Letter to the Editor: Students for Justice in Palestine maintain need for open debate

BY RAHIM KURWA, VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE AND REEM SULEIMAN, MEMBER OF STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE

The recent submission “Refusing dialogue hinders progress in conflict resolution” refers to a meeting between Students for Justice in Palestine members and Hillel’s Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, but misrepresents the meeting as a change in course from SJP’s refusal to engage in dialogue without ground rules.

However, as parties to the meeting, we can say that we simply reiterated our long-standing public position, which is that dialogue based on a commitment to Palestinian rights and equality is necessary, while dialogue without these ground rules is unacceptable.

It also must be noted that none of the co-authors of that op-ed were present at the meeting with Rabbi Seidler-Feller. Nevertheless, the issue at hand for our organization is the need to divest our funds from companies that profit from an illegal military occupation. As always, our call for a debate on this issue remains open.

Rahim Kurwa
Vice president of Students for Justice in Palestine
Graduate student in sociology

Reem Suleiman
Member of Students for Justice in Palestine
Fourth-year comparative literature student