Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) hosted a discussion on Palestine’s colonization
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), a Concordia student group that aims to raise awareness about human right abuses towards Palestinians, hosted a panel discussion on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine on Thursday night in Concordia’s Hall building.
The event was part of the Israel Apartheid Week 2017, a week aimed at creating international awareness of the settler-colonial relationship between Israel and Palestine, and the Palestinian apartheid. SPHR advocates for an end to Palestine’s colonization and aims to promote awareness of Palestinian culture and identity.
Nahla Abdo, a professor in the department of sociology at Carleton University in Ottawa, was the first speaker. The other two panelists were Nuha Dwaikat Shaer, a PhD candidate at McGill’s School of Social Work, and Rula Abisaab, a professor of Islamic history at McGill University.
Approximately one minute into Abdo’s presentation, two young men entered the auditorium wearing Israeli flags tied around their shoulders like capes. Both men, followed by a man filming them, walked up to the table where the panelists were seated and began to chant, “I’m Israel, I’m Israel, we are here to stay,” adding, “there is no Palestine, there was never any Palestine.”
Abisaab attempted to read the poem “With Green We Wrapped Him” by Palestinian poet Izzidin al-Manasrah over their chants. “We wrapped him in a shroud of green, white and black. A red triangle on rectangular flag,” she recited.
However, this did not deter the protesters, and the other two panelists and some audience members became involved in a verbal confrontation with them. At one point, several audience members chanted “shame shame shame” at them.
Both men repeated, “there’s no Palestine,” to the crowd.
CSU internal affairs coordinator and former SPHR president Ramia Yahia, who had been at the event moments before, said he heard yelling coming from the auditorium. Yahia said he suspected someone was attempting to disrupt the lecture.
Yahia, accompanied by CSU external affairs and mobilization coordinator Aloyse Muller, entered the room, and asked the men to stop.
Yahia said security arrived about five minutes after both executives intervened, and the men stopped yelling. Yahia said both men who were chanting wore badges from the Israeli army on their bag and t-shirts with the Israeli defence emblem on it.
When the two security guards arrived, they escorted the protesters off to the side. A group of people and a handful of CSU members followed them. The group talked for a few minutes, then the protesters were escorted outside by the security guards.
Howie Silbiger, identified as the man who was filming both men at the time, said he was there on behalf of Montreal Jewish News to cover the event. Silbiger said he was not affiliated with the protesters. “I was informed that the event was going to happen,” said Silbiger.
Silbiger, a Concordia Student, said he was followed to class by security and two members of SPHR who were recording, when security asked Silbiger to provide identification.
Security informed Silbiger a complaint was being filed against him did not state why, Silbiger said. “Our job is to cover news when it happens,” said Silbiger. He said he believes he was racially profiled by Concordia security. “I did nothing to disrupt or disturb the event, stood quietly in the back of the room and cooperated fully with security,” said Silbiger.
“There is an ongoing investigation,” said Yahia, concerning the men who disrupted the panel.
After the protesters left, Abdo resumed the presentation of her theory on the settler-colonial relationship between Israel and Palestine. “In the simplest way, I define racism as the relations between the superior and what they turned into inferior,” she said.
Abdo discussed the historical events that shaped the Middle East, such as the 1916 Sykes Picot Agreement, the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1948 Indigenous Genocide that led to the creation of Israel.
Shaer presented the subject of her doctoral thesis, which focused on the ethnic cleansing and quiet resistance of Palestinians in Area C—a section of the Gaza Strip. Area C is a highly-contested piece of land that both the Israelis and Palestinians claim ownership of.
There are over 180 Palestinian communities in Area C that want to stay, despite the Israeli government bulldozing their homes and denying their building permit applications, Shaer said.
According to Shaer, the Israeli court has yet to approve a single Palestinian building permit application in Area C. “Palestinians are quietly resisting occupation,” she said.
This resistance includes living in caves, makeshift shelters, sheds and tents, building structures on Saturdays (the Jewish day of rest) and purposely building incomplete structures since complete ones are more likely to be bulldozed, Shaer explained.
Abisaab read a selection of poems and parts of short stories by Palestinian authors.
She finished by reciting the same poem she had recited at the start of the discussion.
