Yearly Archives: 2017

Last Month for Gaza Lights!

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Our campaign to provide 50 “Gaza Lights” systems to families in Rafah is into its last month. We have almost raised the $4700 cost of the project. Thanks to those who have given so far. Details on the campaign here:

If you are looking for a good Halloween decoration, we are offering special Halloween-themed “Spooky Luci” Lights for sale again this year. (Luci Lights are a bright solar-powered light that in the past we have helped the Rebuilding Alliance send to Gaza children.) We have about 20 of the Halloween version left and all proceeds from any that we sell before Halloween this year will go to the Gaza Lights campaign.

“Spooky Luci” lights (3 styles)

The prices are $15 for one, $25 for two or $35 for three. Right now all three patterns are available, but that may not last, so if you are interested you need to hurry!

If you would like to purchase any of these lights, please send an e-mail to Kathy Walsh, madderhorn17 at outlook.com, or call her at 608-278-0483. She can arrange for pickup or delivery in the Madison area.

As always, thanks for your support!

October 17, 2017
Farhana Khera Lecture at UW

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University of Wisconsin Law School
Room 2260, 4:00 pm [Map]
Reception to follow

The 2017 Mildred Fish-Harnack Human Rights and Democracy Lecture will be “Upholding America’s Promise for All” by Farhana Khera, President and Executive Director, Muslim Advocates.

Farhana Khera is the first executive director of Muslim Advocates. Prior to joining Muslim Advocates in 2005, Ms. Khera was Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights. In the Senate, she worked for six years directly for Senator Russell D. Feingold (D-WI), the Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee. Ms. Khera focused substantially on the Patriot Act, racial and religious profiling, and other civil liberties issues raised by the government’s anti-terrorism policies after September 11, 2001. She was also the Senator’s lead staff member developing anti-racial profiling legislation and organizing subcommittee hearings on racial profiling, Ms. Khera wrote the first drafts of the End Racial Profiling Act and organized the first ever Congressional hearing on racial profiling.

This lecture is named after Mildred Fish-Harnack, a Milwaukee native who was a UW–Madison student in the 1920’s. While living in Germany, Fish-Harnack assisted in the escape of German Jews and political dissidents. She is the only American civilian executed by the personal direction of Adolf Hitler for her resistance to the Nazi regime. This lectureship is designed to promote greater understanding of human rights and democracy, and to enrich international studies at UW-Madison. The lecture brings to campus a person who contributes to the cause of human rights through academic scholarship and/or active leadership. Sponsored by the Human Rights Program of the Global Legal Studies Center, a joint program of the University of Wisconsin Law School and the International Division of UW-Madison.

A Policy of Displacement

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Visualizing Palestine, September 2012

“‘Policy of Displacement’ focuses on the Israeli government’s widespread practice of demolishing Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967. The data for the graphic draws primarily on research by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). The graphic was first published by Al Jazeera English on 28 August, two days after the verdict on Rachel Corrie’s case. It served as a reminder of the outrage home demolitions spur, both within Palestinians and among the international community. This was our first release by a major media outlet.”

Click image for full screen

Sources and Data
ICAHD, 2012. The Judaization of Palestine: Displacement Trends in 2011 (PDF)
ICAHD, 2010. Statistics on House Demolitions (1967-2010). (accessed on 6 April 2012)
UN OCHA, 2009. Locked In: The Humanitarian Impact of Two Years of Blockade on the Gaza Strip (PDF)
ICAHD, 2011. No Home, No Homeland: A New Normative Framework for Examining the Practice of Administrative Home Demolitions in East Jerusalem (PDF)
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2011.The state of Palestine (accessed on 17 July 2012)
ICAHD-USA, 2006. Israel’s Policy of Displacement. (accessed on 9 August 2012)

October 19, 2017
Talk and Interview with Tariq Ali

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Havens Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship

Tariq-Ali.jpg barsamian2.jpg
Tariq AliDavid Barsamian

Tariq Ali: Writer, Journalist, Filmmaker
Thursday, October 19, 2017, 7PM
Elvehjem L160 (Philips Auditorium)
800 University Ave

Tariq Ali will speak on “1917-2017: Wars and Revolutions”. Following his lecture, he will be joined on stage for an interview with journalist DAVID BARSAMIAN of Alternative Radio. Tariq Ali’s visit is co-sponsored by the History Department.

