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Palestine Week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seeks to raise campus and community awareness of the situation of Palestinians in Israel, in the Occupied Territories, and in diaspora. This week will encourage deeper understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, promote a more pluralistic, compassionate dialogue, and celebrate the rich and diverse culture of Palestinians in Palestine and in diaspora. Events, ranging from movie screenings to guerilla theatre and from panel discussions to a Palestinian hip-hop concert, will also shed light on the United State's role in the conflict and will expose the harsh realities of life under occupation.

This week-long series of events has been organized by UNC students working in the region as both scholars and peace activists. Recently, we have noticed an increasing interest over Palestine and Palestinians at our university and in our surrounding communities. Through our work as activist scholars and members of Solidarity with Palestine through Education and Action at Carolina (SPEAC), we have been approached by many students curious in the Palestinian/Israel conflict, but who feel that their understanding of it is very poor. This is due in great part to the misconceptions and ahistorical perspectives they have been asked to accept in the mainstream media. As scholars, naturally they are critical and have questions our government and corporate media will not honestly address. They seem eager to find a space where they can learn, ask, and talk about these issues in an intellectual manner.

We aware that some might have concerns regarding the specific mission of the week. At the most general, our intentions are underscored by the following perspectives:

• First, and at the root of the event, we aim to humanize Palestinians as they have, for far too long, been given a very unfair treatment in the U.S. No real prospects for lasting peace can be achieved without recognizing that the conflict has human dimensions on both sides.
• Second, we seek to provide a historical grounding of current events, particularly because our intended audience are those who are curious and seek an indepth understanding. Without history, no intellectual theorization of the the conflict can be gained.
• Third, we hope to connect the rationale of occupation and oppression that defines the everyday of Palestinians' lives to other regimes and processes across the globe.
• Finally, it is important to us that the events aim to drive the point across that Israel's is not the only government and military operating under these logics. It is neither fair to single the Israeli government as criminal, nor is it academically honest. It is our contention that once such struggles are examined as intersecting rather than in isolation, we can finally stop trying to put out fires one by one and really tackle the larger ideas that allow injustices everywhere to continue to occur.