kol hakavod le-hillel!
U of T blocks meeting of Palestinian group Al-Adwa requires all members to denounce Israel Heather Sokoloff National Post Saturday, November 22, 2003 A pro-Palestinian group will not be allowed to hold a conference at the University of Toronto this weekend because the organization required members to agree to a mandatory list of beliefs that include rejection of the right of Israel to exist and a refusal to condemn Palestinian suicide attacks. The university acknowledges the list for the al-Adwa student group falls within the boundaries of free speech -- but said the group's requirement that all students agree to the statements stifles dissent. Al-Adwa, supported by the University of Toronto Arab Students' Collective, broke university policy that stipulates student groups are forbidden from excluding people who do not agree with their mandates. "The student group must remove that pact as a condition of participation," said Sue Bloch Nevitte, a university spokeswoman. She said al-Adwa could have held the Toronto Palestinian Solidarity Conference this weekend at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) as planned if the group agreed not to require that members agree with its "Basis of Unity," which states Israel is a racist apartheid state and calls for a non-negotiable acceptance of the Palestinian right of return. The group refused to drop the requirement yesterday. It said it believed the statements fall within the parameters of free speech. The two-day conference was planned for activists to create "a concrete plan to organize Palestinian solidarity in Toronto over the course of the next six months." Hazem Jamjoum, a 22-year-old University of Toronto student, says organizers of the event abhor the killing of Israeli civilians but will not denounce suicide attacks because "the point of the conference is not to start telling the Palestinians how to resist their occupation." Members were required to accept the statement: "We support the right of the Palestinian people to resist Israeli colonialism by any means of their choosing." [email protected] © Copyright 2003 National Post
U of T blocks meeting of Palestinian group Al-Adwa requires all members to denounce Israel Heather Sokoloff National Post Saturday, November 22, 2003 A pro-Palestinian group will not be allowed to hold a conference at the University of Toronto this weekend because the organization required members to agree to a mandatory list of beliefs that include rejection of the right of Israel to exist and a refusal to condemn Palestinian suicide attacks. The university acknowledges the list for the al-Adwa student group falls within the boundaries of free speech -- but said the group's requirement that all students agree to the statements stifles dissent. Al-Adwa, supported by the University of Toronto Arab Students' Collective, broke university policy that stipulates student groups are forbidden from excluding people who do not agree with their mandates. "The student group must remove that pact as a condition of participation," said Sue Bloch Nevitte, a university spokeswoman. She said al-Adwa could have held the Toronto Palestinian Solidarity Conference this weekend at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) as planned if the group agreed not to require that members agree with its "Basis of Unity," which states Israel is a racist apartheid state and calls for a non-negotiable acceptance of the Palestinian right of return. The group refused to drop the requirement yesterday. It said it believed the statements fall within the parameters of free speech. The two-day conference was planned for activists to create "a concrete plan to organize Palestinian solidarity in Toronto over the course of the next six months." Hazem Jamjoum, a 22-year-old University of Toronto student, says organizers of the event abhor the killing of Israeli civilians but will not denounce suicide attacks because "the point of the conference is not to start telling the Palestinians how to resist their occupation." Members were required to accept the statement: "We support the right of the Palestinian people to resist Israeli colonialism by any means of their choosing." [email protected] © Copyright 2003 National Post