A number of members and supporters who have traveled to different parts of Palestine and the Middle East are available to speak. Talks with slide or film showings are available. We can help arrange other speakers and participants for panel discussions, some nationally and internationally known, with sufficient notice. Contact us under Films and Speakers in Contacts.
Michele Bahl & Tsela Barr
Michele and Tsela participated in a Madison-Rafah delegation in 2012. Michele has also visited Palestine and Israel with the Interfaith Peace-Builders and the US Campaign to End the Occupation in August of 2008. Michele met with representatives of Israeli and Palestinian civil society, religious leaders, politicians, businesspeople, farmers, students, human rights workers and former combatants. Michele has been concerned about the grave human rights violations that the Palestinians face in the occupied territories and in Israel on a daily basis. Michele was able to see these violations first hand and is interested in sharing what she learned. Many of the Palestinians that Michele met with said they want people in her community to hear their stories because they know they are rarely told in the United States.
George Arida and Kathy Walsh
These members of Madison delegations to Rafah have visited areas including Rafah, the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and the West Bank. They have observed and experienced first hand not only the obstacles to every aspect of Palestinian life – the uncertain wait at checkpoints on the way to work or school or to see family, whether you will be allowed to pass at all, the wait for permits required by Israel for travel of just a few miles, or permission to go to a hospital or medical center for treatment – but also the determination and dignity of Palestinians in the face of these impossible conditions. Slideshows are available to accompany their talks.