Georgetown SFS-Q Students Organise Justice in Palestine Week

Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q) held series of lectures and talks as part of the entirely student led Justice in Palestine Week, from 18th – 22nd November at SFS-Q. The week-long student event was designed to give SFS-Q students the opportunity to learn crucial facts, hear informed opinions and have an open environment to foster discussion on the heavy debated Palestine issue.

The initiative was initially born out of SFS-Q student, Malik Habayeb’s previous internship in Palestinian refugee camps on the West Bank, and his desire to ensure that this experience lived on after his time there had come to an end.

Habayeb, SFS-Q commented, “It all started once I returned from my two month internship spent in three Palestinian refugee camps, based in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Nablus. I was inspired and touched by my time, and being a student of International Politics didn’t want it to simply end when I returned home. I really wanted to make full use of many and varied resources available at SFS-Q, to turn my experience into something sustainable and hopefully impacting.”

Habayeb approached the SFS-Q Student Development Office on his return and with the help of Alex Silberman, Student Development Officer at SFS-Q, and his fellow students, began to plan and organise the initiative.

“Justice in Palestine Week is totally unprecedented as the only week-long event, other than the annual student induction week, held at SFS-Q. I think this gives some indication of both the complexity of the topic, as well as the student interest in it. With the help of my professors and peers we were able to organise an event which I’m extremely proud of in terms of its depth and diversity in covering the key issues behind the Palestine situation. It was really important to me that the discussion on Palestine didn’t simply end in the classroom, but motivate everyone to engage in this topic and further develop an informed opinion on it.”The event was divided thematically throughout the week. The first day focused on the History and Geography of Palestine. The second day involved an in-depth look at the International Community and the International Legal System, followed by a screening of the movie Occupation 101 on the third day.

The fourth day of the event saw a panel discussion with Professor Sharqieh, SFS-Q and Professor Hroub of Northwestern University, Qatar, which addressed two crucial topics: the two-state vs. one state debate, and the role of the international community with specific reference to the US and UN. The panel discussion was moderated by Habayeb.

“Each speaker had 15 minutes to present their perspective on the topics and then the floor was opened up for questions from the audience. The students raised some really pertinent and insightful issues and this led to a lively and informed debate.”

The concluding day saw the wider SFS-Q community gather in the Atrium to learn about and celebrate Palestinian culture and identity. It involved a poetry reading of famous Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish by Lubna Sharab, SFS-Q student; a performance of the traditional Palestinian dance, Dabke by SFS-Q Performance Art Club led by Dana Qarout; and concluded with a tasting of the famous Palestinian desert, knafeh.

“We wanted to culminate the entire event on a lighter note by taking time to appreciate the Palestine culture and identity. It was informative and a lot of fun following a week of debate and information sharing. I regard this initiative as a stepping stone for something bigger, and now that I have seen the huge interest in this topic, I’m very motivated to take it further. It’s important that we not only focus on raising awareness but also look at where do we go from here – what is the future for Palestine?” said Habayeb.

Habayeb went onto say that he intends to set up a fully-fledged Palestinian Society at SFS-Q in order to create a continued and well informed dialogue on Palestine.