The sixty foot wall
In California, a group of students formed Students for Justice of Palestine (SJP) at Pitzer College which is in southern California. They have created a sixty foot mock wall on campus showing Israels violation to the Palestinians and focusing on the apartheid behaviour of Israel.
Mock Israeli wall
This was brought on by Israel Apartheid week, which was to demonstrate across campuses the severity of the situation to create an open discussion about what is happening in Palestine.
The University wrote a letter to the group, SJP and told them erecting such a wall would be in total defiance against campus rules and regulations and would suffer a punishment from the college. This did not deter them and they went ahead with it. The University came under direct pressure from an Israeli run group on campus who claimed this was Anti Semitic and against all rules which would in turn create a hate toward Jewish students.
But SJP continued as their rights of freedom of speech had now been violated.
“As it should, Pitzer claims to embrace a compelling interest in unfettered inquiry and the collective search for knowledge. Under California law, there can be no ‘Palestine exception’ to this policy.”
She goes onto say:
“The accusation that displaying a mock Israeli apartheid wall would target Jewish students is an attempt to divert the conversation away from the human rights policy issues SJP is attempting to raise; SJP’s activity target the Israeli state, not any idividual”
This wall is important. If it is upsetting the Jewish students that much, then the work they have done is working. It is there to create upset, to educate and to stir up emotion. Imagine what it is like for the Palestinians with this real wall that they cannot take down. This is not art, this is a political work that is having the desired affect.
May people continue to show what is happening to the Palestinians and hope one day to have someone remove these blockades of shame and destruction of a nation that once was beautiful and abundant of all things wonderful.
With Love, From Palestine