A controversial conference on Palestinians moves into its second day

Hundreds of laws and military orders create a world of oppression for Palestinians in Israel, Susan Abulhawa, a pro-Palestinian author and activist, told an audience Saturday.

"Everything we have has been taken from us," she told a crowd of 250 in Meyerson Hall on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

Abulhawa detailed 20 measures, including an Israeli law that she says ended the growth of Arab villages and a military order that she claims allows Palestinians to be detained up to six months without a charge or trial.

Abulhawa is the founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, a group that builds playgrounds for Palestinian children in refugee camps and in the occupied territories. She is also the author of Mornings in Jenin, a novel about a Palestinian family displaced to a refugee camp.

Abulhawa, of Yardley, gave the opening address Saturday at the national conference of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, a movement that aims to put international pressure on Israel to recognize Palestinian rights by promoting a consumer boycott of Israeli goods and services.

The BDS movement came into being seven years ago after the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion calling for Israel's separation barrier along the West Bank to be removed.

The group advocates a strategy similar to the antiapartheid divestment movement of the 1980s, urging the boycott of Israeli-made goods and divestment from companies whose products help Israel maintain its military control over disputed land in the West Bank.

Abulhawa was one of about 20 speakers scheduled to participate in the conference, which began Friday and is scheduled to end Sunday.

Other speakers included writer and activist Remi Kanazi, editor of Poets for Palestine, a hip-hop, poetry, and art collective featuring Palestinian poets; Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace; and Ali Abunimah, of Chicago, cofounder of the website Electronic Intifada.

The conference was held by PennBDS, a newly organized 20-member branch of the organization. The event has been the subject of controversy on campus, spawning statements by president Amy Gutmann and prompting the organization of events meant to counter the message of BDS.

"We are unwavering in our support of the Jewish state. Let me say in the clearest possible words: We do not support the goals of BDS," Gutmann wrote in a letter dated Feb. 2.