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The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP)

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Jun 4, 2025

❝Random Quotes❞

They left me in the room for five hours with my hands tied behind my back and my legs tied to each other. When I refused to confess, they slapped me and tightened the hand ties more and more. ― 15-year-old Palestinian, Room No. 4, Nov 1, 2015

  • Israeli attacks that killed scores of civilians should be investigated as war crimes

    Israeli attacks that killed scores of civilians should be investigated as war crimes

    Amnesty International, August 27, 2024 A new investigation by Amnesty International reveals Israeli forces failed to take all feasible precautions to avoid or minimise harm to civilians sheltering at camps for internally displaced people while carrying out two attacks targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders and fighters in the south of the occupied Gaza Strip…

  • Special Back-to-School Appeal: Please support Read Palestine!

    Special Back-to-School Appeal: Please support Read Palestine!

    During the past year the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project joined with a group of local book-loving volunteers to create READ PALESTINE! — a project to spread awareness and educate young people about Palestine by offering them Palestinian stories and culture through books. We need your help now to expand the reach of this project. Here…

  • Palestine Won at the Democratic Convention 

    Palestine Won at the Democratic Convention 

    Dr. James J. Zogby, Arab American Institute, August 26, 2024 The 2024 Democratic National Convention was an exhausting roller coaster ride for Arab Americans and supporters of Palestinian rights.  It was a messy affair, with highs and lows, some small victories and some setbacks. But on balance, the naysayers are wrong, because Palestine and supporters…

  • Palestinian American Lawmaker Gives Speech the DNC Wouldn’t Allow

    Palestinian American Lawmaker Gives Speech the DNC Wouldn’t Allow

    Democracy Now!, Aug 23, 2024 Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination Thursday after a four-day convention in Chicago where her campaign refused to allow a Palestinian American to take the stage to address Israel’s war on Gaza. We hear Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, who was among the list of speakers offered by…

  • What I Saw Was “Unfathomable”

    What I Saw Was “Unfathomable”

    Doctor Who Worked in Gaza Speaks Out Against U.S. Arming of Israel Democracy Now!, Aug 21, 2024 A group of American doctors who treated patients in Gaza held a press conference in Chicago on Tuesday to describe the suffering they saw among Palestinians injured and killed in Israel’s war on the territory. The press conference,…

  • Israel Using Ceasefire Talks to Expand Colonization of Palestine

    Israel Using Ceasefire Talks to Expand Colonization of Palestine

    Israel’s insistence on controlling two key corridors shows its intention to carry out land grabs, the expert said. By Sharon Zhang , TRUTHOUT, August 22, 2024 Israeli officials’ ceasefire demands show that they aren’t just using ceasefire negotiations to prolong their genocide of Gaza, but also to secure permission to further deepen their colonization of Palestine, a UN…

  • Aug 29, 2024: Read “Light in Gaza” with the FCNL

    Aug 29, 2024: Read “Light in Gaza” with the FCNL

    We hope that you can join us for our first virtual FCNL Book Club! Our virtual discussion on Light in Gaza will be on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. ET. Written by 11 Palestinian writers and poets, this anthology centers the voices of Palestinians in the conversation about a just future for Gaza. You…

  • DNC Faces Backlash After Organizers Deny Request for Palestinian Speaker

    DNC Faces Backlash After Organizers Deny Request for Palestinian Speaker

    Elected Officials, celebrities, and community leaders speak out against the DNC’s decision to silence Palestinians PREM THAKKER, ZETEO, AUG 23, 2024 CHICAGO – The Democratic National Convention is facing a backlash over organizers’ decision late Wednesday not to welcome a single Palestinian voice to the convention stage. In less than 24 hours since the decision was made public,…

  • #LetPalestineSpeak

    #LetPalestineSpeak

    #LetPalestineSpeakToday, August 22, 2024Wisconsin Democratic Party Office15 N Pinckney St, by The Old Fashioned12 to 2pm Madison for World BEYOND War: Tonight, after weeks of negotiations, the Harris-Walz campaign refused the simplest of demands: to allow a Palestinian-American to speak from the stage of the Democratic National Convention. Here in Madison, we will stand in…

