I believe each and every one of us has a story, a story worth sharing and a story worth being heard.
So here is mine.
I am an American Jew of Iranian descent. My parents fled from Iran in the 1970s following the Islamic Revolution. Many members of my family sought refuge here in the United States. Others reestablished themselves in the state of Israel.
Israel has always held a very special place in my heart. Beyond its historical and religious significance, it is the home of some of the most important people in my life. It is the place where I found my voice and was inspired to use it.
Solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has always of the utmost importance to me. Before enrolling at UCLA, I was warned by many students regarding the ensuing tension surrounding this conflict on our campus. But then I thought, how bad could it really be?
Last week was Palestine Awareness Week. I would be lying if I said I had never heard or seen photographs of the “Mock Apartheid Wall,” which is set up on campuses across the country each year. But, I thought, how can I expect these students to listen to my story, if I don’t take the time to listen to theirs? So I did.
I had walked by the display three times before mustering up the courage to introduce myself to one of the representatives by the wall. Finally, I introduced myself. Almost instantly, her eyes darted to my necklace, a golden Jewish star, and to my “UCLA-Israel” pin. Her first question was, “Are you on the Bruins for Israel board?” In that moment, I was forced to make a decision to either hide my identity as a pro-Israel student or to be honest and run the risk of this student writing me off.
In the split second it took me to make my decision, she had already made hers. My curiosity was unwarranted and unworthy of her time. I was no longer a mind she could change, and because of that, she had no reason to engage with me, so she didn’t. Instantly, she turned away from me and engaged with another student.
I don’t share this story to attack that student or the group she represents. I share this story because it is indicative of a culture we have allowed to fester on our campus for far too long. Every year, students line up on their respective side of the battlefield and fight; the entire conflict is distilled to a “us versus them” mentality. We engage in behavior that is dishonorable to the peaceful solution we all seek. Our current course of action is toxic and will only lead to our mutual destruction.
I am only five weeks into my UCLA career, and I am already exhausted. I am tired of feeling like I have to walk around campus while being on the defensive. I am tired of my mom telling me not to wear my necklace because she’s afraid it will limit my opportunities. I am tired of not being seen as a person, but as a representative of a cause.
I am not content with being a part of this war. I am done fighting. I am done arguing. I am done debating. I am not content with living in a state of war with you. That is not why I came to UCLA.
I came to UCLA to meet other students like myself who understand what it means to be passionate about something. I came to UCLA to work with students who are just as determined about leaving a positive legacy on this campus as I am. I came to UCLA to define myself, not to let others define me.
I want to know you, not as manifestations of a viewpoint that is different than mine, but as students who are just as passionate about bringing peace to the people of Israel and Palestine and the greater Middle East, as I am. And I sincerely hope that you want to get to know me, too.
Let’s put down the resolutions. Let’s cast away the animosity. Let’s tear down the walls. Let’s talk.
Tell me your names. What are you most afraid of? What are your dreams?
Peace takes two. Compromise takes two. Conversations take two. Understanding takes two.
I’m in, are you?
Yael is a first-year, undeclared social sciences student and the director of public relations for Bruins for Israel.
The hate Palestine and its supporters extends to all Israelis and Israeli supporters. Google “normalization” and you will see that it is a strong movement in Palestine to not interact with Israelis in any way. Don’t negotiate to them, don’t work with them, don’t even speak to them. How can such a nation ever be considered something that wants peace?
While I certainly value open discussion, it’s hard to take calls for dialogue seriously from groups like BFI and Hillel when Hillel, the “center of Jewish life on campus”, has policies that exclude speakers and groups that support divestment. (Note: I connect Hillel and BFI because BFI is housed in Hillel)
See “Standards of Partnership”: http://www.hillel.org/jewish/hillel-israel/hillel-israel-guidelines
Hillel has this policy only because the excluded groups list divestment as a precondition for dialogue. BDS is the only issue they have interest in, and they will attempt to block all other business until they can ram it through.
I used to think like you. Why not talk to everyone? Then I met the SJP, and now I only wish USAC were closed like Hillel.
That’s not true. I and a few others started a chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (we have no preconditions for dialogue) last year and we tried to join Hillel. We emphasized our willingness to have an open debate within the Jewish community. Yet we were still rejected because of our political beliefs. I think it’s very telling that you wish USAC were closed like Hillel. It’s ironic how you attack SJP for not dialoguing while you support limitations on speech even within your own community.
Yeah, exactly. I remember you. You absolutely did not want a space for free dialogue, but to turn every discussion towards BDS. BDS would not pass at Hillel. It did not pass at USAC. But rather than moving onto another topic or even meeting halfway, you insist on rehashing your exact position. The repeated non-discussions of this intimidate and annoy the 90% of people who wish to do other things than make every day at Hillel a political screaming match.
And it is the same with the campus. This battle has singularly prevented the council from addressing issues that actually affect UCLA.
