PROTEST Middle East Debate Sparks New Protests By Arianne Aryanpur Hoya Staff Writer

Charles Nailen/The Hoya Protestors in Healy Circle Friday demonstrated against what they called U.S.-funded terrorism by holding banners and signs.

Area residents joined approximately 50 Georgetown students and faculty members Friday to protest what they called U.S.-funded terrorism and recent Israeli incursions of Palestine and the West Bank.

Led by the Young Arab Leadership Alliance, demonstrators held signs and chanted outside of the Healy building, where three university-age Israeli soldiers spoke as part of a panel organized by the Georgetown Israeli Alliance. Entitled “Speaking for Israel,” the panel also featured Counselor for Public Affairs at the Israeli Embassy Aviva Raz-Schecter.

“It was a great combination of the official perspective of the government with the down-to-earth perspective of the students,” GIA Co-President Zach Kurkland (SFS ’03) said.

“[The soldiers] talked about how it is difficult to live, how everybody is really sad,” GIA Co-President Saloman Kalach (SFS ’03) said of the focus of the panel, which was closed to the press.

Virginia resident Jemi Ali said she heard that Israeli soldiers were speaking at the university and decided to demonstrate against their visit. “We’re here to protest their meeting and how a school as fine as Georgetown could even think of bringing war criminals here.” Ali sat with five veiled women waving small red, black, green and white Palestinian flags.YALA President Jumana Salem (SFS ’03) said part of the demonstration’s goal was to make students aware of the Israeli soldiers’ presence on campus. “It’s important for people to know that [Israeli Defense Forces] are actually here, sitting in Healy,” she said.

Some protestors wore green shirts with the motto “We are all Palestinians”- meaning that all are victims of an unjust occupation, demonstrators said. Others waved signs and banners that read “Sharon the murderer, Bush the supporter,” and a few were dressed as green cardboard tanks with the painted message “Brought to you by the American taxpayer.”

David Barrows, a Washington resident since 1968, pointed to what he called the government’s repeated support of terrorist campaigns – specifically its endorsement of institutions such as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas. The school has generated graduates known for human rights abuses in Latin America, including Panama’s Manuel Noriega.

“It’s great that students here are speaking out against terrorism, so many remain quiet,” Barrows said. “I know a lot of people are choosing ignorance.”

Amer Moshen (GRD GM) said that although he felt the protest would not affect Sharon’s policy, he did not believe in living in silence. “This demonstration won’t make a major change in the balance of power,” Moshen, a Lebanon native said, “but at least we our expressing our opinions.”

Ziad Djaroueh (GRD GM), also from Lebanon, said that the media’s depiction of the Middle East conflict can be limited in its scope. “The media isn’t showing any of the massacres – the mass graves,” he said.

French Professor Celine Oweiss agreed.

“Fully informed Americans would be here,” Oweiss said, referring to what she said to be the media’s selectivity in informing the public.

The last hour of Friday’s protest attracted national media coverage from the FoxNews channel and MSNBC as demonstrators formed a group spanning the width of Healy Circle.

“No more criminals on our campus,” demonstrators chanted to the sound of drumming on empty plastic containers. “Sharon, Sharon you will see. Palestine will be free,” the protestors yelled, facing Healy Gates.

At the request of the university, Metropolitan Police Department officials guarded the front gates during the two-hour-long demonstration. Approximately eight Department of Public Safety officials also patrolled the area.

“We’re just here to make sure things run smoothly,” DPS Officer Anthony Meyers said.

The GIA-presented panel drew approximately 75 students to Healy’s Philodemic Room, according to Kalach.

“[The soldiers] had the same hopes and goals that we do,” Kurkland said. “They may not have voted for Sharon in the last election . but they agree with the fact that their lives do need to be protected and that the Israeli government is doing it.”

While Kalach said he did not necessarily agree with the demonstrators’ use of chants and slogans to educate the campus on such a multi-faceted topic, he did support promoting dialogue between both sides on the issue. Still, he said, past attempts at dialogue have proven difficult since “the campus is really polarized.”

While in part a response to GIA’s panel, Friday’s demonstration mirrors a trend of growing national protest to escalating violence in the Middle East. YALA and Georgetown’s uslim Student Association led a similar protest last week in Red Square and police expect around 40,000 demonstrators to converge in Washington this weekend for protests downtown that will coincide with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank’s spring meetings, which two years ago brought tens of thousands of protesters to the capital. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s expected visit to Washington Monday is also anticipated to contribute to the weekend demonstrations.

With the number of expected protestors, MPD has warned students against traveling near downtown.