Dr. David Hasan and Dr. Seth Cohen come from different backgrounds. Hasan is Palestinian, Cohen is Jewish. But after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel and military response in Gaza by Israel, they both had the same impulse: to help.
Hasan, a neurosurgeon, traveled to Gaza with 17 other physicians to provide lifesaving care. Cohen, an otolaryngologist, and head and neck surgeon, traveled to Israel to bear witness to the tragedy's aftermath and consult and support health care teams. At the time, Cohen also had a son in a year-long program in Israel. His son has since returned to the United States.
On Monday, Sept. 16, both will participate in the 2024 Provost's Forum titled Universities and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: How to Discuss, How to Engage. The event is being organized by the Provost's Initiative on the Middle East.
Born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents who fled the land in 1967, Hasan says that before Oct. 7, he had never engaged in humanitarian efforts, focusing instead on advancing his career. But in late December 2023, after the United Nations adopted a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, "I immediately dropped everything and jumped on that opportunity," Hasan said.
Seeing the heart-wrenching stories on the news and social media upset him and prompted his decision to leave behind his wife (a trauma surgeon) and their seven-year-old daughter to help strangers.
"It was kind of like going to a different planet," says Hasan, whose story has been featured in numerous publications. He was interviewed by ABC News after returning from what would be the first of three trips to the region.
Cohen, who had never met Hasan, heard him speak about some of his experiences and reached out.
"When I heard him talk of his heartache and his desire to help, I thought I have the exact same heartache and desire to help, even though we're quite different," Cohen said. "So, I reached out, we had coffee and a good conversation."
Like Hasan, Cohen looked for ways to help. He found an emergency medical registry and traveled to Israel with the American Healthcare Professionals and Friends for Medicine in Israel (APF).
"We saw the horrors of the devastated kibbutzim, burned homes, RPGs shot through bedroom walls," he said.
But what stood out to both men was that beyond the violence, and behind the walls of the hospital, were people helping people. Stripped of their labels and working together to save lives, medical professionals such as Hasan and Cohen "found the humanity in medicine," says Cohen.
Cohen told the story of the mother of two teenagers, who previously were wounded in a Hamas rocket attack that hit their grandmother's house when they were 5 and 7 years old. As the director of social services, she had to leave them alone crying in a bomb shelter to take care of others.
"It's an unbelievable story of resilience and humanity," he added.
Hasan, who traveled to Israel to see where the attacks happened, says it allowed him to comprehend the pain on both sides.
"The hope is to forge forward together, American, Palestinian, Israeli, and work for the future, because without it, the alternative is horrible,"
Dr. David Hasan
"I have been able to relate comfortably to both sides, work with both sides comfortably and establish credibility on both sides," says Hasan.
In addition to providing medical care, Hasan has organized efforts to bring in medical equipment and supplies, along with food, water, diapers and other humanitarian aid.
"The hope is to forge forward together, American, Palestinian, Israeli, and work for the future, because without it, the alternative is horrible," Hasan said.
Cohen is continuing his work with APF and also working on other initiatives.
The event begins at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 16 at Karsh Alumni & Visitors Center.
Bruce Jentleson, William Preston Few Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and professor of political science, will provide opening remarks. Provost Alec Gallimore will provide the welcoming address. The program featuring Hasan and Cohen will begin at 9:15 a.m. and will be moderated by Abbas Benmamoun, vice provost for faculty advancement and professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.
Additional events this fall in the Provost's Initiative on the Middle East include a Sept. 18 talk at the Nicholas School of the Environment by Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, executive director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and former Israeli acting chief scientist; and an Oct. 30 presentation by Wa'el Alzayat, CEO of Emgage, a national civic engagement organization for Muslim Americans, organized by Polis: Center for Politics at the Sanford School of Public Policy.
