The Emory Advocates for Justice in Palestine raised a symbolic wall on Asbury Circle yesterday to commemorate an international demonstration against the Israeli West-Bank barrier. Considered an attempt to illegally annex Palestinian lands by opposers but a necessary means of security by supporters, the wall sparked controversy even in its metaphorical form.

College sophomore Mukhtar Voss, a member of EAJP’s coordinating committee, said the primary purpose of the “International Week Against the Apartheid Wall” was to provoke intellectual curiosity and inquiry into the conflict over the construction of a security barrier that partly runs along the 1949 Armistice line demarcating the West Bank. The barrier, which Palestinians often refer to as the Apartheid Wall, captured the attention of passersby and induced them to pause and ask questions because of its striking appearance, Voss said.

Voss said the group’s first and foremost intention was to raise awareness. Despite the naturally pro-Palestinian sentiment of the event, the demonstration was in no way intended to be antagonistic toward the Israeli student groups on campus, he said, adding that he did hope to stir discussion and challenge views.

“As I was passing by, I overheard everyone’s conversations. I heard people asking questions about what the wall was and what was going on in Israel and Palestine,” Voss said. “We want people to find out more about the issue. The momentum is just starting, and it’s only going to get bigger.”

But after the wall was pieced together on Sunday night, three individuals vandalized the display and kicked it down.

College sophomore Ilma Zejnelovic, also a member of EAJP’s coordinating committee, was guarding the wall with Voss and College senior Brenton Kinker when the disturbance occurred.

Zejnelovic cited an inscription on the back of the structure that called for the fall of the real barrier, and she said it was ironic that the group’s wall was knocked down by students who were pre-emptively opposing their demonstration.

Second-year graduate student Navyug Gill, another coordinating committee member, said that one of the EAJP members even slept in front of the wall on Sunday night to guard it from any further damage. Gill said that group members standing at Asbury Circle were also spat at, an incident that the EAJP reported to the Emory Police Deparment along with the wall vandalism.

“These acts are a violation of our rights as students to organize on campus,” Gill said. He added that the group was aiming to target students who were unfamiliar with the issue and uninvolved with the conflict, for the purpose of spreading awareness.

Voss said he believes these “immature” and “unforgivable” acts came from individuals who acted out on their own and not as representatives of any pro-Israeli student groups on campus.

The Israeli groups on campus may be pro-Israel, Voss said, but they would not blatantly dismantle EAJP’s efforts through vandalism.

Hillel Director Michael Rabkin said he felt that displays such as the wall “belittle the serious efforts Israelis and Palestinians are making to achieve peace.” He added that the event seemed “designed to be confrontational.”

“Our response has been to remind everyone that the state of Israel has sought peace for over 60 years,” Rabkin said.

Rabkin said that hundreds of students who were supporting Israel wore Israeli-themed T-shirts all across campus yesterday. On Friday, he said, posters around campus will highlight major contributions that Israel has made in a range of fields.

College sophomore Jessica Fraidlin, who serves as the vice president of Israel awareness on the Hillel board and the Israel awareness chair in Emory Students for Israel, said that she acknowledges EAJP’s right to hold a demonstration but that she felt the group appealed to people’s emotions without painting a full picture of the facts behind the issue.

She said she does not disagree with the presence of the wall itself but was bothered that the group constructed the wall without fully explaining the reasons why the wall was put there in the first place.

“They’re trying to prove that the wall was put there by some malicious force,” she said. “But there’s a reason for everything, and they didn’t incorporate that into their demonstration.”

Fraidlin said she does not feel EAJP is willing to listen to the other side, adding that “a propoganda war is not the right path.”

Fraidlin said that by reserving both Asbury Circle and Cox Hall Bridge, EAJP prevented the ESI and other pro-Israel student groups from “[showing] their part as well.”

When ESI tried to set up signs near Cox, she said, they were asked to move further down so that they were off the bridge.

Voss said that EAJP had reserved both areas because they were uncertain as to whether they would get permission for Asbury Circle. The group was not intentionally trying to prevent other groups from holding demonstrations, he said.

Gill pointed out that in 2004, the International Court of Justice declared the barrier in Israel to be “contary to international law.”

“The wall could not have been built without the help of the United States government,” Gill added. “Citizens of that government who are interested in justice must take responsibility for the role that they play in this conflict.”
Zejnelovic, who was raised in Bosnia amid breakouts of war, said her commitment to the event stemmed from “very personal” reasons.

“I have an understanding of what it’s like to be on the other side of the attacker,” she said. “I have a bleeding heart for everyone who has been affected.”

Zejnelovic said her family lived as refugees in Germany for many years and was fortunately spared from the torture and destruction that many less priviledged people in Bosnia suffered.

“This struggle has been underrepresented on campus, and it’s important for these people to have a voice,” she said.

Voss said the wall was assembled from parts made of piping, tarp and rope and has been passed around among different Palestinian advocacy groups throughout Georgia. He said that the EAJP recently acquired the wall from the adviser of a pro-Palestinian group at Georgia Tech, and he said EAJP plans to erect it again next year.

“We hope that in the future we’ll be able to express our ideas without being threatened by people who do not agree with us,” Voss said.

The series of events will continue today with a movie screening of “Iron Wall” and conclude on Thursday with a lecture by Associate Professor of Sociology Hassan El-Najjar from the University of Georgia.

— Contact Tiffany Han.