While conflicts in the Mideast have not yet been resolved, Palestinian and Jewish members of the Ames community are unanimous in their hopes for peace.

“Neither Palestinians nor Israeli people want any escalation,” said Aref Al-Farra, a Jordanian student of Palestinian descent. “We don’t want any more casualties.”

The fighting between Israel and Palestine, which began Sept. 28, took a new turn last Thursday after Palestinian civilians attacked three Israeli soldiers, killing them and mutilating their bodies.

“I was appalled,” said Denise Rothschild, member of the Ames Jewish Congregation and specialist for the ISU graduate college. “I can’t ever think of a justifiable reason for one human being to treat another human being that way.”

Sameh Al-Shihabi, a displaced Palestinian from Jordan, also said the killings were uncalled for.

“That was really terrible,” said Al-Shihabi, graduate student in industrial engineering. “Killing them in this way was horrible; it didn’t do anything good for us.”

Al-Shihabi said it would have been smarter for the Palestinian civilians to have kept the Israeli soldiers alive as a means to stop the bombings and violence, but Al-Farra, graduate student in business administration, said the emotions behind the actions played a larger role. Al-Farra, said he was expecting Palestinian civilians to have some kind of retaliation for the deaths of the 89 Palestinian civilians since the conflict began.

“They’re people,” he said. “People need to remember that. When you have such a situation you cannot expect the people to be quiet about it.”

David Arkovich, former president of the Ames Jewish Congregation, said although both Israeli and Palestinian civilians are angry about the deaths of their people, they need to remember that violence won’t help to bring peace.

“It was really sad because it just fuels the spiral of violence,” he said. “I don’t think anything like that is justified.”

Arkovich said members of the Palestinian and Israeli communities need to start working toward peace on an individual level.

“[Israelis] would like to have the issues settled so they could have some peace, and I think Muslims would feel the same way too,” he said. “There’s got to be this person-to-person respect.”

While Al-Farra also said peace needs to be promoted individually, he thinks the conflict goes beyond person-to-person relationships between Israelis and Palestinians.

“I have no problems with the Israelis, per se,” he said. “I have a problem with the Israeli government’s treatment of our people. Israeli soldiers are putting us under siege; we’re fighting back because we have nothing more to lose.”

Al-Shihabi also said he is not sure how the two groups can begin to resolve the conflict.

“It’s not an easy question. It’s much bigger than this,” he said. “Palestinians need to feel secure. We have no way to defend ourselves, and we have the feeling that no one cares if we are killed.”

Rothschild said she thinks international support for both Palestinians and Israelis would be the best step toward peace.

“We have to promote peace,” she said. “There needs to be leadership on both sides that somehow will get the support of the majority of their constituency. Then those two leaders, with the support of their people behind them, can make progress towards peace.”

While members of both the Palestinian and Jewish communities agree that allowances need to be made on both sides, they do not think it will happen in the near future.

“At this point, I’m not very hopeful,” Rothschild said. “There are two groups of people that need to be brought together, and I don’t see how or when that’s going to happen peacefully.”

Al-Farra said he doesn’t think peace will come to the Middle East anytime soon.

“I’m not very optimistic, to be honest,” he said. “[Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat does not have the power to tell the people to just forget about it when they’re being killed in the street.”

Until a peace agreement is reached, both Rothschild and Al-Farra said their main concern is with their families and friends living in the middle of the conflict.

“I believe they’re safe; they’ve lived in Israel for a long time,” Rothschild said. “They know what they’re dealing with.”

Al-Farra said he is keeping in close contact with his family in Palestine as long as the conflict continues.

“My father is in the Gaza Strip, which they are bombing right now,” he said. “I’m calling him everyday . until then I will pray – that is all I can do.”