Allegations fly at Middle East rally

  JONATHAN YOUNG Palestinian supporters link arms in
Meyerhoff Park. Thursday started with a noon speak-out about global
human rights violations. Afterward, groups of students engaged in
heated debates on Bruin Walk.

By Kelly Rayburn
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

A noontime “speak-out” and a pro-Israeli rally ended
in Meyerhoff Park Thursday with many people spilling onto Bruin
Walk, engaging in emotional and fiery arguments.

Tensions were high, but there were no incidents of violence and
no arrests, according to university police spokeswoman Nancy
Greenstein.

UCLA’s Committee for Peace and Justice ““ recently
created with the goal of educating people about human rights abuses
around the world ““ organized the speak-out to address
“scores of human rights violations that have taken place in
the Middle East,” said fourth-year political science and
international development studies student Jonah Lalas, who
MC’d the event.

Students from the Jewish Student Union, Hillel at UCLA and
Bruins for Israel organized a demonstration of their own, lining up
on Bruin Walk with signs reading, “I stand with Israel”
and “Arafat teaches hate.”

Though speakers at times had to shout into the microphone to be
heard over chants of “Arafat terrorist” from
pro-Israeli demonstrators, students on both sides remained peaceful
throughout the speak-out.

Neither the crowd attending the speak-out nor pro-Israeli
demonstrators uttered a sound when Lalas ended the program calling
for “a moment of silence for all the victims of injustice and
destruction.”

But afterwards, the crowds slowly filed off the Meyerhoff lawn,
and many who formed groups on Bruin Walk continued to argue their
opinions passionately for over an hour.

“Scary situation,” said Ira Yasnogorodsky, a
first-year undeclared student, pulling himself away from crowds on
Bruin Walk.

David Hakimfar said that for there to be peace in the Middle
East, people must take hard stances against terrorism. Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat can’t condemn terrorism
while speaking in English, then encourage terrorism by saying
“jihad, jihad,” when speaking in Arabic, Hakimfar
said.

“You’re either for or against terrorism,” he
said to another student on Bruin Walk.

“That’s irrational,” answered Mohsin Barra, a
first-year undeclared student, who said he supports neither
terrorist acts nor President Bush’s policies against
terrorism.

Reflective of how complicated the Middle East crisis is,
students went back as far as 3,000 years when debating which groups
have a right to what parts of Israel.

“When Israelis kill one Palestinian”“,”
Hakimfar said.

“One?,”asked Barra. “One?”

“Two-hundred, 300, 400, 1,200 ““ there’s a
big difference,” Barra continued.

Following brief opening remarks from Lalas during the speak-out,
history professor Gabriel Piterberg took the podium, telling the
crowd he is an Israeli citizen and had served in the Israeli
military.

“Now, I am ashamed and embarrassed to call myself an
Israeli citizen,” he said, as part of the crowd at Meyerhoff
cheered.

“If a suicide bomber is a terrorist, then so is the
Israeli pilot who flies an F-16 … even if he looks like Tom
Cruise or a young Paul Newman,” he said.

The Israeli military knowingly targets civilians in their
attacks, he said.

A pro-Israeli demonstrator, meanwhile, called Piterberg a
“traitor” and said “half the stuff he said is not
true.”

“Hopefully he’ll get his facts straight one of these
days,” said Guy Kochlani, a fourth-year political science
student.

Kochlani pointed out how emotional both sides are in defending
their cause.

Students have close, personal connections to both sides of the
Middle East conflict. Kochlani, for example, has uncles and cousins
serving in the Israeli army.

First-year medical student Murrad Abdelkarim said his cousin was
shot “right in front of (him), for no reason at all” by
an Israeli official when the two were in Ramallah, in
Palestinian-controlled territory.

Piterberg said he is working with a Palestinian graduate student
whose best friend’s corpse was recently found in
Palestinian-controlled territories, with “27 bullet holes
stuck in it, un-buried, lying there.”

Meanwhile, fifth-year sociology student Maya Zutler, a member of
Bruins for Israel, worries about the safety of her grandparents and
a cousin who just had twin babies, all of whom live in Israel.

But even those without personal connections are more closely
connected with the crises than they may imagine, said UCLA alumna
Li’i Furumoto, giving remarks during the speak-out.

“On April 15, we’ll be filing our tax
returns,” she said. Billions of American dollars go to
support Israel’s military, she said.

“Does the issue really, truly lie only in the Middle East?
No, it lies right here,” she said.

“You are participating in the decisions in this
country,” she said. “You need to understand this
because it’s on your conscience.”

But numerous pro-Israeli demonstrators spoke of Israel’s
need to defend itself against Arab nations, some of whom fund
Palestinian terror groups.

“There’s a 9/11 every day in Israel because we have
suicide bombings attacking civilians,” Kochlani said.

As students yelled back and forth Thursday, it seemed little
progress was made, few minds were changed, few opinions
enlightened. Part of the difficulty is both sides often believe
that in order for there to be peace, the other side must make the
first move.

Accusations are wide-spread: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators call
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a war criminal. Pro-Israeli
demonstrators call Arafat a terrorist.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators say the Israeli military targets
innocent civilians in refugee camps and homes. Pro-Israeli
demonstrators say suicide bombers target women and children in
pizzerias and super markets.

Each side says the other is the aggressor.

“On one side, Israel is asking for peace and security …
the other side is saying they’re not going to give you
security or peace,” said David Yadagar, a history and
political-science student, who waved an Israeli flag at the
demonstration.

Elizabeth Alamillo, a member of MEChA, said, “Israelis
need to move out (of Palestinian-controlled territories).
It’s going to be a genocide if Israelis don’t move
out.”

Observers from a distance commented that little seemed to be
accomplished the way demonstrators were advocating for their
causes.

“(Demonstrators) don’t try to bring the sides
together,” said Heath Izenson, a second-year MBA student at
the Anderson School at UCLA.

Second-year business economics student Ramon Cortez observed the
demonstration from near Bruin Walk and said “both sides are
trying to show each other up.”

“You can blame both sides,” he said. “But both
of them think they are right.”

Yasnogorodsky, who called the situation “scary,”
said there are better ways to articulate opinions.

“I just heard someone say “˜you’re
right,you’re wrong,'” he said. “People
shouldn’t say that. They should say “˜you’re
right,’ and “˜you’re right,’ so let’s
sit down at a table and have a dialogue.”

After standing between two arguing students for a few minutes
asking them to “turn down the decibels,” Berky Nelson,
the director of the Center for Student Programming, invited both
into his office to discuss their views in a more level-headed
way.

The invitation was ignored, and the argument continued.

Reports from Marcelle Richards, Sabrina Singhapattanapong and
Peijean Tsai, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.