Organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) at Carleton said the March 3-7 series of events, which have drawn contention in the past, have so far been a great source of discussion on campus.
“During this week we try to speak about the nature of apartheid, and what it is,” said student Aziz Khatib, member of Carleton’s Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), hosts of the week.
“We’ve been having great discussions with people who have come to our events, and who come to our volunteer tables,” Khatib said.
The goal of the events is to bring awareness to an “apartheid” system in Israel and to promote a campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel, according to the IAW website.
Khatib said the word “apartheid” is an appropriate one to describe the events taking place in Israel.
“The reason that we’re referring to Israel as an apartheid state is because we’re referring to . . . a legal definition of the United Nations,” Khatib said. “If we look at Israel today and look at the laws and compare them to that legal definition of apartheid, they are almost identical.”
SAIA is hosting speakers from advocacy group Independent Jewish Voices, as well as open panels and film screenings.
Zane Colt, president of the Israel Awareness Committee (IAC), said his group does not acknowledge or support IAW.
The IAC is a student-run organization at Carleton and the University of Ottawa that aims to bring Israeli politics, culture, and life to both campuses, Colt said.
“Their week is hateful and divisive,” Colt said. “It’s toxic for students.”
The annual week of events has had a tumultuous history at Carleton.
In 2012 and 2013, like this year, the IAC and SAIA reportedly had tables set up nearby each other to promote their messages.
In 2011 two Parliamentarians, then Conservative house leader John Baird and MP Joe Volpe, spoke out at Carleton against the week.
Baird said he was not glad to be there, calling the week “outrageous” and damaging to the state of Israel.
In 2010, SAIA advocated for Carleton administration to withdraw from pension fund investments with five companies they believed “complicit under human rights violations.”
Khatib said SAIA is currently conducting more research about companies that they will be campaigning for Carleton to divest from.
