"I do not suyyort this divestment. As a matter ofUniversitypoficy, we do not believe yotiticaf interests shoufdcgovern our investment clecisions." -University President Mary Sue Coleman in a campus-wide e-mail sent on Sept. 26 Y 4 A : 4,< : ~ *'4 .4 44 ,, . ,,, :.. 4, 4, 4; .,4 4~ 4..' ' s 4'uif( 44 .4 44 . rr 4 ..,,4.. t > x 4 y4. ' 's, t 'D 4:, 4 4 ,4 4 .', .: , r'Y CI g*4 S '.44*4 #. 'f4.4,{-4 3$ , >E >'5%.t 4 SA,** . ¢ I"¢ ,.' 4 . .¢ 4,J 'F4r $ '4, l 4'4 % t~ $_ ' ,' ({ . a _ ' .. '. ' 4 K 4 { ..M1 Yh, ., 4, 4 .4 . ...:444;'. 8 a { p .. .. A . . /E"StI"u-ee r .44 4, h . r 4... ... ..n4.,>, . 4., " . : '4' { t 3: 4 4,4:. 4*' If 3.4 a . s. . ; a r s 'U' under occupation Divest from the only democracy in the Mideast? BY WILL YOUMANS This weekend's divestment confer- ence has caused quite a storm. Its premise is that the Palestinians are liv- ing under Apartheid. Israel's loyal defenders are appalled at this. To illustrate why the conference organizers start from the point that Israel is an Apartheid state, I want t o invoke a imagination. Imagine if the t in Ann Arbor, u n ae iman territory of the Ws ank and the rul- ing authority was not an American government, but the Israeli occupyig army: Since University is inthe West Bank, tbie are fences, tanks, Israeli soldiers sbarbed wire and roving attack helicopters everywhere all to remind everyone who is in charge. The conference would probably not invite speakers from outside of Ann Arbor because there is no guaran- tee that they could get in. Israel's army controls the borders and inner move- ment with checkpoints. The army checks each person's ID and deter- mines who can get in and out. They would know about the con- ference because one of the conference organizers would be a spy. She would be a spy because the Israeli army arrested her one day while she was in class in Angell Hall. They detained her without charges, and kept her there for two weeks. Before they released her, they told her if she wants her father to have a pass to allow him to work in Ypsilanti, she will agree to spy on stu- dent activists. Since the unemploy- ment rate is over 50 percent because of the occupation, she had no choice as she thought about her malnourished brothers and sisters. The Israeli army officials would inform the checkpoint guards not to let anyone associated with the conference in. They would also round up all the student organizers involved, and deny them from entering. Some might be tortured and their dorms and apart- ments would be bulldozed. Since this military occupation has been going on for 35 years now, the students know the rules of the games and the exceptions that ease the diffi- culty a tad bit. For example, the speak- ers could be snuck through the Arb, because State, University, and 1-94 are blocked off for only Israelis to use. There is still no guarantee on the freedom of movement because the Israeli army implements curfews whenever it wants. They could decide on the weekend of the conference that no one is allowed to be outside of their dorms, frats, sororities or apartments at all, except from 1-3 pm for quick run to Kroger's or the Union for food. Violators will be shot on the spot. These rules only apply to Universi- ty of Michigan students. Within the campus, there are pockets of Israelis who enjoy full rights and sometimes more. They bear arms, breeze through the checkpoints, vote in Israel's elec- tions, and have free access to work. Since many of them think that God gave them the University, they are quite fanatical about taking it over. When they kill protesting University students, Israeli judges give them light sentences or community service. When you complain that this is and policies ress another, gto terror- ism. you as ow it can be a response to terrorism if the Apartheid. came first, they point a gun at you - an internationally-recognized sign for "shut up' Then, their supporters in for- eign'lands clamor on about the need for dialogue. The United Nations pass- es resolutions Israel and the United States ignore. When disgruntled stu- dents begin protesting, even non-vio- lently, the occupying army responds with violence. Since there is no free- dom to organize politically, violent underground resistance movements develop (led by the football players). After they go into action sometimes against Israeli civilians, the Israeli army justifies the occupation in securi- ty terminology. When you ask about your rights, they say their security comes first. Collective, harsh and unpredictable punishment and institutionalized violence is the underlying constant of this relationship, and the violent resisters pursue a hopeless "balance of terror." The University's poor and impotent president, Mary Sue Cole- man, gets blamed for everything because two years ago she did not sign an agreement that allowed the army to stay on the University's campus. Every pundit hailed it as "the most generous offer" without realizing that relative generosity does not mean sufficiency. There are many more issues that this hypothetical situation cannot relay. How can leaving your home to go to college even compare with being forced from your home at gunpoint or the threat of violence so that foreigners can start a state on your homeland? This is the defining moment of the Palestinian experi- ence; the beginning. Divestment is not anti-Israel, it merely says that the United States should not bolster Israel with the $5 billion a year in aid that it gives. One of the most prominent anti- Apartheid activists in South Africa, Desmond Tutu, wrote that peace will come after activists direct enough "moral force and international pres- sure" on Israel. He added, "divest- ment is the first, though certainly not the only, necessary move in that direction." Youmansis a University alumnus and a law student at the University of California at Berkeley BY PROF. Zvi GITELMAN The Mission