Occupation End Notes | November 6, 2009 Volume 7 Number 18
| On
Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed H.Res.867, condemning the
Report of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (known
informally as the Goldstone Report) as "irredeemably biased and
unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy," by a vote of 344 to 36 with 22 abstentions. Use our brand new web feature to "thank or spank" your Representative based on how he/she voted. Enter you zip code on our website and it will automatically pull up a sample letter to your Representative based on how she/he voted on H.Res.867. Try it today by clicking here. Also, read exclusive content on our blog by National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner analyzing the vote on H.Res.867. Watch the video of the debate, get links to the transcript in the Congressional Record, and much more by clicking here. Looking to the future, next week is the 7th annual week to stop Israel's apartheid wall. We'll start the week with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a great media hook to talk about Israel's apartheid wall. Our member groups will hold educational events in their communities throughout the week. Click here for more information about planning your own event or here to find other events in your area. The end of the week of action against the apartheid wall is expected to coincide with the end of the Palestinian olive harvest. One way to take action against the apartheid wall is to help Palestinian farmers whose land and trees have been closed off behind the wall. Since the beginning of October, your generous tax-deductible contributions have enabled us to replant 995 olive trees in Palestine. We're 99.5% of the way to our goal of 1,000 trees replanted. Help push us over the top of our goal by making your tax-deductible contribution today by clicking here. Check out the rest of Occupation End Notes for opportunities and resources for action, updates on the activities of our member groups, new blog posts, news developments, and much more! Peace and solidarity, US Campaign National Staff |
US Campaign in the News Share an Event Apartheid in the News |
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Table of Contents: 1) Take Action against the Apartheid Wall 2) New Campus BDS Web Section 3) CAT Bulldozers in the Goldstone Report 4) What's New on the US Campaign Blog 5) Welcome New Member Groups to the US Campaign 6) US Campaign Member Groups in Action 7) US Campaign National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner to Speak at Brooklyn Law School 8) US Campaign and Members Tell Mets: Cancel Settler Group Fundraiser 9) CNI Announces New Executive Director 10) Itisapartheid.org and Stop the Wall Present Israeli Apartheid Video Contest 12) Stephen Sizer and Mark Braverman on Christian Zionism and Movement Building 13) New Edition of Journal of Palestine Studies Focuses on Operation Cast Lead 14) Delegations to Israel/Palestine for Education and Solidarity 15) How You Can Sustain the US Campaign |
* Take Action! International Week of Action against the Apartheid Wall
From November 9-15, join human rights advocates around the world as we mark the 7th annual week of action against Israel's Apartheid Wall. Monday, November 9th is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and we're asking our supporters to use this anniversary to get Israel's apartheid wall into the media. Find ideas for action and tools to stop the Wall by clicking here. And check out our media action day on November 9.
Planning an event or action? Publicize it on the US Campaign's website calendar by clicking here.
* New Campus BDS Web Section Launched
Check out our new web section dedicated to boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movements on campus. Included in this web section are our Student Divestment Handbook, Power Point presentations on campus BDS, and information on the upcoming National Campus BDS Conference taking place at Hampshire College on November 21 and 22. Find out how to engage in boycott and divestment campaigns on your campus by clicking here.
We also have several new BDS resources available, including a legal memo from the National Lawyers Guild on U.S. federal law relating to BDS, a link to the Seattle Divest from Israeli Occupation campaign, and the Interfaith Peace Initiative's Global Survey of BDS actions.. If you have a BDS campaign that you would like us to publicize, email our National Organizer, Katherine Fuchs, by clicking here.
* New Resource: Caterpillar Bulldozers Featured Prominently in Goldstone Report
Did
you notice that D-9 armored bulldozers are repeatedly described as
tools of Israeli war crimes in the Goldstone Report? So did our
Steering Committee member, Peter Miller of Americans United for
Palestinian Human Rights. Peter compiled all of the remarks about
bulldozers from the Goldstone Report into one eight-page document, now
posted on our website! Click here
to download a PDF of this document. If you don't already have a local
campaign going against Caterpillar's sale of these bulldozers to
Israel, click here to order a campaign kit.
*Bill Moyers, the Daily Show, GRITtv, and Rustbelt Radio on the US Campaign Blog
What's new on the US Campaign blog? Retired CIA analysts Kathleen and Bill Christison discuss BDS and military aid to Israel. Bill Moyers interviews Judge Richard Goldstone. John Stewart interviews Anna Balzer and Dr. Mustafa Barghouti on the Daily Show.
US Campaign National Organizer Katherine Fuchs on Rustbelt Radio. Check
out all this and much more--unique content, resources, pictures, and
video--on the US Campaign blog by clicking 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 320 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.
Please welcome the following organizations to our coalition:
Aware! - Colorado* US Campaign Member Groups in Action
Want
to know what our more than 300 member organizations are up to? Check
out the US Campaign's online calendar for information about events,
speakers, rallies, and actions near you by clicking here. Want to advertise an event? Click here to post an event to our website. Let other activists know what you are doing, and find out how to get involved!
