Heather Hurlburt was my favorite on the Iran panel.
On the "comprehensive approach" panel, Shibley Telhami said we're witnessing the most significant Arab awakening since World War I. Its impossible to know exactly what the result will be, but the protest movements enabled by the information revolution will continue to spread and change the political environment of the Arab world. Arabs are angry at Israel because of its treatment of Palestinians, but Arab anger does not imply nonacceptance; most Arabs would accept a two state solution, according to Telhami. The changes sweeping the Arab world make a bilateral agreement less likely and a comprehensive agreement--one that includes the Arab League--more likely.
Mona Eltahawy argued, among other things, for supporting nonviolent resistance in the Arab world. We Israel supporters are in the habit of condemning Arab violence, as well we should. When Arabs start struggling nonviolently, we ought to support it. Its in some ways frightening to ponder what would happen if the Palestinian struggle was entirely nonviolent, but it shouldn't be frightening. It should be our hope.
I was on Twitter for part of the day. The number of people tweeting about the conference (#jstconf) was impressive. There are quite a few tweeters who don't like J Street and cherry-pick statements and things that happen at the conference to make J Street look bad. For example:
- One statement retweeted widely was "overheard" at the conference. None of the panelists said it. It was in conflict with J Street policy. But this statement that was supposedly overheard is taken to be evidence of the kind of people who support J Street.
- The moderator of one panel misunderstood a question about the BDS movement (boycott divestment sanctions), so the folks who had asked the question started making a fuss. This was interpreted by a tweeter as "heckling".
- At one point, some panelist made a moderately long statement about Palestinians and a few people applauded. One tweeter chose the most controversial statement from the panelist's comment and simply said people applauded.
A UN envoy was on one of the panels, and the moderator used a question I had written. The question was: "The UN has a bad reputation with respect to Israel among American Jews. Does the UN deserve this reputation? How important is it for American Jews to trust the UN? Whose responsibility is it to build trust?" The video is here, Steve Clemons asks my question at 47:30, and Robert Serry answers at 52:33-55:50. I was not entirely satisfied with the answer.
Five members of knesset were in attendance. Their panel was quite funny. There are videos of a bunch of sessions including the MK panel here.
I registered for the conference as a student. I haven't been involved with J Street U at Michigan much, but I went to the session this evening for students anyway. Its a little strange for me because I started UPZ, the predecessor to J Street U, at Maryland like six years ago, so I feel like it would be weird to return to campus activism.
Anyway, I went to the student session. I'm glad I did because I met a Muslim girl who grew up in a staunchly anti-Israel home under the belief that all Jews hated Muslims. She got to college at Carleton, met Jews, and realized that what she learned growing up did not square with the people she was meeting. She organized a discussion on the question "Is anti-Zionism the same as antisemitism?" I think it is remarkable that someone coming from her background was interested in exploring this question. It was clear to me that she was approaching it from the point of view that antisemitism is unacceptable, that she was brought up to be anti-Zionist, and that she was coming to the realization that there might be a conflict between the two.
The discussion she organized was a disaster. It was hijacked by a professor and devolved into a shouting match. But this girl continued exploring the question. She was surprised and impressed enough by the J Street folks on her campus that she decided to come to the conference.
This girl is not a part of J Street's base constituency. I wouldn't be surprised if she disagrees with some of the things that J Street stands for. But it seems she is on the path to becoming an ally in pursuit of peace. Does anyone think that J Street's credibility should be diminished for including people like her at the conference?
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