From: The Turath Board  <turath@columbia.edu>
Date: November 17, 2010 23:14:30 EST
To: "turath@columbia.edu" <turath@columbia.edu>
Subject: TOMORROW at 11:30am: Mock Israeli Checkpoint Action, Call for support - We NEED you! --please spread widely--

Right to Education Week: Mock Israeli Checkpoint Action

Tomorrow, Thursday 11/18 @ 11:30am
Low Plaza Steps, Columbia University (enter the gates on 116th and Broadway avenue)

Columbia University Students for Justice in Palestine (C-SJP) will be constructing a theatrical mock Israeli checkpoint at the Morningside campus on the Low Library steps. This checkpoint will serve as a demonstration of the hardships that Palestinian students face daily while trying to access their schools and homes. This event is part of Right to Education Week (R2E), an international week of action that was called upon from students in Palestine (http://right2edu.birzeit.edu/).

An estimated 57% of the student population regularly crosses one or more checkpoints to reach the their university and to return home. At the checkpoints students face physical abuse, violence and long delays that hinder their educational performance. 64% of students have reported being physically abused by an Israeli soldier and virtually all students reported "feelings of anger and nervousness" at a checkpoint. Saa'ad, a third year media student from Nablus who attends Birzeit University, echoed this sentiment, "The Israel occupation doesn't want us to learn. At one of the checkpoints on my way home to Nablus one time an Israeli soldier asked me to open my bag which had nothing in it but my books. They detained me at the checkpoint for over an hour just because I am a student, and before they let me go they tore up my books. That shows their attitude towards Palestinian education."

Right to Education week is also meant to highlight other factors that affect students' education, such as (1) Detention and harassment, (2) Economic Isolation, (3) Movement Restrictions, (4) Damage to School Property and Resources, (5) Security, (6) Forced closures of schools and institutions, as well as confiscation of property, and (7) Restrictions on foreign staff and students.

We, C-SJP, fundamentally believe in education as a human right and students in Palestine must not be deprived of this right for any reason!

Please come show your support and solidarity. There will be a counter demonstration and we need as many volunteers/supporters as possible to make this theatrical mock checkpoint successful! We will ask supporters to line up as Palestinians and we will distribute ID cards. We also ask supporters to come as bystanders so we are not overwhelmed with opposition. We hope you can stand with us tomorrow. Please spread the word!