Posters Spur New Debate Over Israel

A series of posters depicting Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian protesters has sparked a renewed round of controversy between campus Arab and Jewish groups.

The posters, which were placed on kiosks yesterday by the Society of Arab Students (SAS), drew objections from the Harvard-Israel Public Affairs Committee (HIPAC), which charged yesterday that the posters were unnecessarily provocative.

The two groups last month squared off after a similar series of pro-Israel posters placed by HIPAC were criticized by the Arab students. Some HIPAC members said they thought the new SAS poster campaign was deliberate response to their earlier campaign.

One of the SAS posters put up yesterday, described by society members as a "fact sheet," is entitled "What You Need to Know About the Palestinian Uprising" and lists a variety of Palestinian grievances, includ- ing the more than 100 deaths, allegedly illegaldeportations, and the closing of PalestinianLiberation Organization (PLO) offices in the U.S.

A second poster, entitled "Don't Say You Didn'tKnow," depicts a Palestinian woman being slappedby an Israeli soldier. A similar poster shows asoldier aiming his rifle at a group of women andquotes a member of the Israeli parliament assaying "If we had shot two, three, four in two orthree places, they would know we are serious."

SAS members deny that their present postercampaign is a rejoinder to HIPAC's posters. "Theposters were designed first as an informationcampaign, to make people consider the issue, totalk about it and to debate it," said Adam A.Sabra '90, president of SAS.

"I didn't even see the posters that HIPAC putup," Ala M. Tarazi '89 who postered for the SASyesterday morning. "I finally got hold of one whenit became an issue in the Crimson."

Members of HIPAC, however, said the Arabstudents' effort was a clear response to theircampaign. "It's definitely a reaction," said HIPACCo-Chair Laura E. Fein '91, pointing out that thefact-sheet used a format similar to HIPAC's "MoreFacts to Think About" posters.

But Sabra said that the posters are part of anongoing program to make the Harvard communityaware of the Palestinian situation. He said thatpast activities include involvement in a series ofArab-Jewish dialogues and a speech by HassamAdul-Ahman, the PLO's former representative to theU.S.

"We want to keep the issue alive in the Harvardcommunity, so people don't read about it in thepaper and say 'Oh boy, another two Arabs killed.Big deal,'" said Tarazi.

HIPAC members also accused the SAS ofmisrepresenting facts in their posters. Ellen L.Chubin '90 said that the closing of PLO offices,which the poster labels as a "violation of thefirst amendment and of international law," is asubject that is still under litigation. "I don'tknow if you can call that a fact simply because ithas been debated," she said