By
Andrew Doughman
May 15, 2008
A brick walkway divided UW Jewish and Palestinian groups during “Israelpalooza,” a celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the creation of the country of Israel.
A tent selling the Mediterranean food falafel, a makeshift hookah bar and a dance stage were part of the Jewish celebration. Cardboard coffins — some draped in Palestinian flags — lined the opposite side of the walkway.
Many passing walkers stopped to chat with both groups at the celebration and protest on the HUB lawn yesterday. But the divide between Jewish and Palestinian groups was rarely broken.
“The point of this event is not to hash out all of the issues of Israel and Palestine over the HUB lawn,” said Avi Zellman, student leader for Huskies for Israel.
Israelpalooza was an event promoting peace and Israeli culture, Zellman said. The Palestinian protest was a reaction to the celebration, he said.
But the festival-like atmosphere of the event did not mask the feelings of some of the celebrators.
“I equally recognize that this is really an amazing, celebratory time, but this is also a really catastrophic, horrible time of mourning,” said Talya Gillman, a member of Huskies for Israel.
The nation-state of Israel was formally established May 14, 1948, after a U.N. resolution supported the partition of Palestine into two separate states. The establishment of Israel came nearly three years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust, in which more than 6 million Jews died.
An ensuing war between Arab states and the fledgling Jewish state followed, displacing about 700,000 Palestinians who either fled from their homes or were driven from them.
Violence in Israel and the Palestinian-dominated West Bank and Gaza Strip is still common in a region historically marred by fighting. Yesterday, a rocket injuring 14 was fired from Gaza in retaliation for an Israeli attack that killed five. The rocket attack coincided with President Bush’s trip to Israel, where he talked about peace.
Tariq Abuhamdia, a native of the West Bank and officer with the RSO Israel Occupation Must End, highlighted the continuing violence.
“There is a celebration on the Israeli side and on the Gaza side there is a siege,” he said. “On the Gaza side there is killing. On the Gaza side there is shelling.”
The protesters used cardboard cutouts of people splayed upon the HUB lawn and with mock coffins to convey their message. The display didn’t aid the process of cultural understanding, Gillman said.
Ramsey Tesdell, officer with Students For Justice in Palestine, said the coffins and cutouts were “street theater” meant to grab the attention of walkers near the HUB.
“And once we get the attention, we educate as much as possible,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is show there’s a Palestinian narrative.”
During the afternoon, the protesters carried the coffins upon their shoulders and marched around the Jewish celebration. The protesters did not chant or yell at the Jewish groups, although signs read messages like “60 years too long.”
The Jewish groups would like to open a cross-cultural dialogue with Palestinian groups on campus, Zellman said, although he doubted this would be effective in the near future.
Jewish and Palestinian students, many who had spent time in Israel or Palestine, expressed their varying views on an Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Many times they even contradicted members of their own groups.
Some advocated for the two-state solution, meaning a separate Israel and Palestine, while others favored a united state with shared governance. The two-choice debate turned even more complicated when questions about equality and rights entered into the conversation.
Even the necessity of violence was a tough issue to wrangle with.
Abuhamdia, who personally advocates for “Gandhian,” nonviolent resistance, said he could see how others would use violence.
“The Americans liberated themselves not by nonviolent resistance,” Abuhamdia said. “They did violent resistance, they did armed resistance against soldiers. This is what I call justified and what is justified to be against occupying soldiers.”
25 Comments
#1 Jeremy
on May 15, 2008 at 8:07 a.m.(Berkeley, CA | Unverified Name)
One thing that Palestinians do not want the rest of the world to know is that in 1948m when Israel was established, almost 1,000,000 Middle Eastern Jews were kicked out of their homes and forced to leave their countries. There were thriving Jewish communities in the Middle East for over 2000 years, but all of those Jews were expelled overnight when Israel was created. The difference between Jewish and Palestinian refugees is that the Arabs have abused and killed the Palestinians (King Hussein of Jordan killed around 8,000 Palestinians in September 1970, known as Black September), while Israel has completely absorbed the Jews. If the Arabs truly love their Arab brothers like they claim to do, there would be no refugee problem.
Also, the article states that the most recent rocket attack from Gaza is a response to the Israeli killing of five in Gaza. There are two important facts missing: First, the five that were killed were terrorists in the process of launching their own rockets. Second, Israel completely withdrew from Gaza several years ago. Israel gave into the Palestinian demand to end the "occupation," but the Palestinians have thanked Israel for withdrawing by launching thousands of rockets into Israeli civilian centers. When Palestinians launch rockets from schools and apartment buildings, they give up any right to claim moral high ground.
