By Shella and Zeina
Knowledge Café attendees
The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has featured heavily in the news of late.
To help students understand more about the situation, the Social Sciences Department recently held a lunchtime Knowledge Café. Tamkeen Saeid, from the Peace Foundation, facilitated the workshop. Firstly, she outlined the historical background to help students understand the key events that have shaped the conflict.
Secondly, the students looked at some examples of people on both sides of the conflict who are working to address this conflict in a peaceful way. Finally, the students formed smaller groups to discuss key questions. It was great to hear the varied perspectives and experiences shared through thoughts and ideas.
“On 2 June, in the land of Aotearoa, Westlake students and a well-educated Peace Foundation activist, Tamkeen, spent their lunch break discussing this serious matter. Tamkeen expressed how this topic is heavily complex and couldn’t be evaluated in a single lunch time. She showed us maps of the geographical boundaries between Israel and Palestine. She gave us statistics on the number of deaths and injuries resulting from the divide of cultures.”
Shella
“It was impressive and empowering to sit in a room full of diverse students united together, giving up their lunch break to listen to what has been happening. Tamkeen displayed several slides reflecting the statistics of the land loss, and the number of deaths. To many, learning these facts raised questions that stemmed many open discussions. Then we were put into groups where we were each given a question to brainstorm, which evoked new perspectives.”
Zeina