[Peace-discuss] Daily Reports on Duke Conference

[David Green]

Long but thorough and objective:

University Denounces Bogus Message Seeking to
Discredit Palestine
Solidarity Movement
The following letter was sent to students, faculty and
other members of the Duke University community
Wednesday by John F. Burness, senior vice president
for public affairs and government relations.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 
To the campus community: 
Early this morning, several thousand people across the
Duke community received an inflammatory e-mail message
that appeared to have been sent by two Duke students
who have taken the lead in organizing this weekend’s
conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM)
on our campus. The message included statements in
support of terrorism and a slogan used by the
extremist group Hamas. It also had the wrong date for
the conference, which raised questions about its
legitimacy.
I am writing to inform you that the students did NOT
send this message, which appears to be a deliberate
act of disinformation and provocation on the part of
people who do not want the conference to take place.
The student whose e-mail address was used says she did
not send the letter and explicitly does not support
its contents. Our computer security staff is
investigating the origins of the message, and we have
been able to determine that it originated in
California.
This incident is very similar to one that occurred two
years ago at the University of Michigan, shortly
before that university hosted the PSM conference. That
earlier incident is described on the Michigan Web site
here. That bogus e-mail also originated from
California. In our conversations with officials at
Michigan and the other universities that have hosted
the PSM conference previously, we were warned that
opponents of free speech might resort to such tactics
at Duke as well. Sadly, those predictions have now
proven correct.
Regardless of anyone’s political views about the
conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, I
hope the entire Duke community will share our dismay
at this tactic of misinformation. The university has
not, as the message states, “stayed strong and stood
up for the Palestinian people” or for any other side
in the conflict. Rather, from the outset, our
commitment has been to our tradition as a university
to support academic freedom and the free exchange of
ideas. As President Brodhead has said, all ideas are
not equal but it is a foundational principle of our
democracy that all ideas should have an equal
opportunity to be heard.
Subsequent to the bogus message, we have received a
number of expressions of concern about the safety of
our campus community. The administration and the Duke
Police have engaged in extensive planning to ensure
these events remain safe and productive for all who
choose to attend. We will not be deterred by
provocateurs who willfully misrepresent our students
and consciously seek to create chaos in our community.
We deplore what they have done.
  
Friday, October 15, 2004 | About 500 people are
expected to begin assembling at Duke on Friday for the
Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) conference, which
opens with an evening panel discussion and cultural
event and concludes Sunday with a rally on a West
Campus quad.
Hundreds of Duke students and others on campus have
already attended events preceding the conference,
including Thursday’s concert against terrorism and a
speech by pro-Israel activist Daniel Pipes. Earlier in
the week, students and others visited a display of an
Israeli bus that was bombed in January.
The concert, featuring the band Sister Hazel,
attracted several hundred people to Keohane Quad on
Duke’s West Campus. It was webcast nationally and
preceded by talks from people affected by terrorism
around the world. The concert’s primary sponsors were
Campus Council, Duke Student Government, Duke
University Union, the Freeman Center for Jewish Life
and the Joint Israel Initiative. Another 26 campus
groups co-sponsored or endorsed the event, with Duke
parents, alumni and other supporters paying most of
the $80,000 cost.
About 300 people heard from such speakers as college
student Shawn Hall, whose father died in the Sept. 11
attacks, and Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese woman whose
mother was injured during fighting in Lebanon’s civil
war. U.S. Rep David Price and Durham Mayor Bill Bell
also spoke.
In a brief address, Duke President Richard Brodhead
noted that the last time he spoke at Keohane Quad was
to remember Duke alumni killed in the Sept. 11
attacks. “The notion that there is any cause to visit
violence on such people is something neither I nor you
accept,” he said.
Junior Logan Leinster said she liked the event
overall, but was “somewhat disappointed” because some
of the speakers “were slanted too pro-Israel and not
just anti-terror.”
“I think that might alienate some people on campus,”
she said.
Sophomore Shadee Malakou expressed her concerns with
the concert by holding up posters with such phrases as
“What about state-sponsored terrorism?”
Concert organizers insisted the event was intended to
unite the Duke campus around the general cause of
condemning terrorism throughout the world, rather than
to respond specifically to the PSM conference.
“Opposition to the killing of innocent civilians,
wherever it occurs around the world … is something
every student can stand behind,” Jonathan Gerstl,
executive director of the Freeman Center, said at a
press conference prior to the concert. “Not only is
this about Duke, this is about uniting students and
other people around the world.” 
The Freeman Center will host a teach-in this weekend,
featuring a speech Friday night by Avraham Burg,
former speaker of the Knesset. 
