The Feb 13-15th UPZ national conference in Washington, DC was a big success, as we brought together student leaders from over half of our campuses for a jam-packed weekend of policy discussions, campus organizing workshops as well as strategic visioning sessions to better determine our future goals as the student voice of the Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace movement.

We heard from Jeremy Ben-Ami, Executive Director of J Street, Moran Banai, U.S. Editor of the Middle East Bulletin as well as Mitchell Plitnick, Director of B’tselem’s Washington office, about the future of the Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace movement as well as prospects for peace in the Middle East.

Student reactions were incredibly positive:

“My favorite thing about the conference was meeting all the other participants and hearing about their campus groups. It was great to meet others who truly care about Middle East peace as much as I do..”

“The most important thing I learned at the conference was not to lose hope! I really liked the focus on American involvement in the process–I’ve never really thought about the conflict from a fully American standpoint and it’s somehow a little easier.”

We want to thank Americans for Peace Now and the New Israel Fund for their hospitality and we’re especially grateful for all of our students’ time, effort and feedback. Your active participation made the conference such a success and we’re excited to implement your ideas as we move forward and and continue to build this grassroots, student-driven movement for Middle East peace.