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Re: Endorse the 3rd North American Conference of the PalestineSolidarity Movement -- Register Now To: marxism@lists.panix.com Subject: Re: Endorse the 3rd North American Conference of the PalestineSolidarity Movement -- Register Now From: Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@osu.edu> Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 13:10:39 -0400 In-reply-to: <p05001910bb526cac1d9f@[140.254.114.141]> References: <p05001910bb526cac1d9f@[140.254.114.141]> Reply-To: marxism@lists.panix.com Sender: owner-marxism@lists.panix.com In response to my request that UFPJ endorse the Third National Student Conference on the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, Nadia Hijab of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (@ <http://www.endtheoccupation.org/>) has brought to my attention that at least seven Arab NJ Solidarity steering committee members resigned in protest of the practice of the other steering committee members and issued a public statement indicting their unwise choices and undemocratic means -- see below for both Nadia's postings and the public statement in question. Given the problems in NJ Solidarity, I put my request for endorsement on hold, pending a major change in NJ Solidarity's practice. > Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 07:45:33 -0400 > From: Nadia Hijab > Subject: Re: [ufpj-pal] Endorse the 3rd North American Conference of the > Palestine Solidarity Movement > > Thanks Yoshie for all your hard work on the draft and on keeping members > of this group informed about different events. I look forward to seeing > the draft after Rania and Josh have had a chance to go over it. > > Re the upcoming conference at Rutgers below, I would not support > recommending it for SC endorsement because New Jersey Solidarity is now a > splinter group of the original. > > The remaining members reportedly used non-democratic means to push a > platform that divided the group (pasting a new statement on the website > and locking out the other members), and the Arab and Palestinian members > had no option but to leave the group. We at the US Campaign to End the > Israeli Occupation have removed NJ Solidarity from our list. My > understanding is that ISM has also done so. > > I'm pasting below the public statement by the members who left the group. > Best, Nadia > >> Public Statement from former NJ Solidarity Steering Committee Members >> >> We the undersigned, former steering committee members of NJ Solidarity, >> would like to publicly and officially sever any and all ties with the >> current leadership of NJ Solidarity. >> >> Recently, NJ Solidarity has taken a very radical turn towards something >> akin to militancy. We, the majority of its steering committee, have >> resigned to protect ourselves from what we have been advising others to >> avoid. >> >> The NJS Mission Statement was originally crafted to provide a safe >> environment for activism and dialogue on issues affecting Palestine and >> its people. The few members which remain with NJS have far different >> visions for the organization. >> >> NJS members have recently been involved in actions that have been >> thoughtless and immoral with regards to administrative matters. A window >> on this pattern of incident shows that the foundation of NJS, its >> mission statement, remains in theory but has been cast aside in practice >> by a number of its members. Those who prefer reckless rhetoric have >> tried amending the Mission Statement to include "Israel has no right to >> exist" and have openly welcomed the idea of inviting Hamas to events. We >> have had debates against Steering Committee persons who hold tight to >> the idea that there are no Israeli civilians and when confronted with >> "even the kids?" the reply was "yes, everyone's fair game". This has >> been escalating for a number of months now. It has gone well past the >> point of return. >> >> After a final week of attempted dialogue with the aforementioned, we >> have been received with an increased pattern of deception. A series of >> deception now aimed at Steering Committee members, who held tight to >> upholding the Mission Statement, has forced us to resign our services to >> the organization for our own safety and for fear of the future >> principles of this organization. >> >> We expect those who remain on the NJS Steering Committee to displace >> blame for these incidents, or perhaps deny they ever occurred. Hopefully >> this will not be the case as we are all here to work for truth and >> justice. But if this comes to light we remind people that under the >> original NJS policy of complete transparency, we are comfortable in >> knowing that those who scrutinize our position will find it thoroughly >> upheld with quality materials. >> >> We are passionate about Palestine and its people and dedicated to truth >> and empowerment, but we realize that there is a right and just way or a >> wrong and treacherous way to do things. We have chosen not to follow the >> latter. We will, however, continue to work within our communities and >> with one another to build similar mechanisms to continue to educate and >> empower our communities on issues of relevance. >> >> Mona Abdallah >> Basem Hassan >> Iman Mohammed >> Abeer Mustafa >> Enam Saadeh >> Summer Sharaf >> Jamal Al Din Talib > Date: Sun, 03 Aug 2003 10:30:51 -0400 > From: Nadia Hijab > Subject: Re: [ufpj-pal] Endorse the 3rd North American Conference of the > Palestine Solidarity Movement > > Yoshie, I agree that it is important for the information to get out as > widely as possible. > > Just for a bit more background: when we were discussing this on the US > Campaign Steering Committee, I checked the NJ Solidarity website and it > contained language that said the Palestinians had the right to resist > using any means possible. The right to resist occupation is recognized > under international law, but attacks on civilians violate international > law. > > I had been invited to speak at Rutgers last November (before the split) > and met both Charlotte Kates and Summer Sharaf, who had organized my > talk. After we removed NJ Solidarity from the Campaign list, I sent an > email to Charlotte Kates explaining our decision on the basis that their > positions violated international law, and invited her to call me if she > wanted to discuss this further, but she did not do so. > > If you do forward my message, please remove my email address as I don't > want to get on to any listservs - I have enough problems dealing with my > Inbox as is! > > All the best, Nadia -- Yoshie * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/> References: Endorse the 3rd North American Conference of the Palestine SolidarityMovement -- Register Now From: Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@osu.edu> Prev by Date: Lou: Re: ISO criticism of DSP & reply Next by Date: Re: ISO criticism of DSP & reply Prev by thread: Endorse the 3rd North American Conference of the Palestine SolidarityMovement -- Register Now Next by thread: Wall Street's role in Argentina collapse Index(es): Date Thread