On Thursday February 1st, The MLK Week Committee and Bucknell’s Office of Religious and Spiritual Life co-sponsored a discussion session titled, “Why Is the Conversation So Hard? Islamophobia, Antisemitism and Israel-Palestine Dialogue”. On Tuesday February 13th, the Division of Equity & Inclusive Excellence hosted two speakers from Parents Circle. Ofer Lior, an Israeli who had lost his brother and Arab Aramin, a Palestinian who had lost his sister.
It is somewhat heartening that campus events have focused on open dialogue and shared humanity, which cannot be taken for granted in a national culture that seeks to undermine the unencumbered pursuit of knowledge and free and open debate practiced in institutions of higher education and that has punished workers for speaking on these issues.
Ellen Schrecker’s piece for Academe from November outlines the ways that the Israel-Palestine conflict has become fodder for campus “culture wars” and how those with pro-Palestinian views or who support the Boycot, Divestment, and Sanction Movement (BDS) have been blacklistedfor their views. In November and December, activist board members at Harvard, MIT and Penn teamed up with rightwing politicians to weaponize humanitarian concern for the Palestinian people and support for Palestinian liberation alike. The Penn Chapter of the AAUP has been especially staunch in its defense of academic freedom.
At the end of October, AAUP released a statement “Academic Freedom in Times of War” that maintains that university officials must “refrain from sanctioning faculty members for expressing politically controversial views and should instead defend their right, under principles of academic freedom, to do so” While this is an issue of Academic Freedom, which AAUP has long defended. as we are seeing, it is so much more than that. Recently the AAUP joined with other labor unions to call for a ceasefire.
“We, members of the American labor movement, mourn the loss of life in Israel and Palestine. We express our solidarity with all workers and our common desire for peace in Palestine and Israel, and we call on President Joe Biden and Congress to push for an immediate ceasefire and end to the siege of Gaza. We cannot bomb our way to peace. We also condemn any hate crimes against Muslims, Jews, or anyone else.”
Read the entire statement and add your name at this link.
Returning to Bucknell, Lior and Aramin spoke openly about their experiences losing family members as part of this conflict that has been ongoing for 76 years and how they personally and collectively are seeking to choose to pursue dialogue and understanding over retribution. Mr. Aramin’s story was especially moving, as he honestly spoke to the deep anger and fear he felt from his feelings of powerlessness following the imprisonment of his father and murder of his sister. Under the pressure of occupation, there is no freedom, just the feeling that there is no future.
It was a visit to Buchenwald with his father that changed him. As a teenager, he said he was excited to learn about and from the death of millions of Jewish people. But the trip and the educational experience had him confronting the history, humanity, and the pain of people who he only knew as his captors and oppressors. Both Mr. Aramin and Mr. Lior spoke to the deep social divides on the small plot of land both their countries share. Mr. Lior didn’t know any Palestinians growing up, even as he became involved in socialist and anti-Zionist politics as a teenager. Mr. Aramin only interacted with Jewish Israelis as soldiers at checkpoints or breaking into his home to threaten his parents because each of them had a different passport. Both men stressed the importance of shared humanity and communication in the work towards peace and liberation. It was their goals and what they seeked to embody and teach those of us thousands of miles away.
These event took place against the backdrop of Israeli airstrikes on Rafah that killed Hind Rajab, her family, and the emergency workers who were trying to rescue her. For those of us watching this asymmetrical conflict unfold from afar, we ask ourselves: What can we do? How can we condemn the actions of a State while supporting the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, friends, and families?
Writing and calling our senators seems to do little as the US remains the only holdout against a call for ceasefire on the UN Security Council. Donating to relief efforts like Palestine Children’s Relief Fund or The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, buying eSims for Gaza, and spreading awareness about the violence and its historical contexts is at least something. Please consider adding your name to the statement from the AAUP.