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Palestinian activists discuss “Israeli apartheid”
March 02, 2007
Palestinian activists will discuss their experiences mobilizing their communities to nonviolently resist the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in Gaza on Monday, March 5 at 7 p.m. in Nordquist Lecture Hall.
Mohammed Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal both live in West Bank communities that are immediately threatened with destruction due to actions of the Israeli military and settlers, according to their organization’s Web site. The two have embarked on a multi-city speaking tour across the United States to raise public awareness.
Their speech is titled “Grassroots, Nonviolent Resistance to Israeli Apartheid in Palestine.” According to the Web site, the two will speak about the “thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis who are waging a grassroots, nonviolent campaign of resistance against Israel’s apartheid system of military occupation and discrimination against Palestinians.”
“The viewpoint has been out there for decades, but the amazing thing is how few Americans have heard it,” said Troy Storfjell, assistant professor of Norwegian and Scandanavian studies.
The anti-occupation voice tends to be drowned out by the pro-occupation rhetoric, and people are often surprised when they find out people don’t like being occupied by other countries, Storfjell said.
When Storfjell learned that Khatib and Haikal would be in town and wanted to speak in Tacoma, he realized it would fit well with the content of his course, “Post Colonial Issues.” Along with French professor Mark Jensen, Strofjell teamed up with the languages and literatures department, the international core and community groups to sponsor the event.
Khatib is from the small village of Bil’in, and he is a leading member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and the secretary of the Bil’in Village Council. He is a principle organizer of his village’s two-year struggle to prevent the construction of an Israeli wall on the village’s land. The wall blocked access to nearly 60 percent of the village’s agricultural fields.
Additionally, one of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank is located next to the village, and Khatib has worked to stop the expansion the settlement. It now has more than 35,000 residents.
At the lecture, Khatib will present a video that depicts his village’s nonviolent resistance to the construction of the wall. The video also shows Israelis and others from the international community working alongside the Palestinians.
Khatib’s writing has been published in the International Herald Tribune and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Read the Seattle P-I opinion piece here.
Feryal Abu Haikal is a lifelong resident of the Tel Rumeida, located in the heart of Hebron’s Old City that is occupied by the Israeli military and settlers. She recently retired after serving 11 years as the headmistress of the Kortuba School, which teaches 100 Palestinian students in grades one through 10. Despite attacks on the school, it has remained open and served as a model of nonviolent resistance.
Haikal will also present a video depicting Israeli settler children harassing Palestinian students and teachers.
To learn more about Khatib and Haikal, and the resistance movement, click here.
The event is sponsored by PLU’s international core, the languages and literatures department and Peace Studies Group, as well as United for Peace Pierce County, NW Middle East Peace Forum, The Micah Project, Women in Black Tacoma, People for Peace, Justice and Healing, and Veterans for Peace.
For more information, contact Troy Storfjell at ext. 8514 or storfjta@plu.edu.
Their speech is titled “Grassroots, Nonviolent Resistance to Israeli Apartheid in Palestine.” According to the Web site, the two will speak about the “thousands of Palestinians and hundreds of Israelis who are waging a grassroots, nonviolent campaign of resistance against Israel’s apartheid system of military occupation and discrimination against Palestinians.”
“The viewpoint has been out there for decades, but the amazing thing is how few Americans have heard it,” said Troy Storfjell, assistant professor of Norwegian and Scandanavian studies.
The anti-occupation voice tends to be drowned out by the pro-occupation rhetoric, and people are often surprised when they find out people don’t like being occupied by other countries, Storfjell said.
When Storfjell learned that Khatib and Haikal would be in town and wanted to speak in Tacoma, he realized it would fit well with the content of his course, “Post Colonial Issues.” Along with French professor Mark Jensen, Strofjell teamed up with the languages and literatures department, the international core and community groups to sponsor the event.
Khatib is from the small village of Bil’in, and he is a leading member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and the secretary of the Bil’in Village Council. He is a principle organizer of his village’s two-year struggle to prevent the construction of an Israeli wall on the village’s land. The wall blocked access to nearly 60 percent of the village’s agricultural fields.
Additionally, one of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank is located next to the village, and Khatib has worked to stop the expansion the settlement. It now has more than 35,000 residents.
At the lecture, Khatib will present a video that depicts his village’s nonviolent resistance to the construction of the wall. The video also shows Israelis and others from the international community working alongside the Palestinians.
Khatib’s writing has been published in the International Herald Tribune and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Read the Seattle P-I opinion piece here.
Feryal Abu Haikal is a lifelong resident of the Tel Rumeida, located in the heart of Hebron’s Old City that is occupied by the Israeli military and settlers. She recently retired after serving 11 years as the headmistress of the Kortuba School, which teaches 100 Palestinian students in grades one through 10. Despite attacks on the school, it has remained open and served as a model of nonviolent resistance.
Haikal will also present a video depicting Israeli settler children harassing Palestinian students and teachers.
To learn more about Khatib and Haikal, and the resistance movement, click here.
The event is sponsored by PLU’s international core, the languages and literatures department and Peace Studies Group, as well as United for Peace Pierce County, NW Middle East Peace Forum, The Micah Project, Women in Black Tacoma, People for Peace, Justice and Healing, and Veterans for Peace.
For more information, contact Troy Storfjell at ext. 8514 or storfjta@plu.edu.