Editor:

Since February, a wall has sat on the lawn west of the Union. The purpose of the wall was to inform students that the U.S. government is funding the building of Israel’s apartheid wall to the tune of more than $15 million of taxpayer money per day.

The apartheid wall that Israel is building on the West Bank, on Palestinian land, is an example of what has been going on for more than 55 years-expropriation of Palestinian land for Israeli settlers. The wall is not being built on the internationally recognized 1967 borders, which the entire world accepts as the basis for a two-state solution.

We condemn the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas movement (a very small percentage of the Palestinian population) for their terrorist tactics. The state terrorism implored by Israel against Palestinian civilians has long been ignored by the American media.

Checkpoints, house demolitions and curfews that last for weeks are only a small number of the tactics that the Israeli military engages in to keep the Palestinian population in constant fear.

The Israeli military, armed with F-16 jet planes, Apache Helicopters, tanks and two-story-high armored bulldozers, is steadily aggressing against the indigenous Palestinians, taking more and more of their land.

University Not In Our Name built this wall to promote discussion and education about the injustices being committed against the Palestinians. All Palestinians are not terrorists-they have the same inalienable rights to justice and peace that each of us in America do.

The U has asked us to take down the wall because it may have damaged the lawn. We would like the U community to consider the damage the wall is doing to the Palestinians who are being cut off from their homes, farm lands and water sources.

We took down the wall on March 30 as an illustration of what should be done to Israel’s apartheid wall, to show that we will not accept these injustices that are being committed in our name.

Another world is possible and we pledge to make it real.

University Not In Our Name,

Muslim Student Association,

The Campus Committee for Peace, Justice and

Student Labor Action Project