Students for Justice in Palestine

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is a national student organization which was first established at the University of California, Berkeley. The student group's mission statement states the following: "SJP is a diverse group of students, faculty, staff and community members at [establishment] , organized on democratic principles to promote justice, human rights, liberation and self-determination for the Palestinian people." Since it was first established at Cal Berkeley, different chapters have established themselves throughout the United States and have continued to grow. SJP is dedicated to educate their respective campuses on the injustice they believe has taken place in Palestine and that continues to do so on a daily basis.

Principles

Most SJP groups believe that while the Palestinian people must ultimately be able to decide their future in Palestine, certain key principles, grounded in international law, human rights, and basic standards of justice, are fundamental to a just resolution of the plight of the Palestinians. These include "the full decolonization of all illegally held Palestinian lands, the end of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; the implementation of the right of return and repatriation of all Palestinian refugees to their original homes and properties" [ [http://uscsjp.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/6/ SJP Mission Statement « USC Students for Justice in Palestine ] ] , as well as "an end to Israel’s system of apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as well as its system of discrimination against the Arab population within its own borders." [ [http://uscsjp.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/6/ SJP Mission Statement « USC Students for Justice in Palestine ] ]

SJP groups typically condemn the what they call "apartheid" policies and laws of the state of Israel and also reject and condemn hatred or discrimination against other religious, racial, or ethnic groups. "SJP also categorically opposes any form of prejudice or discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. At the same time, SJP manifestly rejects attempts to equate principled criticism of Zionism, or of the character or policies of Israel, with anti-Semitism." [ [http://uscsjp.wordpress.com/2006/08/29/6/ SJP Mission Statement « USC Students for Justice in Palestine ] ]

Tactics

Tactics used by Students for Justice in Palestine include divestment and boycott campaigns and educational and creative events designed to encourage discussion of Palestinian human, economic, political, social, and cultural rights. It was the first campus group to launch a divestment campaign against Israel. [ [http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=8&x_nameinnews=121&x_article=383 CAMERA: Divestment Campaign on Campuses ] ]

Activities include educational events, film screenings, discussion forums, and demonstrations meant to promote awareness of the plight of the Palestinian people and encourage activism in solidarity with their struggle. Creative demonstrations have also been used to highlight Palestinian life under occupation. SJP Berkeley set up a mock checkpoint at their university on February 6, 2001, when Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister of Israel. In March 2001, SJP Berkley created a mock refugee camp using chicken-wire and large pictures of Palestinians in refugee camps. [ [http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Youth/Students_Justice_Palestine.html Students Fight for Justice in Palestine ] ]

In Auckland, SJP has led demonstrations against the local weapons industry including parking a model of a bombed out ambulance outside the shareholder AGM of Rakon, a company that sells components to the IDF and US Military for use in guided munitions. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=175&objectid=10399334 Excitement inside deafens protest - 02 Sep 2006 - Digital equipment news - NZ Herald ] ] It has also organised demonstrations outside the offices of Oscmar International to protest it's selling of military training simulators to Israel. In July and August, 2006 the group organised a series of five protests against Israel's invasion of Lebanon. The first protest turned into an alleyway brawl between activists and police after one person lowered the US flag on the US consulate to half-mast and attempted to climb down a drainpipe and evade police. [ [http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/50363/index.php Aotearoa IMC: Aucklanders march for Palestine and Lebanon ] ]

"Free Speech Fight" at Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley chapter of SJP came to international attention in April 2002 when they chose Holocaust Memorial Day to occupy a campus building and disrupt a midterm in progress for over 600 students [http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=8263] as part of a protest against their university's investments in Israel. The occupation was broken up by police after warning the students of trespassing. Seventy-nine protesters were arrested, cited for trespassing, and, in some cases, resisting arrest. All but one were released. One protester wound up in jail, on a charge of felony battery after he bit a police officer. Following the arrests SJP was banned from operating at UCLA prompting SJP to begin a campaign against what they saw as the university attacking freedom of speech, assembly and protest. [http://www.refuseandresist.org/newresistance/043002sjp.html] Over two hundred demonstrators turned out the month after on a national day of action, "Free Palestine! Free Speech!", to protest what they saw as the university's stifling of freedom of thought and protest as well as the universities continuing links with Israel. [ [http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?archiveDate=05-03-02&storyID=11715 Berkeley Daily Planet ] ]

Following the incident, UC Berkeley administrators gathered information that led them to believe that group that protestors would also try and seize a campus library. [ [http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=8514 The Daily Californian ] ] .

Chapters

North America

Some chapters in North America are affiliated with the Palestine Solidarity Movement, "an umbrella group of Palestine-related groups, primarily on campuses, across North America." In Canada the equivalent to Students for Justice in Palestine is Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights which has 13 campus branches across Canada.

* [http://www.calsjp.org/ University of California, Berkeley]
* [http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/sjp/Home.html University of California, Los Angeles]
* [http://www.nyudivest.org/index.shtml New York University]
* [http://www.gmusjp.wordpress.com/ George Mason University]
* [http://www.depaul.edu/student_life/getting_involved/stu_organizations.asp#ns DePaul University]
* [http://www.pitt.edu/AFShome/s/o/sorc/public/html/pittsjp/index.html University of Pittsburgh]
* [http://www.law.berkeley.edu/students/jrnlorgs/orgs/orglist/lsjp.html School of Law, Berkley University]
* [http://uscsjp.wordpress.com/ University of Southern California]
* [http://www.aucasj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=34&Itemid=73 American University]
* [http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/sjp/index.html Georgia Institute of Technology]
* [http://daviswiki.org/Students_For_Justice_In_Palestine University of California, Davis]
* [http://www14.georgetown.edu/explore/organizations/sjp/ Georgetown University]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sjp_wsu/ Wayne State University]
* [http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jfp/main.htm Harvard Law School]
* [http://studentorgs.gwu.edu/merlin-cgi/p/so_printRegisteredOrgDetail/d/522 George Washington University]
* [http://www.sa.psu.edu/usa/studentactivities/details.asp?OrgName=STUDENTS%20FOR%20JUSTICE%20IN%20PALESTINE Penn State University]
* [http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/sjp/Welcome.html University of California, Los Angeles]
* [http://www.campusactivism.org/displaygroup-534.htm Yale University]
* [http://www.osudivest.org/ Ohio State University]
* [https://hampedia.org/wiki/SJP Hampshire College]
* [http://www.uiuc.edu/ University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign]
* [http://www.wm.edu/so/sjp College of William & Mary] [http://www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/sjp/Home.html]
* [http://www.virginia.edu/newcomb/sac/search_display.php?org_id=205 University of Virginia (Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine)]
* [http://www.sjpalestine.com Arizona State University (Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine)]
*UC Riversidefact|date=October 2007
*UC Santa Cruzfact|date=October 2007
*UC Davisfact|date=October 2007
*Sacramento State Universityfact|date=October 2007
*Bates College (Lewiston, ME) [http://www.bates.edu/student-org-list.xml]
*Case Western Reserve Universityfact|date=October 2007
*UC Santa Barbarafact|date=October 2007
*California State University, San Bernardino
*Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park

Oceania

* [http://ausjp.wordpress.com Auckland University]

See also

* List of Palestine solidarity organizations

Notes