Israeli, Palestinian Comics Take Show on the Road to the Heartland

Americans are wary of offending each other, troupe member Freeman says.

"In Israel, it's a much freer, open discussion about Israeli-Palestinian matters than in the U.S.," Freeman said. "There's far less political correctness in Israel."

MASA Israel Journey, which sponsors trips to Israel for young Jewish Americans, is coordinating with Jewish student groups such as Hillel to publicize the show on college campuses. In turn, the Jewish groups are reaching out to Arab organizations, recruitment associate Megan Schiff said.

Zohar Bahar Ben-Hai, 27, serves as the Israel fellow at Ohio State's Hillel and is helping to plan the event, which she hopes will help launch a student dialogue about Middle East affairs on campus. Compared with Israelis and Palestinians, Americans tend to make harsher judgments about the conflict, sometimes based on inaccurate information, she said.

"What I had expected is that as a third party that is not really involved in the conflict, there would be a deeper understanding of both sides," Bahar Ben-Hai said. "But I see so many people just forming perceptions and arguments without trying to see the other side."

It remains to be seen how the show will go over as the funnymen take their act on the road. At least 500 students RSVP'd to the Ohio State performance, which was booked in an auditorium that seats up to 600 people.

The tour will swing through campuses in Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and California, among other places. And after that?

"Once we conquer the United States, we're going to try to conquer the West Bank," Hanania says.