A rchive Date
[ 31-08-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/lawmakers_aug30-ap.html
Lawmakers protest Palestinian speaker
By STEVEN K. PAULSON - Associated Press
Friday, August 30, 2002
DENVER (AP) - Conservative lawmakers are demanding that a college cancel the appearance of a Palestinian leader at conference marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, but the school has refused.
Colorado College invited Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi to debate Israeli political adviser Gideon Doron at the three-day conference beginning on the anniversary. The debate is scheduled for Sept. 12.
Three Republican state legislators - Senate Minority Leader John Andrews, House Majority Leader Lola Spradley, and Rep. Debbie Stafford - say allowing Asrawi to speak sends out a bad message about terrorism.
"To honor her as a keynoter is a slap in the face not only to Jews and friends of Israel, but really to all Americans who object to Islamic terrorism," they wrote this week in a letter to Colorado College President Richard Celeste.
College officials said they will proceed as planned.
"If we don't honor our constitutional freedoms, we won't be honoring those who were killed on Sept. 11," college spokeswoman Lisa Ellis said.
Calls Friday to Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and spokeswoman for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, went unanswered. Doron, a one-time adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was also unavailable for comment.
The two were invited to give back-to-back keynote speeches and debate the situation in the Middle East at the college in Colorado Springs, about 60 miles south of Denver.
The three-day conference, titled "September 11: One Year Later," also includes panel discussions on "The New International Disorder" and "Evaluating U.S. Responses to Terrorism."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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