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| US students set up 'checkpoint' on campus |
| 2007-05-25 |
| Students at San Jose University disguise as soldiers, Palestinians at improvised checkpoint to condemn Israeli army's occupation of West Bank On Israel's Independence Day this year, Max Grossman, an Art and Design lecturer at the University of San Jose in California, fell upon a giant wall built on campus by a student organization called Students for Change. The wall was meant to symbolize Israel's security fence in the West Bank. Students set up a checkpoint near the wall where fifty students posed as either Kaffiyeh-clad Palestinians or armed Israeli soldiers. "I was in shock when I saw it," Grossman said. "I am 40, I learnt at Berkley and Colombia, places where numerous public protests took place, but I never saw something like this. They pretended questioning and torturing detainee." Students disguised as soldiers handcuffed, blindfolded and sometimes pretended to execute supposedly Palestinian civilians with their plastic rifles. "It was like seeing a play," said Andrew Schwartz, a student at the university. He said students playing soldiers shouted slogans like "Shut up or I shoot you," "You won't see your family today," and "Don't speak." Schwartz added that some female students disguised as pregnant Palestinian women who were shot by students acting as soldiers for disobeying orders at the improvised checkpoint. 'Free Palestine' and 'End Israel's apartheid' were among the slogans that could be read on the wall. Some students called on the US to end its financial support to Israel. Jewish students staged a counter protest wearing shirts reading: "If I were a suicide bomber, you would be dead." Grossman tried to have a conversation with a couple of students disguised a soldiers but to no avail. "They said they did not have to speak to me. They did not want dialogue as they had an agenda," Grossman said. After the protest, Jewish students pushed for new campus regulations making it more difficult for students to hold protests. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #9 OK, Angie, how about California State University, San Jose. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-05-25 22:12 |
| #8 Less than two years ago a Palestinian woman was intercepted while trying to blow a maternity. Only sick, repugnant people can be on the side of Palestinians. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-05-25 12:10 |
| #7 I thought this was kinda lame. They really wanted to make an impression, they could've had some "mysterious device" blow up in some 10 year old's face or at least have somebody shot in the feet a couple of times, preferably by his own weapon. Maybe kidnap the president of the university for a couple of hours... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-05-25 11:52 |
| #6 someone should go through the "checkpoint" with a fake bomb -- maybe a water balloon that explodes. It should get all those "oppressive Israeli soldiers" completely soaked. And when it does explode, they should scream "allah akbar!" Then count everyone who is wet and call it a triumph for the cause! |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2007-05-25 11:45 |
| #5 How about staging teh sacking of a vikllage and the rape and massacre of its inhabitannts like in Sudan? Oh, that does not intesrest them. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-05-25 11:44 |
| #4 The university is described both as "San Jose University" and "the University of San Jose". It is neither. It is San Jose State University. It's important to get these things right. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2007-05-25 11:40 |
| #3 "They pretended questioning and torturing detainee." But were they using the Al Quaeda manual that came out the other day? Or are they still using the old-fashioned 'panties-on-head' techniques? After all, torture is torture, right? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-25 11:35 |
| #2 Why was this tolerated on campus ? Which administrator approved this ? He should be hauled up and terminated immediately for stupidity. If no permission was given, where were campus police ? |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-05-25 11:22 |
| #1 There are protests, and then there are pure propaganda pieces. The "wall" falls into the latter. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-05-25 11:05 |