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Some college students and faculty members are seeking space for nuanced perspectives on the Israel-Hamas war on deeply divided campuses.
Dec. 22, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET
The scene has become emblematic at many American college campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Students waving Palestinian flags face off against students waving Israeli flags, each group shouting chants that enrage the other side.
But sometimes, there is a quieter group standing in the middle.
Last spring, Mikey Aboutboul, an Israeli-born senior at the University of California, Los Angeles, and about 30 like-minded people stood in the center of dueling protests and began chanting slogans that challenged both camps. They wore purple T-shirts to stand out from those around them.
“Palestinians and Jews, war and killing we refuse,” they chanted, inspired by a grassroots peace movement in Israel. “In Gaza and Tel Aviv, all the children want to live.”
Protesters around them turned and stared, wondering what to make of them. Then, some people from both sides joined in, Mr. Aboutboul recalled.
“That was kind of an amazing moment for me,” he said, adding, “These things resonate, because they are human messages.”
Mr. Aboutboul is a founding member of Students for Standing Together, a new student group at U.C.L.A. that aims to unite Israelis and Palestinians to call for a cease-fire in Gaza. In the long term, they hope to push for a peaceful, equitable solution for both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
