Amid fears of violence and protests, the Palestine Solidarity ovement’s Divestment Conference last weekend was relatively peaceful, attracting only a few dozen protesters to Copley Lawn.
The conference, hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine, prompted increased campus security, with attendees facing metal detectors and Department of Public Safety officers wielding metal-detecting wands.
The conference, which included two large panel discussions in Gaston Hall and several smaller group discussion sessions in ICC, focused on building support for the movement to boycott and divest from Israel.
Participants stressed throughout the weekend that the PSM is a peaceful organization, but didn’t mince words in their criticism of what they called human rights abuses by the Israeli government against Palestinians, repeatedly linking Israel to the former South African apartheid government.
In a Saturday morning panel on the status of the divestment movement in Gaston Hall, British academic Sue Blackwell labeled Israel a “pariah, apartheid state.”
“For most of us, the presence of apartheid is clear when applied to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” activist Noura Erekat said during the panel.
PSM spokesman Nadeem Muaddi also denied charges repeatedly raised against the group that it supports terrorism. He also denied that the PSM is directly connected to the International Solidarity ovement, which some have accused of working with terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
However, Muaddi did acknowledge that the ISM, which sent a member to speak at the conference, endorses the PSM’s five points of unity. He also said that when the ISM engages with terrorist groups, it does so to advocate peaceful means and move those groups away from terrorism.
DPS Director Darryl Harrison said that the increased security presence was based on experience with past high-profile visitors such as President Bill Clinton (SFS ’68) and Prince Charles.
Metropolitan Police Department officers were also present at the conference and Harrison said the two police forces worked closely together.
“It was a well-coordinated effort,” he said. “I have to commend them for the full support and assistance that they gave.”
Although the conference proceeded peacefully, it had a few turbulent moments.
Bill Maniaci, deputy chairman of the Jewish Defense League, a Jewish organization listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group, was forced to leave Saturday morning’s panel discussion after disrupting a question-and-answer session.
Matt Finberg, an attorney for the JDL, said that members were trying to dispute falsehoods during the panel discussion.
One protester, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of The National Synagogue, a local Jewish congregation, demanded an apology from the university after he said DPS officers manhandled him.
“Not only did they not allow me to protest peacefully on the campus itself, the university sent its officers to physically prevent me from protesting on the public streets of D.C.,” he said. “This is battery. It is deeply offensive.”
According to university spokesman Erik Smulson, Herzfeld was permitted to protest freely outside Healy Gates for at least 45 minutes, but began to interfere with conference activities.
“As some other protesters attempted to leave campus, Rabbi Herzfeld impeded their path. DPS officers worked appropriately to defuse the situation,” he said.
“D.C. Metropolitan Policy witnessed the incident and told DPS that there was no basis to take a report,” Smulson said.
Smulson added that most protesters spoke out peacefully and respectfully.
“Protesters from different organizations were allowed to protest on campus as long as they did so in a peaceful manner,” Smulson said. “A small number of individuals were removed during the conference for disruptive behavior.”