Editor,
What is the Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East-UNM?
In fall 2009, a group of UNM students angered by the December 2008 Israeli attack on Gaza formed the Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East. The CPJME is a student-chartered organization working to broaden the dialogue around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to include the Palestinian perspective, whose viewpoint is pivotal to understanding the entire conflict.
We strongly disagree with the Israeli government’s policies of human rights abuses against the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank. Some of Israel’s violent policy acts include — but are not limited to — house demolitions, illegal building of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, the uprooting of olive tree groves and other countless abuses.
Members of CPJME believe the actions and policies of the Israeli government do immense harm to the Jewish people and give Judaism a bad name. These actions also do immense harm to the reputation of the United States, which, by supporting these actions, is complicit in Israel’s ongoing violation of international humanitarian law.
CPJME is pro-human rights and against the denial of human rights everywhere. As advocates for equality and human rights, we strive to protect the future for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Last semester, CPJME held educational events including a talk by an ex-Israeli soldier, Micha Kurz. The group also showed a series of films aimed to raise awareness about the 62-year history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the occupation. In the coming months and ongoing future, the UNM Coalition will continue its education and raising awareness efforts with panels, speakers, films and other events. The group also has a weekly information table (every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.) in the SUB basement.
The University is a learning institution that supports all students’ First Amendment rights and that also encourages engagement in dialogue around issues such as the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) international campaign that calls for the nonviolent protest of Israel’s blatant human-rights abuses of the Palestinian people.
In 2005, more than 170 Palestinian coalitions, unions, refugee groups, human rights and social justice groups put out a call to the international community for “boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law and the universal principles of human rights.”
This worldwide campaign was inspired by the South African struggle against apartheid, which was the racist policy of segregation instituted by the primarily white government of South Africa. From 1948 to 1994, the South African government curtailed the rights of its black residents. Today, the BDS campaign against Israel is actively supported by international and national faith-based groups, human-rights organizations and other nongovernmental organizations. Several local Albuquerque groups also actively support this campaign.
The UNM Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East supports the local BDS community. Several current and former UNM students, along with other members of the UNM Coalition, are participating in this ongoing campaign.
We are for the human rights of all — including Palestinians.
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The Coalition for Peace and Justice in the Middle East-UNM will present a spring events series addressing the Israel-Palestine issue. Two Palestinian journalists, Ziad Abbas and Mohammed Omer, are scheduled to speak at UNM from March 30 to April 8 in the Student Union Building on the UNM campus. In addition, a series of films, with audience discussion, on the effects of the occupation on both Palestinians and Israelis, will be shown April 4-5 in the SUB Theater.
Guida Leicester
CPJME co-chair