#2 Canadian Refugee
on May 15, 2008 at 8:26 a.m.(Berkeley, CA | Unverified Name)
My grandfather was born in Canada. Before he was married and before my mother was born, he left Canada and moved to Seattle. By the logic, words, and actions taken by "Palestinian Refugees" I should now be demanding that the Canadian government return all of my grandfather's land and I should be blowing myself up in Canadian restaurants, nightclubs, hospitals, schools, and buses.
The vast majority of all Palestinians that left Israel in 1948 during the war left because the surrounding Arab countries told them to leave so that they would be out of the way when the Jews were being killed. The only problem is that Israel was not destroyed by the Arabs, and Palestinian Refugees have been trying to finish the task ever since.
#3 Israeli Culture
on May 15, 2008 at 9:31 a.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
Man, those hookahs really look like traditional Israeli culture to me!
#4 Answer to #3
on May 15, 2008 at 10:09 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
There really is no such thing "pure" Israeli culture, since Jews came from across the world. What I think Israelpalooza was trying to do was show some of the things that are popular in Israel, not claim them as their own.
#5 A Jewish Thought
on May 15, 2008 at 11:10 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
Thanks for the article. I think it's important to engage with the issue from the perspective of human rights for all people, as recognized under international law. Ending the occupation and the collective punishment that people in the West Bank and Gaza are enduring is a vital first step.
All refugees have the right to return to their homelands or receive compensation: their choice. This applies to both the Palestinian refugees from 1948 and 1967 Israel, and the Jewish refugees from Iraq, Egypt, Libya and elsewhere.
#6 Response to #5
on May 15, 2008 at 12:15 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
I've got a great idea - how about if those "refugees" even accept the idea of Israel's existence on the first place? Despite Israel's ending of it "occupation" of Gaza and the West Bank, there has been no reciprocation whatsoever. So your idea - to integrate a few million people into a country that they openly declare their interest in destroying it - would be suicide. Even dumb governments such as the our own recognize that.
These refugees made the dumb mistake of aligning themselves with the wrong side - unlike the Israeli Arabs, who were integrated into Israeli society and are doing fine as a result.
Get it through your head, Jewish Thought: what the Palestinians want is the destruction of the Jewish State. Nothing more and nothing less.
#7 q
on May 15, 2008 at 12:25 p.m.(Beaverton, OR | Unverified Name)
this would have been a fine article if it had been written by anybody except andrew doughman
#8 Sad Article
on May 15, 2008 at 2:26 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
The UW Daily should be ashamed of this article. Obviously, Mr. Doughman didn't double check any "facts" that were mentioned by the students; he just wrote them down and called it a day. How sad, how bias.
#9 Avi Zellman
on May 15, 2008 at 5:05 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
After speaking with Andrew Doughman yesterday, I was very impressed with his desire to write an unbiased article. He spent over an hour speaking with students and community members in attendance making sure to take careful notes and not rely on his memory for evidence. In light of such a polarizing topic, both Andrew and the UW Daily staff did a commendable job.
With regard to Israelpalooza and the Nakbah, there is a lot to talk about. With multiple narratives and directly contradicting claims it isn't difficult to see why there are still so many problems in Israel, Palestine and the surrounding region. However, as university students we have the opportunity to discuss these topics without having to live through them. This could be a detriment if only seen as a means of delegitimizing one another--or, this is a chance to remember how much more we all have in common to enable us to sit down and listen. I hope students are brave enough to listen allowing us to join together as University of Washington students and remember why we attend university--to learn and have fun. It's possible to do both and it doesn't have to be at the expense of the other.
Shalom, Salaam, Peace,
Avi Zellman
#10 Andrew Doughman
on May 15, 2008 at 8:02 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
"Q" and "Sad Article,"
I read your comments. I am open to specific criticisms, if you have them.
If there are errors in my story, please let post them. The Daily will look into your claims and print corrections if necessary.
Thank you,
Andrew Doughman
#11 Andrew Doughman
on May 15, 2008 at 8:04 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
A correction to the error in my comment:
*If there are errors in my story, please post them.
(Or . . . If there are errors in my story, please let me know)
#12 Any reason
on May 16, 2008 at 3:32 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
Why you deleted my comments? I was talking about the "defense" wars by Israel, and they somehow disappeared.
#13 Chai
on May 16, 2008 at 8:31 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
Hey Andrew, I think your article is really good, and I totally respect you as both a writer and an editor, so I hope you don't let mean comments bring you down. In my opinion, it is a blanced and unbiased article, displaying both sides of a very sensitive debate. Good job! =)
#14 Lorane West
on May 17, 2008 at 3:50 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
One of the pro-Israeli students writes that "as university students we have the opportunity to discuss these topics without having to live through them." It is important to understand that the UW has many international students, including from Palestine and other occupied territories and war zones of the world. Not all students have the luxury/handicap to consider these matters only as an intellectual exercise. Students who have lived in these situation need to be heard with respect, because they have information you won't get from Fox and CNN. Take the time to learn from them.
