Author Peter Beinart. Photograph by Guillaume Gaudet.

Peter Beinart, whose latest book predicts a breach between young U.S. Jews and Israel if that country maintains its current policies toward the Palestinians, speaks at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.

Beinart’s talk is sponsored by the Bates chapter of J Street U, a national student activist organization promoting peace, security and social justice for Israelis and Palestinians. The event is open to the public at no cost.

Beinart is the author of The Crisis of Zionism, released in March by Times Books. In it, he argues that despite Israel’s many accomplishments, liberal Zionism faces a tremendous challenge. As Israel’s Jewish population continues to expand in the West Bank, the possibility of a two-state solution decreases, and the likelihood of Israel ceasing to remain a democratic Jewish state grows.

Equally concerning for Beinart is the possibility that as Israel fails to live up to its founding values, young progressive American Jews will fail to identify with this state founded to be the national home for the entire Jewish diaspora.

Beinart also offers a groundbreaking portrait of the two leaders at the center of the crisis: Barack Obama, America’s first “Jewish president,” a man steeped in the liberalism he learned from his many Jewish friends and mentors in Chicago; and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister who considers liberalism the Jewish people’s special curse.

Beinart is a senior political writer for The Daily Beast, associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and the former editor of The New Republic. He has written for Time, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Boston Globe and The Atlantic.

His first book, The Good Fight: Why Liberals — and Only Liberals — Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again, was published by HarperCollins in 2006. His second book, The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, appeared in 2010, also published by HarperCollins.

Lara Friedman is director of policy and government relations for the organization Americans for Peace Now.

An expert on U.S. policy in the Middle East, Lara Friedman visits Bates College to discuss America’s role in advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, in the Keck Classroom (G52), Pettengill Hall, 4 Andrews Road (Alumni Walk).

The talk is the first public event presented by Bates College J Street U, a new student organization working to promote Middle East peace. For more information, please contact afriedma@bates.edu.

Director of policy and government relations for the nonprofit organization Americans for Peace Now, Friedman frequently meets and briefs members of Congress, administration officials, diplomats and other members of the foreign policy community. She is a resource for journalists and policymakers, and regularly publishes opinion and analysis pieces in the U.S. and Israeli press.

A former Foreign Service officer, she served in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis and Beirut, and is fluent in French, Spanish, and Arabic.

Americans for Peace Now was established in 1981 to mobilize support for the Israeli peace movement Shalom Achshav. APN has evolved into a prominent organization espousing a pro-Israel, pro-peace, American Jewish perspective on issues and legislation, and working toward a comprehensive political settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

To expand dialogue among Bates College students about Palestinian-Israeli relationships, the Multifaith Chaplaincy announces a two-week series of events, “Art and Alterity: Beyond the Other as Enemy in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Several of these events, held from Jan. 27 to Feb. 10 in the Bates College Chapel, College Street, are open to the public free of charge.

Bates junior Anna Levy of Portland visited Israel twice in 2007. The second trip focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Levy returned home wanting to discuss what she had learned.

“At Bates, we’re taught to be critical thinkers,” says Levy, who hopes that these important intellectual skills can be applied to problems in the Middle East. But she found that the subject on her campus was either largely ignored or created conflict when discussed.

Levy approached Multifaith Chaplain William Blaine-Wallace, who has facilitated several on-campus conversations on the subject of Israeli-Palestinian relations, to suggest bringing the art exhibition “The X-Ray Project” to Bates. In consultation with Assistant Chaplain Emily Wright-Timko, Blaine-Wallace expanded upon Levy’s idea by offering a series of arts-related events that would encourage members of the Bates and L-A communities to reconsider definitions of humanity and solutions for peace.

The series begins with an opening reception for “Inside Terrorism: The X-Ray Project” at 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, where artist Diane Covert introduces her work graphically depicting the effects of terrorism on a civilian population. Her highly acclaimed and critically reviewed art installation features X-rays and CT scans from the two largest hospitals in Jerusalem. The images were taken of victims of terrorism, including Jews, Muslims, Christians and Hindus, who sustained such injuries as a watch “blasted” into the neck or a hex nut embedded in the chest. “The X-Ray Project” will be on display in the Chapel through Sunday, Feb. 10.

In the second “Art and Alterity” event, the Apple Hill Chamber Players perform the music of Beethoven, Ravel and Schubert at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 4.

The Apple Hill Chamber Players are unique in music. They have earned international praise for vital, elegant and eloquent performances and recordings of the chamber music literature, from established masterpieces to new works by leading composers.

Founded in 1973, the Apple Hill Chamber Players are the performing artists and faculty for the internationally celebrated Apple Hill Festival in East Sullivan, N.H., where they are joined by professional, student and amateur participants of all ages from all over the United States and the world.

The Apple Hill Playing for Peace Project is dedicated to using Apple Hill concerts, residencies and scholarships to further the causes of world peace and understanding at Apple Hill and worldwide. Annually since 1988, the Apple Hill Chamber Players have toured both nationally and in the Middle East and Europe, performing, conducting master classes and awarding Playing for Peace scholarships that bring musicians of diverse backgrounds and conflicting cultures to Apple Hill.

The dramatic story of the group’s 1992 tour of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria was documented by Emmy award-winning Peter Rosen in the namesake PBS film “Playing for Peace,” seen by more than 4 million viewers.

The “Art and Alterity” series continues with a memorial service for civilian victims of terrorism and war at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6.

The series concludes with an art experience provided by Artsbridge Inc. at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7. Many Palestinian and Israeli youth have difficulty imagining a future that includes peace and coexistence with their neighbors; it is even harder for them to recognize their potential to create positive change in their environment and future.

The Salem, Mass.-based Artsbridge utilizes collaborative art projects to foster creative vision, empathy and skills in communication, teamwork, project management, leadership and conflict resolution. Through this process, Artsbridge aims to empower Israeli and Palestinian youth to cope with conflict and trauma, trust and understanding, peace and coexistence, desires and fears.

At Bates, Deborah Nathan and Yousef Al Aljarma, founders of Artsbridge Inc., will facilitate an art experience for students, staff and faculty and members of the public.

For more information about the “Art and Alterity” series, call the Multifaith Chaplaincy at 207-786-8272. Co-sponsors of the series are the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, the Office of the President, the Department of Sociology, Students for Justice in Palestine, Bates Hillel, Temple Shalom Synagogue-Center and the Maine Council of Churches.