In his speech at Love Auditorium Thursday evening,
Pipes warned that peace will come to the Middle East
only if the Palestinians truly accept the existence of
Israel.
“Diplomacy can only make sense when one side has given
up,” he said. He reviewed how previous peace efforts
have failed and said the region’s core problem is the
determination of Arabs to destroy Israel.
A newspaper columnist and author of numerous books,
Pipes said people should stop looking for “easy,
in-between” solutions. He called on the U.S.
government and others to support Israel and “impress
upon the Palestinians the hopelessness of their
cause.” Economic assistance or other measures cannot
replace the strategic need for one side or the other
to achieve clear victory, he said, arguing that
“collapse of will is the key.”
Pipes’ visit was sponsored by the Duke Conservative
Union, the Freeman Center and other organizations.
Before discussing the Middle East situation, he spoke
about the upcoming PSM conference, saying he was
“appalled” by Duke’s decision to host it. The PSM “is
not a group that should have a platform at a
university,” Pipes argued, and Duke was “abdicating
its responsibility” in allowing the conference to
proceed.
His concerns reflected those of many others who have
criticized Duke’s decision, while others have praised
the university for remaining firm in its defense of
free speech and academic freedom. [See the “Reaction”
section of this site for a sample of these opinions.]
On Wednesday, Duke officials acted quickly to denounce
an inflammatory e-mail that had appeared to be sent by
two student organizers of the conference. Security
officers later determined the email was sent from an
account in Los Angeles. 
The message, which included statements in support of
terrorism, was “a deliberate act of disinformation and
provocation on the part of people who do not want the
conference to take place,” said John F. Burness,
senior vice president for public affairs and
government relations, who added that Duke “will not be
deterred by provocateurs who willfully misrepresent
our students and consciously seek to create chaos in
our community.”
Dozens of administrators will work on campus this
weekend to assist conference organizers and ensure
that events -- including expected protests outside the
conference venue -- are peaceful. Duke police, working
with other area law enforcement agencies, also will be
on hand as needed.
This site will provide updates during the weekend.
Saturday, October 16, 2004 | Following weeks of
controversy, the fourth annual national conference of
the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) began its
first full day of programs Saturday on the campus of
Duke University.
A crowd that began at about 200 people but climbed
steadily heard speakers criticize Israeli policies as
oppressive and colonialist. The conference unfolded
peacefully in Duke’s intramural building before a
diverse audience that ranged from students wearing
“Free Palestine” T-shirts to opponents making
recordings of speakers. Organizers said 500 people had
registered by Saturday morning and another 200 were on
a waiting list.
In the afternoon, the conference moved across campus
to smaller sessions in the Social Sciences building.
Small group of protesters gathered peacefully at both
locations, with a larger protest expected Sunday.
The Freeman Center for Jewish Life, which on Friday
hosted a speech by former Israeli Knesset speaker
Avraham Burg, also held a series of discussions and
workshops on Saturday afternoon.
Security personnel and Duke officials were out in
force at all of the venues, even as others on the Duke
campus enjoyed a beautiful October day. Some played
tennis near the main PSM site.
At a press conference Saturday, two PSM spokesmen
explained how the group had come to Duke to advance
its goal of encouraging universities and other
institutions to stop doing business with Israel -- a
position Duke President Richard H. Brodhead recently
reaffirmed Duke has no intention of pursuing.
National spokesman Fayyad Sbaihat said the PSM is
modeling its divestment efforts on the anti-apartheid
campaign in South Africa and trying to connect with
like-minded campaigns around the world, although it
faces what he called "the world’s greatest propaganda
machine." The other spokesman, Duke graduate student
Rann Bar-On, said it is harder in the United States
than in Israel to speak out against Israeli policy.
"Any criticism of Israel (in the U.S.) is taken as
anti-Semitism," said Bar-On, an Israeli-born Jew.
Both said this year’s conference at Duke has attracted
more attention -- and more opposition -- than the
previous three gatherings, a shift that has raised the
PSM’s visibility and provided what Bar-On called a
"net gain. "
Responding to criticism that the PSM’s organizers at
Duke refused to sign a statement that condemned
terrorism, Bar-On said the statement could be seen to
interfere with Palestinian self-determination and
included positions the PSM cannot endorse. "That
statement was cherry-picking issues, " Sbaihat agreed,
noting it did not condemn controversial Israeli
actions. "We should be debating the roots of the
violence," said Bar-On, who emphasized with Sbaihat
that the PSM is a nonviolent movement.