#15 Stesha
on May 17, 2008 at 6:33 p.m.(Gig Harbor, WA | Unverified Name)
I am not arguing that Israel should be evacuated for the Palestinians to return, but the occupied regions should be given back. Many individuals have been born and lived in Israel for years, and they have the right to continue to live there. But it is wrong to allow the Israeli expansion into settlements in the "occupied regions" and it is unjust that these regions are occupied at all. Bush, with his seemingly constant focus on the Munich analogy, should probably concern himself with the constant appeasement of Israel's settlements.
Canadian Refugee:
"The vast majority of all Palestinians that left Israel in 1948 during the war left because the surrounding Arab countries told them to leave so that they would be out of the way when the Jews were being killed"
I am curious where you got your information. It seems implausible to me that the Arab states involved in the 6 day war would have had the ability to convince hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to leave their land. (conspiracy theory?)
Does Sabra and Shatilla ring any bells? You should look into it.
Jeremy: I agree that there wouldn't be as much of a refugee problem if the Palestinians were completely absorbed by nearby Arab states, but why shouldn't they be allowed to return to their homeland? Isn't that the driving force behind Israel's argument? and isn't it just a little immoral for Israel to muscle itself into all of Palestine? Why can't it just let the Palestinians have the West Bank and Gaza? It seems unjustified.
Lorane West: good call
I wish you all peace and moral clarity
#16 Canadian Refugee
on May 17, 2008 at 11:57 p.m.(Berkeley, CA | Unverified Name)
Stesha,
You dispute my facts, but you give none of your own. I have a quotes from Arab sources you should read:
“The Arab states which had encouraged the Palestinian Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies, have failed to keep their promise to help these refugees.”
Falistin (Jordanian Newspaper) Feb 19, 1949
“Who brought the Palestinians to Lebanon as refugees, suffering now from the malign attitude of newspapers and communal leaders, who have neither honor nor conscience? Who brought them over in dire straits and penniless, after they lost their honor? The Arab states, and Lebanon amongst them, did it.”
The Beirut weekly Kul-Shay, Aug. 19, 1951.
“The Arabs did not want to submit to a truce they rather preferred to abandon their homes, their belongings and everything they possessed in the world and leave the town. This is in fact what they did.”
Jamal Husseini, Chairman of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee, to the United Nations, Official Records (N. 62), April 23, 1948, p. 14
“It must not be forgotten that the Arab Higher Committee encouraged the refugees’ flight from their homes in Jaffa, Haifa, and Jerusalem.”
Near East Arabic Broadcasting Station, Cyprus. April 3 1949.
“The removal of the Arab inhabitants was voluntary and was carried out at our request. The Arab delegation proudly asked for the evacuation of the Arabs and their removal to the neighboring Arab countries. We are very glad to state that the Arabs guarded their honour and traditions with pride and greatness.”
Arab National Committee of Haifa, April 27, 1950.
“Brotherly advice was given to the Arabs of Palestine to leave their land, homes and property and to stay temporarily in neighboring fraternal states, lest the guns of the invading Arab armies mow them down.”
Habib Issa Lebanese newspaper Al Hoda, June 8, 1951.
“The 15th May, 1948 arrived on that day the Mufti of Jerusalem appealed to the Arabs of Palestine to leave the country, because the Arab countries were about to enter and fight in their stead.”
Egyptian Akhbar El Yom, Oct 12, 1963.
“The call by the Arab Governments to the inhabitants of Palestine to evacuate it and to leave for the bordering Arab countries"
Khaled al-`Azm, Prime Minister of Syria 1948 and 1949, memoirs (Part 1, pp. 386-387).
“To the [Arab and Muslim] Kings and Presidents, "Poverty is killing us, the symptoms are exhausting us and the souls are leaving our body, yet you are still searching for the way to provide aid, like one who is looking for a needle in a haystack or like the armies of your predecessors in the year of 1948, who forced us to leave [Israel], on the pretext of clearing the battlefields of civilians. So what will your summit do now?”
Fuad Abu Higla, Al Hayat Al Jadida, March 19, 2001
There are dozens more quotes by Arab sources spanning the entirety of Israel's existence. If you don't believe the Arabs themselves, who will you believe?
