In a corner of the world as bloody as any, mass support for peace might seem to be a fantasy. Yet 76 percent of 210,000 Israelis and Palestinians surveyed by the OneVoice Movement, a non-profit fighting extremism in the Middle East, supported a two-state solution and immediate peace.

Two young activists from OneVoice echoed this perspective last night at the Bechtel International Center, arguing for political moderation on both sides of the Gaza Strip and public input into governmental decision-making. However, Stanford students, especially those from the Middle East, remained skeptical.

After an introduction from OneVoice International Program Manager Miriam Asnes, 28-year-old Israeli Eyal Oron took to the stage. Oron, a lawyer and master’s student in diplomacy in Israel, said that hearing a suicide bomb explode just yards outside the club he was in led him to realize inaction was no longer an option.

“I was upset at the suicide bomber; I was upset at the world for allowing this to happen,” Oron said. “I thought, ‘There has to be a solution. If we just stand, if we just wait, I could get killed, my friends could get killed, my family could get killed.’”

Inspired, Oron joined the OneVoice Youth Leadership Program in 2004. He spoke powerfully of the need to focus not on past conflict, but on the prospect of future peace.

“We have to realize we are in a conflict and the only alternative is to resolve it,” Oron said. “If we try to go back and assess who’s at fault, who’s to blame, we’re never going to resolve the conflict. What we have to do is realize both sides have their faults, their share of responsibility, and have a way to find a solution.”

Palestinian Dalia Labadi, 23, then spoke of being raised in Europe and, as a teenager, dreading a move back to Palestine, fearing for her safety. The experiences, she said, cause her to view the conflict through the eyes of a child.

“We hope kids are able to grow up and learn about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from history books and not because they have to live it every day,” Labadi said. “I don’t want my children to live how I was raised.”

While no one in the audience questioned OneVoice’s goal after the talk, many pressed the panelists on the feasibility of a populist peace movement.

Freshman Fadi Quran of Ramallah, Palestine, spoke with tears in his eyes of seeing a friend’s mother shot to death by Israeli soldiers.

“When OneVoice came to my school in Palestine, I wanted to be part of it, but as I grew up I saw sides of Israel that weren’t presented,” Quran said. “The Israeli people do have the incentive to want peace, and God bless them, but the Israeli government does not.”

Israeli students were equally skeptical.

“The idea is very idealistic and the problems are much more complex,” said Jonathan Laserson, an Israeli graduate student in computer science. “The people want peace, but the governments do not.”

Even the panelists admitted economic realities could thwart their idealism.

“I remember talking to a man who said, ‘That’s the last thing I’d worry about right now — putting pressure on my government,’” Labadi said. “‘Right now I want to put food on my table.’”

Sophomore Amie Baron of the Jewish Student Association and the Stanford-Israel Alliance and senior Olivia Sohns of the Coalition for Justice in the Middle East cosponsored the talk, which drew an audience of about 40, many of whom were students from the region.

“I was researching Muslim-Jewish dialogue over the summer and became very passionate at the right place and the right time to bring the dialogue to Stanford,” Baron said.

She added that the cosponsorship of the event signaled a thawing of Jewish-Muslim relations at Stanford, just one year after organizations representing the two groups had ruthlessly criticized each other in a stream of op-ed pieces in The Daily.

OneVoice, headquartered in Tel Aviv, Ramallah and New York City, has pushed for greater political involvement of what they term the “silent majority” of moderate Israeli and Palestinians since its founding in 2002. Their stop at Stanford is one of eight in the group’s weeklong tour of Northern California.

Funding comes from foundations, corporations and Arab and Jewish organizations across the West. Celebrities like Danny DeVito, Muhammad Ali, Natalie Portman and Brad Pitt have joined the cause, alongside Israeli and Arab political notables.

After the event, Quran and Laserson conversed. However, instead of planning for a peaceful tomorrow, like Oran suggested, they were still talking about the past.

“I’ve seen people get shot, babies, in front of my own eyes,” Quran said.

At least they were talking. And for one of the world’s most troubled regions, it was a start.

“I think eventually there will be peace,” Laserson said. “I’m still optimistic, but I’m beginning to lose hope.”