Former U.S. ambassador issues challenge for peace to students

By Rebekah Lynn
Daily Bruin Contributor

The former U.S. Ambassador to the Middle East issued a challenge
to UCLA sociology students on Monday.

After sharing the intricacies and unique challenges of
negotiating peace in the Middle East, veteran diplomat and UCLA
alumnus Dennis Ross said:

“You now have the background, the violence continues, and
I have resigned as diplomat. What would you do if you had the
responsibility of talking to the two sides right now?”

This prompt led to a lively discussion in Sociology 195C:
“Voices of Peace: Perspectives on Confrontation and
Reconciliation in the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” a class that
Ross visited on Monday.

Ross maintained a balanced approach in a class composed of
students with views on both sides of the ongoing conflict.

He spoke later in the evening at the Hillel Jewish Student
Center. A passionate crowd consisting of mainly community members
with a handful of students engaged in animated arguments and
discussions while several groups distributed literature at the
entrance.

“With the media, we don’t always get a complete
picture. To get a perspective directly from someone who was there
in person is so powerful.” said Rachel Braun, first-year
undeclared student.

According to Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, whose sociology class
hosted Ross, the Middle East conflict has a direct impact on many
UCLA students.

“The Middle East conflict affects the student body in two
ways. First, it expresses itself through intergroup tensions.
Secondly, it is used by some as an organizational method to divide
the campus, and this grows a life of its own,” he said.

Seidler-Feller said students can combat this divisive tension by
truly listening to each other and engaging in individual exchanges
with students who hold divergent opinions.

It was toward this end that the Voices of Peace class was
established.

“The goal was to create an environment where students with
divergent opinions can exchange ideas freely and to offer a
critical perspective on the peace process in an academic
setting.”

Ross offered a first-person perspective, and he listened to
students’ ideas, helping them to flesh out the difficulties
and strengths of each idea.

“Diplomacy is not the art of pursuing the impossible, it
is the art of pursuing the attainable.” Ross said.

His message focused on the reality that the Arab and Jewish
communities are neighbors. Instead of being stuck on ideological
divides, negotiators must focus on practical solutions to ensure
peace, according to Ross. He also stressed a complete approach that
includes a dialogue between political leaders and the people. He
highlighted the importance of socializing peace, educating and
using the media to communicate positively with the people.

“You cannot try to make peace at the table and war on the
street,” he said.

While he considers this a difficult time to make peace, Ross
said he remains basically optimistic. He said the primary lesson he
has learned in his 12 years of diplomacy is that there is no
alternative to the pursuit of peace.

“Conflict causes perpetual pain, perpetual struggle, and
perpetual victims. That is not sustainable to anyone,” Ross
said.

He recently resigned from his post as ambassador, but remains
committed to the peace process. He plans to write extensively about
his experiences.

Ross said his goal is to share his knowledge and to affect the
climate in which the new negotiators make decisions. When asked by
students if his resignation was due to the new U.S. administration,
he said he resigned before the election, and would have resigned
regardless of who had won the presidential race.

Ross was an undergraduate at UCLA as well as a UCLA graduate
student of foreign policy. His doctoral dissertation was on Soviet
decision making. He has received the presidential medal for
Distinguished Federal Civilian Service and has been a UCLA alumnus
of the year.