A panel of Delta professors answered community questions about the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict
By: Onnie Stone
On Jan. 31, five “local experts” from Delta College discussed the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine. Panel members Dan Allen, Jason Szilagyi, Liz Ullrich, Mark Balawender, and Ray Lacina are all current professors at Delta College.
“Students need to be able to encounter ideas and not necessarily accept them, but to grapple with them,” Allen says. “That’s what education is.”
Recent news surrounding the conflict in the Middle East highlights some issues academic communities are facing as they try to educate on the matter. Delta’s Humanities Learning Center and History Department wanted this discussion to be a learning opportunity for the public.
“People without the protections of tenure feel that they can’t speak freely about the issues, about what they observe in the region,” Allen says. “Because either, on one hand, they are afraid of getting shot down by activists and ran out of town, or they’re going to make a donor upset and they’re going to get fired.”
In an effort to help contextualize such a polarizing topic, panel members were specifically chosen for their unique expertise on the conflict.
Allen is well-educated in military, international relations and national security. In 2012, he traveled to Israel where he interviewed Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers and Hamas members in Israeli prisons. His knowledge on the region and the various institutions that influence it is extensive. He says there are two take-aways he wants people to receive:
“Two wrongs don’t make a right. And, under the right set of circumstances, anyone can be radicalized,” Allen says.
Szilagyi is a history professor at Delta College. He was an advisor for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Central Michigan University, specializing in the formation of the modern state of Israel after the Holocaust. Szilagyi brings his historical knowledge to the discussion.
“I’ve always seen history as not black and white, but shades of gray,” Szilagyi said. “You’re not always going to encounter things that are going to reinforce an existing idea.”
Ullrich teaches world politics classes at Delta. In her world politics class, she teaches students about Israel and Palestine. She also studied international relations in the Middle East. During her studies, she conducted significant research on the issue of Israel and Palestine.
“Most people who have worked with this issue for the last 20 years have now come to the same conclusions,” Ullrich says. “The two-state solution is dead.”
Balawender is a professor of philosophy at Delta. He says that he does not have the same specialization on the topic, but he brings knowledge on nonviolent movements and peace and justice from his PhD research.
“When these [resistance] groups resist nonviolently, there is much less chance for violence to occur in the decade after the conflict,” Balawender says.
Lacina teaches about world religions and the Holocaust at Delta. He says he also lived in the region for some time. His insight on both world religion and the Holocaust adds helpful details to the discussion. Lacina noted a key lesson to be learned from the Holocaust: we should have empathy for people who are different and an awareness of what human beings are capable of.
“[Genocide] is a human thing that we have got to be alert about,” Lacina says, referencing the genocides that have occurred since the Holocaust.
The discussion touched on the history of the region, what is contributing to the conflict, how it should be talked about, and what potential solutions might look like. Nearly two hours passed during the event. Even so, many people in attendance stayed after to continue conversations about the conflict.
