Two weeks ago, 1,300 black flags graced the Arts Quad to commemorate the recent deaths in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, standing alongside several dozen signs featuring statements about the recent deaths. This week, in response, the Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee and Cornell Hillel sponsored a separate display featuring signs regarding Israel’s right to defend itself and Hamas’ affiliations with terrorism.

One feeling expressed by pro-Israeli groups after the flag display was of betrayal, that it had been erected without their knowledge. Thus, the sponsors of this week’s demonstration chose to inform the Islamic Alliance for Justice and other groups about the display before moving forward with it. While this is a gracious move on the part of Hillel and CIPAC, it still does not promote the balanced and constructive dialogue that The Sun and others have called for since the initial flag display.

While the signs this week did not fall victim to vandalism as the black flags did, they still served to polarize groups further in regards to the conflict. Many in the Muslim community disagreed with the message of the display and its relevance to the current conflict. While they knew of the display before it showed up on the Arts Quad, they had no say in the content of the signs or the pro-Israel rally that accompanied them.

We appreciate Hillel and CIPAC’s efforts to promulgate their side of the story. However, publicizing only “their” side of the story will do nothing to foster peace or balanced dialogue. Rather, as Prof. David Patel said at a Sun-sponsored panel on the Middle East conflict last week, “People come at it with a certain idea and then pick the evidence they want that supports their ideas.”

Over the past several weeks, both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups on campus have chosen to take this approach and disseminate only information promoting their own ideals or cause. This is not the most effective approach to alleviating controversy or promoting peace.

Certainly every student group has the right to protest for a cause or to erect a display on campus. However, for groups on one side of a polarizing issue, it is not adequate to promote only their own ideals through such displays under the guise of promoting peace. For true peace to be promoted, or even achieved, all sides of an issue must be involved and must approve of the effort. Signs on the Arts Quad certainly do not achieve this end.

We hope that students continue to protest and to erect displays. However, we hope that all sides of an issue can be involved in events regarding that issue, whether it be the crisis in the Middle East or any other topic about which students hold strong opinions. If all sides are involved and are given the opportunity to participate, truly balanced dialogue will be the result.