Madison Rafah Journal

On January 21, 2010 54 members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama calling for an end to the Gaza blockade by Israel and Egypt. You can thank Tammy Baldwin for signing this letter and supporting an end to the suffering in Gaza here.

Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss, February 4, 2010

Israel lobbyists are calling the 54 brave congresspeople who signed the letter to Obama against the Gaza blockade "the gang of 54," and trying to light a fire under em. One of them has cold feet. From Arutz Sheva wire:

At least one of the signatories to the letter, U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY), has apparently withdrawn her signature, change her political attitude when the issue hit a little closer to home. A long-standing representative of the Brooklyn community of Crown Heights, Clarke recently joined a photo-op snapped with Brooklyn Jewish community leaders who had gathered donations for the earthquake-stricken people of Haiti. 

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The Palestine Freedom Project is dedicated to providing resources and logistical support to grassroots Palestine solidarity activists everywhere. We work to enhance communication and coordination across the movement, strengthening the connections between solidarity activists and the Palestinian people.

Through the innovative application of models and methodologies more commonly used in the private sector, we're making Palestine activism easier, more efficient, and more potent than ever before.

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Voices of the Peacemakers: From Roots to Reconciliation
May 23- June 5, 2010
Delegation Leaders: Anna Baltzer and Cathy Sultan
Co-Sponsored with the National Peace Foundation

This delegation will explore Palestinian and Israeli efforts to achieve peace and a resolution to their conflict based on justice. The delegation will feature meetings with Palestinian and Israeli peacemakers — leaders of civil society groups, grassroots organizers, religious leaders and more. Given the current situation in the West Bank, the delegation will focus on learning about the current challenges facing nonviolent activists resisting occupation. May also marks the annual commemoration of Israel’s independence and the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) and the birth of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Your participation as an eyewitness to the situation will enrich your understanding of the conflict and empower your work back in the United States.

As with all delegations, you will meet with ‘ordinary’ Israelis and Palestinians, and people and organizations working for peace and justice. Delegates will confront and analyze the US role in the conflict and wrestle with ways to translate your experience to others when you return home.

Click here to learn more about the standard components of all delegations.

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Overture Center/International Festival
Saturday, March 6, 11 am – 6 pm

The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project crafts committee is looking for volunteers to sell Palestinian crafts, olive oil soap, and olive oil at the Festival. These sales provide crucial support to the producers, especially to women in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza. We would also like to expand the project if possible.

If you are interested in helping, especially if you would like to be an active member of the committee, please contact Tsela Barr at tsela[at]tselabarrdesign.com. If you know someone else who might be interested, please send their contact info to Tsela.

Olive oil sales have been picking up and if anyone is interested in working specifically on that (there is a lot of direct marketing to individuals, stores and groups) please contact Amal at amaljo[at]gmail.com

A Film Screening & Presentation with Discussion to Follow
Tuesday, February 16, 7:00pm
Rainbow Bookstore Coop
426 W. Gilman St.
Madison

Emmy-nominated screenwriter and documentarian Matt Sienkiewicz will be presenting Live From Bethlehem in a special screening at Rainbow on February 16th.

The Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency (MNA) emerged out of the ashes of the second Intifada to become a significant independent news network in the Occupied West Bank and an increasingly prominent and influential journalistic force in the wider Middle East.
Live from Bethlehem tells MNA's remarkable story. It chronicles the agency's struggles and successes through the eyes of the station's reporters, producers, and photographers, in the process quietly revealing the humanity of ordinary Palestinians as they go about their daily business.

The documentary trains its focus on people more than on abstract issues, yet it never loses sight of the myriad social and political forces and pressures that Ma'an journalists are forced to negotiate as they try to gather and report West Bank realities. What results is a nuanced portrait of how news gets produced, and how Palestinians live, in one of the world's most troubled regions.

The film was released by the Media Education Foundation last September and was screened at the Rhode International Film Festival, Chicago Palestine Film Festival and Athens Film and Video Festival among many others.

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Lecture: 'Observation & Analysis on the Gaza Strip and the United Nations Goldstone Report' by Jennifer Loewenstein
The Middle East Studies Program
1101 Humanities Building
University of Wisconsin-Madison
February 11, 2010 at 7:00 PM

The Middle East Interest Group and Center for Middle East Studies present a lecture by UW Lecturer Jennifer Loewenstein.

The 2009 U.N. investigation on war crimes committed by both Israeli and the Palestinian Hamas forces during the 2008-09 Israeli Operation Cast Lead has sparked controversy across the globe. Richard Goldstone, the leader of the commission, defends the position that both sides must commit to conduct internal investigations and uphold international law. Over a year after the Operation, the fate of justice remains in the question.

In September 2009, UW Lecturer Jennifer Loewenstein traveled to the Gaza Strip to survey the conditions created by Operation Cast Lead, the prolonged Israeli siege of Gaza and the Hamas authority. Loewenstein has previously spoken on issues pertaining to the Palestinian territories at the European Parliament and the United Nations Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

For more access to the official U.N. Goldstone Report, visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf

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Mr. Bill Corcoran, President
American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA)
Tuesday, 9 February 2010, 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
The Palestine Center
Washington, DC

RSVP here, or watch the webcast live at 1 PM.

A year after the bombs stopped falling on Gaza, full recovery remains elusive. Survival is a daily challenge. ANERA president Bill Corcoran has traveled to Gaza regularly during the past year to assess the damage and the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance. He will talk about current conditions and challenges for helping Gazans rebuild their lives.

Mr. Bill Corcoran has been president of ANERA since 2007. Before joining ANERA, he was Vice President of the Christian Children's Fund, a $300 million nonprofit serving children and their families in 32 countries. During the 1990's, Mr. Corcoran directed the Pontifical Mission for Palestine based in Jordan with projects there and in Iraq. He also supervised various projects in Lebanon and Syria.