SJP event discusses history of Palestine

Students gathered Wednesday evening in Waite Phillips Hall to discuss the history of Palestine with Rana Sharif, vice president of the Palestinian American Women’s Association.

“Palestine 101: History, Resistance and Activism” was hosted by the USC chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and cosponsored by the DESI Project, the Muslim Students Union, the Pakistani Students Association, SCALE, UN Ambassadors and SCAPE.

The event centered on the historical context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it relates to the current landscape of Palestinian activism and resistance.

Sharif, in addition to being the VP of PAWA, is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA and a gender studies professor at Loyola Marymount University.

Sharif began her presentation by explaining that though not everyone in the room was going to agree with what would be said, they should still think on the meaning of resistance and what it entails.

During her presentation, Sharif highlighted the key moments that have led to where Palestine stands now.

“I have categorized three significant Palestinian [historical moments] from which I will discuss,” Sharif said. “The first being prior to 1948, the second moment of Palestinian organizing comes between 1948 and 1967 and the third is the contemporary moment we find ourselves a part of which began in 1967.”

Sharif touched on several topics such as Palestinian woman activists and what is now being called a third intifada — which means “to shake off” or uprising — in Palestine and the struggles of those living with the conflict.

“Recently, The Guardian’s  Phoebe Greenwood traveled to the West Bank to document what various media outlets and Palestinians are calling this ‘third intifada,’” Sharif said. “In her account, she was surprised by the growing number of young Palestinian women joining the shabab movement, a movement of young men activists taking to the streets arming themselves with slingshots and pebbles. During this ‘third intifada,’ young university and high school students comprise the majority of its body.”

Sharif explained that the third intifada, also known as the Al-Quds intifada, is the one that began earlier this year.

“This ‘third intifada’ draws on new digital technologies such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter to organize and mobilize,” she said.

After the presentation, Sharif opened up the floor to questions.

“I’m Palestinian, and I have family in Palestine. At this point, you can’t kick out the Israelis and you can’t kick out the Palestinians, so I wonder what the solution might be,” said Mohamed El-Farra, a junior majoring in health promotion and disease prevention studies.

Sharif proposed a one-state solution.

“One of the most practical and perhaps popular answers is a one-state solution, where everyone has equal access to the entire state,” she said. “However, there are a lot of people who find that to be a very contentious statement.”

She responded to a question regarding mainstream media not depicting the full picture of what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank.

“Mainstream media creates many narratives which take away from the context and substance of what’s really happening. Whether you’re left-leaning or right-leaning or a centrist, any sort of media space that you view is something that needs to be critiqued and challenged,” Sharif said.

Students noted the diversity of those interested in this contentious issue.

“It was great to see people from all ethnicities and races in attendance,” El-Farra said. “To be honest, I thought it was going to be mostly Arabs at the event, but I’m glad that that was not the case.”