Students for Justice in Palestine protests Shalom FIU, Hillel YAD events

Jeffrey Pierre/Assistant New Director

Students for Justice in Palestine gathered on the Graham Center lawn during a Shalom FIU and Hillel YAD event on March 25, protesting Israel’s alleged “occupation” on Palestinian lands, “colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”

As disputes between the two nations in the region worsen, SJP demonstrated during a T’ai Chi workshop taught by an ex-Israeli Defense Force pilot; an event part of Shalom FIU’s Israel Peace Week.

Earlier this semester, SJP released a statement in support of the academic boycott of Israel’s institutions, while Shalom FIU and the University opposed it.

“Palestinians have been brutally victimized by the Israeli settler-colonial state since the dawn of its unilateral declaration of statehood in 1948,” the statement read. “Recognition of the Palestinian struggle alone will not bring about Palestinian liberation from the yolk of Israeli colonization.”

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Rayid Sakib leads Students for Justice in Palestine in protest on Tuesday at an Israel Peace Week event. Photos by Jeffrey Pierre

SJP President Rayid Sakib organized the protest and had an active voice during the demonstration.

“They want to have coffee with us,” said Sakib, an engineering junior. “They will talk about everything except the apartheid, ethnic cleansing and their illegal occupation.”

Sakib and SJP members say there is a biased image of what is happening in the region.

He said contrary to Israel’s claims of diversity and peace, there are numerous incidents where Israel has been oppressive, pointing to a series of incidents of racism and discrimination towards black Ethiopian Jews living in Israel.

Sakib said Ethiopian Jews are treated differently from other Israelis: factories do not want to employ them, landlords refuse them and certain schools turn away their children.

“These are facts that show Israel is not diverse and fair as it claims to be,” Sakib said. “If you’re a citizen of Israel but not a Jew, you are treated poorly.”

During the demonstration, Or-Lee Kaidar, the Israeli fellow at Hillel YAD, walked away from the Tai’ Chi workshop to speak with the demonstrators but faced some resistance.

“We invited them to join for peace but they declined,” Kaidar said. “Dialogue — that’s the best start to peace.”

Sakib says talks have taken the movement nowhere.

“We are not going to talk with someone who doesn’t think Palestine is an apartheid,” Sakib said.

“That’s the wrong word to use,” Kaidar said, refuting many of the Sakib and the club’s claims.

Kaidar says the best thing for both groups is to move forward.

“Both sides have suffered. Both sides are wrong and both sides are right,” Kaidar said. “The best thing for this campus is peace, to be united and have a clear understanding.”

Kaidar said Shalom FIU, Hillel and other Jews on campus want to move forward. Sakib thinks that progress won’t be made until the offenses against Palestinians are addressed, however.

“They don’t want see the reality of what’s going on,” Sakib said.  “We want peace as well but we can’t look past what’s been happening.”

SJP plans to actively demonstrate throughout Israel Peace Week.

Fay Goldstein, president of Shalom FIU, said Israel Peace Week is a week designated for promoting the arts, culture and diversity.

“We’re choosing not to address anything political this week,” Goldstein said in response to the protest.

Goldstein did comment that neither she nor Shalom FIU are anti-Palestinian, however, and will continue to encourage the two clubs to talk.

“I would love to sit with them and listen to more of their side,” Goldstein said. “At the end of their demonstration, a few of them came to speak to us. That surprised me, but I believe that’s how we will find peace.”

-jeffrey.pierre@fiusm.com

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