The Concordian reached out to Israel on Campus: Concordia, to which they provided their official statement about what happened. “Israel on Campus condemns this action done by non-Concordia students which decided to interrupt this event. IOC stands for freedom of expression and the right for everyone to express what they think and feel.”
Israel On Campus is a group geared to educate others on Israel’s commitment to democracy in the Middle East and its humanitarian efforts, history, culture and environmental initiatives
The Concordian reached out to the university for comment, however, we did not receive a response before publication time.
With files from Savanna Craig
I agree but I hope you feel the same way when anyone is censored
Israel is the only just, democratic entity in the entire Middle East, even at the expense of demolishing Jewish homes and entire cities to satisfy Islamic racism, akin to the second WW Canadian motto, “None is too many” when it applies to the human right of Jews. Disgusting bigotry and racism.
how can it be a just democracy if it occupies so many palestinians… where is their vote?
I am certainly not going to defend the the nation-states of the middle east but some of the worst ones are allies of the US and Israel. Also, yes, I expect MORE from Israel because they are our allies, they claim to have secular and western values, and so I judge Israel far more harshly.
Occupation is not the right term, even if it is the preferred term of the EU and the Muslim-nation-controlled UN. The land you are talking about is disputed territory, not Arab land, and most of the inhabitants live under the authority of the PA or Hamas. Israel is not an occupying entity. Its actions are almost always taken in self-defense, and when one of its citizens or soldiers steps out of line he or she is roundly condemned, apprehended, and put on trial. Israel may not be perfect, but she is the best there is out there, holding up quite well even against the ridiculous double standards imposed by hypocrites out there, including the UK and US.
Israel wouldn’t exist without the support of the US. But please keep talking like that, I think its good for the Palestinian cause
The Pals are recent immigrants brought to Palestine in the last 100 years as a result of the huge capital inflow of the Zionists, which required many workers, which couldn’t be met by Jewish labor due to the Ottoman, and later British restrictions on Jewish immigration, while Muslims as far as Sudan were allowed in in great numbers. It’s similar to the illegal immigration to US, and Europe today, for better economic well being. Palestinians should be repatriated to their respective Islamic COUNTRIES, and shouldn’t expect to receive Israeli citizenship and demographically overwhelm the only Jewish national entity on earth. No country should be expected to commit demographic suicide.It’s immoral to request that from Israel!!!
I agree (with only the last part, I’m going to ignore the first half of your statement because it moronic)
BUT then a two-state solution is the only option left
You can ignore the truth. My solution is incentives to emigrate. If not the pain of death penalty for selling lands to Jews, half of Judea, Samaria would be already Jewish I believe in a singular state where the Jews are free to PURCHASE lands willingly offered by Muslims eager to cash out and leave. Do you need any better proof who are the real lovers and owners of this Jewish fatherland, then the death penalty on Muslims by the corrupt to the core Palestinian Authority? Truth is way stronger then fictional ideological leftist wishful thinking!!!
This “article” is full of propaganda. Like the fictitious “ethnic cleansing” of non-existent Palestine, fantasy “apartheid,” and the best one of all, the “1948 Indigenous Genocide.” Ha. Hard for a genocide to occur in 1948 when the victims didn’t exist as a people until the 1960s! And it’s a unique reading of the word indigenous when you try to apply it to a group of migrants who came to the area only 50-100 years prior!
If The Concordian wants to be taken seriously as a journalistic entity, then it should limit itself to reporting facts and not fictional propaganda.
This is just a lie
Sorry. No lies. Just facts. I know those are hard to swallow among the pallywood propaganda squad.
you’re a liar
AND it doesn’t even matter, it doesn’t bolster your argument at all. Even if I agree with your asinine comment…. then what? It doesn’t change what Israel has done to generations of these human beings… Palestinian or otherwise.
In any case, you probably think the earth is flat. There goes the stereotype of the intellectual jew
You can call me whatever names you’d like. And you can level whatever false lies you want against Israel, too. But it won’t change the fact that your characterization of “what Israel has done to generations of these human beings” is complete crap. Israel has “done” nothing to these people. What Israel has done is create a society in which all people, regardless of race or religion or even sexual orientation, can live and worship freely with equal rights and opportunities. That’s why there are Arabs in its government, in its industry, in its entertainment professions, and even on its Supreme Court. An Arab was even selected as Miss Israel to represent the country in the Miss Universe pageant. (Go ahead – prove me wrong.) It’s why it’s the only place in the entire region where Christians aren’t being wiped out and instead see their population growing. (Go ask the Copts in Egypt and the Yazidis elsewhere how they’re doing. I notice you choose to troll here and criticize me and defame Israel but not a peep about the barbarous surrounding countries with no rights for anyone except Muslim men.)
