The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP)
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Apr 9, 2025
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We found out that there was a systematic expulsion of Palestinians . . . there was an ethnic cleansing operation taking place. ― Ilan Pappe, Israeli historian, Occupation 101, 2006
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall) From Israel’s apartheid Wall on Palestinian land to the US Wall of Shame on indigenous land at the border with Mexico – Walls are monuments of expulsion, exclusion, oppression, discrimination and exploitation. As people affected by these walls and as movements that pose justice, freedom and equality as…
Arab American Institute Decode Hate examines the sprawling, deeply embedded network of monetized hate. By underscoring the deliberate misinformation and fear-mongering of featured groups, this project reveals how hate is translated into mainstream discourse and discriminatory policies. © Copyright Arab American Institute Foundation. 2017 All Rights Reserved.
Twelve leading faith organizations pen an open letter opposing anti-BDS legislation Friends of Sabeel North America, November 7, 2017 Today, 12 leading faith groups, including the Alliance of Baptists, Presbyterian Church USA, and the United Church of Christ, ran a letter in The Kansas City Star calling anti-BDS legislation in the United States what it…
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights On October 30, Trump nominated Kenneth Marcus to be Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Education. Marcus has a long record of filing spurious discrimination claims with the department in an effort to suppress Palestine activism on campus, and supports anti-BDS legislation. Marcus is yet another Trump…
Anderson Auditorium Predolin Center Edgewood College 1000 Edgewood College Dr Madison, WI 7:00 PM “Trillions for the Military: Will That Make Us Secure?” Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence Kathy Kelly, a global activist for peace, is one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and currently a co-coordinator of Voices for…
Wisconsin Union Theater 800 Langdon Street UW-Madison 8:00 pm (doors open at 7:30) Dubbed the “Jon Stewart of Egypt” by The New Yorker, heart-surgeon-turned-satirist Bassem Youssef is now making waves in America for his controversial brand of comedy. This event is co-presented with Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Performing Arts Committee and Distinguished Lecture Series. Sponsored by…
Tom Philip Abowd Tufts University 206 Ingraham Hall 1155 Observatory Drive UW-Madison 12 noon – 1:00 pm This Middle East Studies presentation will analyze how colonialism and colonial urbanism remain a crucial component of contemporary Palestinian and Israeli realities. It seeks to illuminate everyday life as well as the broader institutional forces that comprise and…
Wisconsin State Journal, 11/3/17 Many Jews, including myself, as well as many others have been inspired by the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement in dealing with Israel. Israel’s current occupation of the Palestinian people on their traditional land is part of the reason for my discontent. Last Friday, Wisconsin’s governor signed Executive Order 261, alleging…
Jewish News Service, October 29, 2017 (JNS.org) Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker issued an executive order last Friday to ban state agencies from engaging in businesses with ties to the anti-Israel BDS movement. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Credit: Michael Vadon via Wikimedia Commons. “We stand firmly against discrimination in any form and we wholly support our…
We won’t accept PayPal’s discrimination against Palestinians! PayPal refuses to offer its services to Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territories, while Israelis next door in illegal settlements have full access to PayPal’s international transactions. Join us today and tell PayPal to stop discriminating against Palestinians! ActionAid has been raising our concerns with the CEO…
Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada, 27 October 2017 Growing waves of legislation intend to silence and punish boycott activists in the US. (Stephen Melkisethian, Flickr) In a troubling move for students and Palestine rights activists, the Trump administration has tapped Kenneth Marcus as the top civil rights enforcer at the US Department of Education. He…
A PUBLIC AFFAIR, WORT 89.9FM, OCTOBER 24, 2017 Today we’re talking about Madison’s Sister Cities. Host Bert Zipperer speaks with Madison businessman, activist, and former City Council member Ricardo Gonzalez. You might know him as the owner of the much-beloved The Cardinal Bar, or from his work with the Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association. Later in…
A reporter at the scene remarked that it seemed “more like a celebration of murder than anything.” Whitney Webb, MintPress News, October 6, 2016 The Tel Aviv rally — organized to support an Israeli soldier who murdered a wounded Palestinian by shooting him in the head as the victim lay on his back — was…
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: • Halfway There: Help us Send “Gaza Lights” to Rafah!, September 17, 2017 • Help…
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,…
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,…
Havens Center Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship 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…
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…
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.…
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 27 September 2017 Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Myanmar officials visit arms maker Israel Aerospace Industries in September 2015. (via Facebook) Israel is attempting to bury information about its arms sales to the military regime in Myanmar, which the UN accuses of a “brutal” campaign against the country’s…
Washington had explicitly guaranteed their safety—and recently declassified documents reveal that US diplomats were told by the Israelis what they and their allies might be up to. Rashid Khalidi, The Nation, September 14, 2017 In this September 27, 1982 file photo, a Palestinian woman attending a Beirut memorial service holds the helmets worn by those…
Its time to end the Israeli culture of impunity that permitted the Sabra and Shatila massacre to happen 35 years ago. Nabil Mohamad, Al Jazeera, 16 Sep 2017 Massacre survivors Yousef Hamzeh and Abu Jamal walk together at the site of the Sabra and Shatila massacre on the outskirts of Beirut [Caren Firouz/Reuters] On September…
HELP US RESPOND TO GAZA’S ELECTRICITY CRISIS A big thanks to those who have helped us get past the halfway point in our campaign to supply rechargeable household “Gaza Lights” to poor families in Rafah. If you haven’t contributed, we can really use your help to meet our goal. The electricity crisis in Gaza has…