While noting some security delays driven by this
year’s high level of controversy, both praised Duke
for its handling of the event and said the campus had
been selected in part because of its location in a
region where the PSM had not met previously. They said
the group would decide in the coming months where to
meet next fall.
The conference has drawn national and international
attention, including reporters from the Jerusalem
Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, al-Jazeera
television and the New York Sun.
The PSM said its Saturday morning panel was intended
to provide historical background about the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mazin Qumsiyeh,
associate professor of genetics at Yale University and
author of "Sharing the Land of Canaan," began by
tracing the conflict back to what he described as "a
colonialist mentality on the part of Zionists that the
natives don't matter." He said the result has been
that "the Palestinians are left on reservations and in
ghettos. There was never really the possibility of a
two-state solution." 
Rebecca Stein, assistant professor of cultural
anthropology at Duke and editor of "The Middle East
Report," said she was concerned how critical appraisal
of the conflict often leads to accusations of
anti-Semitism. "We shouldn't understand history in
polarized terms," she said. "Acknowledgement of one
people's historical tragedy does not justify ignoring
the tragedy of another."
The morning’s third speaker, Nasser Abufarha, a
doctoral candidate in cultural anthropology at the
University of Wisconsin and author of the Alternative
Palestinian Agenda, said the conflict stems from "the
Zionist commitment to an exclusive Jewish state in a
land inhabited by non-Jews.… Such a state necessitates
discrimination."
Abufarha drew parallels between Israeli policies and
apartheid as formerly practiced in South Africa but
said, "It is worse in Palestine." He called upon the
world to isolate Israel through divestment, as it did
with South Africa’s former apartheid regime.
Across campus at the Freeman Center, an overflow crowd
of nearly 200 people packed a basement meeting room to
hear panel members address the obstacles and the
possibilities for dialogue between Palestinians and
Israelis.
"It is very important to listen to some of the things
the other side is saying," said panelist Rabbi Fred
Guttman of Greensboro, N.C., a veteran of the Israeli
Army who represented the American Jewish Reform
Movement.
"A key role of the United States in the future should
be to paint a vision of what co-existence should look
like," he added, saying the only vision offered by
President George W. Bush is one of fear.
Chicago Rabbi Jane Kanerak, of the American Jewish
Conservative Movement, said "what we all want is peace
and rest from conflict." The Palestinian-Israeli
conflict has historically been "primarily about land,"
she added, "but it is increasingly becoming a
religious conflict between Jews and Muslims." Calling
this trend "clearly dangerous," she said "religious
conflicts tend to be intractable and last much
longer." 
"We need to speak out to each other,” Kanerak added.
"We need to know each others' culture."
Discussion outside the PSM conference’s Saturday
afternoon workshops in the Social Sciences Building
occasionally became heated as protesters argued with
participants.
"Please stop killing us. We want peace," Schelomo
Marmor, who arrived in Durham from New York on Friday,
called out repeatedly to people coming and going from
the workshops. "Condemn terrorism."
But some conference-goers argued with Marmor and other
protesters that the Israeli government and army are
guilty of terrorism against the Palestinian people and
create an environment of oppression that fosters
extremism.
Shadi Abdallah, a sophomore at Guilford College in
Greensboro, who came to the United States from
Palestine, said four of his friends were killed by
Israeli authorities. The 19-year-old pre-med student
said he opposes both suicide bombings and the tactics
employed by Israel.
"I just want to know that we can live and not be shot
at," he said. "We're looking for a way to live in
peace."
The PSM conference opened Friday evening with a panel
discussion on "Divestment: The Weapon of the Global
Fight for Justice." One of the speakers, Dianna Buttu,
a legal adviser to the Palestinian Liberation
Organization, said Israel’s new security barrier was
designed "not just as a barrier, but as a means of
expanding discrimination," since it encompassed not
just current Israeli settlements, but areas of
expansion. She said Palestinians living within areas
cut off by the wall were subject to restrictive
"closed zone regulations" on their movement that were
forcing them to leave. Thus, she said, the wall has
become "not just a system of apartheid or
discrimination but a means to get rid of Palestinians
in those areas."
The Rev. Mark Davidson, pastor of the Church of
Reconciliation in Chapel Hill, described the
divestment policy by which the Presbyterian Church has
used its $8 billion portfolio as a means to influence
Israeli policy.
"The Presbyterian church has put its money where its
mouth is," he told the audience. Davidson challenged
critics who saw the church's divestment policy as
favoring the Palestinians, saying it is "prodding
Israel to live up to its highest ideals."
