sections |
Israel, Palestine, Conflict, Occupation – an Open Invitation to ConverseContributed by Melinda Butler on 04/06/12 Open Invitation to Converse Many on campus have strong feelings about the endless conflict in the Middle East. Due to their very different narratives, Israelis celebrate their independence and Palestinians mourn for their naqbah (catastrophe) on the very same date – this year on Thursday, April 26th. Late that afternoon, Hillel and the Student Alliance For Israel (SAFI) are sponsoring an outdoor campus-wide celebration on the Campus/Fitness Center Quad. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) will hold vigils and demonstrations on the Academic Quad from April 24-26 to make their views public. On April 26th, Hillel is putting up a special Sulha Tent at its event for those who, while disagreeing profoundly, may still seek to engage with each other and passionately argue their positions persuasively. Sulha in Arabic means reconciliation. S’liha in Hebrew means pardon or forgiveness. For the first time in memory on campus, a venue will be available for people who disagree to actually try and be in dialog. We may not change the world, solve the conflict, or alter anyone’s view of the conflict, but at least a dedicated space will allow folks to air what is on their minds in a safe and relaxed environment. Tea and dried fruits will be served. Faculty and students are invited to sit in the Sulha Tent and present their views within the bounds of civil discourse. Anyone can do so. If you wish to make an actual presentation to whoever comes to sit in the Tent (and not just simply schmooze or shoot the breeze), please let Jewish Chaplain Michael Faber know of your desire to do so, and he will be sure to allocate time for it. From Radical Right to Radical Left and everything in between, there will be room to present and to listen to every view under the sun, no matter how disagreeable, all within the bounds of civility in this academic environment. Please join us in this effort to finally open a “Difficult Dialog.”
Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Michael Faber at faber@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-3323. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible. Israel, Palestine, Conflict, Occupation – an Open Invitation to Converse Comment from
czivali1 on
04/09/12
As a member of IC Students for Justice in Palestine, I would like to note that we do not officially support the Sulha Tent and will not attend. Most importantly, this is NOT because we repel dialogue. We simply recognize that the Sulha Tent is not a substitute for visible opposition, as friendly as it may misleadingly appear. Rather, it is a condescending, ineffective means to silence dissent. Protest IS within the bounds of civil discourse as a right of our democracy.
We want to make it clear that we are not irrational or uncompromising in our demands. We continue to support a political message—that the Israel Independence Day is a time of mourning which should not capitalize on public space to privilege a sanitized narrative with politicized roots and implications. Sitting in a tent surrounded by a celebration we find inherently political and problematic is offensive. The event will go on, but we can complain in a confined space so we don’t whine too loudly? Absolutely unacceptable. Furthermore, the tent problematically reinforces the power structures that underwrite the occupation of Palestine by granting power to those who get to be exempt from condemnation. The people running the event should not get to determine how the dissent to their political action is conducted. Lastly, we do not represent the contested parties that should be involved in this reconciliation process. To assume we can speak on behalf of Palestinians in a reconciliation tent undermines the peace process, expropriates the Arabic word offensively, and is counterproductive to the democratic resistance we see in the world but as the United States de-legitimize through U.N. votes and funding for Israeli-only perspectives. In this sense, the Sulha Tent re-occupies Palestinian culture and remains a recreation of the domination and abuse currently intact. As we know, historically speaking, you cannot have reconciliation without truth. While we will protest the Israel Independence Day for its inability to effectively recognize the Nakba and Palestinian displacement and subsequent apartheid, the truth can only be found through voices that are silenced, such as the Palestinians absent from our campus community. A real compromise would be to consider not having the event, or calling it for what it is: a political decision, not a wholesome celebration impregnable by the world of hierarchical power. |
© Copyright Ithaca College. All rights reserved; unauthorized use prohibited. All material on this server is produced by our community but, except for designated pages, is neither approved nor verified by Ithaca College.
and staff who have shown little in the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict will take advantage of this opportunity to talk about ways
to end this great tragedy. Unfortunately, for me, I have to be out
of town on the 24th and 25th, but hope to join the conversation on
the 26th. Many thanks to those who have arranged for this
discussion/debate to happen.
Fred A. Wilcox
Associate Professor
Writing Department