in the creation of a single state where Israelis and Palestinians could live freely.
"We will have spent 100 years killing and fighting each other, doing our best to avoid a one state solution, and we will find ourselves in that exact situation in 40 or 50 years," said Nusseibeh.
The main point of disagreement revolved around the role of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas in the peace process.
While Siegman highlighted the benefits of including Hamas in a cease-fire agreement, Nusseibeh disagreed, calling it a "great disaster."
"People who are committed against the existence of the state of Israel have no business in being in a position where they can negotiate with Israel a permanent settlement for Palestinians," said Nusseibeh.
As a political scientist, Sa'adah characterized Siegman's strategy as "top-down" whereas Nusseibeh's focus as "bottom-up."
In addition to the part played by Hamas in the peace process, the speakers also disagreed on the role of the controversial Arafat. Siegman viewed him as "no partner of peace," while Nusseibeh saw him as a potent figure prone to errors in judgment.
During the question and answer period, a man in the audience rose in fervent support of U.S. involvement. He was later identified as the 95-year-old father of Professor Sa'adah.
"They have no capacity or reason. It is the United States alone that can solve this problem," said Mr. Sa'adah.
