To the editor,

I was sad to see, in the article “UMSU continues anti-Palestinian racism definition talks” (April 3), reference to “both” and “each” communities. Presumably this meant the Jewish student community on the one hand, and the Palestinian (or perhaps Arab or Muslim) student community on the other. This paints a simplistic and unnecessarily conflictual picture. I know for certain that among Jewish students there are a variety of perspectives, and real disagreements, on the issues at stake. My course RLGN 3400, Zionism: Religious Perspectives, to be offered this fall, will explore some relevant lines of thought within different streams of religious Judaism.

I also know that my Palestinian and Jewish students have much more in common than anything that divides them. The conflict in the Middle East is in the Middle East, and we should not assume that it is also a conflict between communities here in Winnipeg. It does not need to be.

Sincerely,

Justin Jaron Lewis

Associate professor – Judaism

Department of religion