No one is asking for Divestment to “pass” at Hillel. We are asking for the opportunity to be included in a Jewish space (we are a Jewish group), as well as hold meetings there. We repeatedly stated that we wanted to have dialogue and meetings with groups that disagreed with us so we could learn each other’s perspective. Funny that you remember us, we never saw you at a meeting. If you came we would have been able to hear your perspective.
You know my prospective and are not interested in hearing it. You cannot have a dialogue without a give and take. But there is no give and take on this issue.
What has changed since last year’s divestment resolution that you are presenting it again?
I am interested in hearing it. Contact me on FB if you wish to dialogue. For one, SJP is presenting the divestment resolution, and if you are interested in learning more about the language of the resolution, you should attend the Townhall which is tonight actually.
So in a word, you staked an even more extreme position, divesting from even more than when it didn’t pass the last time.
Why Elon, has Israel stopped stealing land for settlements or has the Hillel started speaking up agains ethnic cleansing, that you believe divestment is an extreme position ?
What’s changed is that now more students are educated about the human rights violations occurring in the occupied territories, and realize that the divestment resolution only calls for divesting from 11 American companies, not countries, not people.
Unfortunately, the “Students for Justice in Palestine” are the pawns of terrorist groups that worship death and war, so they will never agree to peaceful dialogue. Peace is the antithesis of what they (perhaps unwittingly) promote, which is a medieval Islamic caliphate free of a Jewish presence.
This op-ed is a microcosm of why SJP is winning the campus PR battle and why BFI is sitting on its hands. No offense to the writer, but your article is akin to responding to accusations of Israel committing genocide with facts about how Israel is a green country. Newsflash: no one cares how green Israel’s economy is when the general image of it is that it slaughters Palestinian babies by the thousands in cold blood. Another newsflash: SJP does not want to dialogue with you. SJP, like the Fatah and Hamas, does not recognize that you and your people have a right to exist. BFI is making the same mistake that Israel has been making for decades: you try to persuade people who are sworn to your destruction to dialogue with you. Guess what – it’s not going to happen. This whole BDS process is a political show, nothing more and nothing less. And no matter how many politically correct catchphrases get thrown around, you, as students of one of the most prestigious schools in the world, should be smart enough to know that SJP will never dialogue with you because their core belief rejects your core belief. That is, SJP, by their very nature, rejects Zionism.
Nonsense. Pro Israeli shills pretend they want dialogue when their own organizations won’t even talk about Israeli settlements and their effects. Dishonesty at its best.
Some commentators on this article are blantantly wrong in assuming that SJP’s intentions are to bring an end to the state of Israel. Israel exists and will continue to exist until the end of time. But the question is this: do we want an israel that is just or do we want an Israel that exists at the expense of the lives and livelihoods of the Palestinians?
BDS isn’t going to bring about the end of Israel. It will pressure it to start acting responsibly and stop expanding settlements and to stop its occupation.
The sense that I get is that Israel is not serious about any peace process when the settler population have grown from 100,000 to 500,000 since the peace process started in 1993. So either we get serious in pursuing a two state solution or we accept that israel will end up as a binational state. Which would be an entirely other debacle to deal with.
Omar Barghouti has publicly said he considers companies that operate solely within the 1948 borders as aiding the occupation and land within the 48 borders as stolen. He clearly does not want even that Israel.
Elon, link please, for your Omar Barghouti claims
” I just as decisively, though on a separate track, support a unitary state based on freedom, justice, and comprehensive equality as the solution to the Palestinian-Israeli colonial conflict. To my mind, in a struggle for equal humanity and emancipation from oppression, a correlation between means and ends, and the decisive effect of the former on the outcome and durability of the latter, is indisputable. If Israel is an exclusivist, ethnocentric, settler-colonial state, then its ethical, just, and sustainable alternative must be a secular, democratic state, ending injustice and offering unequivocal equality in citizenship and individual and communal rights both to Palestinians (refugees included) and to Israeli Jews. Only such a state can ethically reconcile the ostensibly irreconcilable: the inalienable, UN-sanctioned rights of the indigenous people of Palestine to self-determination,
repatriation, and equality in accordance with international law and the acquired and internationally recognized rights of Israeli Jews to coexist—as equals, not colonial masters—in the land of Palestine.”
One state called Palestine. Albeit with Israeli Jews in it, maybe.
Where does he posit “Albeit with Israeli Jews in it, maybe.” ?
The whole paragraphs is talking about how the Jews don’t belong and marginalized the land’s true people. At the end, he wants one state called Palestine that would have equal rights for the citizens, Palestinian and Jew, because international law requires it. The implication is clear. A Palestinian state that reluctantly includes Jews.
“unequivocal equality in citizenship and individual and communal rights both to Palestinians (refugees included) and to Israeli Jews.”
Equality for both is now “Albeit with Israeli Jews in it, maybe.” ?
Yes, because it is entirely obvious he doesn’t mean it.
