Atidna's Story

Atidna — a name which combines the Hebrew word for “future” with the Arabic suffix for “our” to mean 'our future' —began in early 2022 through a series of grassroots meetings between Jewish/Israeli and Arab/Palestinian students at the University of Texas at Austin. Inspired by the historical absence of inter-communal dialogue and joint peace initiatives on college campuses, Atidna's first meetings were created with the desire for both peoples to freely and openly speak with "the other" to understand their identity, culture, and history in order to begin to see that "other" as part of their family. Such meetings were the start of the first and only longstanding campus attempt at joint dialogues and peace events between Jewish/Israeli and Arab/Palestinian students. Recognizing that such an illiberal and polarized environment between both peoples existed on other campuses across the United States, Atidna at UT expanded to become Atidna International - a certified, tax-exempt non-profit organization which works to establish Atidna chapters at American universities - to export our mission and initiatives to students across the country.