A group of students, supported by the Dartmouth Israel Public Awareness Committee, are circulating a petition in support Israel and have gathered several hundred signatures.
While DIPAC leaders maintained that the petition was carefully drafted to reflect their support for peace across the Middle East, leaders of campus groups like Shamis and Al-Nur expressed concern that the petition encourages the United States to support Israel over other Middle Eastern countries.
Several students drafted the petition independently of DIPAC and then brought it before the group to ask for support, according to Arielle Farber '03, DIPAC's founder. DIPAC subsequently granted its support.
"The U.S. and Israel are partners in a lot of things," she said, explaining the rationale for the petition. "We both want to work for democracy and stability, deter terrorism and achieve peace."
Both Farber and current DIPAC president Michele Nudelman '05 noted several times that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and therefore an especially important ally for the United States.
Nudelman also said that Israel's highly developed intelligence gathering capacities make it an important ally for the United States.
But other students objected to the wording of the specific parts of the petition.
Zosia Krusberg '04, co-chair of Shamis -- a group founded to promote Arab culture -- said in a BlitzMail message that the petition was written with "good intentions," but added that "its wording is problematic."
"Expressions like 'strong relationship' and 'battle against terrorism' ring bells of discomfort in the ears of many Arabs, because to them, 'strong relationship' inevitably connotes such things as unfounded IDF [Israel Defense Forces] violence and a U.S. foreign policy unfavorable to Arabs," she wrote.
"I can picture an Arab family reading the newspaper one evening, and in response to this type of statement saying, 'See, I told you the U.S. doesn't like us," Krusberg added.
Krusberg said that she has discussed the petition with other members of Shamis and that most of them shared her concerns about its wording.
Nudelman said that the phrase "strong relationship" was chosen to advocate a very general relationship between the U.S. and Israel. She said that she is encouraging students who may disagree with some specific Israeli policies to sign the petition if they support Israel in its more general endeavors to promote "democracy, peace and freedom."
Adil Ahmad '05, former president of Al-Nur Muslim student association, objected to both the specific language and overall purpose of the petition. Ahmad said that members of Al-Nur have begun to draft a petition with a similar goal but more inclusive language.
He questioned "why it's necessary to stand by Israel, one particular democracy" in order to support the broader goal of democracy in the Middle East.
Ahmad said that the phrase "as registered voters of the United States of America" was "a pressure tactic" and a "way to pressure U.S. authorities to side with Israel."
Nudelman said that the phrase was chosen to reflect signatories' commitment to express their views through their votes.
Ahmad also said that the phrase "struggle against terrorism" in effect compared "the Palestinian struggle against Israeli oppression with Al-Qaeda, thus denigrating the Palestinian effort to terrorism."
Farber pointed to the words, "We advocate security and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians," as indicative of the authors' inclusive intentions.
"DIPAC has no stance on the Palestinian state," she said. She added that she personally supports the existence of a Palestinian state.
Farber also said that the phrase "struggle against terrorism" is meant to condemn the suicide bombings which have harmed or killed American citizens visiting Israel.
Farber and Nudelman said that "several hundred" people have signed the petition. They are aiming to collect about a thousand signatures. They were unsure when or how they plan to release the petition.