You don’t spend all that time attacking a people, only to say you want them to also participate in a state. It is clear that he would rather no Jews, European or Middle Eastern, in Palestine, but knows he cannot get away with saying as much.
But even if you cannot see through him, my original point is proven. He sees the entire state, even the 1947 UN partition, as illegitimate.
Elon, so you lied. Great.
No. Many others can confirm he does not want Israel or Israelis.
Great. You just make stuff up and then claim interpretations and now “many others”. Why lie ?
Look. I get it. You are a troll who has nothing better to do than go around to all the college newspaper sites and quibble and turn every discussion away from the main points.
Barghouti spoke here LAST FREAKING YEAR. His opinion is crystal clear and out there in a thousand places. He has never said one good thing about any Israeli or acknowledged their rights to anything. So when he throws in a line about equality because international law demands it at the end of a rant, no one but you even pretends to take it seriously. He wants to dismantle Israel. You cannot argue with that.
And you’re the truth monster.
You can’t point to a single link or statement where “he does not want Israel or Israelis.”. And wonder why i call you out on your lies.
I can point to a thousand, but unlike you I have a life.
You’re still at Zero. And you claim a thousand. Why lie ?
Because there are. Did you hear him speak last year? Or anywhere else? Have you ever read his writings?
Still waiting. Why do you lie so blatantly ?
Why do you?
Playing “victim ” again ? Must be so familiar by now for you
Who’s the idiot who tries to change the subject of every post through slander? It’s you.
Nothing I said is not widely reported elsewhere. You could google. But instead you purposely misinterpret and call me a liar. Then you run over to Harvard’s paper or UNC’s or UIUC. I doubt you have gone to all those places. You have probably never seen UCLA Hillel or set foot on a college campus. I do not see why you stick your head into affairs where it doesn’t belong.
Got to keep with the paid off sponsored trolls
. and your fabrications
No one is paid, you kook.
Sure you lying weirdo.
You can go to the main BDS page and see that they do indeed consider at least some places within the 48 borders and even the 47 partition to be occupied land and advocating boycotting products from those area.
Like many Israeli politicians who consider Judea and Sameria as wholly theirs ? Could you clarify which party actively acts on such belief ?
Both. But the Settlers aren’t trying to hold up the UCLA government over it.
So you see a UCLA divestment vote as equally harmful to the daily lives of Israelis within Israel as the same as settlements are to the daily lives of Palestinians ?
No, I see it as mainly harmful to the students of UCLA
How is discussing and voting on something harmful ?
With all due respect, I really don’t care much about Omar Bargouti’s opinions and statements with regards to where he thinks the borders of israel/palestine should be, and that shouldn’t matter. That’s just distracting from the point: human rights violations are occurring, and we are invested in them.
The fact of the matter is is that the individual tactics of boycotting companies that violate human rights, divesting from those companies, and pursuing sanctions are indeed effective in stopping human rights violations from being carried out by a government. Supporting use of these tactics does not entail a wholehearted endorsement of every viewpoint of the BDS movement, nor the viewpoints of its founder.
Omar Barghouti is the founder and leader of the BDS campaign against Israel. By asking UCLA to endorse BDS, SJP and their friends are asking UCLA to endorse Barghouti’s genocidal and racist views. So as much as it might be inconvenient to the pro-BDS students to call attention to what Barghouti says, you cannot simply dismiss it.
What you are missing is that Omar Bargouti’s opinions are not gospel, and endorsing the tactics of BDS does not entail anything other than pressuring human rights violations to stop. It doesn’t entail a 1 state 2 state or 10 state solution.
Let’s stop distracting ourselves from the facts at hand (e.g. rapidly expanding settlements, a wall that cuts well into recognized palestinian territory, checkpoints on palestinian land) and let’s eschew the ridiculous notion that divesting from companies engaged in human rights violations will bring about the end of Israel. It’s not going to. you can relax. BDS was applied to South Africa, and it still exists.
A lot of folks would consider Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians to be racist, and the 70% civilian casualty rate this summer to be Genocidal.
If you support BDS, you support the goals of Omar Barghouti, implicitly or explicitly.
I love how all this girl is asking for is to sit down and talk, and most of the commentaries are just bashing at her, BFI, and Israel. SIT DOWN AND TALK.
Arielle wants to “cast away the animosity”, “talk”. Aww how nice.
That is after she’s done writing columns for the Times of Israel. A racist right wing newspaper in Israel. A newspaper that even published a blog titled “When Genocide is Permissible”.
Read any of her columns in that right wing rag. There is one common thread. Arielle never ever questions Israeli settlements and the resultant ethnic cleansing. But alas Arielle now hopes “that you want to get to know me, too.”
We already know you Arielle.
This is why there is no real Israeli Lobby, it’s just a fabrication from the “Palestine” supporters. Why would Jews demand dialogue so much so the Palestinians could rearm and just form new groups and threats to Israel?
“Let’s tear down the walls.”
that’s what divestment is trying to do tho