Dana Schwarzberg came to experience the real America, not the one from reality television reruns in her home country.

For the past two weeks, she has participated in philosophical debates in diplomacy and attended sweaty fraternity parties straight out of the ‘American Pie’ movies, she said. 

She is from Tel Aviv, Israel, and had to learn what it means to live in a country torn by conflict and little optimism.

Schwarzberg is a part of the fifth group of students from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, to visit SU. She and 14 other Israeli students from the IDC take classes at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and learn about American government, culture and conflict resolution for two weeks. Jerry Kramer, a senior associate dean at the Maxwell School and a benefactor of SU and the IDC, offered the financial support for the exchange.

The group happened to come to America as major events unfolded between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, with the United States intervening.

During the Israelis’ stay in Syracuse, President Barack Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23 and called for continuing the moratorium on settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The 10-month moratorium that ended Sept. 26 meant Israelis were banned from building homes in Palestinian-controlled areas.

The Israeli delegation was not in attendance at the U.N. because of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. On Saturday, Palestinian leaders said they were through with peace talks because the ban on settlement construction had expired. They called for the moratorium to be back in place, according to an article in The New York Times on Saturday.

The visiting students from Israel came with a different perspective on the U.S.’s role in Israeli-Palestinian relations, criticizing Obama’s condemnation of settlement building.

‘I got scared,’ said Einat Elazari, another IDC student. ‘Is America starting to pull the lines back?’

Before she came to America, Schwarzberg served as a medic in the Israeli Defense Forces.

At the age of 18, Schwarzberg had to fulfill Israel’s mandatory military service requirement. After 6 months of training, Schwarzberg served as a medical aid, moving up to be a commander at a medical school during the 2006 Lebanon War, overseeing 60 soldiers. She cared for her troops like a mother, she said.

‘We are alone,’ she said, taking a moment to think if she felt any countries were supportive of Israel. ‘If I go to France, people will look at me if I speak Hebrew.’

On Monday and Wednesday, the IDC group discussed U.S.-Israeli relations in Eggers Hall and debated the issues concerning the U.S.’s road map for the peace of Israel and Palestine.

The issues argued mirror the debates being held in Washington, D.C., Jerusalem and Muslim capitals across the region.

‘We’ve got the one state in the world that is Jewish, and that’s Israel, and that’s the way we want it to be,’ said Zohar Mandel, an IDC student, in response to a question about a united Israel and Palestine at the debates.

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, director of the Middle Eastern Studies program and the moderator of the first debate, said both the Israelis and the Palestinians talk about being the victim of the conflict to justify their rights to the land and continual stubbornness.

‘There is a narrative of victimhood that the Israelis invoke and the Palestinians invoke,’ Boroujerdi said.

The students also discussed Obama’s speech in Cairo, Egypt, in 2009. In his Cairo speech, Obama fulfilled his campaign promise of doing a major speech in a Middle East capital and outlined his plan for peace. He quoted from the Koran, the Bible and the Torah to crowds of students at Cairo University.

He also condemned the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, an area under the control of Israel, but claimed the Palestinian Authority add more.

The U.S. and Israel form what has been called a ‘special relationship’ in foreign policy. Such a stance has created tension with Lebanon in 2006 and controversy with Turkey over the fate of Turkish sailors killed by Israelis last summer.

Adi Sadinsky-Levy attended Obama’s inauguration in Washington, D.C., in January of 2009. Despite the memory of the pomp and circumstance of 21-gun salutes and parades down Pennsylvania Avenue, he is still critical of Obama’s peace plan.

‘It’s problematic. On the one hand, Obama says one thing and then acts another way,’ said Sadinsky-Levy, an IDC student.

Robert McClure, a professor of political science at SU, was a moderator at the second set of discussions. McClure was more sympathetic to the challenges leaders must face when dealing with this decades-old conflict.

‘I don’t think presidents control events — events control presidents,’ he said.

When asked who approved of Obama’s peace plan, the students looked around at each other. Each was waiting to see what others thought. Most had a look of disapproval or weariness on their face.

Only one nervous Israeli student raised his hand with a response.

He said: ‘I’m optimistic.’

ajswab@syr.edu

 

Published on October 4, 2010 at 12:00 pm