PeaceWorks Brings Peacebuilders to Georgetown
By Emily Dabre, Hannah Abdelshahid, and Ajani Stella
The Hoya
October 18, 2025
"Two prominent former statesmen, one Palestinian and one Israeli, called for increased dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis at a Georgetown University event Oct. 16…
"Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian National Authority Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Al-Kidwa discussed the viability of a permanent solution to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war at an event to foster dialogue.
450 members of the Georgetown community attended the event, while 20 protested outside.
"'I understand that it’s not easy, while the blood is being shed, for people to believe in dialogue and to engage in one,' Al-Kidwa said at the event. 'But nevertheless, I think that this is the only option before us. We need to engage in dialogue, and dialogue can lead to solutions, and solutions can salvage the whole situation.'
"Olmert said he first confronted the disparities between Israelis and Palestinians during his 1993-2003 tenure as mayor of Jerusalem, emphasizing the necessity of recognizing both Israelis’ and Palestinians’ needs.
"'I found that Israel is way past any serious attempts to create an environment of living together with the basic principles of equality that I was brought up all my life to believe,' Olmert said at the event. 'And then very quickly I understood that there is no way that we can pretend to live together if we don’t recognize the right of Palestinians to self-determination and to their own exclusive political sovereignty in the land that they control.'…
"During the Georgetown event, Al-Kidwa said to achieve self-determination, governance must be in the hands of Palestinians…
"In 2024, Olmert and Al-Kidwa jointly authored a peace proposal for Palestine and Israel. In the proposal, Olmert and Al-Kidwa called for Gaza to demilitarize — including banning all military capabilities and forces not intended for internal peacekeeping — and for Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza…
"Al-Kidwa said he joined the event virtually from the West Bank city of Ramallah after being denied a visa to attend the event in person.
"Olmert said that despite the entrenched conflict between Israel and Palestine, he believes a future of friendship is possible."
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