Group raises funds for Middle East trip

Students for Justice in Palestine held a charity dinner and auction for students and community members Wednesday evening with hopes of raising money to send one SJP member to Israel and Palestine this summer.\nThis is the second delegation following last August's trip to both Israel and Palestine. Community members and students are eligible to make the trip, but they have to raise the funds necessary. The costs of the trip vary depending on airfare and length of stay. Deema Dabis, spokeswoman for SJP, explained how the students and community members spent the two-week stay last year. Nine people signed up on the trip last year, but one was not allowed to go into Israel because its government holds final say on who may enter its territory. \n"They went to places where a suicide bombing had happened," Dabis said. "They talked to families who had victims who were of suicide bombings and they talked to families of Palestinian victims." \nDabis said the group also experienced the territories and the checkpoints while trying to stay out of harm's way.\nBrett Eartheart, an organizer of the delegation, said any individual, whether representing an organization or just curious, is welcome to be a part of the traveling group. But he cautioned individuals about the conditions they would encounter.\n"They would have to be psychologically capable because they'll be in stressful situations at times," he said.\nWearing a T-shirt that read "We are all Palestinians," Christopher Horn, a recent IU grad, said tense situations aren't going to get in his way of wanting to join the summer journey.\n"People have a lot of different opinions about it," he said. "And I feel like that (would give) me more credibility, more power to talk to people, by seeing first hand experience in that area."\nDabis said she agrees the delegation is extremely important for Americans who, this month, will pay their yearly income taxes.\n"We give Israel millions of dollars a day," she said. "Since our tax money pays for it, we (need to) go there and we (need to) see what Israel is doing with our money."\nDabis said it's important, whether someone agrees with the use or not, to have a chance to see what is not shown by the American media.\n"I feel like, as Americans, we are involved in this conflict," she said. "So it's important for Palestinians to see Americans who do care … who are willing to come over there and experience some of the hardships."\nGuest speaker and independent journalist Allison Weir offered a presentation featuring statistics about child deaths in Israel and Palestine. As guests ate, they also tried to swallow the grim numbers, which Weir said are skewed by the American media.\nBloomington resident and Iraqi immigrant Amal Altoma, who came to support the cause, related the Israel-Palestine conflict with the events taking place in Iraq. \n"An occupation is an occupation," she said, worrying about her family in Iraq, whom she and her husband left almost 40 years ago. "I do believe Iraq needed a change. I don't know if this was the way to do it." \nThe charity dinner also held a silent auction in which guests bid for pieces by local artists. A large portion of the money will cover the costs to send a SJP member with the delegation. The remaining portion of funds raised will benefit the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which provides medical services to the sick and injured.\nFor more information, contact Eartheart at 345-2176 or brothereartheart@yahoo.com.\n-- Contact staff writer Aishah Hasnie at ahasnie@indiana.edu.