Vintage Vignettes glimpse into the Communicationist’s past, one to ten years ago from this day.
On this day in 2005, the Palestianian-Israeli Peace Alliance (PIPA) held its first event. PIPA is a group I started at Boston University with my freshman year roommate. I, a young woman with Israeli family, and she, a young woman with Palestinian family, were randomly placed together. We saw an opportunity to create a forum where people from both sides could have a dialogue. Over the two years I served as President of the club, I saw people from the region have a conversation with their peers from “the other side” for the first time in their lives, on the other side of the world from their homes. We had events that ranged from discussions to cultural parties to outing off-campus to see speakers or movies. PIPA still exists at BU to this day and has expanded its work off-campus.
We had no idea if the club would get off the ground or not, and were thrilled when dozens of students turned out to Falafel and a Film. We screened Promises (trailer below), an Oscar-nominated documentary that allows the children of the region to speak about their opinions on the conflict and eventually meet each other. They speak wisely: “In war, both sides suffer. Maybe there’s a ‘winner’ but what’s a winner? People on both sides die. Both sides lose.”