Statement of the Sec- ond National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement calls for "an end to the Israeli system of Apartheid and discrimination against the indigenous Palestinian population." The State of Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, is nonetheless a multi-national, multi-reli- gious and multi-racial state and is the only democratic polity in the entire Mid- dle East. Yet, it is accused of "Apartheid" and "discrimination." Such accusations are not leveled against those Jeffersonian democracies such as Saudi Arabia, which permits no Christian or Jewish religious services on its soil, restricts the rights and -movements of women, and allows no citi- zenship by naturalization. Not against Syria, the fiefdom of the al-Asads who slaughtered 10,000 people they did not like in the city of Homs; where the ubiq- uitous secret police make any political conversation highly dangerous; and where Jews were segregated and perse- cuted until most were allowed to leave a few years ago. Not against Iraq, whose Kurdish and Shi'ite populations have been gassed and poisoned (not by the American military) but by that paragon of democratic leadership, Sadaam Hussein. Nor against Egypt where Coptic Chris- tians and "infidel" foreigners have been murdered by Islamists, where academics have been jailed for daring to question aspects of the regime. Not against Jordan which killed more Palestinians in a single month (September 1970) than Israel has between 1948 and the present. It's not even worth mentioning Qaddafi's Libya, or the Sudan. Not a single Arab state is a democracy and most systematically dis- criminate against whatever racial, reli- gious and ethnic minorities are still there. But let us scrutinize Israel, as the "Student Conference on the Palestine Sol- idarity Movement" claims it will do. "Apartheid" is not simply a nasty word to be thrown at people you don't like. It has a specific meaning. It means state regula- tions that institutionalize by force a sys- tem of segregation and discrimination, as instituted in South Africa in 1948. In Israel, Arab and Jewish Israelis live most- ly apart, attend different schools, and do not mix socially. But this is largely by their choice, as each group seeks to pre- We are not soldiers BY SHIRA LEVINE In debates over the Middle East situation at the University, both the Jew- ish-Israeli and Arab-Palestinian sides have tended to act and speak as if they held a monopoly on truth and justice. Our campus will reach a far greater and more meaningful understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when we abandon claims to absolute righteousness and stop trying to shout the loudest. Consider this: Even in the event that one side won the media war and was able to convince the campus community that blame only lay in the other camp, nothing would change in the Middle East, Campus activism cannot fight a war for the future of either Israel or Palestine; we exercise control over neither their governments nor the'people reliant on them. This does not belittle-our involvement in the issue. For personal, political and moral reasons the future of the region is close to many people's hearts, and this intense concern presents an opportunity to educate ourselves and oth- ers on this issue of such pressing global importance. However, we need to use the privilege of being University students to do far more than replicate on our own campus the most extreme ideologies of the conflict. One goal of a col- lege education is to expose students to different perspectives and expand their vision of the world. Instead of this, the polarized debate has caused many to focus on honing their arguments in order to advocate their position better. Such unilateral advocacy is a fruitless path because the region's prospects depend on the shared work of building a just future for both peoples. As part of this process, both sides need clearly and unequivocally to condemn vio- lence against civilians. Those unable to do that cannot be part of a productive, thoughtful dialogue. The current situation is the product of cycles of violence and intransigence on both sides. As a campus we must reject any policy that seeks to assign blame solely on one side or the other. It is as crucial for groups on campus to embrace ways of working together as it is to reject unacceptable attitudes. In order to do this, both groups need to feel that there is someone to work with on the other side. If we are to move beyond rehash.. ing of old arguments, both sides must learn to be self-critical. In a war, an un-indoc- trinated soldier is a threat, but we are not at war. We are at a peaceful university campus and so must extend our questioning past the classroom and into our own' spheres of influence. To reject internal questioning because of perceived extremism on the other side is to deny one's intellect; to ignore suffering on the other side out of a sense of solidarity is ultimately to undermine one's own humanity Questioning is scary. It is easier to be sure of the answers than to try and understand the complexity, shared suffering, and intertwined aspirations that are at play. But if we study the situation with our minds wide open, we may become an example of how college students can rise beyond, rather than remain prisoners of the region's violent history. Levine is an LSA sophomore and leader ofthe Progressive Israel Alliance' serve its distinct culture. No doubt, there Middle Eastern and Muslim country. is also some element of mutual hostility Nor is Israel the only country that is here, but if, say, Mexico had been attack- occupying lands claimed by others. ing the United States for 53 years - as China, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Spain, her Arab neighbors have been doing to France and numerous other countries Israel - do you think Mexican-Ameri- control not only land, but