Israel’s consul general to the Midwest United States was on campus Thursday to help celebrate the World Food Prize and provide an Israeli perspective on the struggle in the Middle East.

“We need a better system to feed people but instead we are fighting each other,” the Honorable Moshe Ram told about 70 people in LeBaron Hall.

He said the people of his nation need to “live together” with the Palestinian community.

“When we talk about peace we have to talk about terror too,” he said. “We have the right to leave home in the morning, take the kids to school and get them back home in the evening in one piece.”

The terror Ram speaks of derives from the conflict that has existed between Israelis and Palestinians for the past 100 years, over the right to their own settlement land.

“I am one of the people who believes there is a political solution to the problem,” he said.

“The only way to solve the problem is for both sides to sit and negotiate.”

However, he emphasizes this solution will not come without a “broker.”

“We are so far apart we can’t negotiate without help. I feel what both parties need today is a very strong intervention by the United States,” Ram said.

Bilal “Bill” Iqbal, senior in political science of Pakistani decent, said Ram’s message was informative. Iqbal said “[Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat is a terrorist, but so is [Anwar] Sadat of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan.”

“We need to focus on increasing democracy in the Middle East,” Iqbal said.

Ram pointed out in his presentation there are 22 non-democratic countries surrounding Israel.

“There are moderate voices within the Palestinians but the problem is they have no leverage,” Ram said.

Martin Edelson, adviser of ISU Hillel, the Jewish student organization, said he appreciates Ram’s message that it is important that Israelis and Palestinians live in peace.

“Jews have lived peacefully in Arab lands for 1,200 years and in warfare for the last 100 years. Hopefully we can get back to living in peace,” Edelson said.