Please see the following item sent to us by Diana Muir:

Subject: Terror Supporters to Meet at Duke

The Palestine Solidarity Movement, the American, student arm of the International Solidarity Movement, has announced that its National Conference will be held at Duke University, Oct. 15, 16, and 17, 2004. 

Duke University President Richard Brodhead should kick this group off campus the way Rutgers President Richard McCormick kicked them off Rutgers last year.

Freedom of speech is upheld when the Solidarity Movement hires rooms at the Ramada Inn, as they did last year after being denied space at Rutgers.   

American Universities should not lend their campuses to groups that endorse suicide bombing and violence as a means of resolving political questions.

ACTION: Sign the petition at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/DukePSM/petition.html

Write to President Brodhead urging him to kick the Solidarity Movement off campus.
President@duke.edu

Use a subject line such as:
Freedom of speech does not include incitement
Stop PSM Convention
Stop Convention of terror mongers

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear President Brodhead,

I am concerned about the announced intention of the Palestine Solidarity Movement to hold its National Convention at Duke on October 15, 16, and 17th.

The avowed goal of the International Solidarity Movement and of its American, student arm, the Palestine Solidarity Movement is the destruction of the State of Israel "by any means necessary."  The means approved by this Movement include the suicide bombing of civilian targets.  Recently, the Director of the Solidarity Movement, George Rishmawi, explained to the San Francisco Chronicle that the recruitment of American student volunteers is useful to the Palestinian Movement because "if some of these foreign volunteers get shot or even killed, then the international media will sit up and take notice."

When the Solidarity Movement met at the University of Michigan, delegates chanted "Kill the Jews."

Last year, the Solidarity Movement scheduled its National conference for Rutgers.  University President Richard McCormick took a careful look at the goals and methods of this movement, which sends volunteers to Israel where they work in coordination with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and, in the words of the New Jersey Star Ledger, “kicked the meeting off campus.”  

The Conference was held at the Ramada Inn, freedom of speech was upheld, and Rutgers did not lend its name and prestige to a Movement that condones terrorism as an appropriate method for resolving political conflicts.

I urge you to deny this violent, terrorism-supporting group the prestige of meeting space on the campus of Duke University.

Sincerely yours,

Background

The goals of the movement include ending the “occupation” of Palestine which, according to this Movement, includes all of the territory “from the River to the Sea.”  Somewhat redundantly, it also demands an immediate and unconditional “right of Return” for all Palestinian refugees and their descendents.   “ Armed struggle” is promoted as a legitimate tool of Palestinian resistance. The leaders have explicitly endorsed suicide bombing. 

The Palestine Solidarity Movement, the American, student affiliate of the International Solidarity Movement, held its first conference at Berkeley in February 2002.

At the second National Conference, held at the University of Michigan in October 2002, delegates chanted “Kill the Jews”

The third National Conference was scheduled for Rutgers University in October of 2003.  Rutgers President Richard McCormick decided that a group that openly supports terrorism had no place on campus and, in the words of the New Jersey Star Ledger, “kicked the meeting off campus.”  

The student activists then split into two groups.  One met in the Ramada Inn at the edge of the Rutgers campus.  The other met at Ohio State University in November. 

This week Palestine Solidarity announced that it will meet from Oct. 15-17, 2004 at Duke University.  www.palestineconference.com

Although the speakers for this year’s conference have not yet been announced, the speakers at previous conferences give a good idea of what will be said at Duke.

Professor Sami Al Arian of the University of  South Florida spoke at conferences before he was arrested, charged with being the treasurer of Islamic Jihad.

Mahdi Bray of the Muslim Public Affairs Council has spoken.  In October, 1998, Bray coordinated and led a Washington rally of 2,000 people, during which he played the tambourine as the crowd repeated, “Let’s all go into jihad, and throw stones at the face of the Jews.”   

On December 22, 2000, Bray organized and spoke at a rally outside the White House, at which the emcee and crowd chanted responsively in Arabic, “Oh Jews, the Army of Muhammad is coming for you!”  The Nazi swastika was openly displayed.