  • CODEPINK Disrupts “Democratic Majority for Israel” DNC Event

    CODEPINK Disrupts “Democratic Majority for Israel” DNC Event

    Challenging U.S. Support of Israel  The event featured Gov. Tim Walz who is “supposedly” sympathetic to Palestine CODEPINK, August 21, 2024 CHICAGO — CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin and co-director Danaka Katovich joined other pro-Palestine activists in crashing a Democratic Majority for Israel DNC event today delivering the message: “There is no majority for Israel.”  The event hosted…

  • Wisconsin Palestinians have felt isolated from politics.

    Wisconsin Palestinians have felt isolated from politics.

    The upcoming election has made it worse. After watching the U.S. fund Israel’s war on Gaza and not feeling represented by their politicians, Palestinian Americans in Wisconsin are finding ways to register their discontent. by Ava Menkes, Wisconsin Watch, August 20th, 2024  Miriam Hasan, 39, has had a complicated relationship with her Palestinian identity.  In 1948,…

  • Activists force AXA to divest from ALL Israeli banks and largest weapons manufacturer

    Activists force AXA to divest from ALL Israeli banks and largest weapons manufacturer

    Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), August 21, 2024 This is a major BDS win for Palestinian rights activists, and a win for grassroots and civil society pressure to end the shameful complicity of large financial corporations like AXA in Israel’s 76-year-old regime of settler colonialism, apartheid and genocide. In a major BDS win for human…

  • Wisconsin ‘uninstructed’ voters among DNC protests

    Wisconsin ‘uninstructed’ voters among DNC protests

    THEY say Vice President Kamala Harris needs to take a more forceful stand to end the war in Gaza “nothing short of complete and total liberation of Palestine will get me to vote for the Democratic Party again” BY RICH KREMER, WPR, AUGUST 19, 2024 Wisconsin residents were among those protesting at the Democratic National Convention…

  • How Israel is Arming Israeli Settlers

    How Israel is Arming Israeli Settlers

    “It is farcical to suggest a distinction between settler and state violence: They are part of the same settler-colonial structure, and not only complement each other but depend on one another.” —Fathi Nimer, The West Bank: Settler Colonial Spillover of the Gaza Genocide While Israel continues its brutal genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, armed Israeli settlers,…

  • Aug 25, 2024: David Rovics in Madison

    Aug 25, 2024: David Rovics in Madison

    Madison Labor Temple lawn 1602 S Park St, Madison 6:00 pm This is not about Israel’s wars in Gaza. This about the moments in between them, during the closest thing that passes in Gaza for “peace.” David Rovics, February 1, 2015

  • Aug 20 – 23, 2024: Wisconsin Capitol Vigils

    Aug 20 – 23, 2024: Wisconsin Capitol Vigils

    Capitol Rotunda Noon to 3 pm This week we partner again with Building Unity to create a local space for concerned people to come together. Important meetings, conventions, and decisions are being made elsewhere. Here, we want to remain a constant presence that opposes wars, all wars, as an ideology for conflict resolution. Yes, Stop…

  • March on the DNC 2024

    March on the DNC 2024

    August 19 – 22, 2024 More information There is a bus from Milwaukee, loading 8:15 am, leaving 8:30 am, and returning from Chicago at 3:30 pm. $45 cash or check or whatever you can afford. You must reserve your spot by calling Jim Carpenter (414) 347-0353 or texting him at (414) 491-3338. More details here. There is no bus…

  • Good Trouble, Holy Trouble in Washington

    Good Trouble, Holy Trouble in Washington

    at the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Annual Summit  by VJP board member Rev. Dr. Ron Shive John Lewis, the U.S. Congressman from Georgia, knew how to get into good trouble. He was a leader of Bloody Sunday – that fateful and tragic day on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965 . On…

  • US approves $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel amid threat of wider Middle East war

    US approves $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel amid threat of wider Middle East war

    BY  TARA COPP, Associated Press, August 13, 2024 WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles, the State Department announced Tuesday.  Congress was notified of the impending sale, which includes more than 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or…

  • An American was just shot in the West Bank.

