Posted on 04/11/2002 12:06:10 PM PDT by NorCoGOP
BERKELEY, Calif. -- Tension between University of California-Berkeley supporters of Israel and Palestine soared to alarming heights Tuesday as a noon rally prompted activists to trade fiery accusations and slurs and resulted in the takeover of Wheeler Hall.
Seventy-nine protesters were arrested during the five-hour siege of the central campus building.
The rally, organized by the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine, drew approximately 1,000 people to Sproul Plaza, where heated debates erupted spontaneously in the audience. One man could be heard denouncing an Israeli supporter as "a fucking Nazi," and chants of "Stop the suicide bombings" rippled throughout the crowd.
At its low point, crowd members waved Israeli flags and shouted "sacrilege," "anti-Semite," "shame" and "fuck you" amid a general uproar as speaker Micah Bazant, a Jewish supporter of Palestine, invoked the kaddish -- a traditional Jewish prayer of mourning -- in honor of Palestinians who had been killed in the conflict.
"Words cannot express my disgust," said Israel Action Committee President Randy Barnes in response to Bazant. "What he did was an outrage, and all I can say is shame on him."
Animosity between the two groups ran even higher than normal Tuesday due an unfortunate twist of fate. Supporters of Palestine annually observe the April 9, 1948, "Deir Yassin massacre," where they contend more than 100 Palestinian civilians died at the hands of Zionist militias. To them it symbolizes the start of an ethnic cleansing campaign by Israelis.
But Tuesday also coincided with the Holocaust Day of Remembrance, observed annually according to the Hebrew calendar. Jewish student leaders viewed Students for Justice in Palestine's decision to proceed with the rally, despite the day's significance to the Jewish community, as a slap in the face.
"We sent messages through the Office of Student Life to (Students for Justice in Palestine) about the significance of this day," Barnes said. "They had the opportunity to move the rally and they refused."
He noted a similar student group at UC-Los Angeles had done so at the request of Jewish student groups on that campus.
Students for Justice in Palestine leaders contended, in the spirit of Deir Yassin, the rally aimed to condemn the racially motivated slaughter of innocents, and as such not only did not conflict with the aims of Holocaust Remembrance Day but reinforced them.
"We condemn anti-Semitism and we condemn hate crimes that happen everywhere," said Abdul Zahzah, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine. "These two events complement each other. We remember Jewish victims of the Holocaust, just as we are trying to stop another massacre from happening in Palestine right now."
Nevertheless, speakers at the rally tended to use the issue as a stepping stone for more controversial demands on Israel, the United States and UC.
One speaker, UC-Berkeley senior Noura Erakat, praised the Palestinian people on being "steadfast in their refusal to leave" Palestine, and drew wild cheers from the mostly pro-Palestinian crowd when she accused Israel of "racist, apartheid practices."
Subsequent speakers continued in a similar fashion, demanding Israel end its military occupation of Palestine and UC divest itself of Israeli holdings.
Will Youmans, also a member of the pro-Palestinian group, thought the rally provided for a productive discussion.
"Heated debates are not a bad thing," Youmans said. "The majority of the ideas were intelligent and intellectual."
But some students said the rally was consistent with an increasingly hostile attitude toward Jews on campus.
"They fostered a climate of hate and anti-Semitism on campus," Israel Action Committee member Oren Lazar said.
The unspoken fear on behalf of many was the lingering possibility of violence, which seemed to be validated by the visible presence maintained by UC police throughout the afternoon, as well as by Berkeley, Calif., Mayor Shirley Dean.
"I am here to urge people to come and have a civil discussion," Dean said. "I am urging everyone to remain calm."
The fighting never went further than words, prompting some to declare the event a success.
"Today was a tremendous success," Dean of Students Karen Kenney said. "Students on all sides did a terrific job of controlling the event."
The relative calm surprised UC-Berkeley junior Saner Birincioglu.
"It was a lot more peaceful than I expected," he said.
After 30 minutes of speakers, rally organizers announced plans to march on campus. Approximately 500 protesters marched 10 abreast from Sproul Plaza and around Doe library before arriving at Wheeler Hall, where they crowded into the foyer of Wheeler Auditorium.
Clapping and chanting, "At Berkeley, U.S.A., the people fight back," the crowd's roars echoed up and down the hallways of the building, even as classes were still in session.
Hoang Phan, an English graduate student and member of Students for Justice in Palestine, led the crowd in reciting a list of demands it wished to negotiate with UC, among them that UC give up its financial holdings in Israeli companies.
"This is a message that we are students, that our tuition feeds their portfolio," he said. "We want our university to divest itself of its $6 billion in Israeli holdings."
In short order UC police had handcuffed each of the building's doors closed and barred further entry into the building. They notified protesters they would be subject to arrest, and if they were UC-Berkeley students possible suspension or expulsion, if they did not leave Wheeler Hall immediately. The protesters disrupted a midterm at the roughly 600-capacity Wheeler Auditorium. The test continued despite the loud chants just a few feet away.
But most students were not phased by the threat of possible suspension from UC-Berkeley and remained in the building.
"It doesn't worry me," said David Raymond, a history graduate student. "If they expel 50 students there would be thousands the next day."
Seventy-nine protesters were arrested, cited for trespassing and in some cases resisting arrest. All but one were released. One protester wound up in jail on a charge of felony battery after he bit a police officer.
The same pro-Palestinian group took over Wheeler Hall nearly a year ago, protesting UC ties to companies that support Israel. Then, in a scene similar to Tuesday's, police arrested dozens of students. In recent university history, Barrows Hall and Sproul Hall also have been occupied by protesters.
Campuses across the country also played host to protests. Tuesday's Palestinian protest and Israeli memorial were part of national campaigns.
Tensions at UC-Berkeley prompted Chancellor Robert Berdahl to run an advertisement in Tuesday's Daily Californian calling for "civil debate."
"For most of the campus community and people everywhere, it is not about taking sides, but finding a means to the end of suffering on both sides," Berdahl said.
What about the Hebron Massacre, when a mob of Palestinians raided a home where 67 Jews hid fearing for their lives -- all of them were butchered with sticks and axes. This happened in 1929! nearly 20 years before the creation of Israel.
The only attempt at ethnic cleansing is the racist Pan Arab and Pan Islamics who deny the right of Jews to self determination, demanding that Jews live as second class citizens under Arab or Islamic Sharia rule.
Don't be deceived. It is the Pan Arabism and the Pan Islamism -- racist, hateful ideologies -- that has driven this conflict since at least the 1920's.
Am I the only person who's bothered by the fact that we've become so damn illiterate that even journalists can't spell simple words like "fazed" anymore?
Or maybe I'm the only one who's poured over this stuff enough...
I was present at this protest (with the pro-Israel side, thankyouverymuch). The funniest part of the whole thing was that after being told by the cops that they would face arrest if they continued to lay siege to Wheeler hall, they started chanting about police "brutality". The protesters, in fact, directly accused the U.C. police department of this offense, for the obviously evil tactic of arresting people who break the law. Of course, the only actual brutality was this cop-biting dork. Freedom is slavery, I guess.
Incredible. This kid is probably the child of Vietnamese refugees. His parents probably left VN with little more than the clothes on their back, worked hard, and now their kid is at Berkeley. Just like generations of immigrants and refugees have done all over the world for ages. And yet he sees fit to take the side of the Palestinian refugees, who uniquely have refused to assimilate, and are throwing a genocidal tantrum.
Hasn't the new quarter started yet?
Nah....
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