What’s also true, and what you ignore, is that Israel has tried over and over and over and over again, since its very founding, to try to find a way to live in peace with its neighbors. Peace deals offering nearly everything the Arabs claimed they wanted in 2000 and 2008. Even releasing convicted murderers just to get the arabs to the negotiating table. But the Arabs are unwilling to accept peace with Israel on any terms whatsoever. And let’s not forget how Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza as a gesture toward peace, only to be rewarded with a steady barrage of rockets for over a decade.
And as for “these human beings” you claim to care about, many reside in refugee camps for one reason and one reason only: because the surrounding countries refused to let assimilate into their populations these people’s fathers and grandfathers — most of whom left their homes VOLUNTARILY when Israel was founded, at the urging of the surrounding nations, expecting to return after the Jews were driven into the sea. They remain in squalor because their Arab hosts prefer to maintain them that way for propaganda purposes.
So spare me your crap about “apartheid” and “genocide” and fictitious indigenous people and whatever else. You can cry all you want about the wall, when we both know it was put up to prevent terrorist attacks and has been incredibly effective, reducing them by more than 90% (which is why carbon-based garbage like you cry about it so much). I know too much about this conflict to fall for you pallywood propaganda.
“What Israel has done is create a society in which all people, regardless of race or religion or even sexual orientation, can live and worship freely with equal rights and opportunities.”
Then why can’t ALL the Arabs participate in elections?
“I notice you choose to troll here and criticize me and defame Israel but not a peep about the barbarous surrounding countries with no rights for anyone except Muslim men.”
I said this just a few inches away: “I am certainly not going to defend the the nation-states of the middle east but some of the worst ones are allies of the US and Israel. Also, yes, I expect MORE from Israel because they are our allies, they claim to have secular and western values, and so I judge Israel far more harshly.”
“What’s also true, and what you ignore, is that Israel has tried over and over and over and over again, since its very founding, to try to find a way to live in peace with its neighbors.”
Then why does the Likud Party of Israel (the ruling party) claim in its charter that they reject the establishment of a palestinian state? What solution is left if you won’t give Arabs the right to vote and you won’t support a two-state solution?
As for the rest of your nonsense, it’s nothing but that. Mass amounts of people didn’t just leave their homes because… well… they felt like it!
It’s clear that you do know a lot of about Israel which makes it all the more disturbing that you continue to defend the disgusting atrocities it commits!
“why can’t ALL the Arabs participate in elections?” They all do. At least the ones who are Israeli citizens. The Arabs you’re referring to are under the jurisdiction of the PA and Hamas. They would be welcome to vote in elections in their territories if those entities chose to hold elections. They don’t vote in Israeli elections for the same reason that Mexicans and Canadians do not vote in U.S. elections.
You “expect MORE from Israel because they are our allies (sic), they claim to have secular and western values, and so I judge Israel far more harshly.” Yeah, right. You mean you hold Israel to a higher standard than you hold even the U.S. and other Western countries because it is very politically popular to do so, and you use fictitious “atrocities” as indictments against her based on those unreasonable standards. You can try to make yourself sound even-handed with fancy phrases, but I’m not fooled.
As for the Likud charter, I’m less concerned with what’s on that paper than what policies are actually implemented, and certainly more concerned that the charter for Hamas continues to call for Israel’s complete destruction, that the PA refuses to accept Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, and that the PA and their infrastructure indoctrinates Jew-hatred into their children and encourages and rewards terrorism and the murder of Jewish civilians. The fact that you carry on about a seldom-mentioned clause in a political party charter while refusing to mention the Hamas’ charter and the PA’s incitement, nor to acknowledge that the latter is the true obstacle to peace (not the former), shows that you’re either hopelessly ignorant with your head stuck firmly in the sand or a vile hypocrite.
As for “the disgusting atrocities” Israel commits, please share those with me. For as much as the left-leaning anti-Israel Western media tries to portray Israel in the least-favorable light possible, I’m not aware of what those “disgusting atrocities” are.
more occupation and sexism. #slowclap