Correction: This article has been heavily edited and modified for accuracy. The article in its orginial form did not reprsent all sides in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nor did it provide important context to our readers. The Spectrum strives to provide clear and accurate reporting and apologizes to those offended or angered by the orginial article.
Student for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a pro-Palestinian group, is hoping to reestablish a chapter at UB.
The group, which previously existed on campus before disbanding in 2012, said it wants to increase awareness about the experiences and living conditions of Palestinians, particularly since the war that erupted between Israel and Hamas in July and August.
Members said they want to find ways of opening discussions with diverse members of the UB community, including Jewish students in the Jewish Student Union and Hillel.
Border issues between Israelis and Palestinians have existed since the founding of Israel in 1948, but were highlighted during the 51-day conflict between Hamas – a militant Islamic group the US considers a terrorist organization – and Israel. Israel’s aim in the operation was to stop rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and to destroy underground tunnels Israel believes Hamas fighters were using to infiltrate Israel.
Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza territories since 2005, does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and wants Israel to relax tight restrictions it keeps on trade and movement in and out of Gaza. Hamas believes Israel started the war. Israel believes Hamas did.
Manar Kustiro, a sophomore nursing major with family in Eastern Jerusalem, is leading the campaign to start SJP at UB. She insists the club is a secular humanitarian group and said the recent war has focused attention on the region and highlighted the need for the club on campus.
Kustiro started thinking about the club in the fall semester of 2013 and the group currently exists as a “prospective club.” The next step would be to become a temporary club and then to get full recognition.
SA Vice President Evan Chen said there is no exact timeline for club recognition, but that it is a process that “varies depending on how everything flows … [and] if policies and guidelines are met along with multiple checkpoints for requirements.”
Although they are not yet a club, Kustiro and several other prospective members of SJP actively participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration on July 18 at City Hall in downtown Buffalo. The protest attracted more than 350 people, including members of the Muslim community in Western New York, according Kustiro.
Fadi Suboh, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, and Kustiro are the only executive board members of Palestinian descent. Suboh has close family members in Palestine, including his father who travels between the two regions for his work. He grew up in Ramallah and moved to the United States when he was 13.
He recalls when the horror of the conflict first hit him as a child. He remembers Israeli checkpoints he had to go through and how complex his route to school became.
The SJP executive board also constitutes of members from Bangladesh, Ghana and Yemen.
Safra Bacchus, a senior biological science major and the historian of SJP, is of South American descent. Bacchus thinks diversity on the e-board is important for the goals of SJP because it addresses not only Palestinian struggle, but also humanitarian struggles.
The original SJP faded when the original founders of the group graduated. The club disappeared like many others that have “cyclical lives,” said English professor James Holstun.
Holstun believes SJP embodies the idea of free speech, which is important in the case of a political issue.
Responses to SJP on campus are varied.
Benjamin Balderman, a senior biological sciences major and president of UB for Israel, said he is “worried of SJP’s intentions” at UB. He said he met the president and vice president of SJP over the summer and they had “immediately stated that they support Hamas.”
SJP, however, said they do not support Hamas.
An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire went into effect Aug. 26 and both Israel and Hamas have claimed victory. Kustiro does not believe the conflict is at an end and insists there is a place for dialogue on the topic at UB.
She and other prospective SJP members will be helping the Muslim Student Association and Organization of Arab Students host a guest speaker event on Sept. 5 in Norton 112 at 6:30 p.m. featuring the Gaza activist Mohammed Zeyara.
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