This week, the Northeastern chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is hosting Israeli Apartheid Week on campus. In recent years, few issues have been as divisive on campus as the Israel-Palestine conflict. On each side of the issue is a very active student group – SJP, and Huskies for Israel. Members of both of these groups should be commended for their civic engagement and for pursuing their sense of justice, but both groups could better further their goals and improve Northeastern’s community by working together instead of against each other.
While the debate ismostly civil, it has been heated at times. Controversy erupted in December 2011 when SJP hosted pro-Palestine activist Norman Finkelstein. Huskies for Israel protested before and during the event. Likewise, when Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren spoke at Northeastern last April, members of SJP accused Israel of human rights violations while Oren was taking questions.
Though this is a critical issue, and it is important to have these debates, the tone that these student groups have been taking is far from productive. Instead of polarizing the Northeastern community, SJP and Huskies for Israel should work together to represent their interests while contributing viable input to the search for a solution.
President Joseph E. Aoun has recently taken it upon himself to promote diversity, inclusion and civic sustainability on campus. In the context of Northeastern, the issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are among the largest threats to the compassionate community that the new Presidential Council on Diversity and Inclusion (PCDI) is trying to promote. While the Palestine issue doesn’t necessarily fall along racial, ethnic or religious lines, the undertones are clear and shouldn’t be ignored.
Last December a menorah was vandalized on Krentzman quad. While there is no reason to believe the incident is connected to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and there is a vast difference between being anti-Semitic and anti-Israel, the polarized community this debate encourages acts as a barrier to mutual respect and understanding.
The divisiveness of this issue also hinders the goals of both sides. Huskies for Israel should recognize that Israel will never be secure if conditions in Palestinian areas aren’t improved. Likewise, SJP should recognize that there will never be justice in Palestine if Israel’s legitimate concerns are ignored. The tone of this debate on campus overshadows these realities.
It must be conceded that the concerns outlined here are not limited to Northeastern’s campus. This is a universally divisive issue and even high-level negotiators often put petty politics ahead of logic and understanding. But Northeastern students can and should rise above the fray. As President Aoun has said, “Instead of being a microcosm for society, we need to be a model for society.” SJP and Huskies for Israel are in a unique place to assume roles of community leadership and show that Northeastern can indeed be a model for society.
Next year, instead of participating in Israeli Apartheid Week, SJP and Huskies for Israel should work jointly to host “Middle Eastern Peace Week,” in which the two groups work together to host discussions and workshops to find common ground between the two sides, identify the root causes of the conflicts, and work towards viable solutions. It may be unrealistic to suggest that undergraduates can help solve a decades old problem, but working towards a common goal will strengthen the Northeastern community and provide a model for how the rest of the world should approach this conflict.
