EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Academic Affairs Commissioner
Roseanne Gutierrez (left), EVP Evan
Okamura and Internal Vice President Elias
Enciso (not pictured) sponsored the withdrawn
resolution.
By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Staff
In the final hour of its term, the 2000-01 Undergraduate
Students Association Council ended with heated discussion Tuesday
night, but this time it was not between council members.
About 80 mostly Jewish, Arab and Muslim students packed the
fourth-floor meeting room of Kerckhoff Hall to debate the proposal
of a resolution, the text of which condemned violations of
Palestinians’ human rights by the Israeli government.
The council voted 10-0 to withdraw the resolution after nearly
three hours of discussing the matter.
The resolution, proposed by the Muslim Student Association,
asked the council to take a stance on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict in the Middle East. The resolution included requests that
USAC “condemn political Zionism as a form of racism and
racial discrimination” and “condemn the
institutionalized discrimination and oppression of Palestinians by
the Israeli government.”
But several Jewish spectators rejected MSA’s definition of
Zionism, including Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director of UCLA
Hillel.
“Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish
people. It represents a positive identification with and a love of
the land of Israel,” he said.
Seidler-Feller added that he was appalled by the proposed
resolution, saying it was counterproductive to the progress already
made between Arab and Jewish students at UCLA.
“This is preposterous, and worse than that, it is divisive
in a campus that has made significant efforts to bridge the gap
between Jewish and Palestinian students,” he said.
MSA President Ghaith Mahmood said he, along with the
organization, drafted the resolution fully aware of its
controversial nature.
“This resolution does not condemn a people. What
we’re doing is condemning the actions of a government,”
Mahmood said.
Students debated about the territory disputed between Israelis
and Palestinians that borders Jordan. Other disputed territories
include the Golan Heights ““ which border Lebanon, Jordan and
Syria ““ and the Gaza Strip, which borders Egypt.
Jewish Student Union President Alan Tsarovsky objected to
Mahmood’s and other MSA members’ claim that Zionists
are separate from Jews.
“The proposition is a one-sided attack against Zionists.
It is a resolution condemning an ideology,” Tsarovsky
said.
“This resolution is not about human rights. If it were, we
would be condemning governments, not peoples,” he
continued.
But International Socialist Organization member Randy Childs
reiterated the textbook definition of Zionism, which he said does
not automatically equate Zionism to Judaism.
At the council meeting, MSA members said the Israeli military
has been coercing Palestinians to leave the West Bank through force
and cited examples of Arabs murdered by Israeli machine guns.
MSA member Reem Salahi said while she believes the resolution is
not the answer, there are still human rights violations occurring
that need to be explained to the public.
“It is a way of bringing consciousness to the
issue,” she said while holding up a frame-by-frame poster of
a Palestinian father and his son attacked by bullets.
Facilities Commissioner Steve Davey disapproved of the
resolution, objecting to the manner in which it was presented. The
actual resolution sheet presented to USAC consisted of pre-written
lines, leaving blanks to be filled in with the sponsoring
organization’s name.
“USAC shouldn’t be carbon-copying policy. (MSA)
could at least have it tailor-made for this body,” Davey
said. “This resolution does not seek council goals and I
would be ashamed of myself if we were to pass this as a
council.”
With that, Davey crumpled the page with the resolution into a
ball, as he sat directly in front of Mahmood.
General Representative Elisa Sequeira said it was disrespectful
of Davey to crumble the resolution and end discussion in that
manner.
External Vice President Evan Okamura, one of the three council
members who sponsored the resolution so that it could be put on the
meeting’s agenda, said his purpose was to initiate a
discussion on the issue.
“We wanted to bring dialogue to the table,” Okamura
said. “It is an important issue and cause, and this way the
conversation could happen.”