From Monday, April 11 to Friday, April 15, SXU’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted Palestine Awareness Week (PAW) on campus where there was a different event on every day of the week. The purpose was to raise awareness of the situation of Palestine being illegally occupied by Israel, and to show solidarity with minorities in similar situations.
SJP is a nation-wide student organization founded in 1993 dedicated to advocating for justice and self-determination for Palestinians. There are currently over 126 SJP chapters in universities across the nation.
SXU’s SJP organized the event in three to four weeks with the help of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and members of the National Student Speech, Language and Hearing Association (NSSLHA).
The first three days of the event included food, a movie and Palestinian themed items. On Monday, students enjoyed Palestine cuisine with Taste of Palestine at the diner atrium. On Tuesday, the documentary Detaining Dreams was screened at the student lounge followed by a Q&A session. On Wednesday, students learned more about Palestine and got Palestinian ribbons, pins and bracelets at #SXUPAW2016 Day of Action at the diner.
Thursday was Open Mic Night, featuring music, rap, poetry and dabke folk dance at the Res Center at Regina Hall. Special appearances included Bilal Shouly, Kareem Ibrahim, Hamze Allaham, Ahmed Hamad and Dylan Fahoome. For last, the week concluded with a General Body Meeting on Friday at the Student Organization Center.
In an interview with The Xavierite, Helal Jwayyed, president of SXU’s Students for Justice in Palestine, explained that Palestine Awareness Week is celebrated annually in April by all SJP’s from different universities across the nation. Some universities also refer to it as Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW).
Jwayyed explained that the purpose of PAW is to dedicate a week to educate students on the plight of the Palestinian people under Apartheid by Israel. “We do this in different ways, some ways are resistance through culture and art, others, like the Mock Apartheid Wall in the Atrium, also known as Guerilla Theater, are just a few ways. We hold panels, have discussions, and tell our side of the story, the Palestinian side, of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” said Jwayyed.
“Every one of our events is crucial in promoting the narrative of the Palestinian perspective. I emphasize this because, too often, unfortunately, does the media portray a caricature of the actual issues going on in that end of the world, especially in terms of the rhetoric used to portray my people and my culture as a ‘martyrdom’ society, or anti-Semitic, and it is important to counteract this rhetoric,” added Jwayyed.
Jwayyed stresses the importance of dedicating time to counter the “ethnic cleansing that Israel has been doing for years.” He explains that Israel is occupying Palestinian land illegally, by using military force since 1948 founded on Zionist principles.
“Our SJP, like the many others across the nation, are demanding that our country, the U.S., impose sanctions for the hundreds of human rights violations that Israel commits,” said Jwayyed.
What Jwayyed likes most about the Palestine Awareness Week is the valuable impact that it can bring to the SXU community. With the events and information provided during this week, Jwayyed hopes SJP promotes the history of the Palestinian perspective on campus.
Of the five days, Jwayyed was very excited for Thursday’s Open Mic Night. On this day, students enjoyed a variety of acts, such as dance, stand up comedy, poetry and music by different performers from Chicago universities including UIC, DePaul, and Columbia College.
Jwayyed also expressed his appreciation to his fellow board members -Hadeel Abderrhaman, Hadeel Hejja, Deanna Sweiss, and Nour Ahmed- along with other helpful students who did an outstanding job in planning and organizing the variety of events.
Sana Odeh, SXU sophomore student majoring in Nursing, participated as well at the event. She recently became a SJP member and volunteered on Wednesday at #SXUPAW2016 Day of Action. As a volunteer, she sold T-shirts and gave away Palestine themed key chains and pins. One of her favorite items on the table were the cupcakes frosted with the Palestine flag.
For Odeh, PAW was a great opportunity to inform students about the current situation in Palestine through fun events on campus. “I loved how everyone came together and really made a difference. From booking the guests on Open Mic Night to explaining the crisis to students and faculty who came by, the current SJP members really have outdone themselves,” said Odeh.
As a member of SJP, Odeh hopes PAW impacted the SXU community in a positive way and raised awareness to the Palestine-Israel conflict. “Students shouldn’t just think of this as a political issue, but as a humanitarian issue as well, there’s real lives that are being ruined by this conflict. It’s sad that not many people here are familiar with this issue,” said Odeh.
Odeh is one of the many students that enjoyed the event. She, along with many, is excited and looking forward to hosting PAW next year and, at the same time, hopes the situation in Palestine improves.
Miryam Villarreal
News Editor
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