#17 Husky in Israel
on May 20, 2008 at 2:05 a.m.(Bat Yam, Israel | Unverified Name)
The bottom line people tend to miss is relatively simple: When the PA proves that it can control, police, and provide for its' own people there will be a withdrawal. In the meantime Israel will continue to employ the proven strategies to improve the security of its' people.
Israel does not want to be in the West Bank. They just know that if they pull out (as they did in Gaza), the PA will be totally incapable of providing any level of security (as was true after Oslo I, II, and in Gaza). Hamas is enjoying huge levels of popular support in Gaza, and are using it to their advantage to fire hundreds of missiles at Sderot and Ashkelon. Israel cannot afford to have the same situation in the West Bank - just miles away from Tel Aviv.
Occupation - let's call it like it is - is not the best situation for either Israel or the Palestinians. But for Israel there is no other choice. Palestinians living in the West Bank have to deal with the occupation on a daily basis. At the same time, there is limited access to Israel, food, electricity, gas, etc... In Gaza, with Hamas, the situation is much worse. Israel and Egypt have been forced to close the borders, Hamas steals gas from its' own people, and fires missiles at Israel from civilian's rooftops.
Arguing Historiography is kind of useless at this point. Regardless of anyone's right to be here, people need to look to the future. Maybe we can still prevent another war in Gaza.
#18 Husky in Israel
on May 20, 2008 at 2:06 a.m.(Bat Yam, Israel | Unverified Name)
The bottom line people tend to miss is relatively simple: When the PA proves that it can control, police, and provide for its' own people there will be a withdrawal. In the meantime Israel will continue to employ the proven strategies to improve the security of its' people.
Israel does not want to be in the West Bank. They just know that if they pull out (as they did in Gaza), the PA will be totally incapable of providing any level of security (as was true after Oslo I, II, and in Gaza). Hamas is enjoying huge levels of popular support in Gaza, and are using it to their advantage to fire hundreds of missiles at Sderot and Ashkelon. Israel cannot afford to have the same situation in the West Bank - just miles away from Tel Aviv.
Occupation - let's call it like it is - is not the best situation for either Israel or the Palestinians. But for Israel there is no other choice. Palestinians living in the West Bank have to deal with the occupation on a daily basis. At the same time, there is access to Israel for jobs, food, electricity, gas, etc... In Gaza, with Hamas, the situation is much worse. Israel and Egypt have been forced to close the borders, Hamas steals gas from its' own people, and fires missiles at Israel from civilian's rooftops.
Arguing Historiography is kind of useless at this point. Regardless of anyone's right to be here, people need to look to the future. Maybe we can still prevent another war in Gaza.
#19 syed
on May 21, 2008 at 12:57 a.m.(Los Angeles, CA | Unverified Name)
canadian refugee, let me tell you something you are an idiot.
#20 syed
on May 21, 2008 at 1:05 a.m.(Los Angeles, CA | Unverified Name)
There is more than 520 villages and towns were destroyed by Israeli Mafia (HAGANA and GOLANI) and killed their residence and forcing more than 720 thousand Palestainian to leave their country.
#21 Husky in Israel
on May 23, 2008 at 2:57 p.m.(Haifa, Israel | Unverified Name)
Golani is a unit in the IDF and was not created until the early 1950s. There was no official Israeli policy to destory villages, except for a handful around Jerusalem that were used to mount counterattacks against the newly formed IDF. There was only one massacre during the 1948 war of independence - Deir Yassin, where 100-120 people were killed by members of two very small irregular military units - the Irgun and Lehi - during and after a pitched battle in the town. These two groups were dismantled after the war.
No one knows for sure what percentage of that number - which experts argue is between 400-750K, fled, were told to leave by Arab armies (5 of them invaded Palestine/Israel...), or were kicked out by Israel because of the war.
#22 Canadian Refugee
on May 23, 2008 at 8:11 p.m.(Alameda, CA | Unverified Name)
Syed-
You are the idiot. I have provided historical and contemporary quotes from Muslim Arab sources, and you make up facts to make me look bad. Try again.
#23 syed
on June 2, 2008 at 10:25 a.m.(Orlando, FL | Unverified Name)
I urge every body to take a look at the history.
http://palestineremembered.com/index....
#24 syed
on June 2, 2008 at 10:40 a.m.(Orlando, FL | Unverified Name)
CANADIAN REFUGEE,I WILL NOT TRY ANYTHING TO MAKE YOU LOOK BAD.BUT WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT HISTORY YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKIN.
http://palestineremembered.com/Acre/P...
#25 syed
on June 2, 2008 at 3:17 p.m.(Orlando, FL | Unverified Name)
I am sure your grandfather has a canadian citizinship and he can go back to canada where ever he wants to.
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