    An American was just shot in the West Bank.

    The American press can’t be bothered. As waning global attention is on the war in Gaza, an intensifying ethnic cleansing campaign is ramping up in the West Bank. RYAN GRIM, DROP SITE, AUG 13, 2024 With an undeclared war with Hezbollah in the north, the ongoing slaughter in Gaza in the south, and the anticipation…

  • Aug 17, 2024: Madison Not Another Bomb Rally

    Aug 17, 2024: Madison Not Another Bomb Rally

    August 17, 2024 View this post on Instagram A post shared by JVP Madison (@jvp_madison) Sign the petition for a U.S. arms embargo Register for the Madison Rally!

  • Israeli rape of detainees is the result of a society that sees Palestinians as ‘human animals’

    Israeli rape of detainees is the result of a society that sees Palestinians as ‘human animals’

    Israel has claimed that it is fighting “human animals” in Gaza. But now, Israeli society’s own monstrous sadism, deriving from a deep hate of Palestinians, is on display for the rest of the world to see. BY JONATHAN OFIR, MONDOWEISS, AUGUST 6, 2024 FACEBOOK X WHATSAPP LINKEDIN MASTODON BLUESKY REDDIT EMAIL PRINT  On August 3, Shaiel Ben-Ephraim…

  • August 20, 2024: Antiwar Film Series – “Soldiers Without Guns”

    August 20, 2024: Antiwar Film Series – “Soldiers Without Guns”

    Madison Central Library 201 W Mifflin St, Room 302 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm The Antiwar Film Series continues in August, with Soldiers Without Guns, a documentary about Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, where a civil war raged for a decade, with locals split over the impact of an Australian-owned copper mine. Watch the trailer here. In…

  • August 17, 2024: Eken Park Festival

    August 17, 2024: Eken Park Festival

    August 17, 2024 Eken Park, 848 North St, Madison11 am – 8 pm Visit the Palestine Partners booth with Playgrounds for Palestine! More info at Eken Park Fest.

  • A win for the Palestine protests: UK suspends Israel arms sales

    A win for the Palestine protests: UK suspends Israel arms sales

    The government’s suspension of arms sales to Israel, while possibly temporary, shows the impact of the months of protests Clementine Russell, Counterfire, 7 August 2024 Facebook Twitter Though it can sometimes be hard to see the policy impact of consistent protesting, the government’s latest decision to suspend arms sales to Israel whilst ministers carry out a…

  • Nearly 100 killed in Israeli strike on school, Gaza officials say

    Nearly 100 killed in Israeli strike on school, Gaza officials say

    The Israel Defense Forces said Hamas fighters had been operating in the Gaza City school. Eleven children and six women were among those killed, a Gaza official said. By Missy Ryan, Hajar Harb, Mohamad El Chamaa, Adela Suliman and Kelsey Ables, Washington Post, August 10, 2024 JERUSALEM — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least 93…

  • Arab Christians invite Zionist evangelicals to restore ‘one body in Christ’

    Arab Christians invite Zionist evangelicals to restore ‘one body in Christ’

    The plea finds a ‘discernible missional gap’ between the Western church and the churches of the Middle East By Daoud Kuttab, Religion News Service, August 8, 2024 (RNS) — Since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza, Arab Christians in the Middle East have complained that Western Christians, particularly white evangelicals, have exhibited a lack of…

  • Reaction of Jeff Halper to Ismail Haniyeh’s Assassination

    Reaction of Jeff Halper to Ismail Haniyeh’s Assassination

    Like apartheid South Africa, it must be replaced by a single democracy offering equal rights to all living between the River and the Sea ICAHD Videos, Jul 31, 2024 Jeff Halper, ICAHD’s Director, posted this introduction to the interview that he did on 31st July 2024 with Salaamedia in South Africa about the assassination of…

