Student Leaders Will Discuss Violence in Israel

In response to the recent violence and chaos in Israel, leaders of the Harvard Students for Israel (HSI) and the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Arab Students (SAS), as well as representatives from Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel, met last night to plan a future discussion between the groups.

Ramy M. Tadros '97 and Muna G. Sukhtian '97, co-chairs of SAS, Yuval Segal '97, a co-chair of HSI, and David J. Andorsky '97 and Robert C. Hyman '97, chairs of Hillel and a Hillel committee, respectively, were present at the meeting.

"We want to deal with current situations, their consequences and possible solutions," Sukhtian said.

The planned gathering is scheduled for Sunday, October 20. Each organization will choose 8 to 10 members who will participate.

The discussion will focus on last month's decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to open of a tunnel through a site considered sacred by the Palestinians.

Those involved said they hope to create a forum where different opinions can be expressed and distinct points of view examined.

The leaders of the student organizations called the meeting a political rather than a social event.

"The meeting is the starting point for a continuous series of discussions, branching out to other events in the future," Segal said.

Yesterday's planning session also included logistical considerations.

"We talked about a rough idea of how to run the meeting," Tadros said. "Last year, [Assistant Professor of Government Eva] Bellin was the mediator, but this year, we decided to have a member from each group chair the meeting."