* US Campaign National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner to Speak at Brooklyn Law School
In
2007, the United States and Israel signed an agreement to increase U.S.
military aid to Israel to $30 billion over the next ten years. Do these
weapons transfers promote Israeli-Palestinian peace and are they a good
use of taxpayer dollars? Are US laws compromised when Israel uses these
materials in Gaza and the West Bank? US Campaign Nationald Advocacy
Director Josh Ruebner will address these questions on Tuesday, November
10, at 6 PM at the Brooklyn Law School, 250 Joralemon Street, first
floor Student Lounge. The event is cosponsored by US Campaign member
group Brooklyn For Peace (Israel-Palestine Committee), the Brooklyn Law
School National Lawyers Guild, and Brooklyn Law Students for the Public
Interest. For more information call (718) 624-5921 or email is.pales@brooklynpeace.org.
* US Campaign and Member Groups Call on New York Mets to Cancel Fundraiser for Hebron Settlers
US Campaign member group Adalah-NY has organized a letter to the New York Mets
calling on them to cancel a fundraiser for the Hebron Fund being held
at the Mets' Citi Field. The Hebron Fund is the U.S. fundraising wing
of Israeli settler groups in Al Khalil/Hebron in the southern West
Bank. Settlers in Hebron are some of the most notorious abusers of the
human rights of Palestinian civilians.
The letter is signed by the US Campaign as well as member groups ADC, Brooklyn for Peace, CODEPINK, Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews Against the Occupation, and WESPAC Foundation. Adalah-NY has also produced a video in conjunction with the letter, which you can view by clicking here. Find out more about the Hebron Fund here, and read the full letter by clicking here.
* Council for National Interest Announces Helena Cobban as New Executive Director
US Campaign member group Council for the National Interest and its affiliated Council for the National Interest Foundation (CNI/CNIF) are pleased to announce that Helena Cobban has joined the organizations as Executive Director. Cobban has written extensively about the U.S. role in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, including as a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor. She also maintains the Just World News blog and has started a new blog on behalf of CNI entitled Fair Policy, Fair Discussion. Click here to read more.
* Interfaith Peace-Builders/US Campaign Summer Delegates Advocate for Human Rights
Members
of the Interfaith Peace-Builders and US Campaign to End the Israeli
Occupation summer delegation have committed themselves fully to the
important tasks of outreach and education. Delegates, including US
Campaign National Organizer Katherine Fuchs, have spoken to the media,
presented in their local communities, and engaged in innovative
organizing projects for the long term. Click here for a partial list of delegates' appearances in the media and speaking events.
IFPB's olive harvest delegation is in Israel/Palestine right now, click here to read their trip reports or here to sign up for IFPB's next delegation in May, 2010.
* Itisapartheid.org and Stop the Wall Present the Israeli Apartheid Video Contest
US Campaign member group Itisapartheid.org and ally Stop the Wall are looking for submissions for the First International Israeli Apartheid Video Contest. Participants are invited to submit short [less than 5 minute] videos on the theme of Israeli apartheid. Videos should reflect the nature, realities and/or consequences of apartheid policy in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. For more information on the contest, click here. To find out how you can endorse and/or sponsor the Israeli Apartheid video context, click here. To find out more about standing against Israeli apartheid, click here.
* Palestine Solidarity Project Speaking Tour
From the Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP): "While the White House is paying increasing attention to a 'Middle East Peace Process', and Israeli politicians are using every delay tactic in their arsenal, the reality of the on-going Israeli Occupation has been all but lost in sound bites and empty propaganda. Bekah Wolf, who has lived the last 3 years in the Occupied West Bank and is the International Coordinator for the Palestine Solidarity Project, is going on her third nationwide speaking tour, bringing an eyewitness' account, along with a critical analysis of the realities of Israeli occupation in 2009 and what they mean in an international context, especially with regards to the recent UN fact-finding mission headed by international jurist Richard Goldstone, the prospects for renewed three-party negotiations, and the upsurge in the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaigns. Bekah is available in the Northeast from Oct. 17-Nov. 4; in the Midwest from Nov. 6-18; again in the Northeast from Nov. 18-23; in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest from Nov. 29-Dec.5 and in the Southwest from Dec. 6-Dec. 15. "
If you are interested in hosting PSP's speaking tour, email PSP by clicking here. For more information about PSP, click here.
* Drs. Stephen Sizer and Mark Bravemerman Discuss Christian Zionism, Movement Building
November 13 - Washington, DC
Well-known British scholar and author of "Christian Zionism and the Bible" Dr. Stephen Sizer, will be joined by Jewish author Dr. Mark Braverman, to discuss the impact of this ideology on the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. The intended goal is to mobilize a Capitol Hill working group from the religious institutions of the neighborhood for further educational and movement expanding activities. The event will be held November 13, at 7 PM at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, 222 East Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC. For more information, click here, or email Tom Getman by clicking here.
* Latest Edition of the Journal of Palestine Studies Focuses on Operation Cast Lead
The
most recent edition of the Journal of Palestine Studies, with a special
focus on Operation Cast Lead, is now available. It includes an
unprecedented amount of new material to serve as a resource and a
record of the operation, including an overview of the history,
geography, and economy of the Gaza Strip, an overview of the weapons
used by the Israeli military during Operation Cast Lead, and a detailed
timeline of the Israeli assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Learn more by clicking here.
* New Opportunities to 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 view delegation opportunities and learn how to register.
* 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. National organizing tours. Regional meetings.
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 commit to monthly giving by joining the Olive Branch Club.
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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 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.