Students, professors, members of the Belgian consulate and Moroccan residents of Atlanta gathered at Ibiza Restaurant last night to share Mediterranean food, history and culture with guest speaker Reda Mansour, consul general of Israel to the Southeastern United States, in the midst of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

The event, titled “From Gefilte Fish to Couscous: Towards a Greater Mediterranean Civilization,” was sponsored by the Emory Development Initiative (EDI), the Student Coalition Empowering Emerging Nations (SCEEN), Emory Model United Nations and the American Moroccan Association.

Clayton State professor Khedija Gadhoum, Emory Professors of Sociology Roberto Franzosi and Sam Cherribi, Chair of Middle Eastern And South Asian Studies Gordon Newby and Dov Wilker, the assistant director of the American Jewish Committee’s Atlanta Chapter, spoke on their Mediterranean heritages and their connection with that region of the world.

Mansour, who has been in the Israeli Council for about 19 years, said the atmosphere of Ibiza made him feel as if he was back home, saying the cohesive community the event offered was reassuring.

“The best thing about this is really to be able to see how outside of the Middle East still a lot of meetings like this take place and happen and look in a more optimistic way about our region,” Mansour said.

He said most of the world does not fully understand daily life in Israel, especially in regard to the area’s conflicts, since half a million Arabs live, work and study as Israelis.

“People from overseas tend to only see the conflict. They don’t get it,” Mansour said. “It’s going to be almost mission impossible for you to tell who is a Jew and who is an Arab.”

He said the prayer calls from the mosques can be heard all around the city, and he spoke of a summit he attended where 100 rabbis and 100 imams meet every year or two years “to reach out and have a dialogue.”

Last year’s meeting occurred in Sibel, Spain, where time is allocated in the conference for Muslim prayers and Jewish prayers, and attendees congregated to discuss their differences and similarities.

“There’s nothing like the memories of the Inquisition to bring Muslims and Jews together,” he joked. “There is so much there in common in terms of culture and heritage and history.”

Mansour said part of the difficulties behind the violence in the Middle East is the common background and cultures.

“It is a conflict in the family, which are very difficult to deal with,” he said. “We share the same place, sometimes the same language, and it’s very difficult to deal with.”

Mansour’s speech ended on a note of hope, and he acknowledged that the United States can help with resolving conflicts abroad.

“I really hope that what we are doing here tonight will trickle back home to there because we can use the United States really as a springboard to open issues of dialogue,” Mansour said.

— Contact Christina White.