Jewish and Muslim students at Princeton University are once again joining hands to host an afternoon of cross-cultural connection and understanding.

Souk: A Celebration of Middle Eastern Culture will feature food, performances, and crafts reflecting the range of religious and ethnic influences in a region too often associated with violence and discord.

The May 13 event is being jointly planned by six student organizations, including PIPAC (the Princeton Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the Princeton Committee on Palestine.

Last year's inaugural Souk ("market" in Arabic) attracted an estimated 2,000 visitors.

"This is something totally groundbreaking," said 22-year-old Princeton sophomore Zvi Smith of Los Angeles, one of the student organizers of the event. "No other university does anything like this, and we're really setting an example by showing that a college campus can have an event of this magnitude and significance."

The Souk will run from noon to 5 p.m. on the fountain plaza adjacent to the university's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Syrian singer Yousef Shamoun and his ensemble and Israeli-Moroccan singer Smadar Levi will headline the event.

The Souk will also feature music by DJ Handler, who incorporates Ashkenazi and Sephardi musical traditions in his hip-hop mix, and belly dancing by Raks Odalisque, the university's Middle Eastern dance troupe.

Other attractions at the event will include a Persian Tea House and the chance to smoke hookah pipes and sip Turkish coffee at Cafe Arabica. Vendors at the Middle Eastern market will sell falafel, shwarma, and baklava as well as jewelry, games, cosmetics, and clothing. An Islamic calligrapher will demonstrate his art, and booths will exhibit Middle Eastern handicrafts.

Recently, several of the lead student organizers of the event joined Smith on the porch of the university's Center for Jewish Life – Rashad Badr, Sarah Dajani, Ben Herzberg, and Sarah Karam. Sophomore Jacqui Rabkin and junior Ahmed Meleis were also instrumental in the planning.

Some of the students were carrying copies of freshly printed "teaser" posters for the Souk, a striking white-on-black silhouette of a hookah with the legend, "It's coming…back. 5.13.07: SOUK" – a design suggested by Herzberg, an 18-year-old freshman from Westfield.

"This is a beautiful coming together," Herzberg said. "We're all coming to the table to start a discussion with the aim not to debate each other, but to search for understanding together.

"Considering all the negativity that surrounds discussions on the Middle East, Israeli-Arab relations, and Jewish-Muslim relations," he said, "this is a beacon of light."

In addition to PIPAC and the Princeton Committee on Palestine, organizers of the Souk are the Muslim Students Association; Salaam, an Arab cultural association; Salaam/Shalom: Building Bridges Through Culture, an initiative supported by Princeton's Department and Program in Near Eastern Studies; and Friends of Lebanon, a student association launched this year by Badr, a 19-year-old freshman from Manassas, Va.

"I like to get involved in things relating to Arab-Israeli unity and anything related to Middle East politics," said Badr, who holds dual United States/Lebanese citizenship. "I wanted to help out in any way I could."

The Souk also has something to teach, said Dajani, a 19-year-old sophomore from St. Petersburg, Fla., whose heritage is Egyptian/Palestinian.

"There's also the angle of education and setting an example for others not of Middle Eastern descent, so it can be clear that Middle Easterners can solve problems and work toward solutions together and engender positive relations," said Dajani, a member of the Muslim Student Association and the Princeton Committee on Palestine.

"I think it sets a precedent for us," she said. "It puts us in a mindset of breaking down barriers."

"It's a shift of focus," agreed Karam, a 22-year-old senior from Beirut who serves as president of Salaam. "All of us who have been to the Middle East know there's a vibrancy there. There's a joy there that's unique. It's nice to bring it here."

The Souk, said Smith, is "a model not only for an event, but for relations between groups."

Being involved in the Souk has influenced her Princeton experience, said Karam. "Trying to find a new approach to the Middle East – that really matters to me," she said. "It's been a really formative experience for me."

"It also shows," said Dajani, "that an idea that forms among a couple of friends can expand into something that touches a lot of people."

The Souk is free and open to the community. Among the sponsors are the Center for Jewish Life through a grant from the Arthur and Arnold Frankel Foundation, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks, the Board of Rabbis of Princeton Mercer Bucks, The Jewish Center in Princeton, and the discretionary fund of Rabbi Mark Mallach of Temple Beth Ahm in Springfield.