This whole day event, which started at 8 a.m. and ended at 6 p.m., was sponsored and organized by a number of different bodies, including: the Organization of Arab Students, Muslim Student Association (MSA), Nyumburu Cultural Center, African Student Union, and Pakistani Student Association.
The main goals and objectives of this important event were to raise the awareness of the University of Maryland’s community about both the recent Israeli attack on Gaza, as well as the historical roots and background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, through providing the relevant facts and figures. In doing so, the event aimed to fill some of the existing gaps in the mainstream media coverage of this ongoing conflict, through telling the other side of the story that mainstream Western media, especially American media, usually overlook, underplay, or distort.
The event included a number of activities. First, there was a display of forty posters covering four different aspects, including: the war on Gaza in pictures, statistics and numbers about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, snapshots of the history of the conflict and its historical development, and the depiction of the difficult life situation and the humanitarian crisis currently taking place in Gaza. Second, T-shirts were sold at the event showing the progression of the conflict over time, and how the Israeli territorial expansionism, mainly through illegal settlements, has swallowed-up most of the Palestinian land, as well as showing pictures of the Palestinian map. Third, there were many information tables displaying lots of pamphlets and handouts from the organization “If Americans Knew” (www.IfAmericansKnew.org), founded by the American Activist Alison Weir. Fourth, distributing I.D. cards for the civilian victims of this tragic conflict, especially Palestinian children, women, and elderly people, who were killed in the latest Israeli attack on Gaza. Each card had a photo of the victim, his/her birth date, and a short biography of this person.
Many members of the University of Maryland’s community commented that the event was a big success and that it achieved all its desired goals and objectives, in terms of spreading facts and figures about this conflict, its negative implications, especially on innocent civilians, and its ongoing effects on the deteriorating humanitarian and economic condition in Gaza.
A number of students, staff, and faculty gave comments such as: “This event was much needed”, “We learned a great deal about what’s going on in Gaza from this event”, “This is really a great job!”, and “We hope our media can show these images”.
This event follows a “Palestinian Awareness Week”, organized by the Muslim Student Association (MSA) in early March, to spread awareness about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through a number of events, including lectures by invited guest speakers at the University of Maryland, College Park.
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