Tag Archives: Israel

PROTEST AT SC STATEHOUSE TO CALL FOR CEASEFIRE IN GAZA

Emergency Gaza Protest!

SATURDAY Nov. 17th @4pm

There will be an emergency Gaza protest on Saturday November 17th at 4pm at the South Carolina Statehouse.

Demonstrators call on President Obama, Israel, Hamas to end escalating violence & a ceasefire in Gaza!  

Escalating violence in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militants took a decided turn for the worse on Wednesday as Israel broke a tenuous truce and assassinated Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari in a string of airstrikes in Gaza.  Hamas and Palestinian militant groups have retaliated by firing rockets deep into Israel, including at Tel Aviv.  Over twenty Palestinians including children have been killed in the ensuing Israeli airstrikes and; three Israeli civilians were killed when rockets launched by Palestinian militants struck an apartment in Israel, the first Israeli civilian fatalities from rocket attacks this year.  Israeli troops are massing on the border with Gaza and a ground invasion. 

“It is well-known that Israel’s targeted killings of Palestinian militants in Gaza provoke rocket attacks in retaliation,” says President David Matos, who has traveled to Israel/Palestine twice on peace missions.  “Israel deliberately escalated the violence by carrying out  this targeted assassination .”  At the same time, Matos notes that “an all out war in Gaza will be literal murder on both Israeli and Palestinian civilians caught in the cross-fire; it will take de-escalation on both sides to avoid that disaster.”

While the parties on the ground must de-escalate to avert further bloodshed, the US has considerable influence over Israel via the over $3 billion in military aid the US furnishes Israel every year.

“We call on President Obama to pressure Israel to stop its escalations and step back from the brink of war,” says Matos.  “If President Obama goes along with more violence, blood will be on his hands.”

Institute for Middle East Understanding Timeline of Escalating Violence~

http://imeu.net/news/article0023227.shtml

Web: www.carolinapeace.org

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Filed under Actions, Actions | Events, Free Palestine, Middle East, Palestine | Israel, Protest, The Obama Administration, white supremacy

Will Egypt Prevent Marchers from Entering Gaza?

Interviews Available:

HEDY EPSTEIN, [until Fri.] (314) 361-6820, hedy@hedyepstein.com, http://www.hedyepstein.com
DANA BALICKI, (202) 422-8624, dana@codepinkalert.org, http://www.gazafreedommarch.org
ANN WRIGHT,  now in Cairo, 011-20-19-508-1493, in Gaza, 011-972-59-950-1517, microann@yahoo.com
MEDEA BENJAMIN, in Cairo 011-20-18-956-1919, in Gaza 011-972-599501519, medea@globalexchange.org
Balicki, Wright and Benjamin are with the group CODEPINK, which is organizing the Gaza Freedom March on Dec. 31. A delegation to Gaza will begin in Cairo on Dec. 27, one year after the start of the “Cast Lead” bombing of Gaza by Israel.

Among the people going on the delegation are: author Alice Walker, musician Roger Waters, Filipino member of parliament Walden Bello, ElectronicIntifada.net founder Ali Abunimah, IPA communications director Sam Husseini and Epstein, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and author of “Remembering Is Not Enough.” After World War II, she worked at the Nuremberg Medical Trial, which tried the doctors accused of performing medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.

CODEPINK recently put out a statement: “Citing escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry informed us on Dec. 20 that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take. We also said that it was too late for over 1,360 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans now.

“Although we consider this as a setback, it is something we’ve encountered — and overcome — before. No delegation, large or small, that has entered Gaza over the past 12 months has received a final OK before arriving at the Rafah border. Most delegations were discouraged from even heading out of Cairo to Rafah. Some had their buses stopped on the way. Some have been told outright that they could not go into Gaza. But after public and political pressure, the Egyptian government changed its position and let them pass.”

The number for the Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C. is (202) 895-5400; the contact person is Omar Youssef.

PHILIP FARAH, (703) 593-7982, farahp@yahoo.com, http://www.wiamep.org

Farah, who has family in Gaza and grew up in Jerusalem, is a spokesperson for the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace. They are holding a march and vigil in downtown Washington, D.C. in solidarity with the Gaza Freedom March that involves several groups including Jewish Voice for Peace.

He said today: “As people all around the world sing ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem,’ the Palestinians in Bethlehem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian territories continue to be oppressed. Nowhere is that more bitter than in Gaza, where over 1,300 Palestinians were killed during 22 days of bombings. Living conditions in Gaza remain desperate as Israel continues to impose its siege on 1.5 million Palestinians, preventing almost anyone from leaving the strip and making it virtually impossible to rebuild or repair the thousands of homes and businesses that were demolished during the attack.”

