On Tuesday, August 23, from 5 to 7 p.m. the Chilmark Library will host an event entitled Two States Now: A Discussion on the Policy Implications of the Forthcoming UN General Assembly Debate on Granting Palestinian Statehood. The talk is part of a national action day event being observed in various communities and in Washington, urging Americans to show their support for President Obama’s approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The operating premise of the discussion is President Obama’s statement in May, “We can’t afford to wait another decade ... to achieve peace. The world is moving too fast. The extraordinary challenges facing Israel will only grow. Delay will undermine Israel’s security, and the peace that the Israeli people deserve.”

Richard North Patterson is the keynote speaker. Panelists include Bill Gamson, a political sociologist at Boston College, Caryn Broitman, the Rabbi of the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, philanthropist Arthur Obermayer, and Arnold Zack, an arbitrator and mediator with Harvard Law School.

The event is free. For more details, call 508-645-3360.