Skidmore hosts Combatants for Peace
Skidmore College hosted Israeli and Palestinian peace activists from the organization
Combatants for Peace (CfP), who shared stories of their personal transformation, their
reconciliation efforts, and the exceptional challenges of their work amid spiraling
violence in the region since October.
Sulaiman Khatib, co-founder and international relations director of CfP, and Iris
Gur, the group’s Israeli community director, spoke to a full house in Skidmore’s Gannett
Auditorium on Feb. 13 as part of a partnership with American Friends of Combatants
for Peace and MLK Saratoga. Skidmore College is the only institution of higher learning
to host CfP during the group’s February tour of the eastern United States.
The group, nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize, was established by former combatants
who laid down their weapons and joined forces to nonviolently work towards realizing
their vision of "a future of freedom and peace with equal rights and self-determination
for all."
Hollyday Hammond of MLK Saratoga speaks during the Feb. 13 event in Gannett Auditorium, calling Combatants for Peace a “tether to sanity and hope” in recent months.
Gur, who grew up as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and an Israeli military officer,
described how her worldviews expanded after her own daughter was imprisoned for refusing
to serve in the Israeli army.
“Until seven years ago, I didn't say aloud the word occupation. ... We didn’t say
Palestinian; they were Arabs,” she said. “This was the narrative that I was educated
by, not only at home but also at school. This is the narrative that most of the Israelis
are growing up with.”
“I was 52 years old when I met a Palestinian for the first time in my life,” Gur continued.
“I just couldn’t imagine that I would have a Palestinian friend. It’s something that
just didn’t seem logical to me.”
Khatib, who co-founded CfP, spoke of how his attitudes toward Israelis — and the role
of violence in achieving peace — changed while serving a decade in an Israeli military
prison.
“I came to the conclusion, through a long journey, that there is no military solution
for our cause,” Khatib said, noting that the Israeli military officers who co-founded
Combatants for Peace also arrived at a similar conclusion. “It’s much easier for any
human being to be in one end of a tunnel — with one narrative, us and them, that we’re
the victims — this is very easy. I’ve been there."
But to move slowly, to open your heart and your emotions to a conflicting narrative, with supposedly the enemy ... this was a journey that I went through that took a long time.”Sulaiman Khatibco-founder and international relations director, Combatants for Peace
Khatib and Gur noted the extreme difficulty — logistically and emotionally — of working
together since the attack launched by Hamas on Oct. 7 and Israel's subsequent invasion
of Gaza. While they recognized power imbalances, both stressed the importance of acknowledging
the pain and trauma experienced by everyone.
Said Gur: “If you want to help us, don't choose sides. We are not in a contest over
who is suffering more."
If you want to be part of the community of Combatants for Peace, don’t choose sides; choose peace.”Iris GurIsraeli community director, Combatants for Peace
The event is part of a series of educational programming hosted by Skidmore on the
Israeli-Palestinian issue during the current academic year. Faculty members are offering additional courses
as well. The CfP programming also reflects the College’s broader efforts to prepare students to become active participants in the practice of civic democracy.
“Our job is to bring many perspectives to campus to help educate our students and
our community. We do not endorse any particular position, nor do we seek uniformity
of position, but rather multiple perspectives, multiple views, and, in particular,
the modeling of civil discourse,” President Marc C. Conner told the audience. “I am
very proud of our community — of how it has embraced those principles of civil discourse.
Tonight is another example of that.”
Skidmore partnered with MLK Saratoga, a local volunteer-based nonprofit organization
that shares the late Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of peace and justice with the
community, to bring CfP to campus.
“Since Oct. 7, I have felt so upset, distraught, despondent at times. And the only
thing that keeps me going is connecting and building community,” reflected Hollyday
Hammond of MLK Saratoga, who called CfP a “tether to sanity and hope” in recent months.
“When we dehumanize others, we are dehumanizing ourselves. We chip away our own humanity,”
she said, paraphrasing the words of Martin Luther King Jr.