Ousted Rutgers group names Ramada Inn as site of its pro-Palestinian conference

by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

In a plan kept under wraps until this week, NJ Solidarity announced Wednesday that it had found a location for its pro-Palestinian conference in New Brunswick.
In an e-mail to supporters, Charlotte Kates, spokesperson for the campus group, said the conference will be held at the Ramada Inn on Route 1 South. The announcement came over a month after her group was denied permission to meet on the Rutgers University campus, and one day before a large pro-Israel rally was to be staged on the campus as part of a weekend-long "Israel Inspires" program.

The communiqué announced the gathering will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, run from 9 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, then from 9 a.m. top 6 p.m. Sunday.

In an email to supporters, Kates said, "Despite all attacks — from Zionist forces, from university administration, from the State and the Governor, the Third North American Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement is continuing on and going strong."
What remained unclear was the size and scope of the New Jersey pro-Palestinian conference. In her e-mail, Kates continued to refer to the event as the "Third North American Conference" of her movement, even though organizers of the national Pro-Palestinian conference using that name had declined NJ Solidarity’s participation in the event they now intend to stage at Ohio State University.

Members of Jews Against the Occupation said they planned to participate in some of the workshops at the pro-Palestinian conference, although — like another pro-Palestinian group, A.W.A.R.E — they have opposed what they called NJ Solidarity’s "undemocratic procedures" and harsh anti-Israel rhetoric.
Meanwhile, A.W.A.R.E and JATO said they will hold counter-demonstrations against the Israel Inspires rally Oct. 9 on the Busch campus in Piscataway.
Organizers of the Israel Inspires event said they are expecting as many as 5,000 supporters for the event, which kicks off a weekend of activity arranged by Rutgers Hillel with the support of the state Jewish federations.
Among those scheduled to speak in support of Israel at the rally are Gov. James McGreevey, United States Senators Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg, Israeli consul for media and public affairs Ido Aharoni, State Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos Jr. (R-Dist. 13), State Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula (D-Dist. 17), and Stephanie Schwartz, student president of Rutgers Hillel.
The week’s activities will also include a block party Friday afternoon by Broward Commons, and Shabbat and Sukkot services at the Hyatt Hotel in New Brunswick.
Weekend workshops will be conducted by, among others, Herbert London, director of the Hudson Institute; June Walker, national president of Hadassah; Wayne Firestone, director of the Center for Israel Affairs at Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Life; Fereydoun Hoveyda, former deputy foreign minister of Iran; David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee; and Tom Rose, publisher and CEO of The Jerusalem Post.
Rally organizers are urging participants to arrive via the more than 50 buses being chartered by federations and synagogues throughout the state, which will be parked at the Administrative Services Lot #63 on Davidson Road across from the Busch Campus Center. The Blue Lot next to the Werbin Athletic Center on Frelinghuysen Road, about one-quarter mile from the rally venue, will be designated for private car parking. A staff person at the New Brunswick train station will direct people to a shuttle bus that will run loops to the rally venue from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Complete information about the event is available at www.israelinspires.org.

Robert Wiener can be reached at rwiener@njjewishnews.com.