Finding Mideast Unity in the Classroom

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Professors of Peace
For 12 years, Palestinian professor Manuel Hassassian and Israeli professor Edy Kaufman have found a peaceful middle ground in their college classroom. Their belief in open dialogue to solve the raging violece overseas has fueled their lectures and long-term friendship.

Hassassian suggested a role reversal for the students: Partway through the course, they choose sides and argue a case, then switch.

As the summers went by, the professors ate sushi together, went to movies and threw parties. Kaufman would sit with Hassassian while he smoked his after-dinner cigar, talking politics or telling jokes, slapping hands and cracking up. Hassassian started imitating his friend's Israeli expression of surprise -- first to make Kaufman laugh, then unconsciously using it himself.

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With a sweep of chalk on the blackboard last week in Tydings Hall, Kaufman drew the arc of war and peace, starting in 1948. "With the declaration of independence by Israel, simultaneously seven countries declared war on Israel," he said.

After nearly an hour, Hassassian glanced at his watch, pointedly. He took over, and the tone switched from lecture to oratory. He paced, waved his arms, punched out words. "When Dr. Kaufman said seven! Armies!" he said, and paused, mustache twitching. "The Jews had much more sophisticated weapons. . . . It was a piece of cake for Israel to win that war!"

Kaufman, sitting nearby, scratched a note to himself with a half-smile on his face. When Hassassian stopped later, he said quietly, "It was not a piece of cake in terms of casualties."

And he told the class about a massacre of Arab villagers by Zionists and about the attack soon afterward by Arabs on a convoy of Jewish doctors and professors. "Many were killed there," Kaufman said. "Including my wife's father."

Heads snapped up; students' fingers paused, frozen over their laptops.

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Every morning after he wakes, Hassassian asks Kaufman: What news? They call family members to see whether they are safe. Samira Hassassian said by phone from near Bethlehem that it is worse now, worse than it has ever been.

Hassassian is angry. Kaufman is worried.

If a cease-fire doesn't happen soon, "the hatred that is mounting among these people will continue forever," Hassassian said. It's essential to ensure that people in the United States hear all sides, he said.

"It's very tough. You lose your hope sometimes," Kaufman said. The class is worth it, "but it is such a small drop in the ocean, it is really frustrating."

After class late that night, they drove home to cook dinner. Lisa Kaufman was peeling squash. Edy Kaufman sliced onions. Hassassian brought ice to the table, and they sat down to a family dinner, passing the couscous from hand to hand, telling stories.

A small thing. But there it is: a peaceful coexistence.