people who cans and other Americans would be seek independence. Indeed, among embracing each other? When Japan these countries Israel is the only one attacked the United States in 1941, the that has offered statehood, first in 1948 American government interned thousands when the Palestinians rejected the U.N. fy we f o ~th wld ve given them a ese origin. Isae ha I d f#h'arg, in d n ate and chose sort with its over 900,000 Arab citizens* instead to invade Israel. Again in the who constitute about 20 percent of the~ y 2000 Palestinians: were offered a population and who, unlike black stte, rejected it and employed terror- South Africa, enjoy full legal andivil 'r> rights. "Apartheid?" Balderdash! ights "rhe"ais?" Baerdsmi romo Like all other democracies, Israel is Is Israel "racist?" Racism is promo. an incomplete and imperfect one. Was ing and defending the interests of one a adimperft m W9s raceto the d 9e0 4AY s, ve 4 .vralf the popula- 100 0 Ethi ians and other "po les of ion, women anid n -many Americans of 100,0 Ethins a ther "peoplesrofa African descent, did not have the right to color' It includes at least a quarter of a vote. Israeli Arabs have legal, but not million non-Jews who have come from social equality. The educational, medical the former Soviet Union, and thousands and other facilities that serve the Arab of Christians from many countries, a pulation are not as good as those in the small group of Vietnamese boat people, Jewish sector. Only after more than half a Druze, Circassians and others. Among century was the first Arab appointed a the Jews themselves several races are to minister in the Israeli government. Both be found, as any casual passerby on an Arabs and Jews must do much more to Israeli street can immediately see. overcome what is probably growing Arab Ironically, our idealistic colleagues so alienation from the state, and surely that hell-bent on righting Israel's wrongs and will be done if and when the main barrier condemning her for human rights viola- to better relations, the Palestinian-Israeli tions are attacking the one state where dispute, will be resolved. more Arabs have the right to vote in free . As to the Arabs living in the terri- and fair elections than in any other state in tories, they have been given golden the Middle East and perhaps the world. In opportunities to establish their own 1999, 75 percent of the 429,000 Arabs in state alongside Israel. Their putative the electorate voted, a bit down from pre- leadership has betrayed them time and vious years but about twice the turnout of again. Some of their religious and the American electorate in its presidential political leaders persist in the strategy elections (you know, the elections in ofi"aller prsit in We st which the guy who gets the most votes of "all or nothing at all": We must loses). About 28 percent of them voted for wipe out the Jewish state and its Jews predominantly Jewish parties! entirely and establish our own state on As Alan Dershowitz points out its ruins. Since 1921 this strategy has (Harvard Crimson, September 23, led to nothing at all, except misery, 2002), "Israel has the only independent poverty, frustration, hatred, killing - judiciary in the entire Middle East. Its and not of Arabs alone. Clearly, there Supreme Court ... is the only court in are difficult issues to be resolved in the Middle East from which an Arab or Israel and the Palestinian Authority. a Muslim can expect justiceaas many These include the future of the settle- have found in winning dozens of victo- ments, the establishment of democrat- ries against the Israeli government, the ic and non-corrupt Palestinian Israeli military and individual Israeli self-governance, the prevention of ter- citizens. I challenge the proponents of rorism, and the achievement of divestment to name a court in any Arab greater de facto equality by Israel's or Muslim country that is comparable Arab citizens. to the Israeli Supreme Court - Israel is Alan Dershowitz has proposed an the only country in the region that has alternative for divestment for his uni- virtually unlimited freedom of speech. versity: "Let Harvard choose nations Any person in Israel, whether Jewish, for investment in the order of the Muslim or Christian, can criticize the human rights records. If that were Israeli government and its leaders. No done, investment in Israel would citizen of any other Middle Eastern or increase dramatically, while invest- Muslim state can do that without fear ments in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, of imprisonment or death. Israel is the Philippines, Indonesia, the Palestin- only country that has openly confronted ian Authority and most other coun- the difficult issue of protecting the civil tries of the world would decrease liberties of the ticking bomb terrorist. markedly." Regents of the University The Israeli Supreme Court recently of Michigan, organizers of the con- ruled that despite the potential benefits ference, are you listening? of employing non-lethal torture to extract information, the tactic is illegal. Gitelman is a professor ofpolitical Brutal torture, including lethal torture, iencesand the Preston Tisch is commonplace in nearly every other Professor of Judaic Studies. 0' $2.99 CUSTOM PRINTED ATTENTION COLLEGE JOURNALISTS! Spend 6 weeks in Florida, work with outstanding pro- fessionals, and GET PAID! This experience will look great on your r6sum6! www.pointssouth.net The Department Of Philosophy The University Of Michigan announces THE TANNER LECTURE ON HUMAN VALUES 2002-2003 Claude M. Steele Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences Stanford University The Specter of Group Image: Its Unseen Effects on SYMPOSIUM ON THE TANNER LECTURE Claude M. Steele ANTINA ALLEN-CASTELLITTO Professor of Law and Philosophy University of Pennsylvania GLENN C. LOURY Professor of Economics Boston University It I I