T.J. Hall
In the front of Room 2302 in Sangren Hall, two miniature flags stood beside each other on a table. Two more full size flags hung from the adjacent wall. And two young women sat side by side, different in nationality, but alike in their shared belief that one day Israel and Palestine will be at peace.
Monday night, representatives from the OneVoice Peace Initiative Group spoke at Western Michigan University. The event was sponsored by the Palestinian Israeli Peace Initiative of Kalamazoo, in collaboration with WMU Hillel, The Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and The Muslim Student Association.
Guest speakers were Israeli Maya Epstein, Palestinian Duroub Yacoub and American Laurel Rapp, education program manager for OneVoice.
Rapp opened the evening by giving an overview of the OneVoice group and its mission. By building support with Israeli and Palestinian moderates as well as international backers, OneVoice hopes to present lawmakers with one million signatures calling for a peace agreement. Rapp also stressed the uniqueness of OneVoice, showing that it is one group that has two separate operations in both Israel and Palestine. And while Rapp estimates that 95 percent of the work OneVoice does is in the Middle East, it is still essential to build support on the international front.
"We want to bring the voices from the Middle East to speak about the conflict," Rapp said.
Maya Epstein, a 24-year-old student at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, recalled her recent years in the Middle East. After moving from Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, at 17, Epstein had to adjust to the constant threat of danger.
"Living in terror is not something you can get used to," Epstein said. "It was difficult to even ride the bus."
Epstein also helped put things into perspective for the 50 people in attendance.
"We are just trying to live a normal life," she said. "We envy you [Americans]."
Duroub Yacoub, 25, moved to Ohio after growing up in Palestine. A graduate of Kent State University, Yacoub went back to her home city of Ramallah in 2002 to find it in shambles.
"The whole city was destroyed," Yacoub said. "It wasn’t the city I grew up in." Fighting back her emotions, Yacoub went on to add that she lost a family member in an attack on a church.
"We just want to live like human begins," Yacoub said.
In sharing their perspectives, Monday’s OneVoice speakers hope to foster a cooperative peace effort among people of all ethnicities.
Epstein said of Yacoub, "The most important thing is knowing that I have a counterpart in Palestine who is working toward the same goal."