Students at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, and in over 40 cities internationally, will be participating in this week's sixth-annual Israeli Apartheid Week, despite controversy surrounding the events.
Organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week say they are trying to support equality for Palestinians living in Israel. The week has been called discriminatory by groups such as the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.
Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman moved a Feb. 24 resolution in the Ontario legislature denouncing the event. It has been reported that Conservative MP Tim Uppal will be presenting a similar motion at the House of Commons this week.
While posters advertising the week have been taken down at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, students are going ahead with scheduled events.
Student members of Palestinian Human Rights uOttawa and Students Against Israeli Apartheid-Carleton will be participating in at least one event every day during the week, including guest speaker events and a film screening. Many guest speakers are scheduled, including Dr. Jamal Zahalka, a member of the political leadership of Balad, the National Democratic Assembly of the Israeli parliament.
"(Israeli Apartheid Week) 2010 takes place following a year of incredible successes for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement on the global level," says the event's website. "Lectures, films, and actions will highlight some of theses successes along with the many injustices that continue to make BDS so crucial in the battle to end Israeli Apartheid."
A full schedule can be found at http://apartheidweek.org/ or http://carleton.saia.ca/iaw2010.html.