In response to public requests, CU Boulder experts will discuss range of topics in Arab-Israeli conflict at Wednesday forum, which is open to the community

A weekend cease-fire extension and the continuing release of hostages have raised some hopes, but the devastating war in the Middle East has also raised many questions.

Many members of the University of Colorado Boulder campus community have asked for expert insight into the conflict and its centuries-long history. In response, the Program in Jewish Studies will host “Explaining Conflict and War in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank: Community Discussions with CU Faculty Members” from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, in UMC 382-384.

The event, which is open to the public, is being organized by the Program in Jewish Studies and co-sponsored by the Center for Humanities and the Arts, the Department of English, the Department of History and the International Affairs Program.

It will follow an informal format and allow individuals and smaller groups of participants to discuss a specific sub-topic, ranging from antisemitism to the long history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with faculty experts, including:

• Janet J. Jacobs, professor of distinction in women and gender studies
• Zach Levey, Israel Institute visiting professor and visiting professor of international affairs
• Karim Mattar, associate professor of English
• Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History and interim director of the Program in Jewish Studies
• Eyal Rivlin, teaching associate professor of Jewish studies

The program will continue the discussions about the war, which is a significant escalation of the decades-long conflict. The war began with the terrorist attacks by Hamas, which killed 1,200 civilians on Oct. 7. Not since the Holocaust had this number of Jews been murdered in a single day. Israel’s response to the terrorism, an invasion of the Gaza Strip, has drawn criticism from some observers.

The Program in Jewish Studies sponsored a panel discussion last month, as well.

Wednesday’s event will offer another forum for these discussions. Many members of the CU Boulder campus community are directly affected by the war, given that they have family and friends in the region who have been hurt or killed.

For weeks, tensions have been running high on many U.S. university campuses, including CU Boulder, and many students feel threatened and unsafe. Social media continues to be saturated with inflammatory posts, partial truths and falsehoods.

For more information, please contact the Program in Jewish Studies at 303-492-7143 or CUJewishStudies@colorado.edu