NORTH CAROLINA, October 17 (IslamOnline.net) - The fourth annual conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) continued as planned on Sunday, October 17, in Duke University despite a ferocious Jewish campaign to throw a spanner in its works.

Duke University has agreed to host the October 15-17 PSM conference because of the university's commitment to free speech and academic freedom, rejecting Jewish claims that the group was encouraging terrorism.

"The decision to hold the conference at Duke has required of me that I balance my sympathy for those who would be deeply troubled by whatever decision was made and my understanding of the fundamental commitment to free speech that any university, and certainly our Duke, must uphold," university President Richard H. Brodhead said Saturday, October 16.

Duke’s decision received endorsements from several civil societies and educational organizations in the state of North Carolina.

"We support this policy and applaud the University for its commitment to academic freedom of its students and faculty," the Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC) said in a statement.

"We agree that students benefit when subjects that they may find disagreeable are discussed rather than suppressed."

The Executive Committee of the Academic Council also affirmed in a statement that "the principles of freedom -- of speech, of expression, and of belief -- must be upheld strenuously."

It stressed that no principle is "more central to the mission of the university than that of free speech."

Organizers said 500 people had registered by Saturday morning and another 200 were on a waiting list.

"We are confident this group is not affiliated with terrorists," said Brodhead

President Brodhead defended the PSM after claims that the group was anti-Semitic and encouraged terrorism.

"We have carefully researched this student-run group, checked with federal authorities in Washington and with our colleagues at universities that have hosted or even considered hosting past conferences. We are confident this group is not affiliated with terrorists," he averred.

The PSM is an umbrella group of Palestine-related groups, primarily on campuses, across North America. Its first conference took place at UC-Berkeley.

Brodhead said he was moved by "past and current horrors arising from terrible hatreds" which have made many people concerned about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"It is my profound belief that the long-term solution to these issues will come more from open and honest discussion and the education it produces than from squelching discussion."

Panelist Rabbi Fred Guttman of Greensboro, N.C., a veteran of the Israeli Army who represented the American Jewish Reform Movement, agreed that only dialogue was the solution to the ongoing conflict.

"It is very important to listen to some of the things the other side is saying," he said, adding that the only vision offered by US President George W. Bush is one of fear.

"We need to speak out to each other," agreed Chicago Rabbi Jane Kanerak, of the American Jewish Conservative Movement.

The PSM conference opened a panel discussion on "Divestment: The Weapon of the Global Fight for Justice."

Rev. Mark Davidson, pastor of the Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill, described the divestment policy by which the Presbyterian Church has used its $8 billion portfolio as a means to influence Israeli policy.

In August, the Church took practical steps to halt investments in Israel, and to discourage contacts with companies that do business in Israel due to its illegal occupation of the Palestinian lands.

"The Presbyterian church has put its money where its mouth is," Davidson told the tentative audience.

He challenged critics who saw the church's divestment policy as favoring the Palestinians, saying it is "prodding Israel to live up to its highest ideals."

Jay Rock, coordinator for Interfaith Relations at the Presbyterian Church, had said: "By reaching this decision we want to make sure that we are not investing in activities of the kind we are trying to prevent. We see so much violence, and we want to assure ourselves that we have nothing to do with it."

The Presbyterian Church has three million American members and is one of the strongest denominations in the country.

PSM spokesman Fayyad Sbaihat said Saturday the movement was modeling its divestment efforts on the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa and trying to connect with like-minded campaigns around the world, although it faces "the world’s greatest propaganda machine."

The conference received rowdy reception from the Jewish lobby in North Carolina, who tried in vain to disrupt the three-day event.

Duke University was inundated by some 70,000 hate e-mails protesting its decision to host the Palestinian conference.

Some messages contained statements in support of terrorism and photos of masked Palestinian resistance fighters.

The university denounced the mail campaign as " a deliberate act of disinformation and provocation on the part of people who do not want the conference to take place."

A noisy crowd also gathered outside the campus waving placards reading: "PLO=Hamas=Terrorism" and "PLO: Stop education your children to be suicide bombers."

"Please stop killing us. We want peace," shouted Schelomo Marmor.

But some conference-goers argued with Marmor and other protesters that the Israeli government and army are guilty of terrorism against the Palestinian people and create an environment of oppression that fosters extremism.

Shadi Abdallah, a sophomore at Guilford College in Greensboro, said he opposes both Palestinian bombings and the tactics employed by Israel.