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FFREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR PALESTINE
A conference on the history and future of the Palestinian struggle for
liberation
Date: Saturday March
31, 2001
Time: 12:00 - 9:00 PM
Place: Columbia Law School, 116th and Amsterdam Ave, New York
Sponsored by: Qanun,
Columbia Law School and Turath,
Columbia's North African and Middle Eastern Club.
This conference
was inspired as much by the new Intifada as by the failures of the Oslo
"peace process". With the election of right-wing extremist Ariel
Sharon as Israeli prime minister, "peace" through official channels
seems all the more remote.
There is an
urgent need for people in the US to learn the truth about the history
and current state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What is this conflict
really about? What will bring a just peace? The answers to these questions
can form the basis of a new movement to stop US support for Israel and
build solidarity with the struggle for Palestinian self-determination.
"And what
does it mean to speak of peace if Israeli troops and settlements are still
present in such large numbers?...Has the world been deluded, or has the
rhetoric of peace been in essence a gigantic fraud?" - Edward
Said
"If we thought
that instead of 200 dead 2,000 dead would end this issue at once, then
we would use much more force" - former Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak
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TIMETABLE
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11am-12:00pm
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Registration |
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12:00-1:30pm
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Opening
panel on Oslo: Why the peace process failed |
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1:30-2:30pm
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Lunch |
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2:30-4:30pm
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Five Workshops:
- Stealing
Palestine: How Israel was created
- Media war
on Palestine
- Palestinian
Diaspora: What is the right of return?
- Why the U.S.
Supports Israel
- Intifada
Past and Present
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4:30-6:30pm
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Dinner
and activist workshop on Organizing a solidarity committee |
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6:30-7:00pm
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Break |
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7:00-9:00pm
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Evening
panel on Freedom and Justice for Palestine: Which way forward? |
OPENING
PANEL: 12pm: Oslo: Why the "peace process" failed
FAR FROM initiating a period of stability and improving living
standards, the Oslo accords led to worsening conditions and increased
oppression for most Palestinians. How has this happened?
Speakers:
PHYLLIS BENNIS, Institute
for Policy Studies, author, Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates
Today’s UN; DR. SALIM TAMARI, Director, Institute
for Jerusalem Studies, Associate Professor of Sociology, Birzeit
University; SOUAD DAJANI, Program Coordinator, Middle East and Horn
of Africa Grassroots International.
WORKSHOPS:
2:30-4:30pm
I
- Stealing Palestine: How Israel was created
A LOOK at the history of the Zionist movement, the wars and expulsions
of Palestinians which led to the formation
of a Jewish state.
Speakers:
AHMED SHAWKI, editor, International
Socialist Review; SAMIR AWAD, graduate student, Political Science,
Columbia University.
II
- Palestinian Diaspora: What is the right of return?
THERE ARE now about 4 million Palestinian refugees living outside of Palestine
and millions more who are
internally displaced by the constant expansion of Israeli settlements.
Find out about the causes of the refugee
crisis, the conditions in the camps and why the right of return, recognized
by the United Nations, is fundamental
to any just peace. Is right of return still possible?
Speakers: SUSAN AKRAM, Professor, Boston University School of Law;
SAMERA ESMEIR, Ph.D. candidate, NYU, editor, Adalah's Review published
by the Legal Center for
Arab Minority Rights in Israel.
III
- Why the U.S. Supports Israel
ISRAEL IS by far the largest recipient of U.S. military and economic aid,
and in return it acts as the U.S.’s chief
ally in the region. Why is Israel so important to U.S. foreign and domestic
policy? How does this effect the U.S.
role as "mediator" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority?
Speakers: DR. NASEER ARURI, Professor of Political Science, UMass
at Dartmouth, author of The Obstruction of Peace, the U.S., Israel and
the Palestinians; ANTHONY ARNOVE, editor, Iraq Under Siege, and member
of the International
Socialist Organization.
IV
- The Economic and Media War on Palestine
THE MAINSTREAM media has failed to present a fair picture of the struggle
for Palestinian economic and
political rights, often relying on racist stereotypes of all Arabs as
terrorists. A look at media bias and the role it
plays in manipulating public opinion.
Speakers include: LUCY MAIR and ROGER NORMAND, Center
for Economic and Social Rights.
V
- Intifada Past and Present
MASS UPRISINGS have been the most powerful expression of Palestinian resistance.
In 1987, the Intifada
forced the world to confront the Palestinian desire for freedom. What
were the dynamics of this historic event,
and what is the significance of the new Intifada?
Speakers: SEIF DANA, Professor of Sociology, De Paul University;
RANDA JAMAL, Al-Awda Right
of Return
Coalition, Columbia
University.
ACTIVIST
MEETING/DINNER: 5-6:30pm - Organizing a Palestine Solidarity Committee
THE STRUGGLE internationally against South African apartheid in the 1980s
provides a valuable model for the kind of solidarity work that can be
organized to support Palestinian self-determination. Hear from leading
activists on how to start a divestment campaign, how to organize teach-ins,
demonstrations and other consciousness-raising events. Meet with others
from your campus or neighborhood to launch local solidarity committees.
Speakers: SNEHAL SHINGAVI, Students for Justice in Palestine, UC-Berkeley;
Speaker from Al-Awda Right
of Return Coalition.
EVENING
PANEL: 7pm - Freedom and Justice for Palestine: Which way forward?
FAR FROM ancient ethnic rivalry, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians
comes down to key questions of land and political, economic and social
equality. What would a just solution to these issues be in the Middle
East, and what role can a movement in the U.S. play?
Speakers: NADIA HIJAB, development consultant and author, Womanpower:
The Arab Debate on Women at Work; DR. NASEER ARURI, Professor of Political
Science, UMass at Dartmouth, author, The Obstruction of Peace, the U.S.,
Israel and the Palestinians; SEIF DANA, Professor of Sociology, De Paul
University; AHMED SHAWKI editor,
International
Socialist Review; and a speaker from Jews Against the Occupation.
REGISTRATION
Tickets are $10, $5 for students.
 For tickets
email: workshop_2001@hotmail.com
or call 718-726-2808.
Same-day registration will be available, but seating cannot be guaranteed.
DIRECTIONS
Columbia Law School: corner of 116th St. and Amsterdam in Manhattan.
Take the 1 or
9 trains to 116th & Broadway. Walk through Columbia University gates
to Amsterdam.
Signs will be posted.
ENDORSEMENTS:
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