TARIQ ALI is a writer and filmmaker. He has written more than two dozen books on world history and politics, and seven novels (translated into over a dozen languages) as well as scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of New Left Review and lives in London. His nonfiction books include Pirates Of The Caribbean, Conversations with Edward Said, Bush in Babylon, Clash of Fundamentalisms, The Obama Syndrome, and The Extreme Centre: A Warning. His most recent book, The Dilemmas of Lenin: Terrorism, War, Empire, Love, Revolution, was released in April 2017.

DAVID BARSAMIAN is a journalist who has altered the independent media landscape, both with his weekly radio show Alternative Radio—now in its 32th year—and his written work. His forthcoming books are with Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy. Barsamian is the winner of the Media Education Award, the ACLU’s Upton Sinclair Award for independent journalism, the Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center.

Update: Completed Hebron Playground

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Hi everyone,

I went to Hebron yesterday and helped with the installation of the playground. They were supposed to continue today but working on Saturday is a bit risky because of the settlers. See attached some pics. 2 international volunteers were also helping us.

Best,
Samir

• Fall fundraising appeal from MRSCP, October 6, 2016
• Remembering Rachel Corrie, March 22, 2016

The Sumud Freedom Tour

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This is our moment of unity, of coalition building

Holy Land Trust

Mission

Holy Land Trust and Nonviolence International have partnered to develop a multilayered tour of peace and justice work in Israel and Palestine.

This tour unpacks the broad range of nonviolent resistance methods employed by Palestinians and their co-resisters throughout the region and internationally. From December 21, 2017 to January 3, 2018, you will meet with leaders of grassroots organizations, NGO’s, and agents of change in the community who are actively engaged in challenging the systems underpinning Israel’s prolonged military occupation.

This tour is designed for social activists who are committed to deepening their analysis of global oppression. Whether you are engaged in the movement for black liberation, entrenched in the battle for immigrant rights, or fighting for women’s equality, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can serve as an important theoretical and practical framework for nonviolent resistance.

This program is designed to promote an exchange of ideas between movements. Those who have little or no background in the history of the Palestinian struggle are encouraged to join, as the intersections between our movements will allow us to relate to and better understand one another. And as a result, this tour will help us lay the foundation for necessary relationships that lead to broad, diverse coalitions of change.

Who we are

Holy Land Trust is a Palestinian Non-Profit Organization (NGO), located in the heart of Bethlehem on Star Street. Our work is centered on strengthening communities to empower them to find nonlinear solutions to problems; solutions which are rooted in social justice, compassion, and love.

Nonviolence International (NI) is a decentralized network of resource centers that promote the use of nonviolent action. Founded by Palestinian activist Mubarak Awad in 1989, NI is a 501(c)(3) organization registered in Washington, DC, USA. NI is also a non-governmental organization in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

• More Information on the Sumud Freedom Tour
• Register here
• Contact us!

UN takes first step to end Israel’s impunity

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Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 28 September 2017

A UN list of companies that do business with Israel’s illegal settlements would boost the global movement for Palestinian rights. (Ryan Rodrick Beiler/ActiveStills)

UN officials are finally moving to hold Israel accountable for breaking international law, though they are facing fierce resistance from Israel and its allies.

“After decades of Palestinian dispossession and Israeli military occupation and apartheid, the United Nations has taken its first concrete, practical step to secure accountability for ongoing Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights,” said Omar Barghouti, a founder of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. “Palestinians warmly welcome this step.”

On Wednesday, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the UN’s human rights office began sending letters to some 150 companies around the world warning them that they may be added to a database of firms doing business with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

This week Nickolay Mladenov, the top UN political official in Jerusalem, told the UN Security Council that “Israel’s illegal settlement activities have continued at a high rate” in gross breach of UN resolutions.

There is a growing legal consensus that international law requires governments to prohibit all trade with the settlements.

“This could snowball”

Israeli officials have admitted that many firms – though they did not provide names – have already responded to the letters by assuring the UN human rights office that they will not renew their contracts in Israel or seek new ones.

“These companies just can’t make the distinction between Israel and the settlements and are ending their operations altogether,” a senior Israeli official told Haaretz. “Foreign companies will not invest in something that reeks of political problems – this could snowball.”

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