The event is cosponsored by: Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Vassar Democrats, Political Science Department, Jewish Studies Department, Religion Department.

 

What does a just resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict look like? How can dignity and security be restored to Palestinians and Jews on the ground in the Middle East? Americans for Peace Now Campus Outreach Manager Aaron Mann, The American Task Force on Palestine Youth Outreach Coordinator Tala Haikal and J Street U Mid-Atlantic Campus Organizer Andrew Gordon-Kirsch will speak to how their work addresses these key questions and more. Join Vassar students for an honest discussion with three leading Washington-based organizations who share a vision of two states for two peoples.

 

Bios:

 

Tala Haikal is the Youth Outreach Coordinator at the American Task Force on Palestine. She leads ATFP Youth Initiatives and engages young Arab-Americans and students on campuses in the efforts to advocate for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She holds a BA from American University in International Studies with specializations in Peace and Conflict Resolution and the Middle East. She is also fluent in Arabic, French and Italian. Tala lived in Genoa, Italy for 15 years and another three years in the Middle East.

 

Aaron Mann is the Campus Outreach Manager for Americans for Peace Now. Aaron joined APN in 2012 and has since led the organization's campus outreach efforts, organizing events at colleges around the United States while building APN on Campus, a vast database of online resources. A former APN intern, Aaron was also Dr. Yoram Peri's Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies. He was previously the Israel and International Affairs intern at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, and he wrote his Master’s thesis on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Aaron has also been published in Open Zion/The Daily Beast and The Jerusalem Post; he has a BA in Political Science and a Master's degree in Public Policy.

 

Andrew Gordon-Kirsch is the Mid-Atlantic Campus Organizer for J Street U. Andrew joined J Street in 2012 after working at the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay in Berkeley, CA. A raft guide and rock-climbing instructor, Andrew was an educator for Abraham's Vision, a Muslim-Jewish conflict transformation organization, and is a past Bend the Arc Jeremiah Fellow. Andrew spent 2010-2011 in Jerusalem as a Dorot Fellow working with Jewish and Palestinian teens, and 2008-2009 in Cairo as a student at AUC. He speaks Arabic and Hebrew, and marvels at the wonders of the trilateral root system. A Berkeley native, Andrew resides in Brooklyn, New York.