Occupation End Notes | August 20, 2009 Volume 7 Number 14
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You might notice something a bit different about this week's edition of Occupation End Notes, our bi-weekly newsletter designed as a tool for activists. In order to make End Notes for useful and accessible for you, our supporters, we are streamlining it and connecting you to some of our other tools for making information and events available to you.
We
hope you enjoy our new approach to Occupation End Notes As always, in
order for this newsletter to be a success, we need your help. Have an
event you want to publicize? Add to to our Member Group Calendar by clicking here. Have a resource or a victory that you want shared? Email us by clicking here. US Campaign National Staff |
US Campaign in the News Share an Event Apartheid in the News |
In
this week's Occupation End Notes we are announcing a Saturday night
event that is open to the public at our National Conference, issuing a
call for fall interns, putting the spotlight on some of the exciting
activities of our membership, sharing great news about boycott and
divestment victories, letting you know what's happening here at the
national office, and linking you to all the great resources available
on a daily basis on our
Top of Page
* Speaking Out: Rashid Khalidi, Omar Barghouti, and Chicago and DC Spoken Word Artists at National Conference
Our 8th Annual National Organizers' Conference will be held during the weekend of September 12th - 13th, 2009. That's less than a month away! Register today by clicking here.
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is 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 Omar Barghouti,
Palestinian political commentator and human rights activist, as our keynote speakers on issues of
Policy and Boycott and Divestment. Between the keynote addresses,
renowned DC spoken word artist, Tala Abu Rahmeh, will delight us with her thought-provoking poetry. Iftar dinner is included and will be traditional Middle Eastern fare.
The
event will take place at Roosevelt University, in the Congress Room,
430 S Michigan Ave in downtown Chicago, from 7:00pm-10:00pm (dinner
will be served at 7:00). Speaking Out is cosponsored by the Roosevelt
University Sociology Society.
If
you have already registered and paid for the 8th Annual National
Organizers' Conference, your ticket for this event has been factored in
the price of registration.
If you are not coming to our conference, but want to attend this evening, tickets can be purchased here for $35.
Seats are limited so get your tickets today! If you prefer to use your
credit card, you may call the US Campaign at 202-332-0994 or send us a
check made payable to "US Campaign" with "Saturday night event" clearly
written in the memo line.
To find out more details about the conference and make sure that your
organization is in good standing with the US Campaign, click here.
* Happy Birthday to the Geneva Conventions and More on the US Campaign Blog
Looking
for news, updates, analysis, video, and more unique content? Look no
further than the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation's blog! New
on the blog this week: the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions and what it means for our movement; what recent evictions in East Jerusalem reveal about Israeli apartheid; updates from the US Campaign/Interfaith Peace-Builders delegation to Israel/Palestine; and video of US Campaign Steering Committee member Phyllis Bennis and US Campaign National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner at the Veterans for Peace convention. Click here to view news and updates on the US Campaign blog.
* Intern with the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Interested
in spending an exciting semester in Washington, DC, working to for
human rights, international law, and equality for all in U.S. policy
toward Israel/Palestine? The US Campaign is currently seeking five
interns for the fall semester of 2009. Interns will be expected to
work 10-30 hours per week under supervision of the US Campaign staff in
its Washington, DC office. Click here to download an application.
* US Campaign Member Groups Achieve Boycott and Divestment Victories!
The past two weeks have seen two important victories for the global movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli occupation and apartheid--victories achieved, we are excited to report, with the active leadership of member groups of the US Campaign.
The international humanitarian organization Oxfam has announced that actress Kristin Davis will no longer serve as a humanitarian ambassador for the organization due to her role as a spokesperson for the Israeli cosmetics company Ahava. Ahava is the target of a boycott campaign led by US Campaign member group CODEPINK due to the company's production in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Click here to read more.
Amnesty International has announced that it will abstain from any involvement in the Leonard Cohen concert in Tel Aviv
and will not be party to any fund that benefits from the concert's
proceeds. This announcement comes after a campaign by a coalition
including US Campaign member groups Adalah-NY, Jews Against the Occupation, and New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (NYCBI),
to convince Amnesty International to withdraw support from the Cohen
concert after Cohen agreed to play in Israel despite a call for
cultural boycott. Click here to read more.
To keep up with the latest in media coverage of the global BDS movement, click here.
* WRITE! Calls for Letters to LA Times in Support of Neve Gordon Op-Ed
US Campaign member group WRITE! for Justice has issued a call for letters to the editor of the Los Angeles Times
in support of Neve Gordon's August 20 op-ed entitled "Boycott Israel."
Gordon is an Israeli professor and peace activist. His op-ed explains
his decision to endorse the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment,
and sanctions against Israel until it ends what he identifies as
policies of occupation and apartheid. Read the full article by clicking
here.
