Campus responds to Israeli-Palestinian conflict with rallies, panel discussions

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued to escalate when Israel invaded the West Bank Tuesday in response to Palestinian attacks on Israeli citizens two weeks ago. And as tensions increase abroad, so has activism on campus, with student groups hosting rallies and discussion panels to open a dialogue and raise questions about the conflict.

The past month has seen several pro-Palestinian events. Monday, a vigil was held in Frist for the Palestinian victims of the Israeli attacks. Last Wednesday, a panel of graduate students debated the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and March 1 students held a rally in protest of the Palestinian deaths several days before.

The Princeton Committee on Palestine hosted all three of these events, which were jointly organized by Sharon Weiner, a research associate at the program on science and global security in the Wilson School. Weiner said the purpose of these events is "to draw people's attention to the fact that lots of Palestinians are dying, lots of Israelis are dying."

"All these deaths are really needless," she added.

Elliot Ratzman GS said he agrees that Israel should not be in occupation of Palestine. "We believe that the best thing for Israel is to remove itself [from Palestinian territory]," he said.

Ratzman helped to organize last Wednesday's panel, in which three Israeli graduate students discussed the reasoning behind the Refuseniks petition — a document expressing Israeli disapproval of the occupation of Palestine. Two of the panelists had signed the petition.

Though Ratzman said he was pleased with the size of the turnout, he said he had hoped students would vocalize the different opinions he knows are present within the University community.

Weiner said the PCP activities have been organized to promote the call for Palestinian statehood. "The Palestinians are asking for a state and so far Israel has been unwilling," Weiner said.

However, not all students support these events, and some students question the motives of the PCP. "I don't know whether they really have Palestinian [interests] at heart," said Sam Spector '03, former president of Princeton Israel Public Affairs Committee. "They have not done a good job of articulating their mission."

Spector added that he would like the Palestinian student groups to "give us a glimpse" into their vision of a post-occupation Palestinian society that would offer "a unique perspective on prospects for democratization and personal and political freedoms within that community."

Spector also criticized the terrorist acts of Palestinians. "They do not see terrorism as violence," he said, adding that there seems to be no end to the aggression. "It's a ceaseless campaign."

Weiner explained that the Palestinian acts of violence have been only out of desperation.

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"The state of Israel has tended to treat the Palestinians in an unjust fashion, pushing them into a corner," she said. "After a while, when your situation is hopeless, you turn to violence."

"[From] the perspective of the Palestinians, people would understand why it's too simplistic to tell the Palestinians to stop," she added. Sherene Awad '05, president of the PCP, agreed. "People are so desperate that they'll do anything," she said.

Awad is half Palestinian and said she is very worried about the Israeli-Palestinian issues. "My family is still there and every day they call me and tell me how bad it is," she said. "The minute I got here, I knew I wanted to be involved."

Awad added that she feels she brings a different perspective to campus, having lived in Palestine, and that she has great plans for the PCP. "I'd like to make it more of an undergraduate group," she said.

Spector said the recent series of rallies held by the PCP were ultimately unsuccessful. "[They] have failed to distinguish the organization from the myriad of other anti-Israel groups operating on college campuses around the country," he said in an e-mail.

Spector said he believes that the PCP's rallies are generally "not well attended" and are also quite biased. "Generally their vigils focus solely on Palestinian victims," he said.

However, Weiner said she feels the events have made a difference on campus. "People are starting to question, 'Why is this happening?'" she said. "I think people are starting to pay attention."