October 2003 We, the undersigned, hereby lend our full support to the efforts of New Jersey Solidarity (NJS) in organizing and hosting the Third Annual Student Conference on Divestment from Israel, to be held between October 10-12, 2003, at Rutgers University, New Jersey. We call on all Palestinian, Arab, solidarity, and peace & justice organizations to render all material, organizational, and political support possible to ensure the success of this watershed Conference. We recognize that during this time of attempted liquidation of the Palestinian struggle and consolidation of colonial gains from the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, that solidarity with the people of Palestine is vital. The Rutgers Conference is a crucial step in securing and expanding this solidarity in the US. The Conference comes at a time when the steadfastness of the Palestinian people is continuing the reaffirmation of perseverance and resistance against the greatest of all odds. Fifty-five years after the materialization of the Zionist project, the Palestinian people continue to work towards repatriation to their towns and homes of origin, revolt against the thirty-six year old military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and fight for their national rights and against apartheid all over historic Palestine occupied in 1948. The Conference comes at a time when Israel is constructing a medieval-style wall to expropriate more land, divide more towns and in essence transform more of Palestine into a Jewish-Only polity. This more recent form of apartheid is designed to allocate 8 - 11% of Palestine to 8.5 million Palestinians. In fact, as an expression of ultimate ethnic supremacy and pursuit of purity, Israel recently passed a law prohibiting Palestinians that marry Palestinian or Jewish Israeli citizens from permanently residing inside the borders of the Jewish-Only State. Yet, the Palestinian people continue to struggle. They do so despite massacres, home demolitions, attacks on refugee camps to induce further dispossession and displacement, mass detention and a great deal of suffering due to discrimination, national, civil and human rights violations. Responding to the International Call to Divest from Israel, issued on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on 29 November 2000, peace and justice voices represented by Students and Committees for Justice in Palestine, New Jersey Solidarity and others went to action. Today, from Princeton to Berkeley, nineteen universities have pending petitions calling on their administrations to divest from Israel. SUSTAIN is working on exposing and isolating Caterpillar for providing house-demolition bulldozers to the Zionist state. Community grocers are deshelving Israeli products. Socially responsible investors refuse to fund their retirement with profits reaped from the theft of Palestinian land. Tens of peace and justice committees are actively lobbying local, state and government officials to stop aid to Israel, both private and public. But there is always a price to be paid. The Third Annual Conference has come under a vicious attack by governor McGreevey of New Jersey, various Zionist forces and the corporate media. Although the pressure was immense, through the unwavering resistance of NJS, the conference now enjoys the support of a multitude of forces and promises to be a watershed mark in the solidarity movement with Palestine. Some argued that this movement should steer away from divestment and from characterizing Israel as an Apartheid State. Others claimed that linking with the Palestinian movement is the same as linking with "Terror." Some attempted to place a limit on Palestinian rights, by demanding that the Palestinians forfeit their right to return and accept a canton or a bantustan in a butchered and "fenced" sliver of Palestine. Some even attempted to remove Palestine form the anti-war movement, despite the fact that the Palestinian people are spearheading the struggle against war, colonialism, and global domination. We, the undersigned, reject these racist assertions that demand of the Palestinians to accept various forms of servitude. We reaffirm that every successful solidarity movement was launched in coordination with the stakeholders and organic voices of the struggle. These movements well recognized that the authenticity and historical accuracy of the indigenous narrative are a prerequisite to its sustenance and success. The greatest asset to colonialists is the internalization of defeat by the colonized and the popularized distortion of history. We salute NJS for taking leadership during the challenging time of colonial exploits, and are compelled in this context to invoke Frantz Fanon: "Colonialism is not satisfied by imposing its authority on the nation's present and future. It does not accept the mere control of the land's population, by depleting the indigenous mind of form and content. It has to go further by introducing a skewed logic, focusing on the suppressed people's history in order to mischaracterize it, disfigure it and ultimately destroy it." NJS stood by the Palestinian struggle, called for divestment and was uncompromising on the narrative. It is for this reason that we support this vital effort and call on all peace and justice forces to rally behind the students in building the Conference at Rutgers University.