We are writing today in response to your letter from last week titled, “Our Journey to Deeper Understanding.” While we appreciate you taking the time to actually engage with issues on campus, we can’t help but feel that your letter is disingenuous. By presenting the campus as a neutral place where two sides have equal say, you are masking your administration’s decision to stand against justice.
You cite three events in your letter: six Israeli Knesset members speaking in an event planned by the university, a lecture by a Palestinian author on campus and a protest against the first event. You state that, “the juxtaposition of these three events is an example of Northeastern at its best.” However, that statement is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the university tried desperately to see that those last two events did not happen. While the Israeli Knesset members (many of whom boldly proclaim racist positions towards Palestinians and African migrants in Israel) were given red-carpet treatment and spoke in the largest auditorium at Northeastern, administrators micromanaged the planning of the lecture by Palestinian author Ali Abunimah, looking for any excuse to cancel the event.
As for the protest, students were not allowed to conduct these actions on campus at all, and police forced protesters to stay on the public sidewalk, outside of campus. You taking credit for our hard work and passion in order to compliment yourself is both completely ridiculous and downright offensive.
Lastly, in your letter you point out a trend you have perceived in campus discourse, a “framing that diminishes all of us: One side is good and the other is evil.”
Anyone who has followed the campus news knows that you are referring to SJP. Your statement is a reductionist simplification of the debates that happen on campus, distorting the message of our group and missing the larger issue at hand. SJP does not claim to be on one side, other than the side of justice. You will find among our members Jews, Muslims, atheists, Americans, Palestinians and students from all over the world who are critical of politicians and actions taken by all sides.
What we all agree on however is that the so-called “Israeli-Palestinian conflict” is not two sides with equal grievances, nor will we pretend otherwise. Israel is a nuclear-armed nation-state, closely allied with the United States, oppressing the indigenous Palestinian population, subjecting those in the West Bank to life under military occupation, Palestinian citizens of Israel to second-class status, and Palestinians in the Gaza strip to conditions described as an “open-air prison.” As defined by the United Nations, Israel is an apartheid state, and we will make no qualms or excuses for that. If you, President Aoun, do not believe that we should call systems of racial injustice, apartheid, displacement, occupation, deprivation and ethnic cleansing what they are – evil – then what should we call them?
We are not afraid to name these offenses or those who perpetrate them. We do not hide behind public relations discourse, dialogues and “neutrality.” We are in the streets, with hundreds of people braving the frosty New England spring to stand against censorship, against occupation and against evil. We are the Palestine underground and we are not going anywhere.
-Tori Porell is a senior international affairs major. Sean Hansen is a junior anthropology major. Both are leaders of Students for Justice in Palestine.