  • Welcome to Hell: B’Tselem’s Ignored Abuse Report Shows Israel’s True Face

    Welcome to Hell: B’Tselem’s Ignored Abuse Report Shows Israel’s True Face

    In Guantanamo Bay nine prisoners were killed in 20 years; here it’s 60 detainees in 10 months. Need anything more be said? Gideon Levy, Haaretz, Aug 8, 2024 The B’Tselem report published this week, “Welcome to Hell,” isn’t only a report about what’s happening in Israel’s prison facilities; it’s a report about Israel. Anyone who…

  • Settler Attack in Tuba

    Settler Attack in Tuba

    My friends were attacked this morning in Tuba. They got the sheep back, but have injuries and are at the hospital now.— Cassandra Dixon

  • The West Bank with John Oliver

    The West Bank with John Oliver

    Content Warning for expletives and sexual humor, like “I know the bar here is incredibly low, but I guess at the very least I just want my government to have the moral backbone that’s been shown by Ben and f*cking Jerry’s.” YouTube, Aug 1, 2024John Oliver discusses how the West Bank settlements came to be,…

  • Backing Israeli Apartheid Isn’t Just Immoral — It’s Illegal

    Backing Israeli Apartheid Isn’t Just Immoral — It’s Illegal

    Last month, the International Court of Justice issued a damning assessment of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and the apartheid system it has built. All states now have a clear obligation to impose sanctions on Israel until the occupation ends. INTERVIEW WITH JOHN REYNOLDS BY DANIEL FINN, JACOBIN, 08.04.2024 Last month, the International Court of…

  • After 300 days of ‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’

    After 300 days of ‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’

    Nasrallah declares ‘new phase’ of war, vows ‘inevitable’ response to Israeli attack on Beirut In a strident speech on August 1, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah said that the fighting with Israel has “entered a new phase” that goes “beyond supporting Gaza,” vowing an “inevitable” response to Israel’s Beirut bombing. BY QASSAM MUADDI, MONDOWEISS, AUGUST 1, 2024 XWHATSAPP…

  • Aug 11, 2024: Banners Up For Palestine! at “Ride the Drive”

    Aug 11, 2024: Banners Up For Palestine! at “Ride the Drive”

    11 am – 1 pm Join us for another Banners Up! action at Madison’s Ride the Drive to keep Palestine and Gaza in the public eye. Wear your kuffiyas and bring signs and flags. We plan to be at Law Park near the Machinery Row parking lot. Check here for updates and call 608-586-4447 if you can’t…

  • Aug 10, 2024: Bur Oak Music for Gaza

    Aug 10, 2024: Bur Oak Music for Gaza

    6 pm View this post on Instagram A post shared by Madison Rafah Sister City Project (@madisonrafah)

  • Aug 9, 2024: Culinary Passport Series features Palestinian Cuisine

    Aug 9, 2024: Culinary Passport Series features Palestinian Cuisine

    Catholic Multicultural Center 5256 Verona Road, Fitchburg 6 pm CMC has announced that the next destination in their Culinary Passport Series will celebrate the culture of the Palestinian people with a delicious meal from 3DE Mediterranean Cuisine. The event will also feature traditional music and dance, and a panel discussion with neighbors of Palestinian background about their culture, the…

  • Israel Has a History of Killing Hamas Leaders Who Are Trying To Secure Ceasefires

    Israel Has a History of Killing Hamas Leaders Who Are Trying To Secure Ceasefires

    Benjamin Netanyahu’s reckless assassination of Ismail Haniyeh undermines the prospects for a peace deal and the release of the hostages. MEHDI HASAN, ZETEO, JUL 31, 2024 “Israel’s leaders killed three birds with one stone,” wrote Reuven Pedatzur, a senior military affairs analyst for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “They assassinated the man who had the power to…

  • Aug 8, 2024: Mouin Rabbani on WORT

    Aug 8, 2024: Mouin Rabbani on WORT

    A Public Affair with Allen Ruff Noon to 1 pm CT Live at 89.9 FM or streaming, and archived Ismail Haniyeh, a top political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in Teheran, presumably by Israel, on Wednesday, July 31. The day prior, an Israeli air strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, said to have been Hezbollah’s…