Background: See the new report from Amnesty International, which states: “The international community has betrayed the people of Gaza by failing to back their words with effective action to secure the ending of the Israeli blockade which is preventing reconstruction and recovery, say a group of 16 leading humanitarian and human rights groups in a new report released today (22 December) ahead of the anniversary of the start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza (27 December-18 January).” http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18552

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

http://accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=2148

Institute for Public Accuracy
980 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 *
http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org

 

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Filed under Actions | Events, American Progressive Politics, anti-war, Free Palestine, Friends & Comrades, Human Rights, Middle East, Obama Administration, Palestine | Israel, Political Ideology, racism, The Obama Administration, white supremacy

Edward Said | “The Myth of the Clash of Civilizations”

Edward Said Memoir

Edward Said Memoir

Edward Said’s lecture on Samuel Huntington’s essay and book on the “Clash of Civilizations,” at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1996). Said, a Christian Palestinian, was one of the greatest thinkers of our time.

“Said said “the West mainly sees Islam through distorted, Orientalist, lenses. Also, correlation alone is not sufficient to prove that what you said must mean there is a ‘cultural clash’. There could be a clash in some areas, but this is created by powerful people to make Islam seem threatning so regions, like Iran, can be dominated for oil.””

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Only 3 Days Left Until the 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference

8th Annual National Organizers ConferenceWe are only 3 days away from the 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference in Chicago. This is your last chance to pre-register for the conference by clicking here. On-line registration will close at 12:00PM, Noon Eastern, Thursday, September 10. If you haven’t pre-registered for the conference by the deadline, then you can still register for the conference on-site on Saturday; however we cannot guarantee conference registration materials and Saturday night dinner for you if you register on-site. So if you are planning on coming to the conference, please register on-line right away by clicking here.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is also excited to invite you to Speaking Out, a night of solidarity and entertainment to benefit the work of the US Campaign, Saturday, September 12! We are honored to welcome the Director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, Professor Rashid Khalidi and Palestinian political analyst Omar Barghouti as our keynote speakers. Fr. Miguel d’Escoto, President of the UN General Assembly, will also share a special message.

Join us in Chicago, September 12-13 to help plan the future of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation!

1) Deadline to Register, Thursday September 10, 2009 at 12:00pm (noon) Eastern

The deadline to register on-line for the conference is Thursday, September 10th at 12:00pm, Noon Eastern. The registration fee for the conference is $60. It will include Saturday dinner, conference packets, and admission to the Saturday night key-note speeches.

Click here to register today – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/

If you haven’t pre-registered for the conference by tomorrow’s deadline, then you can still register for the conference on-site on Saturday; however we cannot guarantee conference registration materials and Saturday night dinner for you if you register on-site. So if you are planning on coming to the conference, please register on-line right away.

 2) Read the 2008-2009 Annual Report:
Click here to read what we’ve done since our last annual conference –
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/20082009AnnualReport.pdf

3) Read the Proposals to be discussed:
We thank our member groups in good standing for submitting programmatic proposals under the pre-assigned categories.  You can read the proposals by clicking here – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2336

4) Read the National Conference Agenda. Click here to read the conference agenda – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2004

5) Read over the Steering Committee Nominees:

The Steering Committee is the highest decision-making body of the US Campaign between annual conferences.  It is responsible for policy decisions, strategic planning, fundraising, and personnel decisions.   Click here to see who has nominated themselves to serve on the US Campaign’s Steering Committee.  If you would like to run or nominate someone to run for the Steering Committee, please click here – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2340

6) Renew your organizational membership dues:
If your organization has not paid its 2009 membership dues, then your conference delegates will not be able to vote for proposals or for Steering Committee members.  Click here to see if your organization has paid its 2009 membership dues – http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2055

 7) Our official response to Shalom International’s Call for Protest of our Conference:

It has been brought to the attention of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation that the Chicago Chapter of Shalom International will be protesting our 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference on Sunday, September 13, at 1PM. According to their website, the protest will be taking place across the street from our conference venue.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation strongly believes in everyone’s right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. The US Campaign is liaising with the conference venue to assure the safety and security of all conference attendees and prevent any disruptions to our conference. We have no reason to believe that the protesters will attempt to disrupt the conference or threaten the safety and security of its participants.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation strongly urges all conference attendees to avoid any interaction with any protester during its 8th Annual National Organizers’ Conference for the following reasons:

1) The US Campaign strongly opposes any and all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, and believes that unfounded accusations of anti-Semitism do not deserve any response or engagement on our part.

2) We have important business to take care of during our conference to advance our agenda of changing U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine to support human rights, international law, and equality for all. Let us not divert our valuable attention and time together at our conference.

3) Protesters love to garner media attention for their actions and we all know that nothing leads to better media coverage than confrontation. Do not give the protesters the satisfaction of drawing additional attention to their cause. Ignore them.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation would like to thank in advance all conference participants and member groups for adhering to our call not to engage protesters in any way. And we look to seeing you in Chicago on Saturday for an exciting and successful conference!

8) Speaking Out! A night of Solidarity with Prof. Rashid Khalidi, Omar Barghouti, and more!

A Night of Solidarity

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Edward Said on Conflicts and Peace

 

Edward Said on Conflicts and Peace, from a public lecture at McGill university in Montreal, Quebec 1996. Le Coin Palestinien.

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