The recent submission “Refusing dialogue hinders progress in conflict resolution” refers to a meeting between Students for Justice in Palestine members and Hillel’s Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, but misrepresents the meeting as a change in course from SJP’s refusal to engage in dialogue without ground rules.
However, as parties to the meeting, we can say that we simply reiterated our long-standing public position, which is that dialogue based on a commitment to Palestinian rights and equality is necessary, while dialogue without these ground rules is unacceptable.
It also must be noted that none of the co-authors of that op-ed were present at the meeting with Rabbi Seidler-Feller. Nevertheless, the issue at hand for our organization is the need to divest our funds from companies that profit from an illegal military occupation. As always, our call for a debate on this issue remains open.
Rahim Kurwa
Vice president of Students for Justice in Palestine
Graduate student in sociology
Reem Suleiman
Member of Students for Justice in Palestine
Fourth-year comparative literature student