This first week of November was a week of action for the pro-Israel UMD Jewish community.

On Monday, we voted against another Israel divestment bill in committee. On Tuesday, we voted in national elections with the Israel-Hamas war at the forefront of many of our decisions. On Wednesday, we appealed to SGA legislators to vote in favor of protecting Israel.

Although our arguments in the divestment debate were successful, the result was always going to be inconsequential in terms of university policy. As we were reminded Wednesday evening, Governor Hogan’s Executive Order 01.01.2017.25 bars Maryland government agencies from engaging in business with organizations that actively boycott Israel. By law, since UMD is a public university, it cannot divest.

Nonetheless, our experience in SGA meetings this semester had a profound impact though not in the way we intended.

As I sat through speeches in the Colony Ballroom Monday night, the literal, physical division of seating in the room foreshadowed the divisions we will now inevitably feel between our Muslim peers and ourselves. The tension was, and is still, palpable.

While of course not all pro-divestment students are Muslim, a critical mass of them are, making this campus debate uncomfortably close to that of a religious conflict. I have prayed that this conflict does not leave the space of SGA meetings. I fear that it already has.

There has been no official collaboration between the Jewish and Muslim communities on campus since Oct. 7. It’s unclear whether any collaboration even happened before then. After being in a room of two religions pitted against each other, hearing multiple students describe the event as a summer camp “color war,” I feel discouraged that collaboration could happen ever again. It almost makes me question whether the fight against divestment was worth the consequences.

By opposing divestment, we did incredibly important work in defending Israel as a legitimate nation that deserves to be recognized by our student community as such. We defended our friends, family and people in the face of dehumanization.

That being said, there is a reason that the many pro-divestment speakers and voters were Muslim students. They too feel that their identity is under attack. They too want a nation to be recognized as legitimate by our student community. They too defend their friends, families and people.

We can recognize the value of both narratives because they are alike and interrelated. I firmly believe that no student in favor of divestment voted or spoke because they hate Jews. And I firmly believe that no student against divestment hates Palestinians. Each sincerely feels that theirs is the best way to defend the pursuit of peace. Each values peace more than anything.

So our point of disagreement is not in value or goal; it is in process. The pro-Israel Jewish community believes that the principle of divestment does not enable peace; it devalues Jewish and Israeli life. On a national scale, divestment from Israel would mean a militarily defenseless country and the collapse of one world’s most important tech economies. That is not peace; that is the destruction of Israel.

So what process do we support to bolster peace? As the dust settles on this week of anxiety and pain, we need to answer this question. We reject the approach of divestment. Now we need to offer an alternative.

I have a suggestion for what that alternative can be. I don’t pretend to be a role model of this initiative. In fact, I write anonymously because I am ashamed of the lack of work I have done. But I hope this call to action can inspire the larger Jewish community as well as myself.

I believe it’s time to actively reach out to our Muslim peers. It no longer matters how anybody voted in SGA. We need to reach out. Now.

This can take the form of making a conscious effort to befriend your Muslim classmates; working on an interfaith initiative through Hillel or JSU; or having true dialogue with pro-Palestinian supporters rather than a debate. I include no concrete plans intentionally. How we take on this project should be determined by our individual abilities and strengths.

The last 76 years of Israel’s history shows that peacemaking from the top-down is unlikely. So let’s start here on campus. If we truly believe in peace, we should feel obligated to form friendships with Muslim students. We should feel obligated to empathize and listen to an experience similar to our own. Then, maybe we can discuss together how to promote peace in a way that works for Jews and Muslims alike.

Instead of being known as the campus Jewish community who beat BDS twice, I want to be known as the one who turned tension into growth and opportunity.

How can we promote peace as a united community? How can we stand together for safe Israelis and Palestinians? These are not questions that can be discussed while an invisible wall stands between sections of a Stamp ballroom. They’re questions that must be answered by working together.