U-Doves take flight
June 7, 2002
U-Doves is the only group of active students addressing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to invite Arabs, Israelis, Jews and Muslims and anyone personally affected to come together and fight for the respect of both sides.
U-Doves is unlike HuskIPAC, the largest pro-Israel group on campus, and Hayaat, the largest pro-Palestinian group, which bring to campus speakers such as Daniel Pipes and Norman Finkelstein, who openly support one side or the other.
U-Doves hopes to foster a community where the point in question is not which side is more right, but rather how to open a local dialogue between the two sides so they can learn about each other.
The new group hopes to do this by inviting speakers who are less obviously aligned with one side or the other.
Abas Rizzi, a Pakistani Muslim student and a member, said that people attending U-Dove events would not automatically feel that the speakers were supporting one side or the other, which has not been the case at HuskIPAC- and Hayaat-sponsored events.
Along with inviting more unbiased speakers, U-Doves hopes to hold political and cultural events, starting with a candlelight vigil yesterday at 9 p.m. in Red Square.
The vigil, said Maha El-Taji, a Palestinian earning her doctorate, was to remember the losses on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as to try to increase U-Doves' membership.
El-Taji's father's family lost its home to the Israelis. At the UW, however, she feels it is important that people who have been personally hurt by the ongoing conflict come together rather than hold resentment.
U-Doves is still growing as a group. It does not hold any political solutions, but Rizzi, El-Taji and Kayanna Warren, one of the founders, all agree a two-state solution is the only way to go. Maha added, however, that details about it should be left to negotiators.
Warren and Kate Blizinsky spearhead the group. Because both founders are Jewish students, there has been some hesitancy on the part of the Arab and Muslim population to endorse it.
However, Maha said that even if the membership were completely Jewish, U-Doves sends a different and important message.
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