I texted a friend in Israel when war with Hamas started. Her reply: ‘We are not OK.’

I didn’t lose those ideals after returning to the States. I joined an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I made friends among Arab, Jewish and Israeli students. We had no political impact, but it gave me hope just to talk about a future, peaceful Palestinian state over a potluck dinner with those smart, funny, impassioned folks.