“Let Our People Know” J Street U Summer Trip to Israel

Israel Peace Alternatives presents J Street U Summer Trip to Israel, with Ethan Wallerstein, a second-year philosophy and economics student at UC Davis. Ethan attended J Street U’s “Let Our People Know” summer trip to Israel in 2019.  The trip was structured to provide a nuanced understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories, and to help participants examine their own Jewish identities and connection to Israel.  Following his return Ethan wrote an opinion piece for the J Weekly, and co-wrote an op-ed published in The Forward.

“Let Our People Know” was powerful from the start of the 10-day experience. The organizers and speakers were candid and taught us an incredible amount of history through countless different lenses. Though the physical walls were daunting and formidable, the metaphorical ones, between my understanding of the conflict and those living it, were changed by the narratives from Israelis in moshavs and settlements, and from Palestinians in the West Bank and beyond. These stories demonstrate the toll that the occupation takes on all people.