Photo by: Ava Brandt Student Photographer for Wilkinson College – Day 1 on Shared Humanity event.

This edition of From Our Eyes features Samantha Thompson (‘25 Peace and Justice Studies major). As part of the event planning team for the Shared Humanity: Conversations between Jews and Palestinians for a Better Tomorrow event, Thompson shares insight on what she learned from the expert panelists and what she hopes for the future at Chapman University.  

As students nationally have watched headlines and news stories surrounding the conflict in Israel and Palestine, they have called on their collegiate institutions to create a space for dialogue surrounding this conflict. While the conflict has violently continued, tensions and polarization between students on college campuses nationally have overwhelmingly increased.

The Shared Humanity event hosted by Wilkinson College’s Peace and Justice Studies Department had the goals of meeting the needs of students by creating a safe space for dialogue and education, attempting to bridge the divides erected not only after October 7th but through the region’s tumultuous history.

The two-day Shared Humanity: Conversations between Jews and Palestinians for a Better Tomorrow event was held in the Fish Interfaith Center, and featured speakers Mira Sucharov, a Jewish-Canadian political scientist, Omar Dajani, a Palestinian-American legal scholar, Tamir Sorek, an Israeli-American legal scholar, and Sonia Boulos, a Palestinian professor.

Photo by: Ava Brandt Student Photographer for Wilkinson College – Day 2 on Shared Humanity event.

Tessa Venizelos, Chapman Peace and Justice Professor, commented on the importance of the dialogue started on the first day of the event. “Their conversation, in many ways, was a microcosm of the relationships we need to pursue and sustain when we are even in the beginning stages of doing the work to bridge divides and pursue restoration. We must, then, continue to foster these dialogues that Mira and Omar have modeled for us, pursuing the nuanced, and the complicated, and deconstructing our own beliefs to find a middle ground and, more importantly, to find truth.”

Though these speakers were from historically opposing sides, these scholars were dedicated to creating shared spaces for Israelis and Palestinians to come together to engage in discourse and find solutions for peace.

Through the experience of helping the Peace and Justice Studies Department organize, meeting the panelists, and seeing the end product of the Shared Humanity event, I have gained immeasurable knowledge about the realities of this conflict and feel more resolved in my mission as a Peace and Justice Studies Major. To enact change in policy and the global order, discussion and understanding must be at the forefront. By encouraging the Chapman and greater Orange community to experience discourse between assumedly opposed backgrounds or positions, solidarity, sympathy, and respect across the divides were exemplified and emboldened. I hope to see more events like Shared Humanity on Chapman’s campus, focusing on community building and solidarity in times of grief and polarization. I am beyond grateful to have a community dedicated to justice, freedom, dialogue, and peace for all.

(Pictured in header. Photo by Ava Brandt Student Photographer for Wilkinson College – Day 1 on Shared Humanity event)