| Students for Palestine | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Australia |
| Ideology | Anti-war, Anti-racism, Anti-Zionism, Pro-Palestine |
| Website | |
| www.studentsforpalestine.org | |
| Politics of Australia Political parties Elections |
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Students for Palestine (SFP) is a network of pro-Palestinian student activists based on various Australian university campuses. The group was set up (originally as Students for Gaza) in response to the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. SFP works closely with other Australian pro-Palestine and anti-war organisations such as the Gaza Defence Committee, Jews Against the Occupation, Australians for Palestine, Stop the War Coalition, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine among others, and forms a part of the general international Palestinian solidarity movement.
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SFP oppose the Australian and US Government's support of Israel and support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.[1] In 2010 they officially endorsed the first national conference in support of the BDS campaign in Australia.[2]
The list of aims for the Victorian group are:
In 2010, Swinburne Student Union Secretary[4] and SFP spokesperson, Damian Ridgewell condemned then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for not breaking ties with Israel after the IDF raid on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla which killed nine peace activists.[5] SFP helped to organise the initial demonstration to the IDF action in Melbourne.[6] Later in 2010, SFP toured activists Ahmed Luqman and Jerry Campbell who were aboard the Mavi Marmara, one of the boats which were boarded by IDF. Luqman spoke of the incident in which he had been shot.[7]
In 2009, University of Melbourne SFP members were amongst those that organised a public protest against former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom at the Australia Israel Leadership Forum held at the Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne. Outside the gala dinner attended by then-Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard (who re-affirmed the Australian Labor Party's opposition to the Goldstone report to the UN General Assembly), activists were pepper sprayed for trying to enter an under-policed side entrance to the hotel. Then-University of Melbourne Student Union Welfare Officer[8] and founding SFP member, Frances Lewis, wrote of the event: "A bit of pepper spray will not deter us -- it is nothing in comparison to the horrors Palestinians face every day."
Protesters also threw shoes at police in reference to Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi who threw his shoes in protest at US President George W. Bush. At least three activists were taken to hospital for treatment over police use of pepper spray, which Lewis claimed had not happened in Australia in nearly a decade.[9]
University of Melbourne SFP members also helped organise a public meeting with Israeli-Arab Knesset member Haneen Zoabi in Melbourne in 2009.[10] In 2010 they held a fundraiser for the Viva Palestina 5, the land convoy headed for Gaza for the purpose of delivering building materials destroyed after the Gaza War,[11] which successfully reached its destination by October.[12]
At Monash University, according to an article in The Age, Omar Hassan, an SFP activist and Education Officer of the Monash Student Association (MSA) was stripped of his wages for two weeks by the Council for using his office time and MSA funds on campaigning for SFP, claiming that it was a non-MSA related matter. The Education Officer accused the MSA of "trying to gag political dissent", a charge the MSA President denied, stating the decision by the council was based on "constitutional grounds because he had failed to do his job".[13] The officebearer allegedly used the officebearer hours, money and resources of the MSA to run the SFP campaign, while not completing the duties within his portfolio. The Council ruled that the campaign was irrelevant to his position as an officebearer, and that due to the breaches of the MSA constitution and the failure to complete his duties, that he be docked two weeks of pay.[14]
Hassan also put forth a motion to the Council asking the student union to take an official stance against Israel's aggression in Gaza, stating precedents that student unions at other Universities had already taken a stance. This motion was rejected by the Council.[15]
In January 2009, RMIT University SFP members moved a motion - passed by the RMIT Student Union - condemning Israel for its role in the 2008–09 Israel–Gaza conflict, calling for an end to bombing and the blockade. They expressed concern over the ALP Government's support for Israel, calling on then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to condemn Israel. The motion also demanded any ceasefire would need to include opening Gazan borders, IDF withdrawal and "a complete cessation of the Israeli Government’s military aggression".[16]
SFP commemorated Al-Nakba in 2009 at RMIT with an information session on its history prior to marching in protest against Israel through Melbourne's inner city, some of the protesters chanting, “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea”[17]. This is not the formal position of the group, which includes people who support both 1 and 2 state solutions[18].
UWS SFP students passed a motion in support for the Tamil struggle in 2009[19]
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