Current events in the Israel-Palestine region may once again
slip into the campus limelight this week with a series of events
that are intended to illuminate the humanity and the plight of the
Palestinian people.
Justice for Palestine Week, which begins this afternoon with
spoken word performances in Meyerhoff Park, will feature speakers
and displays through Thursday. The week’s primary sponsors
are the Muslim Student Association and the United Arab Society.
Though in past years pro-Palestinian students have staged a week
of events during spring quarter, this year’s organizers say
they were particularly motivated by concern that college students
do not understand the Palestinian people ““ or are even aware
that such people exist.
“I’m not even sure if people know what Palestine is
anymore,” said Sami Hasan, MSA president.
Mariam Jukaku, editor of Al-Talib news magazine, also emphasized
the goal of “humanizing the Palestinian people” and
educating “the campus on what the situation on the ground
is.”
“The average person sees it on CNN … and they think
it’s a political conflict,” Jukaku said. “So we
want to show the human aspects of the conflict and the fact that
the U.S. government is really involved in the money that goes over
there.”
“Palestinians deserve to live as humans, in security and
peace,” she said.
Al-Talib is published by ASUCLA Student Media, the entity that
also publishes the Daily Bruin.
In addition to discussing aspects of Palestinian life, events
will address media coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the
perceived problems of the U.S.-led “road map” to peace
and Zionism as it pertains to the conflict.
The week comes at a time when mainstream media and analysts have
expressed optimism for the possibility of a lasting peace in the
region.
The recent death of longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
and the subsequent appointment of his replacement Mahmoud Abbas, an
announced planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza strip and a
shaky but standing cease-fire between Palestinian militants and the
Israeli government have led some to say the peace process is
working well.
But, in a decades-old conflict that has largely estranged the
two sides from one another, supporters from both sides still hotly
debate whether recent events have been beneficial, and if they
have, then for whom.
“We’re always optimistic for peace, but we also have
to look at whether the (peace) plans on the table are fair,”
Jukaku said.
How Palestinian refugees in other countries will be treated and
how firm of a stance Israel plans to take on forming new
settlements, especially in the West Bank, are two issues Jukaku
named as recurring ones that previous peace plans have not
addressed satisfactorily.
Previous events staged by supporters of either Israel or
Palestine have attracted protests or counter-protests from members
of the other side, and Hasan said they are “not, not
expecting” this week to draw similar reactions.
Leeron Morad, a spokesman for Bruins for Israel, said he is not
aware of any planned protests, but added that members of BFI would
probably attend some of the events. “It’s always good
to listen to the other side,” he said.
Morad also said he hoped students would seek out information
from both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Hasan encouraged students of all backgrounds to attend the
events and asked potential participants and audience members to
keep an “unbiased perspective.”