  • ‘Solidarity with Palestine’: Tanzanian divers draw attention to war on Gaza

    ‘Solidarity with Palestine’: Tanzanian divers draw attention to war on Gaza

    Video, which captured the attention of thousands, featured several Tanzanians holding ‘Free Palestine’ placards Lulu Angelo Sanga, Anadolu Ajansı, 01.08.2024  Tanzanian diver Jamal Amoul Abdallah and South African influencer Candice King released a video supporting Palestine Filmed off Zanzibar, it features divers holding "Free Palestine" placards https://t.co/bxaNnqlbSB pic.twitter.com/8BOwNTU8Et — Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) July 31, 2024…

  • Break the Siege ship prevented from sailing

    Break the Siege ship prevented from sailing

    Flotilla still determined to challenge the Blockade By David, Freedom Flotilla Coalition, August 1, 2024 The Freedom Flotilla Coalition believes in fundamental rights for all, including Palestinians. Unfortunately, these values are not shared by many of the world’s governments. Our Break the Siege mission ships and crew in Istanbul have been prepared to sail for some…

  • Everyone knows Israel is committing genocide

    Everyone knows Israel is committing genocide

    John Oliver has just said out loud that Israel is committing genocide, on HBO and his YouTube channel with 10 million subscribers. HE JUST DID. pic.twitter.com/ayu0xadktE — 天真无邪 (@221B_Danmei) July 29, 2024 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, July 28, 2024 On John Oliver’s late-night show this week, he put it simply to his ten…

  • Israel’s Olympic Presence Helps Legitimize War Crimes

    Israel’s Olympic Presence Helps Legitimize War Crimes

    Paraguay’s men’s soccer team defeated Israel—but Israel wins just by being allowed to compete. DAVE ZIRIN and JULES BOYKOFF, THE NATION, JULY 29, 2024 On the same day as the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres issued a video message imploring countries from around the world “to lay down their arms” in the…

  • Al Jazeera journalist, cameraman killed in Israeli attack on Gaza

    Al Jazeera journalist, cameraman killed in Israeli attack on Gaza

    Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi killed in Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, in Israeli strike on their vehicle “Let me tell you, my friend, that I no longer know the taste of sleep. The bodies of children and the screams of the injured and their blood-soaked images never leave my sight. The cries…

  • Aug 4, 2024: Lanterns for Peace Hiroshima & Nagasaki Commemoration

    Aug 4, 2024: Lanterns for Peace Hiroshima & Nagasaki Commemoration

    TENNEY PARK 1414 E. Johnson St or 402 N. Thornton Ave, John Wall Family Pavilion6:30 pm – Create lanterns7:30 pm – Program starts7:45 pm – Launch lanterns Join us for this family friendly event to commemorate the lives lost in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings 79 years ago and make sure that such nuclear attacks…

  • Aug 3, 2024: Read Palestine! High School Book Club

    Aug 3, 2024: Read Palestine! High School Book Club

    10 am Read Palestine!, a project of the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, is hosting a book club for high school students this summer. We will read They Called Me a Lioness by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri. Join us in reading They Called Me a Lioness, covering Ahed Tamimi’s childhood and adolescence living under Israeli military occupation in a small village in the West Bank.…

  • Jul 31, 2024: Picnic, Music & War Abolition Walk

    Jul 31, 2024: Picnic, Music & War Abolition Walk

    Capitol lawn between Pinckney St, N Hamilton St and E Washington St 6 – 8 pm Wed, July 31 we will join CODEPINK Madison to gather at Concerts on the Square, 6 – 8 pm. At 6:30, we’ll do a silent procession with signs as a group. We’re making these signs:  “Imagine yourself in Gaza…

  • Israel Just Destroyed a Key Rafah Water Facility Defended by Rachel Corrie

    Israel Just Destroyed a Key Rafah Water Facility Defended by Rachel Corrie

    Rafah | Rafah’s water reservoir blown up Israeli soldier from the combat engineering corps sharing footage on his personal account blowing Rafah’s water reservoir in Tel Sultan neighborhood “in honor of Shabbat” as he describes it. pic.twitter.com/bpCghkOWeQ — Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) July 26, 2024 Younis Tirawi | يونس | @ytirawiRafah’s water reservoir blown…