Following the PSM panel discussion Friday evening, the
intramural building hosted performances of poems,
music and narrated artworks that aimed at expressing
defiance and hope of the Palestinian people. 
The Freeman Center also began its program on Friday
evening, with former Knesset speaker Burg telling a
150-person audience that Israelis and Palestinians
will only find the answers they seek when each
respects the other's history. 
"The question is not necessarily who started or who
provoked, because it's impossible to prove," Burg
said. "When they kill us, it's the Holocaust all over
again; when we kill them, it’s colonialism all over
again."
 Palestine Conference Ends With Rally and Protests
Brodhead praises 'peaceful conclusion to a lively
weekend'
Sunday, October 17, 2004 | The fourth annual national
conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement ended
peacefully Sunday afternoon with a rally that had
about 50 conference attendees marching through Duke's
West Campus, chanting slogans and dancing in a large
circle.
The march began outside the intramural building, with
some of the participants holding photographs of
Palestinian suffering. They walked silently, joined by
a group of Hasidic Jews who oppose a Jewish state,
past people playing tennis on the sunny afternoon and
occasional clusters of curious students. 
Once they reached the quad, they formed a line and
stood silently for few moments while protesters lined
up along a barricade behind them. The PSM conferees
and supporters then began chanting "Divest from
apartheid Israel" and started a folk dance around the
quad. 
"There was dialogue at an incredibly high level," said
Rann Bar-On, a Duke graduate student who helped
organize the conference. He said he hoped discussions
about the Israeli-Palestinian issue will continue on
campus. 
Duke administrators, who were out in force throughout
the weekend, said the conference and related events
planned by other student groups had gone smoothly.
Anticipated large-scale protests never materialized,
and administrators and faculty members said that panel
discussions and impromptu exchanges outside the
conference venues were both passionate and respectful.

For several months, Duke has been the subject of
praise and criticism for agreeing to host the
conference, citing free speech and academic freedom.
Duke President Richard H. Brodhead said he hoped the
conference would inspire broad-based discussions about
the Israeli-Palestinian conference throughout the
year. 
"We've had a peaceful conclusion to a lively weekend,"
Brodhead said Sunday. "The Palestine Solidarity
Movement conference, the programs at the Freeman
Center, the Concert Against Terror and other events
provided our students and others an opportunity to
learn about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and
related issues. We will have more programs on these
issues in the future, and expect this important
discussion to continue. 
"From the very beginning of this controversy, Duke
made clear it was not in favor of one side or the
other. Rather, it embraced its role as a university in
providing a setting where people can voice their
opinions freely. That's what's happened over the past
few days, and I thank everyone -- our security teams,
our student affairs staff and many others -- who
worked so hard to help us live up to our best
traditions as a university. I'm especially proud of
our students who, even though they have different
political views, all showed great leadership in
pulling off successful events amid considerable
challenges." 
One source of controversy in the run-up to the
conference involved the PSM organizers' refusal to
sign a statement denouncing terrorism. 
On Saturday evening, PSM delegates twice voted to not
change the language of Guiding Principle 5, which
says, in part, "As a solidarity movement, it is not
our place to dictate strategies or tactics adopted by
the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom."
Pro-Israel backers say the statement is tantamount to
an endorsement of terrorism, a point repeatedly raised
by about 20 protesters Sunday who stood behind a metal
barricade outside the PSM conference. 
One proposal would have removed the statement
altogether, which 24 of 44 delegates voted in favor of
but which fell short of the two-thirds vote needed to
pass, said PSM national spokesman Fayyad Sbaihat. 
A second proposal, to modify the principle to say "the
PSM does not support or endorse any acts of violence
committed either by states or by non-state actors,"
was approved by 12 delegates, Sbaihat said. 
Bar-On said he favored changing the language of
Principle 5 "because it would make a lot of our work
easier without sacrificing any of our fundamental
ideals." He said he plans to bring up the issue again
at the group's winter meeting. 
After a full day of panel discussions on Saturday, PSM
organizers had planned to move their Sunday morning
discussions and strategy sessions to the Bryan Center.
After meeting with Duke officials about potential
security concerns, however, the conference continued
to meet in the intramural building on West Campus. 
At 9:43 a.m. Sunday, Duke Police received a telephone
call from someone claiming to be "one of the people
from Israel here at this conference." The caller said
three bombs had been placed in "Bryan Hall," leading
officials to evacuate the similarly named Bryan
Center. The county bomb squad searched the building
and declared it safe for reentry at 11:03. 
Most of the day's events were closed to the media, so
reporters and administrators spent much of the day
stationed outside the IM building listening to about
20 protesters gathered nearby. 
