Latest News on the Third North American Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement

9/12/2003 - Urgent Call to Action - Rutgers University Officials Cancel Palestine Conference

Statement from the Organizing Committee of the Third National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement at Rutgers University

This is an Urgent Call to Action! Your immediate solidarity is needed!

Rutgers University Officials Cancel Palestine Conference Press release follows this call to action at end of post

Today, Rutgers University officials have CANCELLED the Third National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement, scheduled for October 10-12, 2003 at Rutgers University.

Yet, the students at Rutgers University are determined to hold the conference as planned.

In canceling this widely supported conference throughout North America, the university administration has trampled on constitutional rights, muted free speech, and has betrayed its pledge to fairness and education.

This is an attack on peace and justice activists everywhere. It is an attack on our society as a whole and on our right to free expression and assembly.

But the university administration has gone much farther, and has taken a shameful overt political stand in favor of Israeli Apartheid. As the university cancels the Palestine conference, it is simultaneously supporting an overarching pro-Israel program called "Israel Inspires", organized by the likes of AIPAC and Hillel International along with others, which will be held at Rutgers to "neutralize the Palestinian movement".

According to the official website of "Israel Inspires" (www.israelinspires.org), the president of Rutgers University, Dr. Richard L. McCormick, "pledged his support for Israel Inspires, and asked to be personally involved in Hillel's positive pro-active initiative." In fact, President McCormick will appear tonight as a keynote at a pro-Israel event hosted by Zionists groups at Rutgers University. Featured participants at the "Israel Inspires" program during the weekend of October 10-12 will include the arch-Zionist Richard Perle and former CIA Director, James Woolsey. They will join the president of the right-wing Hudson Institute, Herbert London, and the publisher & CEO of the Jerusalem Post, Tom Rose. On September 18, 2003, Israeli Minister, Natan Sharansky, will be featured as the opening speaker of the anti-Palestinian year-long program.

Palestine solidarity students and activists have the same right to assemble and hold a conference. They have the right to demand that their university is not invested in another Apartheid system, and that they are not party to the suppression of the Palestinian people. They have the right to express their views and be heard without intimidation and constant harassments.

Palestine solidarity students and activists should not be silenced by anyone. The Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities should not be marginalized and positioned as conspirators.

These attacks on the organizers of the Palestine conference and the movement have mirrored the escalating assault on the Palestinian people, and have intersected with the attacks against our civil liberties and constitutional rights. The movement for peace and justice is at a crossroad today, and our society is being tested and pushed to the limits.

The Palestine solidarity movement needs your support! The Third National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement must be held as planned.

To register your objection to the university action, and to support the students' constitutional right to hold the conference, please contact:

Richard L. McCormick, President
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
83 Somerset Street
New Brunswick
New Jersey 08901
Telephone: 732/932-7454
Fax: 732/932-8060
Email: president@rutgers.edu

or,

Emmet Dennis
Vice President for Student Affairs
732-932-8756
dennis@oldqueens.rutgers.edu

or,

Marie T. Logue
Associate Dean
732-932-7442
logue@rci.rutgers.edu

9/12/2003 - ADMINISTRATION ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE STUDENT SPEECH AT BEHEST OF PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY; ATTEMPTS TO CANCEL STUDENT CONFERENCE

NEW BRUNSWICK - (September 12, 2003) - Dean Marie Logue of the Department of Student Affairs at Rutgers College; Rutgers University today announced to several student representatives of student Palestine advocacy organization New Jersey Solidarity that the administration has deemed that "logistics" forbid students to proceed with a national Palestine solidarity conference scheduled for October 10-12, 2003; the student organization is determined to continue, saying they will hold the conference "wherever we must." This decision comes the day University President Robert McCormick is scheduled to appear at a dinner sponsored by Rutgers Hillel, a Zionist group on campus.

The hastily-called meeting, to which students were called on Thursday evening, was unexplained. The organization's faculty advisor, Dr. Robert Trivers, was unavailable, and students attempted to reschedule the meeting, but were denied. Dean Logue stated at the meeting that "deadlines" prevented the conference from occurring, even though students had raised over $6,000 to be deposited in their account and met with Dean Johnston of Rutgers College on September 5 - the day of the allegedly missed deadlines. Organizers replied that this assertion was "ludicrous. The deans of this University have made it clear on numerous occasions that they do not want this conference to happen. This is political repression - just as the Palestinian people have been repressed through history. The University is attempting to abuse bureaucracy in order to silence student voices," said Paola Rizzuto, a Rutgers College sophomore and President of the organization.

"We refuse to be silenced. We will hold our conference wherever we must - in a hotel, in a park, wherever. The Palestinian people have continued to resist despite incredible and overwhelming force displayed against them - and we owe them nothing less than to refuse to be silenced. We stand in solidarity with Palestine, and we call upon this university to divest all of its funds from the state of Israel and companies that do business with it. To do otherwise is to support apartheid. This is an official action on the part of Rutgers University in support of apartheid," said Charlotte Kates, a second-year student at Rutgers School of Law in Newark.

