It's not that I'm anti-Palestine . . .

. . . because I'm not.  The Two-State Solution is the only real solution, and I'm ashamed that the current Israeli administration has trouble accepting that.  At the same time, I don't support the upcoming Hastings panel on how Palestinians can sue Israelis because it's one-sided.  The unfairness inherent in such a panel is even more evident after the latest Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.  Where's the legal recourse for that?

I don't want to invite a bunch of anti-Israel comments.  Israel has her own sins to atone for, but one-sided attacks--in or out of the classroom--will never bring peace.  It's precisely this attitude that has fueled the conflict for 60 years.  If you really care about peace, I'd like to see you support Abbas, support the legitimate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and support the Israeli pro-peace camp, led by Kadima and Labor.  Condemn Hamas, condemn Likud, and condemn Yisrael Beitanu.

Here's an open letter from the Hastings Jewish community:

Given the events of the past week including the murders of Itmar and
the seizure of arms bound to Hamas in Gaza I feel it is especially
important that we address our concerns about the conference on Friday
3/25 and Sat 3/26: Litigating Palestine: Can Courts Secure Palestinian
Rights? being officially sponsored by the Hastings Foundation. The
event page can be found here: http://www.uchastings.edu/media-and-news/event/2011/03/Litigating-Palestine.html.
The conference is one-sided and many panel members espouse extremist
viewpoints.  It is a worrisome trend of demonizing Israel through
other means to circumvent any legitimate negotiating process.  There
is a clear double standard here that defies logic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHFlP6dpNaM

Although they do have a free speech right to express abhorrent points
of view that lack basis in fact or law our basic point is : A  law
school conference looking into the use of judicial systems to deal
with human rights abuses certainly would be valuable.  Since this one
is entirely about “litigating Palestine,” that suggests it isn’t about
the use generally of courts for human rights abuses but only of courts
for “Palestine,” suggesting that Palestine is the victim of human
rights abuses.  That unquestioned assumption, given that this is in
fact a political and hotly-contested issue, clearly suggests that the
conference is about how-do-we-use-courts-against-Israel-and-for-
Palestine, and is that a supportable use of Hastings resources?

This is essentially a mainly political conference masquerading as an
academic one.   Please feel free to forward the link and have other students sign the
letter or express their concerns with the administration and explain
the situation.  This is not just a Jewish issue.  It goes to the core
of the type of discourse that the school formally sponsors and
endorses where the issues are hotly contested political issues
presented in a heavily biased  one-sided manner.

The troubling extremist views of the panel are revealed a clip by
panel member Noura Erakat in her comments during a protest in 2006
amid the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel [1] promoted by the
unprovoked rocket fire and abduction of Israeli soldiers including
Gilad Shalit who remains a prisoner used a bargaining chip in
negotiations four years after the conflict.

 There are many distortions in her comments, but that is most
appalling is her baseless accusation that Israel’s actions are the
same as the Sudanese government in Darfur.  The Sudanese conducted a
systematic indiscriminate campaign of killing and rape of the non-Arab
population that resulted in the death of over 100,000 people in the
Darfur region.  Furthermore, it should be noted that Israel has
absorbed hundreds Sudanese refugees and granted them citizenship to
help alleviate the humanitarian crisis.[2]   The blatant disregard for
facts shown by making a direct comparison to Darfur and the extremist
rhetoric in this clip shows the lengths an “academic” on the panel
will go to achieve their desired political goals. I feel that we have
a collective responsibility to call out such views when we see them. I
am sure that many of the panelists of the conference would agree the
views of Helen Thomas who denied the historical rights of the Jewish
people to self-determination and their constant inhabitance in Israel
for over 2,000 years.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LFAyYQY9_U

[2] http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-to-grant-citizenship-to-hundreds-of-darfur-refugees-1.228881

Thank you for taking the time to read this.