Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian Cornellians responded to Palestinian officials’ recent bid for United Nations membership by holding public discussions on campus on Wednesday about the region.

Before President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas submitted the official bid to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, Cornell groups United for Peace and Justice in Palestine, Cornell Hillel and the Cornell Israel Public Affairs Committee organized a series of events that they stressed were not explicitly geared to raise support or opposition to the bid. Instead, both sides emphasized that the events were intended to inform members of the Cornell community about the issue.

In a tent outside of Anabel Taylor Hall Wednesday, Hillel and CIPAC members discussed the U.N. vote, social justice and the conflict with students walking by. Outside the tent, UPJP passed out fliers that criticized the occupation, but did not mention the statehood bid.

Hillel and CIPAC voiced support for official Israeli policy, saying a solution has to be reached through negotiation.

“We are afraid that the bid will steer us away from peace negotiations,” said CIPAC Co-President Yotam Arens ’12.

Shoshi Tesfay, a Cornell Hillel employee from Israel, agreed.

“Of course Palestinians should have a state, but the way to achieve that has to be through negotiations with Israel,” she said.

In addition to its participation in Hillel’s “Talk Israel” tent, CIPAC rallied support for an anti-bid online petition and took members to a lobbying trip in Washington. The petition received approximately 100 signatures.

UPJP members did not take a pro-bid stance and questioned the possible benefits of the vote for the Palestinian cause.

“We are trying to educate the people in general about the situation,” said Liron Mor ’12, a member of UPJP.

Mor said the push for statehood was well-intentioned.

“The bid is an important step for self-determination, and even if it is in a unilateral way, it will force Israel to negotiate,” she said.

Max Ajl ’15, another member of UPJP, expressed skepticism about the vote.

“It is just a lot of politicians singing and dancing, while things on the ground are getting worse,” Ajl said. “Political decisions have to be made by the people that are affected by them.”

He added, however, that the effect of the vote depends on what happens afterward.

“If there is a mobilization of the people, it can have an effect,” he said.

Thousands rallied last weekend in Ramallah in support of the bid, sparking concerns about renewed violence in the region.

“I hope that it doesn’t lead to violence, but seeing what happened at the Israeli embassies in Cairo and Amman makes me worried,” Arens said. “Violence would make negotiations a lot more difficult.”

Members of both organizations said they were frustrated with the political process.

“People are tired of the situation, in Gaza and in Sderot. We’ve had enough,” Hillel’s Tesfay said. “Something has to change; we just want to live peacefully and quietly ... We don’t want war —nobody benefits from that.”