Robert McCormick, the University's new President, is scheduled to appear tonight at a Hillel-sponsored dinner at Brower Commons, the University dining hall. Rutgers Hillel is sponsoring "Israel Inspires," a counter-conference that will take place the same weekend as the student Palestine solidarity conference. "This appearance indicates the overt bias and discrimination displayed by Rutgers University administration," said Cecilia Joulain, a Douglass College senior and Treasurer of New Jersey Solidarity. "Bureaucracy is not an excuse. This is an attempt to silence student organizing at the University."

9/8/2003 -ZIONISTS PLAN TO INTIMIDATE RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ON OCTOBER 10-12
by Elias A. Rashmawi

No, Rutgers is not just another conference.

If you ever hesitated about coming to the Palestine Solidarity Movement conference at Rutgers University, it is time to reconsider.

The Zionist movement has neither hesitation nor doubt about its importance. In fact, it is striking hard on that weekend of October 10-12 like it never did before on any US college campus. In ita own words, it is planning the “largest campus Israel gathering in America.” Its goal: To destroy the Palestine solidarity movement!

Read on please, or just use the following link to get a taste of what is coming ahead, and a sense of the massive Zionist onslaught and propaganda our students and activists will be facing shortly: http://www.israelinspires.org

In a nutshell, and as we warned before, anti-Palestinian Zionist organizations from throughout New Jersey and the United States have committed unprecedented money, resources, power, numbers and strong resolve to dwarf if not terminate the upcoming Third North American Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement. Powerful groups like AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and Hillel International will partner with the university President and join many other organizations to strike against the very pro-Palestine activists who could barely pay their rent or phone bills.

Just as massive Israeli tanks role over the camps and towns of Palestine on a daily basis, so will be the attempt of the Zionist movement in the US for Rutgers University: to role over discourse, crush dissent, and destroy the Palestine solidarity movement.

As clearly indicated in the press releases below (http://www.israelinspires.org/press.shtml), the Zionist movement in the US considers the Rutgers Conference a crucial battle that must not be lost. They are leveraging disunity and channeling internal disagreements within our ranks to strike at the heart of pro-Palestine activism in the US: the divestment movement.

The weekend on October 10-12 will open a yearlong effort at Rutgers to solidify Zionist support. To usher the year on, a line-up of anti-Palestinian speakers is being assembled. For the “Israel Inspires” weekend of October 10-12, featured speakers include the arch-Zionist Richard Perle and former CIA director, James Woolsey. They will join the president of the right-wing Hudson Institute, Herbert London, and the publisher & CEO of the Jerusalem Post, Tom Rose. On September 18, 2003, Israeli Minister, Natan Sharansky, will be featured as part of the program. More will be announced.

So here is the line-up at Rutgers:

On the one hand, the Zionist movement in its entirety is united to crush the movement for justice for Palestine, and plans to strike hard against the students of Rutgers University on October 10-12. Standing for justice and equality on the other hand are everyday students attempting to maintain their classes and make do with what little income they have.

The Zionists and right wing movements are UNITED and are equipped with institutional structures and massive support mechanisms. The students are equipped with nothing but their tireless effort and their belief that a better world is a must for all.

What is needed: A unity of resolve for justice in Palestine like never before, and a support that cuts across all sectors.

Will we let the Zionist movement role all over us at Rutgers?

If you have ever hesitated about coming, the Zionist movement has made the choice for you: On October 10-12, we can only be at Rutgers University in support of Palestine.

See you there!

8/30/2003 - NATIONAL PALESTINE SOLIDARITY AND DIVESTMENT CONFERENCE GEARS UP FOR RUTGERS UNIVERSITY OCTOBER 10-12

New Brunswick, NJ . Over objections of New Jersey Governor McGreevey and State Senate President Bennett, the Palestine Solidarity Movement
and Rutgers students are exercising their hard-won rights and moving ahead with plans to host the Third North American Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement to be held October 10-12, 2003. The conference brings together hundreds of student and community groups working in solidarity with the Palestinian people and for divestment from Israel.

Scheduled for Rutgers since January of this year, the conference and its organizers have overcome attacks from New Jersey State Senate President
John Bennett, Governor James McGreevey and political players active in policy-making regarding Israel. Student and community-based groups around
the country are working to develop a program that will focus their work together over the coming year.

The conference comes at a critical time for a solidarity movement whose focus is ending Israel's apartheid. The students' efforts to support divestment build on the successful legacy of the South African freedom movement. Conference workshops and speakers will direct their attention to stopping Israel's construction of the apartheid wall, dismantling settlements and supporting Palestinian self-determination.

The PSM conference is scheduled to take place at the Douglass College Center in New Brunswick, NJ. Students are still grappling with the University's latest attempts to stifle their efforts, this time to move the conference under the pretext of "security."

Solidarity with the Palestinian people is widespread, with numerous events across the country and around the world. Organizers of this conference
are pleased to take part in this legacy and support any additional events, wherever they may be held.