Not many people may understand the trials and tribulations of Palestainian’s, but Monday night Daoud Nassar, a Palestanian Christian farmer, made it easier for students to comprehend.
Marc Simon, advisor for the International Relations Organization, and professor here at the Univeristy said they hosted the speaker “to promote awareness of international issues.”
Nassar started his presentation “A struggle for Justice,” Monday night by showing students three points of the West Bank which most of the bank could not be crossed by Palestanian’s.
“You have A, B, and C points. At these check points Palistanians are searched by the Israelites Army, and are sent back from the check point to their home,” Nassar said.
IRO wanted to inform people more about other cultures and what goes on internationally.
“[IRO] brings speakers to campus, takes members on field trips, and take students to the American Model United Nations Conference held in Chicago,” Simon said.
During the presentation Nassar explained how Palestanians and Israelis had conflict with each other over the land for a long time. They both feel like they should have equal share of the land but the Israelis have more control.
“Meaning 65 percent of these check points of the West Bank are owned by Israelis, and Palistanians control no parts,” Nassar said.
The conflict of land has not only went up by volunteer numbers, but also by visitation numbers as well.
“The Israelis then built a wall that is twenty-five to twenty-eight feet in height which is on 85 percent of the Palestanian’s land,” Nassar said.
The building of this wall causes some Palestanian’s to not only lose their jobs since some are working in other cities there, but it also causes miles of travel that could take up to a full day by foot just for the families to get where they are going.
“This is really inspiring, he came to talk about education, dialogue, and non-violent solutions to American students,” said Eric Lundy, a senior and IRO treasurer.
During Nassar’s presentation, he made it clear that everything that he does, he does it with non-violent actions.
“We don’t believe in violence, we say: we refuse to be victims, we live with our faith, we refuse to hate and we believe in justice,” Nassar said.
Some students were really touched about the Israelis going beyond measure to take over the Palestanian’s land.
Matter Bickerton, sophomore, heard about the speaker from [Brandon Crews] who heard about it from his political professor, Simon.
“It was interesting to hear someone speak about something different, I’m here to broaden my horizon,” said Bickerton.
IRO meets every Monday at 9 p.m. in the Business Administration Building room 103.
