In what was said to be an unprecedented move, Jewish and Palestinian advocacy groups on the Princeton University campus joined hands on Nov. 19 to host an Israeli soldier critical of his government’s military actions in the West Bank.

About 75 people filled the McCormick Hall auditorium to hear the testimony of former Israel Defense Forces sniper Dotan Greenvald of Kibbutz Tzora, a representative of Shovrim Shtika — Breaking the Silence — an organization of dissenting Israeli soldiers who formerly served in the occupied territories.

Three campus groups — the Princeton Committee on Palestine, which is dedicated to raising awareness about human rights for Palestinians; the Global Issues Forum; and the Jewish Social Justice Forum, which was recently initiated under the auspices of the Center for Jewish Life/Hillel — sponsored the event.

However, one pivotal Jewish group, PIPAC, the Princeton Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is also sponsored by the CJL, declined the invitation to participate.

“PIPAC chose not to cosponsor Breaking the Silence because, based on the information we had at the time, we didn’t believe that the program would be a constructive event for the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue on campus,” said PIPAC president Zvi Smith, a sophomore from Los Angeles.

“We thought it was an important discussion to have, and we have it among ourselves and encourage it among other people,” Smith said in a telephone interview the day after the program. “Israel is by no means beyond any criticism. But we weren’t sure this would be constructive for people who have no background whatsoever in Israel and in Israeli policy and the conflict.”

But for junior Said Shonnar of Ramallah, president of the Princeton Committee on Palestine, the sole aim of the program was to send a message of peace.

“In fact, this event was recommended by an Israeli friend of mine,” Shonnar said in an interview before the program. “She thought Princeton might have the appropriate audience for such an event, because people at Princeton are open enough to want to see multiple views of some subjects.

“I find this a very interesting perspective to bring to campus — a soldier who actually served, realizing that his service is not serving the security of Israel directly, but, in many cases, jeopardizing it,” he said.

Shonnar added that his group has no intention of raising controversy on campus. “I do not believe in a clash between two perspectives,” he said. “I’d rather work together with people that share very different views from me, to provide people with education about the conflict.”

Sophomore Melissa Lerner of Los Angeles, a member of the Global Issues Forum, said in an interview that she is Jewish — “which is part of the reason why this is a difficult event for me to sponsor with all my heart,” she said.

Nevertheless, Lerner said, she thinks it is invaluable for the sponsoring groups to work together and commit themselves to promoting awareness. “It’s a sign of us moving toward greater dialogue and discussion,” she said. “Dialogue and discussion isn’t always comfortable. It isn’t always pretty. But it’s necessary. This is a great opportunity to get these groups together. Hopefully, it’ll do some good.”

Stephanie Greenwood of Montclair, one of the cofounders of the Jewish Social Justice Forum, said that the new organization was established to explore the different ways traditional Jewish practice intersects with social justice issues.

“We’re also interested in sponsoring events like this that promote social justice on campus in a broader sense,” said Greenwood, a master’s candidate in the university’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. “It did seem like it was missing on campus — that kind of solidarity work, looking at the human-rights issues and the human impact on everybody of the [Israeli] occupation and the current military policies there. That’s something that doesn’t get a lot of frank discussion on campus, and we’re very excited to be providing that kind of dialogue.”

Asked to assess the importance of the joint sponsorship, Greenwood said, “To be honest, this is very new and small, but hopefully we’ll be able to have a real partnership based on a respect for human rights.”

CJL executive director Rabbi Julie Roth also weighed in on Israeli Soldiers: Breaking the Silence. “ I think it’s important to say honestly that this was controversial and wasn’t embraced by all of the CJL community,” Roth said in a phone interview. At the same time, she said, “in recent years in the Jewish community, there’s been an acknowledgement that there are multiple voices that support Israel and multiple views on the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, and I think the time when the Jewish community insisted on speaking with only one voice has passed.”

The Jewish Social Justice Forum was created to engage in dialogue about a broad range of social justice issues from a progressive viewpoint, according to the rabbi. “I think it’s important that Jewish students on this campus who have more left-wing views also feel they can provoke conversation about Israel on campus,” she said. “Part of the reason the program was sponsored by them is because it was a soldier speaking. This was an Israeli viewpoint.”