Re: “Protest divides students, turns campus into “battleground” Mar. 4, 2010

To the editor:

Recent events on campus concerning Israeli Apartheid Week have been so vehemently opposed, that the notion of freedom of speech has become non-apparent. Not only did Mr. Duffield ignorantly project the stereotype of the Palestine-Israel conflict as being a conflict between individuals of Islam and Judaism, but he also could not have been more wrong in his description of Israel Apartheid Week.

Firstly, you need look no further than the rally held on Concrete Beach on Tuesday to see the fact that supporters of both sides are not necessarily Muslim or Jewish. From the Palestinian side I know that people of all faiths, races, traditions and cultures support the Palestinian people as a humanitarian cause, just like you would support any oppressed and besieged people. The real purpose of Israel Apartheid Week is to protest Israel’s siege of Gaza, occupation of the West Bank and its continuing discriminatory policy towards the Palestinian people.

Mr. Duffield claims that events such as IAW may lead to “a period of increasing polarization and disenchantment between Jewish and Muslim students on campus,” which assumes that the only supporters of the Palestinian cause are Muslim, and those opposing are only Jews. It is imperative to understand the main issue here is that Israel refuses to grant the Palestinians their self-determination, it continues to discriminate between Arab Palestinians and Israeli Jews, and it shows no intention of terminating its policy of settlement expansion in the West Bank.

This is not a week promoting hate towards Israel, or its people, but a week that understands in order to truly achieve peace all people must sincerely put their efforts for the cause and sometimes step outside of their comfort zone.

—Mohammed Alsakka
Political Science II

To the editor:

Israeli Apartheid Week was never intended to spread any hate or intolerance; extremism and intolerance was displayed by the behaviour and views of individuals who cannot accept criticism of the discrimination and racism drafted in Israel’s laws and legislature.

If you want to equate anti-Israel to anti-Semitism, then you are taking part in holding all Jews accountable for Israel’s crimes. And that is not what IAW promotes. Since 2005, IAW has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. IAW’s purpose is to raise awareness about Israel’s discrimination, colonialism and racism against its Palestinian and non-Jewish population, all of which equate to the International Criminal Court’s definition of the crime of “Apartheid.”

—Iman Ghazal
Social Science IV