Courtesy of Yale Palestine Solidarity group

On Wednesday, pro-Palestinian students gathered in front of Yale’s School of Management building during a Middle East peace panel organized by the School to protest the absence of Palestinian voices and to call for a ceasefire in Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The SOM hosted the dialogue, titled “Arab and Israeli Ambassadors’ Perspectives: Yale Middle East Peace Dialogue,” with Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog, United Arab Emirates ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba and former White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, all of whom joined the panel through Zoom. The talk focused on cultivating peaceful Israeli-Palestinian relations and rebuilding Gaza after the war. 

The conversation at the SOM opened with an interfaith prayer for peace led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Rabbi Herbert Brockman.

The event was organized by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and professor in Management Practice at the SOM. 

“The idea was to talk about peace, and how to build bridges after this savage war,” Yale World Fellow and panel attendee Tamim Saad, who is Israeli, wrote to the News. “I felt really included. The message was really how we can get together after this war and work together to rebuild Gaza and also to rebuild trust in the region.”

The panel, organized in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, follows Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack against Israel, when they killed at least 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 230 hostages, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry as reported by the Washington Post. Israel responded with a formal declaration of war against Hamas, airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza, killing more than 11,180 people in Gaza from Oct. 7 to Nov. 10 and displacing more than two-thirds of the population, the Post reported, citing figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza and from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Saad explained that he appreciated the diversity of perspectives at the event, especially when the talk opened up to questions from the attendees. 

Roshni Mohandas GRD ’24, another attendee, estimated that hundreds of people attended the panel and that the open discussion with the questions felt “very respectful.”

“I think the purpose of the whole event was to create dialogue,” Mohandas told the News. “And I think all sides and everybody was represented. We had every voice heard on the table. So I think that was a very good start to have these dialogues in academic institutions.”

After the talk, around 80 professors from across Yale’s different schools joined theologians and leaders for a multicultural lunch aimed at further open discussion. Among those who attended the lunch were former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and Iranian-American journalist Roya Hakakian.

Imam Rauf told the News that he thought the event was “very valuable” and “informative.” He explained that he appreciated the different perspectives brought up during lunch as well, including Hakakian’s comments on the need to include Iran in discussions surrounding peace in the Middle East. 

The absence of formal Palestinian representation on the panel, however, led the Yale Palestine Solidarity coalition to organize a protest in response to the talk. 

“Yale’s decision to support Arab-Israeli normalization by platforming these panelists without a single Palestinian voice is reprehensible and dishonest, especially in this moment of unprecedented Israeli devastation in Gaza,” the Yale Palestine Solidarity coalition wrote in a press release statement emailed to the News. “The people of Connecticut will not tolerate the role of Yale or the United States in these ongoing war crimes.”

The protestors held signs in front of the SOM building with statements such as “end the occupation, stop the genocide” and “ceasefire now.” Their faces were covered with face masks and some of them wore traditional Palestinian scarves.

They handed out flyers titled “No peace without justice: it is not a peace dialogue without Palestinians,” demanding that Yale take a stance against Israel’s attacks in Gaza and divest from all arms manufacturers. 

During a walkout of over 100 students on Oct. 25, student protestors called on the University to divest from arms manufacturers, such as Lockheed Martin. Following the walkout, University President Peter Salovey told the News that the University’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility is considering revisiting its policy regarding investments in weapon manufacturing and retail.

After yesterday’s panel and protest, the Yale Palestine Solidarity coalition posted about the group’s demonstration on its Instagram page.

“We reject Yale’s decision to platform Arab-Israeli normalization efforts during Israel’s ongoing devastation of Gaza and attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank,” the Yale Palestine Solidarity coalition wrote in an Instagram caption on Nov. 15.

In a Nov. 15 email to the News, Sonnenfeld wrote that the event’s attendees included people from all over the world, including Palestinians, Emiratis, Kuwaitis and Iraqis, who came prepared to ask questions during the open discussion. Sonnenfeld also noted the presence of UAE ambassador Al Otaiba, who was on the panel, as “one of the most influential voices in the Arab world.”

He added that the SOM had invited the Palestinian representative to the United Nations but did not get a response back.

In their press statement, the Yale Palestine Solidarity coalition criticized the presence of Al Otaiba as a voice for Palestinians, stating that the UAE maintains a close diplomatic relationship with Israel “while sidestepping the question of Palestinian self-determination.”

“People can protest efforts towards Mideast peace, if they want-to do so outside- but, inside we wanted to learn what we can do [to] advance regional harmony, justice, and prosperity,” Sonnenfeld wrote in a Nov. 15 email to the News. “In this non-political educational event, [we] learned from Israelis and Arab government voices.  This should not be Yale’s final event on the region but just one step following the lead of many of our students.  Hopefully a future one would be convenient for the Palestinian representative to the UN.” 

The School of Management was founded in 1976.