Palestinian students are combining photographs, slide shows, poems and traditional Palestinian clothing in an effort to give ISU students more information about the continuing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The Palestinian Showcase will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union.

Sameh Al-Shihabi, graduate assistant in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, said the purpose of the event is to “increase awareness of American students in Ames and at Iowa State University about the Middle Eastern conflict.”

“[Palestinian students] feel the media portray the situation in a way biased to Israelis, and we would like to show our side of the problem,” he said.

Aref Al-Farra, graduate student in business administration, said one way the students want to present the conflict is by illustrating “sheer numbers” of people affected.

“We feel as Palestinians there’s a lot of apathy or ignorance toward the Palestinian cause,” Al-Farra said. “A lot of articles in newspapers are biased somewhat to Israel and against Palestine. We want to show what is the true situation in Palestine.”

Al-Shihabi said the showcase will show the conflict’s history.

“It’s the least we can do,” he said. “It’s a way to express our feelings of the situation.”

Both men said they hope the event will have a positive effect on ISU students.

“I believe it’s going to be a useful event,” Al-Farra said. “I also believe other events like this can help people understand the situation better and understand each other better.”

Al-Shihabi said he hopes students will see the larger issue in the conflict.

“We want them to understand humans are humans regardless of race, regardless of religion,” he said. “There should be no way to justify killing other human beings.”