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Panim el Panim, part of Bruins for Israel, a student organization that says its goal is to educate students and faculty about the situation in the Middle East, organized a panel of three Israeli students Tuesday evening at Kerckhoff Hall.

The panelists, who will be in the United States until Sunday touring mainly universities in Southern California as part of a program put on by Israel@Heart, each spoke about their experiences in Israel.

One of the speakers, Amir Frayman, 25, is an officer in the Israeli army’s bomb squad. He spoke specifically about his duties, including the inspection of the bodies of dead terrorists, which is particularly dangerous, since the bodies are often booby-trapped by other terrorists, he said.

He spoke about a moving experience when he and other soldiers saved Palestinian families whom he said were being used as shields by Palestinian terrorists.

One of the men whom he saved tearfully thanked Frayman with a kiss on the hand, he said.

He spoke about duty and obligation. He said his initiation into the army was not about choice.

“They called me. I went,” Frayman said.

He talked about the similarities between Americans and Israelis.

“We are the same as you,” he said to the audience of around 80 people.

“We have the same aspirations,” he added. “The difference is we have a different reality.”

That reality was addressed by Hedi Gur, 25, who attends Tel Aviv University. She takes two buses to school every day, and another to work.

“The buses are very exposed to suicide bombers,” Gur said.

“When I go on a bus, I always think about the best place to sit,” she added. In the back, she said, “you have a chance just to be injured, not killed.”

She also spoke about her experience living next to a Palestinian friend who was born in Gaza. He has lived in Israel for the past 20 years.

“He’s feeling the same thing I am,” she said of her friend’s fear of Israelis finding out he lives among them.

“Both sides are suffering. Both sides ... are people who don’t want this,” Gur added.

Her message, she said, is that Israelis truly want peace.

Ariella Weiser, 21, answered a question about internal conflict among Israelis. She pointed out that each of the three panelists, including herself, were of different ideologies: Frayman is moderate, Gur is left-wing, and Weiser is right-wing.

“We get along beautifully,” she said.

All of the panelists expressed distrust of both the Palestinian leader, Yassir Arafat, and the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon.

“They’re so used to hating each other,” Frayman said. Only when there is new leadership in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority will there be peace, he added.

When asked by an audience member what they thought would resolve the situation, Gur said that a “realistic solution” would involve Israel’s surrender of all the settlements, the establishment of a new leader for the Palestinians, and an improved education system for the Palestinians.

Jennifer Dekel, co-president of Bruins for Israel, was happy with how the event turned out.

“It was an opportunity for students at UCLA, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to converse with Israeli students and have a personal and honest dialogue with them that they could never get just by watching the news,” Dekel said.