Rally for Palestinians opens floor for debate

For the Daily

Voicing their concern for Palestinians, 15 protesters marched through Diag crowds from the steps of the Michigan Union to the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, handing out material about ethnic cleansing.

Blaine Coleman, who organized the march, defined ethnic cleansing as "the use of the state ... to shove people out of their homes and take away their rights." He added that often killing is involved and noted the deaths of 1,500 Palestinians in the past 10 years.

The rally was organized to draw attention to the displacement of 3.6 million Palestinians in Israel and call for an end to U.S. aid to Israel.

Graduate students Stephanie Lindemann and Tara Javidi, both graduate students and members of PREVENT, a student group against sanctions and the general war on Iraq, said they felt it was unfortunate that the march took place on the same day as Festifall.

But Festifall brought an unusually large number of students to the Diag, exposing the protesters to several cultural, religious and ethnic student organizations and their members.

"It's good to have a campus where we can express opinions on factual things that usually people don't know about," said Robert Zaid, a senior on the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee Executive Board.

Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian speakers came together last March through the combined effort of ADC and Hillel to discuss related issues as a panel.

LSA sophomore Paul Saba, an ADC member, said he hopes to continue working with Hillel to educate more people.

Before the march, residents of both Israel and Palestine - Jews, Muslims and Christians alike - met on the steps of the Union, and a feeling of hope filled the air. Debate persisted, but never reached a state of hostility. Instead, students exchanged e-mail addresses in order to continue their discussion.

Individual arguments ended with smiles.

"Most people on both sides don't have all the information. They have good points - as do we. Things like this are great, talking, like friends," LSA first-year student Michael Gold said after having a discussion with other students on the Union's steps.

He turned to his Palestinian neighbor and said, "I encourage you to have an open mind. Talk to people like me."

While the event facilitated discussion, Coleman said his goal for the march was to "to save Palestinians from a big problem."

Coleman related the Palestinian situation to the Jewish struggle more than 50 years ago.

"What's happening to the Palestinians is what happened to us Jews in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust ... people are just trying to save Palestinians from what we went through," said Coleman, an Ann Arbor resident who had participated in a campus demonstration against bombing in Iraq last year.

But Gold, who lived in Israel for a year, said he is concerned the protesters were creating propaganda.

"What I think is problematic about these flyers are the words, 'ethnic cleansing,'" he said.

Rabbi Avraham Jacobovitz of the Jewish Resource Center echoed Gold's concerns.

"Although it's a free country and everyone has their right, the propaganda is rather negative," he said.

The protest comes on the heels of this month's peace agreement between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ending an eight-month stalemate. The agreement involved an Israeli withdrawal from 11 percent of the West Bank, as well as the release of 350 Palestinian prisoners.

Rabbi Rich Kirschen at Hillel said he felt the march was "so counterproductive at this point, where it seems there's going to be a breakthrough in the peace process." He said, "If the people in the Middle East are starting to make peace, it's probably a good idea to acknowledge it here."

But Coleman is not convinced by the Israeli government's recent actions.

"The Israeli government has been talking peace for 20 years, yet there's more and more land taken from the Palestinians each year," he said.

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