Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy of hawaiianpalestine@googlepages.com A 1948 Palestinian refugee, a victim of the Nakba.

As you read this newspaper, Palestinians are being forced out of their homeland without the chance to return. These seven million refugees are being stripped of their basic human rights by the countries that they end up in, say the organizers of a symposium that will take place on campus this week and next.

The Hawai‘i Symposium on Palestine, "Who are the Palestinians? Remembering the Nakba," will feature faculty, guest speakers and community members sharing a narrative about Palestine that organizers say rarely gets attention.

The focus of the event is "not to convince people one way or another, but to inspire people to start talking and start learning about (Palestinian issues)," said Maria Sgroy, a University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa graduate student and one of the UH student coalition organizers.

"We are just asking (the audience) to think, and this is a good starting point," she said, adding that the Palestinian and Israeli conflict will be talked about openly during the symposium.

Speakers from all over the U.S. will sit on panels, addressing topics ranging from the politics affecting the Palestinian government by the U.S. to a comparison of the native people of Palestine and the native people of Hawai‘i, the latter featuring UH Hawaiian studies professor Haunani Trask.

"The corollaries are there," Trask said. "Both are occupied, indigenous, forced to leave their country, and divided by blood quantum" as a part of the bigger "elimination of the native" plot.

Trask is a Native Hawaiian advocate who finds the situation of natives to be generally the same in most cultures. She believes that the state of Hawai‘i is not "as bad as the Palestinians because they are at war," but the future of Hawai‘i is not far behind Palestine if change is not pursued now.

Trask, organizers and panelists hope the event will draw out difficult questions and important issues and encourage the student body to take up the activism they feel is missing.

Remembering the Nakba

Nakba is the official Arabic term for the Palestinian history of the events leading up to and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Nakba literally translated means "catastrophe," a term symptomatic of the disjointed account of the Israeli history and the Palestinian, say organizers.

Politics are entangled within the thousands of years of history, culture and disagreement over the rightful ownership of Palestine and the created state of Israel. But beyond this, said Dr. Zahi Damuni, co-founder of al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is the task at hand: providing for the safety of his people and the fair treatment of Palestinian refugees worldwide.

Palestinians are one of the largest displaced peoples in the world, with more than a third forced into exile from their native land, Damuni said.

In his panel discussion last week, Damuni discussed the rights of Palestinians and refugees to return home, based on the "six instruments of international law" of fundamental human rights that are being denied, despite the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, as well other human rights treaties.

The symposium, Damuni said, is a chance for the students of Hawai‘i to hear about the country and peoples of Palestine, while developing relationships to better understand the communities that are around you.

The symposium is sponsored by UH departments of ethnic studies, English, political science, American studies, anthropology, Hawaiian studies and women's studies. For more information, go to http://hawaiiandpalestine.googlepages.com.

Schedule for UHM campus
All events are free and open to the public
More info: hawaiiandpalestine@googlepages.com

Tuesday, March 4

• Film: "Palestine for Beginners," 7 p.m. - 8:12 p.m., Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, room 202.

Wednesday, March 5

• Films: "The Easiest Targets," "End Israeli Occupation - No Apartheid In Palestine," and "Sacred Space Denied--Bethlehem and The Wall," 4:30 p.m. - 5:20 p.m., Hālau o Haumea Auditorium.


• Panel discussion on "Palestine and Hawai‘i: Occupied Countries," featuring UH's Dr. Ibrahim Aoude and Dr. Haunani K. Trask and moderated by Dr. Laura Lyons. 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m., Hālau o Haumea Auditorium.

Tuesday, March 11

• Colloquium sponsored by UHM English, Ethnic Studies and Anthropology departments present a talk by Dr. Jess Ghannam: "Orientalizing Palestine and the Arab World: Narratives of Self-Determination, Freedom and Internal De-Colonization." 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., Kuykendall 410.


• 8:00pm - 9:00p.m. Channel 54 Ōlelo, ŌLELO TV Interview with Dr. Jess Ghannam on "Island Connections" with Dr. Ibrahim Aoude live.

Wednesday, March 12

• Film: "Occupation 101," 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m., St. John Auditorium.


• Divestment Workshop, held by George Hudes and Dr. Noel Kent, 6:15 p.m. - 7:15 p.m., Hawai‘i Institute for Geophysics, 110 Auditorium.

Thursday, March 13

• Film: "Searching for Peace in the Middle East," 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion. "The US Role and Peace Prospects," featuring UHM Professor Dr. Farideh Farhi, Dr. Irahim Aoude and Al-Awda's Dr. Jess Ghannam at the Hawai‘i Institute for Geophysics, 110 Auditorium.

Friday, March 14

• Dramatic reading of "My Name is Rachel Corrie," about the young American woman crushed by an Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003. 7 p.m., Church of the Crossroads, Weaver Hall. 1212 University Avenue, 949-2220.

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