While many of our Upper School assemblies are lively gatherings featuring spirited students and faculty competing in zany stunts to earn points for their House or class, others offer us the chance to come together as a school community to reflect, listen, and learn from different perspectives. This week’s assembly, welcoming a former peace negotiator from each side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, provided just that.

There is nothing easy or obvious about the situation in the Middle East. On college campuses worldwide, the issue has sparked countless protests, divisive dialogue, distrust, and unrest. But by approaching the conversation with courage, curiosity, and care, our guests modeled for Menlo students how to disagree without being disagreeable.

“The point of today’s assembly is not to convince you there’s a right side and a wrong side and to place blame or to tell you what to think,” said Upper School Director John Schafer in his opening remarks. “It’s an opportunity to hear from people who know a great deal, to invite you to ask questions, to try to understand an issue that has not led itself to resolution for decades, to approach it with humility, and to form your own opinions.”

Ambassador Dennis Ross has advised presidents from Reagan to Obama and authored several acclaimed books on diplomacy and the Middle East peace process. Ghaith al-Omari is the former executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine. Both have worked for many decades to try and achieve peace in the Middle East. Together at Menlo, Ross and al-Omari discussed the history of the conflict, explored America’s sentiment toward the current war, and answered questions from the audience.

The discussion was moderated by Sonia ’25 and Geoffrey ’25, co-editors-in-chief of the Coat of Arms. When asked why she thought hosting a discussion like this was important, Sonia shared, “At Menlo, we are learning how to be informed citizens of our world. I think inviting speakers to have these kinds of tough, complicated discussions helps us understand how to see all sides of an issue—a skill that can be applied to all aspects of life.”

Both experts repeatedly emphasized that the crux of the conflict lies in the fact that there are two national movements deeply tied to and competing for the same land, without either side possessing a superior claim.

Ross reflected on how the hardest thing about being a mediator was getting each side to realize that if they wanted to have their needs met, they’d have to adjust their expectations and meet the other side’s needs too. “What I can tell you as someone who has spent almost 40 years trying to solve it, is this is not a morality play. It’s not a case where one side is all right, and the other is all wrong. In most conflicts, you’ll find both sides have rights and both sides make mistakes. And that’s very true in this conflict.”

al-Omari explained the added complexity of the deeply entrenched narratives on both sides. Unlike technical disputes like borders and security, narratives are inextricably linked to self-definition and identity, making them much harder to reconcile. When a freshman student asked about how a resolution could possibly be found given all of the conflicting interests and opinions, al-Omari paused before responding, “You’ve actually summed up the complexity of our jobs at the policy level.” A wave of applause swept through the bleachers.

al-Omari continued by explaining that policy people are never grappling between two perfect solutions. “My decisions as a negotiator were always, do I stick to my ideals and at the end of the day protect my intellectual purity but end up with no deal, or do I compromise my ideals so I can get something that is less than perfect but is better than I have right now?”

Students left with a bit more nuanced understanding of a profoundly polarizing conflict. “The point of this assembly was not to change anyone’s mind, but I want students to feel like they learned something new that can inform their opinions,” said Sonia.

For Head of School Than Healy, that goal was realized. “The presentation, from my perspective, was thought-provoking, honest, and balanced by two diplomats who have dedicated much of their professional lives to achieving peace in conflict.”