A
I
Metro
'Nothing To Fear
U-M Dearborn student government to host Arab conference.
Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish News
ust as the rallies con-
demning Israel and
supporting Hezbollah
have died down, the fifth annual
National Organizers Conference
of the U.S. Campaign to End
the Israeli Occupation is corn-
ing to Dearborn Sept. 1-3. The
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Student Government will host
the working session on the U-M
Dearborn campus.
An opening reception and
awards program will take place
Sept. 1 at the National
Arab American
Museum in Dearborn.
Organizers said U.S.
Reps. Carolyn Cheeks
Kilpatrick, D-Detroit,
and John Conyers,
D-Detroit, are slated
to receive the. second
annual Edward Said
Human Rights Awards
"for their work in
Congress to promote
peace and justice
in the Middle East."
Efforts to confirm the
participation of the
two congresspeople
were unsuccessful.
The reception will
also feature Diana Buttu, former
Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) legal adviser, and actor
Danny Glover.
The U.S. Campaign is com-
prised of more than 200 organi-
zations from across the country
that share the goal of influencing
American government, corpo-
rations and other institutions
to end support they say allows
Israel to continue the "occupa-
tion of Palestinian Land:' Eleven
Michigan groups are members.
The umbrella group, headquar-
tered in Washington, D.C., expects
hundreds of organizers from
dozens of different organizations
to attend to "network, strategize
and prioritize the work of the U.S.
Campaign over the upcoming
year:'
III
'Nothing To Fear'
Josh Ruebner, an American-born
Israeli citizen, is founder of the
U.S. Campaign, and co-founder
of Jews for Peace in Palestine and
Israel (JPPI). Ruebner says "there
is nothing the Jewish community
should be fearful or apprehensive
about" regarding the conference
because it includes "a number of
organizations which are entirely
Jewish or partially Jewish."
"We're looking to change
American policies in the interests
of both Palestinians and Israelis:'
he said.
• He says the group promotes -
human rights and international
law as a path to changing U.S.
nate attacks on civilians, whether
Lebanese, Palestinians, Iraqis or
Israelis" as evidence of the group's
condemnation of anti-Israel vio-
lence.
But that doesn't mean the
group doesn't cast blame. The let-
ter also states, "We reaffirm that
Israel's occupation and siege of
the Palestinian West Bank, East
Jerusalem and Gaza, its disposses-
sion of the Palestinians in 1948,
and continued denial of their
human rights, occupation of the
Syrian Golan Heights, occupation
of Lebanon, and imprisonment
of Palestinians and Lebanese,
Israeli people ..." He said students shared concerns about the cam-
support the conference in line
pus climate.
with the resolution they passed
She says she intends to work
in February 2005 calling for U-M
the U-M Dearborn administration
to divest from all companies sup-
cko change the current environ-
porting the Israeli "occupation."
ment, which is not perceived as
The U-M Board of Regents and
particularly inviting to potential
President Mary Sue Coleman have students from the Jewish com-
repeatedly spoken against taking
munity!' She believes "intimate
such action.
conversations with different stu-
U-M Dearborn Director of
dent groups, the sponsorship of
Public Relations Terry Gallagher
lectures and exhibits on various
said no University funds would be cultural and historical subjects
used for the conference, and that.
and reminding all leaders on
organizers were paying the going
campus of their responsibilities
rate to use campus facilities.
to build community will go a long
On Aug. 28, local representa-
way to making the campus not so
tives of the Anti-
socially intimidating!'
Defamation League
For his part, Chancellor Little
-(ADL), American
issued a statement to the Jewish
Jewish Committee
News that referred to the con-
(AJC) and the Jewish
ference only obliquely. Little
explained, "At the University
Community Council
of Metropolitan
of Michigan-Dearborn, we are
Detroit, met with
• exercising vigilance to navigate
our way through what has the
U-M Dearborn
potential of being a difficult year
Chancellor Daniel
Little to find out if
for relations between Israel and
there was to be any
the Arab world, and between the
university involve-
communities of Arab-American
and Jewish people here in
ment in the confer-
ence and about the
° Michigan.
"We are very committed to pre-
• overall campus di-
- Chancellor Daniel Little . mate as it related to
serving the atmosphere of tolera-
tion, mutual respect and freedom
Jewish students and
Middle East issues.
of expression that the university
Following the
best embodies."
are among the root causes of this
meeting, Betsy Kellman, Michigan
He expressed his willingness to
ADL director, said she was "com-
address "any suggestion that the
conflict."
Dearborn campus is unreceptive
The U.S. Campaign has made
pletely satisfied that the event
to Jewish people."
support of the Palestinian "right
is being hosted by the Student
"We have worked with mem-
of return" a priority, insisting it is
Government, a university orga-
nization, and not the university,'
bers of the Jewish. community in
guaranteed under international
adding that the students "followed Metropolitan Detroit on a wide
law. Demographics dictate such a
variety of projects of mutual
"right:' if enforced, would mean
all the right procedural steps
interest throughout the nearly 50-
Israel's end as a Jewish state.
to gain the permit to stage the
event." Nonetheless, she says she is year history of our campus and
concerned about it, and about the
we continue to work to find new
Campus Climate
That the conference is being held
sense that because of both univer- ways to engage that community:'
sity and non-university programs he said, adding that his meeting
at the University of Michigan is
raising eyebrows, just as the "2nd
on campus the "campus climate is with Jewish representatives "is
the most recent example of those
not friendly to Jewish students."
National Student Conference on
It is estimated that there are
efforts."
Palestinian Solidarity" did when it
U-M Dearborn also is home
was held on the Ann Arbor cam-
about 50 Jews and 800 Arabs out
of the 8,613 students on campus.
to "The Voice/Vision Holocaust
pus in October 2002.
Survivor Oral History Archive"
Tarek Baydoun, 22, president .
Some 7,000 of the students are
begun by history professor Sidney
of the student government,
undergraduates. Arab students
appear
to
be
over-represented
in
Bolkosky in the 1980s.
explained in an e-mail that the
the
student
government,
where
29
"Student government is host-
For more to this story, go to
of the 39 members have identifi-
ing the conference in line with
www.JNonline.us.
its previously stated position on
ably Arabic names.
the rights of the Palestinian and
Sharona Shapiro, AJC director,
.
"We are very committed to
preserving the atmosphere
of toleration, mutual respect
and freedom of expression
that the university best
embodies."
policies of support for "Israel's 39-
year occupation of the Palestinian
West Bank, Gaza and East
Jerusalem, and [that] deny equal
rights for all:'
Membership is "not predicated
on putting out possible solutions;
only the Palestinians and Israel
can solve their problems',' says
Ruebner, explaining that while
coalition members may support
either a two-state or one-state
solution, the group doesn't take a
position.
Ruebner says the group "doesn't
take a position to support or
oppose any Palestinian or Israeli
political party" in explaining
why there is no condemnation
of Hamas or other Islamist ter-
rorist groups. He pointed to an
open letter organized by the U.S.
Campaign in August that said,
in part, "We are opposed to and
greatly saddened by indiscrimi-
❑
August 31 2006
27