The protesters opposed the conference, carrying signs
with messages such as "Stop Support of Terror" and
"Suicide Bombing is a Crime Against Humanity," and
chanted slogans such as "All we are saying is stop
murdering babies." 
"We're disappointed in Duke," said Rabbi Ari Weiss,
the founder of Amcha, a Jewish organization in New
York that sent a group of protesters. Describing the
PSM as "a sham" and "people who support terror," he
said, "I don't think Duke would allow the KKK to meet
but this group [the PSM] refused to vote down terror.
It's shameful. If you're unprepared to vote it down,
you become an accomplice." 
Weiss described himself as a follower of Martin Luther
King who believes "the death of an innocent
Palestinian is no less than the death of an innocent
Jew." He argued, however, that Palestinian deaths are
related to legitimate acts of self-defense by Israeli
forces rather to deliberate terrorism. "You have to
look at intentions," he said. "There's nothing that
justifies murder." 
Another protester said he found Amcha "too
confrontational," while another voiced disappointment
that more Duke students had not come to the scene to
learn from the variety of viewpoints being exchanged.
"Where are they?" he asked. 
Earlier Sunday morning, Judith Ruderman, vice provost
for academic and administrative services, stood
outside the conference venue, watching several dozen
people arrive for a panel discussion titled, "What
Palestinians Are Up Against: Oppression or
Discrimination." She noticed two red-shirted members
of the group Jews to End the Occupation. 
"The thing I love about this conference is we have so
many diverse people here," she said, as she stood
outside the entrance of the IM Building. "The Jews in
this country don't speak with one voice on these
issues; therefore, it's not surprising to see many
Jews at this conference in solidarity with part or all
of the conference mission." 
Miriam Cooke, a Duke professor of Arabic literature
and culture who participated in the conference, said
there was none of the extreme rhetoric some had
predicted. She also expressed disappointment that more
people with opposing views did not attend to make it a
true exchange of ideas. 
"It was a place where dialogue would have been
possible if it hadn't been over-hyped," she said. 
Jonathan Gerstl, executive director of the Freeman
Center for Jewish Life, said he was thankful the
weekend had ended peacefully, and expressed hope that
discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will
continue on campus. For such discussion to be
productive, he added, all sides must condemn
terrorism. 
"Without condemning terror, you can't begin to build
empathy," Gerstl said. "Without empathy, you can't
begin to have a dialogue. My hope is that Duke
students will have had something sparked by the
conference." 
"I know I learned a lot," Mollie Lurey, student leader
of the Joint Israel Initiative, said of her experience
over the past several weeks. "It's time to stop
worrying about who's right and who's wrong, and see
where we can find a path for conversation and
dialogue." 
Joey Konefal and Doug Mullen, seniors majoring in
mechanical engineering, walked past the IM building
late Sunday to see what was happening. Both said that
talk about the PSM conference had made them more aware
of the issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestine
conference. 
"This brings it to the forefront and makes you think
about it. Most college students could simply avoid it,
because in some sense you are buffered from the
outside world here at Duke," Mullen said. "It's kind
of frustrating when you hear the two extreme sides.
It's pretty clear that one side is not in the right
and one side is not in the wrong." 
Konefal said he and three friends sat in their dorm on
Friday discussing it for about a half-hour. "You
couldn't help but be aware of what's going on," he
said. But, "I think people are -- for the most part --
very hesitant to weigh in with some decisive opinion."

Julie Reber, who watched the group of conferees, their
supporters, Duke staff and others wind through the
path at West Edens Link, agreed that students who
weren't already passionate about the issue are afraid
to engage in conversation about it. 
"I think people are too afraid to ask people about it
because they're afraid of hurting people's feelings,"
said Reber, a senior majoring in biology. "Obviously
it is very passionate for some people and they're
afraid to disagree or to admit they don't know." 
Duke junior Tomas Lopez, who watched the conference's
final rally outside the West Union building, said he
was "a little disappointed" more Duke students didn't
show an interest in the conference. He said many Duke
students are "just wrapped up on their day-to-day
lives" and can be "very jaded when it comes to
politics, especially hot issues such as this one." 
He said most of the student with whom he spoke about
the conference were more interested in how the
university handled the issue than the substance of the
conflict. Lopez, the co-president of Mi Gente, said he
hoped the conversation does not die down now that the
conference is over. "If the role of the university is
to help us find ourselves and be better
decision-makers and citizens, then all the discussions
 including whether to hold something like this  are
worth continuing." 



		
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