JAT Action Alert: 23 July 2004

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DATE:	23 July 2004
TYPE:	Action Item
SCOPE:	Global

SUBJ:	Stop ISM From Meeting at Duke University

The Palestine Solidarity Movement, the American, student arm
of the International Solidarity Movement, has announced that
its National Conference will be held at Duke University,
October 15 - 17, 2004.

Duke President Richard Brodhead should kick this group off
campus the way Rutgers President Richard McCormick kicked
them off the Rutgers campus last year. American universities
should not lend their campuses to groups that endorse
terrorism, suicide bombing, and violence as a means of
resolving political questions.


ACTION
------

1. SIGN the petition at:

   http://www.petitiononline.com/DukePSM/petition.html

2. SEND this message out widely.

3. WRITE to President Brodhead urging him to kick the
   International Solidarity Movement off campus.


CONTACT INFO
------------

President Richard H. Brodhead
Duke University
207 Allen Building
Box 90001
Durham, North Carolina 27708-0001

Telephone:	919-684-2424
Fax:		919-684-3050
email:		President@Duke.edu


SAMPLE LETTER
-------------

Dear President Brodhead,

I am concerned about the announced intention of the
Palestine Solidarity Movement to hold its National
Convention at Duke on October 15, 16, and 17th.

The avowed goal of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and of
its American, student arm, the Palestine Solidarity Movement, is the
destruction of the State of Israel "by any means necessary."
The means approved by these organizations include the suicide bombing
of civilian targets. Recently, the director of the ISM, George
Rishmawi, explained to the San Francisco Chronicle that the
recruitment of American student volunteers is useful to the
Palestinian movement because "if some of these foreign volunteers
get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and
take notice."

When the ISM met at the University of Michigan, delegates chanted
"Kill the Jews." When they met at Rutgers, swastikas were
painted on the Hillel and the AE Pi fraternity house.

Last year, the ISM scheduled its national conference for Rutgers.
University President Richard McCormick took a careful look at the
goals and methods of this movement, which sends volunteers to Israel
to work in coordination with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and, in the
words of the New Jersey Star Ledger, "kicked the meeting off
campus."

The Conference was held at the Ramada Inn, freedom of speech
was upheld, and Rutgers did not lend its name and prestige
to a movement that condones terrorism as an appropriate
method for resolving political conflicts.

I urge you to deny this violent, terrorism-supporting group
the prestige of meeting space on the campus of Duke
University.

Sincerely yours,


BACKGROUND
----------

The goals of the movement include ending the "occupation" of
Palestine which, according to the Solidarity Movement, includes all of
the territory "from the River to the Sea." Somewhat
redundantly, it also demands an immediate and unconditional
"right of Return" for all Palestinian refugees and their
descendents. "Armed struggle" is promoted as a legitimate
tool of Palestinian resistance. The leaders have explicitly endorsed
suicide bombing.

The Palestine Solidarity Movement, the American, student
affiliate of the International Solidarity Movement, held its
first conference at Berkeley in February 2002.

At the second National Conference, held at the University of Michigan
in October 2002, delegates chanted "Kill the Jews."

The third National Conference was scheduled for Rutgers University in
October of 2003. Rutgers President Richard McCormick decided that a
group that openly supports terrorism had no place on campus and, in
the words of the New Jersey Star Ledger, "kicked the meeting off
campus."

The student activists then split into two groups. One met in
the Ramada Inn at the edge of the Rutgers campus. The other
met at Ohio State University in November.

This week Palestine Solidarity announced that it will meet
from October 15-17, 2004, at Duke University. See

	http://www.PalestineConference.com/

Although the speakers for this year's conference have not
yet been announced, the speakers at previous conferences
give a good idea of what will be said at Duke.

Professor Sami Al Arian of the University of South Florida
spoke at conferences before he was arrested, charged with
being the treasurer of Islamic Jihad.

Mahdi Bray of the Muslim Public Affairs Council has spoken. In
October, 1998, Bray coordinated and led a Washington rally of 2,000
people, during which he played the tambourine as the crowd repeated,
"Let's all go into jihad, and throw stones at the face of the
Jews."

On December 22, 2000, Bray organized and spoke at a rally outside the
White House, at which the emcee and crowd chanted responsively in
Arabic, "Oh Jews, the Army of Muhammad is coming for you!"
The Nazi swastika was openly displayed.



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