Final Status Issues Week

This last week, Students for Justice in Palestice (SJP) kicked off the beginning of our Final Status issues week with a presentation by Joseph Dana, a member of "Anarchists Against the Wall". Joseph Dana, an Israeli-American Jewish late-twenty-something, spends most of his time in Israel protesting what many call the "apartheid wall". Just for background info, the wall running deep through the West Bank under the pretext of security has been widely regarded as merely a ploy for a future annexation territory in a two-state solution framework. Rather than the wall running on the logical line, the green line that separates Israel proper from the West Bank, the wall runs ruthlessly through the occupied territories, even barring villages from water supplies, farmland, and even at times splitting the entire village in half. While the argument that Israel needs a security wall is quite viable, the location of the wall leads to skepticism. Not only does the wall create so much conflict by splitting entire villages in half, but the wall itself in some areas is not even built on militaristically strategic positions, such as on the low ground with the high ground on the West Bank side of the wall. Well, the MORE West Bank side of the wall. So Joe Dana came to talk to us about his involvement in the "Anarchists Against the Wall" organization. AAW is an Israeli organization composed of Israeli citizens standing up against the injustice in the region. As Israeli and often American citizens, these people have an immunity to the unjust tactics the IDF uses to squelch nonviolent protest. Dana and his fellow AAW friends went to local nonviolent demonstrations against the apartheid wall and stood in the front lines, forming a barrier around their Palestinian friends. As Israelis and Americans, the IDF is less likely to shoot tear gas shells or rubber coated bullets into the crowd. I asked how the AAW got their name, since I didn't see how the organization was in any way anarchistic. Apparently the various demonstrators against the wall usually took different names all the time, from "Feminists Against the Wall", to "Jews Against the Wall", until one day with "Anarchists Against the Wall" they got the most media attention and decided to stick to the name.

However, one thing about the amazing presentation was disappointing: the turnout. The turnout for the speaker was about 12 people. Many people I have spoken with this issue about always claim they aren't educated enough on the issue to take a stance, or they simply buy into the "both sides have done wrong" "neutral" approach to the conflict. So why is it that more people don't come? We advertised not only all over the campus, but also in Today@AU. This presentation would have been a perfect introduction to the injustice in the region since it was by an Israeli Jew, obliterating any claims of anti-semitism or anti-Israel in disputing the unfairness of Israel. For the rest of this week, SJP will be continuing with our Obstacles to Peace: Final Status Issues week events: Tuesday at 8:30 in the Batelle-Thompson Atrium an Ice Cream Social with FTSA, Wednesday at 6:00pm in the Batelle Atrium a presentation by Americans for Peace Now, and on Thursday at the same time and place, the International Solidarity Movement will be joining us. I encourage all students here to empower themselves and learn the truth about an ongoing illegal and unjust occupation. I echo the words of Che Guevara: "If you tremble with indignation at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine."