Because in the words of Mark Levine: "Palestine is everything." The cause of Palestinians is one we should all be concerned about because much of the geo-political struggles faced by the US government today surrounds this issue. America's continuing support of Israeli war crimes in Palestine is one of the main reasons it is viewed so negatively by many developing countries who see the Palestinian struggle as a symbol of resistance against western imperialism. Understanding the Palestinian perspective is a pathway to understanding how the great majority of the world's population feels, a view that we share with one of the most admired men of history and nobel peace prize winner, Nelson Mandela who once said: "Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians."

Students for Justice in Palestine is an activist group made up of Jews and Muslims, whites and blacks, American citizens and foreign nationals. We are all united in order to speak up for justice. As activists in the United States we are fighting a non-violent battle in the most hostile territory: the United States is one out of only 7 countries (out of 194) who are yet to recognize Palestine as a state and the only one who truly has the power to make a significant impact on the daily lives of Palestinians. SJP at SDSU is on the front lines of the battle for Palestinian freedom, and as the taboos of criticizing Israel begin to crack and as more Americans are beginning to understand the injustice that is being done against the Palestinians, we are living and seeing the fruits of our work ripening right in front of us. We have decided to speak up because we truly believe in Martin Luther King's wise words: "Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor."