Hashem J.

Abushama 801 National Road West, 392, Richmond, Indiana 47374 (765)-
977-8800 hjabush13@earlham.edu
________________________________________________________________________ Date:
03/13/2016 Institute for Palestine Studies 3501 M Street NW Washington, DC 20007
United States Dear Sir/Madam, I am interested in applying for the Journal of
Palestine Studies Editorial Internship position at your Washington, D.C. office that
was listed on your official website. I first learned of the internship through my friend
and colleague, Ghadeer Awwad, who interned with you last summer. Reading
Ghadeers impressive contributions, I became interested in the institutes
productions, especially the ones shared on the different social media platforms.
From offering a critique of Rawabi in Ramallah to offering coverage of the Junction
48 to shedding light on the atrocities committed by the occupation in Palestine, the
journal plays a critical role in placing Palestine on the social and academic maps. To
me, this is highly important, considering the lack of academic production on the
Palestinian narrative. I say this with an acknowledgment that the institutes work
can go beyond Palestine to include other countries in the region. Throughout my
life, I have had a wide range of experiences that make me qualified for this position.
In my first year at Earlham, I served as the convener of Students for Peace and
Justice in Palestine at Earlham College. Being in that position pushed me to learn
how to articulate my story as a Palestinian refugee within my colleges context as
well as within the American mainstream context. An important question that I still
wrestle with is how to articulate the story in a way that makes it relevant to the
different audiences, without necessarily packaging it? That is, how are we to
articulate the atrocities in Palestine within different contexts while defying the
tendency to embrace or adapt to these contexts? I imagine this to be a question
that I will revisit while interning with your institute. I was also challenged to think
strategically and logistically about the different events that the group wanted to
hold. With the help of the group, we had to reserve spaces, find sponsors, secure
funds, advertise, and evaluate. With the high level of organization we have had, it is
no surprise that our events are some of the most wellattended events on campus.
Last year, the group successfully managed to raise $1,100 to support Palestinian
Refugees in Syria. In addition to SPJP, I was elected as the president of the Earlham
Student Government, which is the main representative structure of the student
body. As for offcampus involvement, last year, I was selected to be the youth
representative of Palestine refugees at the ECOSOC Youth Forum in the UN
Headquarters in NY. I was also a Palestine Refugees Ambassador to the UNRWA@65
Conference in NY. An experience that relates to my potential work at your institute is
my fundraising campaign, where I used social media to publicize my GoFundMe
page and raise funds to cover the expenses of my education at Earlham. I believe
that these experiences will not only help me fulfill the wide range of requirements
that the internship entails, but they will also supply me with the necessary base to
use the internship to sharpen my own personal and professional growth. I will call
next week to make sure I meet the requirements for this position. If so, I hope to
schedule an interview at a mutually convenient time. I look forward to speaking with
you. Sincerely, Hashem Abushama