WRITE! asks you to send letters to the editors at the Los Angeles Times nd
thank them for running this timely and relevant op-ed. Be sure to keep
your letters under 150 words, and include your name, address and
daytime phone number for verification purposes only. You can also check out the US Campaign's media action resources by clicking here.
* Brooklynites Urged to Boycott Motorola
Fifteen
New York human rights advocates rallied at Fulton Street Mall in
Brooklyn Saturday, singing songs that called on Brooklyn shoppers to
boycott communications giant Motorola until it stops providing
technology that aids Israel's army and settlement movement. The protest
was held outside a Sprint Store where Boost Mobile, a division of
Sprint, sells Motorola phones. Click here to read more. For resources and information on the national boycott of Motorola, click here.
These
past two weeks have been packed with media coverage of the global BDS
movement. A British bank has withdrawn its investments in Israeli
settlements after pressure from Norwegian business partners. The United
Church of Canada failed to pass a national boycott initiative but has
urged individual congregations to consider BDS. Israeli activist Neve
Gordon appeared in the LA Times to explain why he's convinced that boycott is the only way to end Israeli occupation and apartheid. Want to read more? Click here for more on these and other BDS related stories.
* John Dugard: "Israel is long overdue" to Face Up to Apartheid
Writing in The Huffington Post, former
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories John Dugard argues that "Israel is long overdue to undergo
the same racial reckoning and transformation that the United States
underwent in the 1960s and South Africa passed through in the 1990s."
For more on this and other stories related to the anti-apartheid and
anti-racism framework endorsed by the US Campaign to End the Israeli
Occupation, click here. For resources to stand against apartheid, click here.
* Welcome New Member Groups to the US Campaign
In
an effort to better help our coalition members network and for us to
better gauge the coalition's regional diversity, we have put together a
map with our more than 300 coalition members represented by state.
Don't see you member group listed? Click here to join the US Campaign. Click here to check if your member group is in good standing with the US Campaign. Note that you have to be in good standing to send voting delegates to the National Conference in September!
Please welcome the following organizations to our coalition:
Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel - New Mexico
New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel - New York
Another Jewish Voice, Santa Fe - New Mexico
Central New York Working for a Just Peace in Palestine and Israel - New York
* Reception for the Nakba Photo Exhibit: "The Story of the Palestinians, 1948 to 2009"
Columbia, MD - September 1, 2009
The Howard County Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (HCCEIO) and
Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace (WIAMEP) invite
you to a reception marking the opening of a month-long display at
Howard County Central Library of the Nakba Photo Exhibit: "The Story of
the Palestinians, 1948 to 2009." George Hishmeh, a survivor of the
Nakba, will be present to talk about his experiences and discuss the
photos. Refreshments will be served. Click here to learn more.
To learn what groups in your area are doing or to post and advertise an event on the US Campaign's website, click here.
* Friends of Sabeel North America Conference: Seek Peace, Pursue Justice
October 1-3 - Washington, DC
Friends
of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) is sponsoring a conference on October
1-3 at Shiloh Baptist Church, 1500 9th St., NW, Washington, DC. Check
out the FOSNA website for more information.
To learn what groups in your area are doing or to post and advertise an event on the US Campaign's website, click here.
* Visit Israel/Palestine for Education and Solidarity
Check out the many opportunities to visit Israel/Palestine with US Campaign member groups Interfaith Peace-Builders, CODEPINK, Global Exchange, Christian Peacemaker Teams, and more!
Click here to read reports and reflections from the recent US Campaign/IFPB cosponsored delegation to Israel/Palestine.
Click here to view delegation opportunities.
* How You Can Sustain the US Campaign--Donate Today!
Occupation End Notes. Action alerts. An interactive event calendar. Unique content on our blog. Resources
for local organizers. These are just a few of the tools that the US
Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation provides to our supporters.
Unfortunately, these resources aren't free. They take staff time,
website fees, postage, printing expenses, and more.
If you, like thousands of other committed activists, find these resources vital for your organizing, make a tax-deductible donation to our ongoing work by donating online, donating office supplies and services, or joining the Olive Branch Club.
Click here for more information.Back to top
Occupation End Notes is the US Campaign bi-weekly newsletter, designed as a tool for activists. For this newsletter to be successful, we need your participation. Use us to promote events, give feedback on recent actions, recommend resources, or just learn from other activists in the movement. If you or your organization are planning an event aimed at ending the occupation, or you have information for the Newsletter, please contact the US Campaign by emailing us here.
The US Campaign aims to change U.S. policies that sustain Israel's 42-year occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and that deny equal rights for all.