Students Protest Israeli Occupation
By Erick Soricelli
Broadside Staff Writer

Fervently against Israeli military actions in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), in conjunction with the Arab Student Association, held a rally Thursday at the Johnson Center North Plaza that was followed by a march around campus. The George Mason University Police Department reported an estimated 500 students showed up, most in support of the cause, others curious about the situation in the Middle East and a small portion against the ideas expressed in the rally.

The organizers, draped in Palestinian flags, encouraged chants such as “End the Occupation Now” and were coupled by marchers who held signs such as “Liberate Not Decimate.” Several members of SJP and other speakers referred to the occupation as “evil” and “terrorism.” Guest speaker Rasat Dajani, Deputy Director of Communications for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, argued against comparisons between the state of affairs in the Palestinian Authority and Afghanistan in calling the occupation “illegal according to international law.” The march that immediately followed circled the campus, starting and ending at the North Plaza.

Marchers went along a track that passed Fenwick Library, the Finley Building, Thompson Hall, the Student Apartments, SUB I, the Harris Theater, the Johnson Center and David King Hall. Senior Fatima Ayub, a history major and founding member of the SJP, explained the reason behind putting together the rally. “We just started [the SJP] a few weeks ago,” Ayub said, “but when we looked at the situation right now, we decided something had to be done,” Ayub said. Junior Justin Turner, an anthropology major, believes that the rally was “very important” to raise this issue and “bring the Mason campus together” to increase awareness of the situation.

Sophomore Tom Dyman, an integrative studies major, had a very different perspective. “This conflict is bigger than redrawing borders [and] any of us,” he said. “It is like a cancer on the body of the world; if it is not resolved now, the medication of peace, compromise and negotiation will not spread and the body will die.”