Students for Justice in Palestine

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Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a national student organization which was first established at the University of California, Berkeley. The student group's mission statement states the following: "SJP is a diverse group of students, faculty, staff and community members at [establishment], organized on democratic principles to promote justice, human rights, liberation and self-determination for the Palestinian people." Since it was first established at Cal Berkeley, different chapters have established themselves throughout the United States and have continued to grow. SJP is dedicated to educate their respective campuses on the injustice they believe has taken place in Palestine and that continues to do so on a daily basis.

1 Principles
2 Tactics
3 "Free Speech Fight" at Berkeley
4 Criticism
5 Chapters
- 5.1 North America
- 5.2 Oceania
6 See also
7 Notes

[edit] Principles

Most SJP groups believe that while the Palestinian people must ultimately be able to decide their future in Palestine, certain key principles, grounded in international law, human rights, and basic standards of justice, are fundamental to a just resolution of the plight of the Palestinians. These include "the full decolonization of all illegally held Palestinian lands, the end of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; the implementation of the right of return and repatriation of all Palestinian refugees to their original homes and properties"^[1], as well as an end to the apartheid system of discrimination against the indigenous Palestinian population.

SJP groups typically condemn the what they call apartheid policies and laws of the state of Israel and also reject and condemn hatred or discrimination against other religious, racial, or ethnic groups. Many SJP groups are committed to overcoming any anti-Semitic sentiments towards both Arabs and Jews and attempt to build diverse coalitions of students from differing backgrounds.^[2]

[edit] Tactics

Tactics used by Students for Justice in Palestine include divestment and boycott campaigns and educational and creative events designed to encourage discussion of Palestinian human, economic, political, social, and cultural rights. It was the first campus group to launch a divestment campaign against Israel.^[3]

Activities include educational events, film screenings, discussion forums, and demonstrations meant to promote awareness of the plight of the Palestinian people and encourage activism in solidarity with their struggle. Creative demonstrations have also been used to highlight Palestinian life under occupation. SJP Berkeley set up a mock checkpoint at their university on February 6, 2001, when Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister of Israel. In March 2001, SJP Berkley created a mock refugee camp using chicken-wire and large pictures of Palestinians in refugee camps.^[4]

In Auckland, SJP has led demonstrations against the local weapons industry including parking a model of a bombed out ambulance outside the shareholder AGM of Rakon, a company that sells components to the IDF and US Military for use in guided munitions.^[5] It has also organised demonstrations outside the offices of Oscmar International to protest it's selling of military training simulators to Israel. In July and August, 2006 the group organised a series of five protests against Israel's invasion of Lebanon. The first protest turned into an alleyway brawl between activists and police after one person lowered the US flag on the US consulate to half-mast and attempted to climb down a drainpipe and evade police.^[6]

[edit] "Free Speech Fight" at Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley chapter of SJP came to international attention in April 2002 when they chose Holocaust Memorial Day to occupy a campus building and disrupt a midterm in progress for over 600 students [1] as part of a protest against their university's investments in Israel. The occupation was broken up by police after warning the students of trespassing. Seventy-nine protesters were arrested, cited for trespassing, and, in some cases, resisting arrest. All but one were released. One protester wound up in jail, on a charge of felony battery after he bit a police officer. Following the arrests SJP was banned from operating at UCLA prompting SJP to begin a campaign against what they saw as the university attacking freedom of speech, assembly and protest. [2] Over two hundred demonstrators turned out the month after on a national day of action, "Free Palestine! Free Speech!", to protest what they saw as the university's stifling of freedom of thought and protest as well as the universities continuing links with Israel.^[7]

Following the incident, UC Berkeley administrators gathered information that led them to believe that group that protestors would also try and seize a campus library.^[8].

[edit] Criticism

Israel supporters have called SJP "a dangerous and dishonest organization taking advantage of the ignorance of America’s college youth to promote a deadly agenda.^[9]  Others have compared SJP programs to "a propaganda lesson from the Nazis – if you say it enough, people will believe it is true",^[10]and "chock-full of falsehoods and deceptions."^[11]

[edit] Chapters

[edit] North America

Some chapters in North America are affiliated with the Palestine Solidarity Movement, "an umbrella group of Palestine-related groups, primarily on campuses, across North America." In Canada the equivalent to Students for Justice in Palestine is Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights which has 13 campus branches across Canada.