|
"Palestine Day" At University Of Maryland
by Ayesha Ahmad
WASHINGTON May 4 (IslamOnline) - A "Palestine Day" awareness event held by the University of Maryland Muslim Students Association (MSA) Thursday at the College Park campus was cut short by unexpected heat, as MSA president Amr Safwat called it a success anyway.
Members of the MSA set up a symbolic "graveyard" in Hornbake Plaza, near the university's Hornbake Library, with 400 black balloons representing either one or ten Palestinian civilians who have been killed in violence connected with the policies and actions of Israel and its prime minister, Ariel Sharon.
They taped down fliers condemning Sharon for the massacres of Palestinian civilians at Sabra, Shatilla and Qibya in the 1980s, and for the initiation of the second "Intifada", or uprising, that started last September, in which more than 500 people have been killed, the majority of whom are Palestinian Arabs.
The event was scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the balloons were set up by 11:30, but by 1:00 p.m., nearly all of them had popped as a result of the intense sunlight and heat bearing down on the plaza.
Safwat, a PhD student in electrical engineering, said that it took MSA members nearly three hours to inflate all the balloons and set up the exhibition which had been planned nearly two months before.
"I believe it was very successful, although it didn't last as expected," he said. "We used black balloons to attract more attention… we got a lot of discussion."
Students who encountered the exhibit had differing opinions, but Safwat said there were no major confrontations. "They don't agree with the idea, though they don't show that they are angry. They think that the idea does not promote peace," he said.
Past pro-Palestinian events on campus have sparked angry reactions by members of the Jewish Student Union (JSU). Last semester, JSU members, who felt that they were unjustly condemned, tore down fliers posted by the MSA accusing Israeli soldiers of murder.
And a forum held to discuss the Palestinian point of view was disrupted by the JSU president and other members because it presented only the Arab perspective.
Since then, however, both organizations have since held lectures and events that shed light on their differing perspectives on the violence in Israel.
Shahar Eidelman, a senior economics and finance major who was born in Israel, was walking by the plaza when he saw the balloon graveyard. He felt that the MSA should have used a more positive, less critical method to air its opinions. "It was a shame that it was negative against Israel instead of being positive for Palestine," he said.
Eidelman emphasized his support for the ongoing dialogue between Jewish and Muslim students on this issue. "I valued the Israeli exhibits [that showed their perspective] and I value this as well," he said. "I think it's important for students to be able to express their beliefs."
One of the MSA members who helped organize and set up the event, Abdel-Hameed Badawy, felt that the tone of the event could only be negative because of the tragic history it represented. "We just mentioned facts," he stated. "The Israeli government themselves said that [these things] happened."
Badawy, a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering, felt the event was important in raising awareness of Sharon's history. "I think people are mis-educated about this. I'm sure that most of the people who walked by didn't know this much about the elected Prime Minister Ariel Sharon."
Badawy said he would have preferred a larger demonstration with lectures, but that would have been difficult to plan because of the MSA's numerous activities this semester for Islamic Awareness Month, which was this past April.
"But we didn't want the semester to go by without doing anything for the Palestinian people, who are really suffering," he said.
|
