Rally

To the Editors of the Crimson:

At 6.45 p.m. today outside Austin Hall at Harvard Law School, the Harvard Jewish Law Students Association (HJLSA), in conjunction with other student groups, will protest the anti-Jewish propaganda and terrorist activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The protests will immediately precede the appearance of Hasan Abdul Rahman, a registered agent of the PLO and the leading PLO propagandist in the United States.

The HJLSA unequivocally supports freedom of speech at Harvard and elsewhere. Freedom of speech includes the right to disagree with some one's point of view and to express this disagreement we reject, therefore, any assertion that our protest, which will not prevent Rahman from speaking, in any way interferes with the open exchange of ideas on campus.

To the contrary, if not for our protest, there would be no open exchange of ideas that evening. The Law School student organizers of Rahman's appearance have already stated that open questioning of Rahman will not be permitted. Rather, all questions must be submitted to the organizers, who, in turn, will choose which questions will be "asked." As if such controlled questioning were not enough, the organizers are providing "marshals" to keep control of the audience. At other schools, such as Princeton, Pro PLO marshals have threatened unauthorized questioners with physical violence. Thus, there is every reason to believe that Rahman's appearance is planned not as a forum for the open exchange of ideas, but as a tightly controlled anti-Israel charade.

Such a charade should not be viewed in isolation Rahman's appearance is part of an organized and vicious anti-Jewish propaganda campaign. This campaign, for which $100 million has been allocated by Arab nations and the PLO, seeks to alter American foreign policy by inciting anti-Jewish sentiment. Rahman's activities have been monitored by the Anti-Defamation League of B 'nai B'rith; they report, for example, that Rahman told a Christian student group in New York that they both shared a common enemy since their homelands-the United States and Palestine-were controlled by Jews. The issues in the Middle East are complex, and Jews, Arabs, Lebanese Christians and others have all suffered a great deal. The complexity of the issues, however, does not preclude the condemnation of PLO racist propaganda activities.

The PLO has not limited its anti-Jewish activities to propaganda. It is extremely well documented that the PLO provided military and financial support for European neo-Nazi groups, including military training at former terrorist bases in Southern Lebanon PLO links to groups which have carried out the bombing of synagogues and Jewish schools in Europe have also been well documented. For example, al-Fatah, Arafat's group, trained members of L'oeuvre Francais, an extreme right-wing French group, to carry out terrorist operations for the PLO. These activities are consistent with the PLO strategy of inciting anti-Jewish sentiment throughout the world. Just last week, in an abhorrent display of hypocrisy, the PLO Mission Chief in Warsaw, at a ceremony commemorating the Holocaust, declared that the Jewish state is the new Nazi Germany.

The PLO has always rejected even the concept of peace with Israel and has killed many of its members who have dared to advocate peace and compromise. In fact, the PLO Charter, which has been consistently reaffirmed by all PLO leaders, rejects "all solutions which are substitutes for the total Liberation of Palestine...."

It is unlikely, however, that either Rahman's speech or the controlled questioning will lead to a discussion of either the PLO racist propaganda campaign or the PLO training of neo-Nazis. Rather, Rahman will present, and the organizers will allow to be questioned, only that side of the PLO that the PLO wants the West to know about.

We are determined not to let Rahman's appearance turn into an anti-Israel charade. We encourage all students to join us on Tuesday night to support the open exchange of ideas, the right of Israel to exist in peace, and the night of the Jewish people to be free from racist propaganda attacks. William Jacobson   >For HJLSA