Palestine Awareness Week at Cal State Long Beach began Tuesday with a wooden model of a wall that featured graphic images and information expressing opposition to Israel’s policies.
The Muslim Student Association organized the event. Members of the organization passed out flyers, showed video interviews and spoke with student passersby about their cause.
“We are trying to bring a different side of the story that’s not provided in the media and to raise awareness,” President of the organization Hamad Nassordeen said.
The event culminated with guest speaker Mazen Almoukdad, who is a Syrian man who works as the Southern Californian coordinator of Al-Awda, a group that advocates for the Palestinian right of return.
The right of return is a political view that supports the return of Palestinian refugees and their decedents to property and land that their families left or were forced to leave after the end of the British Mandate of Palestine.
Al-Awda means “the return” in Arabic.
“As a pro-Palestinian, we will return to Palestine!” Mazen said. “It is not up to anybody. Every refugee will return to Palestine! There is no good occupation, there is no history for the occupation, there is no right for the occupation.”
There were also individuals at the event who expressed alternative points of view.
Rabbi Drew Kaplan, director of the Beach Hillel on campus, and Hillel member Nitzan Harel listened to Almoukdad’s speech and spoke with some of the activists after it ended.
Harel is an Israeli citizen and a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces. While she admitted that Israel isn’t perfect, she felt the event was too biased.
“They talk about people who control on both sides, but they don’t talk about the people that want peace on both sides,” Harel said.
Harel said she supports the notion of a two-state solution and a nation for the Palestinians, but feels that Israel’s right to security is also very important.
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