Israel is not the only democracy in the Middle East. In fact, it’s not a democracy at all. Ilan Pappe, Jacobin, May 5, 2017 Excerpted from Ten Myths About Israel, Verso Books In the eyes of many Israelis and their supporters worldwide — even those who might criticize some of its policies — Israel is,…
Those Confederate statues were built on something even bigger. Watch my new video with MoveOn as I talk about how to confront white supremacy. Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, MoveOn.org, September 16, 2017 Donald Trump is not the first politician to openly stoke racism and hatred. He is a part of a much larger…
Vilas Hall, Room 4070 UW Campus 7:00 pm [Map] Bar Bahar/In Between is a controversial film made by a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and produced and marketed as an Israeli film. Israel | 2016 | DCP | 102 min. | Arabic, Hebrew with English subtitles Director: Maysaloun Hamoud Cast: Mouna Hawa, Sana Jammelieh, Shaden Kanboura…
Justice for Palestine, War on Want The catastrophe facing the Palestinian people is a defining global justice issue of our time. It is not an intractable conflict between two equal sides. It is an Occupation by a powerful military state, armed and supported by the West, against an impoverished, stateless and displaced people. A fourth…
Michael Schaeffer and Omer-Man, +972, September 5, 2017 Palestinian authorities reportedly arrested Amro, an activist with Youth Against Settlements, for criticizing the PA in a Facebook post. Amro, who is also facing charges in Israeli military court for his political activism, has been recognized by the EU and UN as a human rights defender. Palestinian…
Electricity Ismael Ramlawi, 31 — American Friends Service Committee "They have power cuts four or five times every day, which means we lose at least 1 hour of production." At our factory, we produce plastic pipes for use in agricultural irrigation and construction using recycled plastic. Production depends on a regular supply of electricity. It…
Education Electricity Firas Ramlawi, 38 — American Friends Service Committee "Classrooms are crowded, class times are shortened, and schools don’t have resources." Take action today: Restore power to Gaza On educationBefore 2000, 90 percent of schools in Gaza ran on single shifts. Now nearly all schools run on double shifts, and a few schools have run…
Gaza Unlocked Issues: Electricity — American Friends Service Committee Gaza’s power system is at risk of collapse. In 2006, the Israeli military bombed Gaza’s only power plant, destroying its six transformers. Under the blockade, the power plant can’t import parts to replace damaged components. Temporary fixes have allowed the plant to function at a minimal…
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 11 August 2017 The Anti-Defamation League, a major Israel lobby group, has given its backing to the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, a bill that could impose large fines and long prison sentences on those who boycott Israel. The legislation, already a key priority for the Israel lobby group AIPAC, has faced…
Gaza Lights for Rafah Campaign The electricity crisis in Gaza has reached unprecedented heights, with power now reduced to 2 to 4 hours per day (see Desperate Palestinians Try to Beat Heat and Israeli Blockade Bringing Gaza to Collapse). It is causing terrible suffering for ordinary people there. Without electricity sewage goes untreated into…
I want to go to Palestine – a country recognized by 136 countries around the world. But your law, astoundingly, prevents me from visiting that country. You control entry and exit to the places I want to visit, even though they’re not part of your territory, or included in your exclusive democracy. Palestinian women, overseen…
Josh Ruebner, The Electronic Intifada, 3 August 2017 Activists at a 26 July rally in Baltimore protest the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which was introduced by Maryland’s Senator Ben Cardin. New York’s Senator Kirsten Gillibrand pulled her support for the bill on 1 August. (Elizabeth Woodson/via Facebook) In an act unprecedented in recent history, US Senator…
Churches for Middle East Peace, July 28, 2017 In The News Democratic Senators Rethink Bill Criminalizing Support for Israel Boycott [Roll Call] Roll Call reports, “Democratic senators are thinking twice about the proposed Israel Anti-Boycott Act after an outcry by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which considers it a ‘serious threat to free speech.’…
American Muslims for Palestine, July 24, 2017 Four members of the group of interfaith delegates banned from entering Israel pose. AMP national board member Shakeel Syed is second from right. Airline employee tells group it received orders from “Israeli immigration authorities” to refuse boarding to the five interfaith travelers. (WASHINGTON DC — July 24, 2017)…
Anna Baltzer, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, 23 Jul 2017 Have you heard the news? In the last several weeks alone, more than 35 local, regional, national, and international church bodies have taken bold actions in support of Palestinian rights! A flurry of churches — 17 and counting — have declared themselves HP-free across the…
US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Hot off the press: The ACLU is raising red flags about the unconstitutionality of the latest, most draconian attempt to date to deny activists the right to boycott. For Congress to heed its call to oppose this bill, they need to hear from BDS supporters like you! On March…
The electricity shortage impacts every family in Gaza. Please support the Gaza Lights Campaign! It’s been 10 years of living under siege in Gaza. Three years after the most brutal Israeli assault. And things keep getting worse. Gaza now gets only about 2 hours of electricity each day. Without electricity sewage goes untreated into…
A Petition to Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State; the European Union, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres Khitam Saafin (left) and Khalida Jarrar (right) Addameer Prisoner Support & Human Rights Association Addameer calls for the immediate release of Khalida Jarrar and Khitam Saafin, who were arrested in pre-dawn raids by Israeli occupation forces on 2…
Washington, DC | www.adc.org | July 13, 2017 – ADC, the nation’s largest grassroots Arab-American organization, unequivocally stands with Arab-American activist Linda Sarsour in the face of bigoted attacks against one of our community’s most prominent leaders. As co-chair of the Women’s March on Washington, Sarsour become the object of hate for Islamophobes. Immediately after…
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), July 7, 2017 On Saturday, July 15, tune in on Facebook and join us for a live, hour-long conversation on the cultural boycott of Israel with one of today’s leading musicians! Saturday, July 15, 2017 8pm Palestine / 5pm GMT / 12pm CDT Live…
What is Gaza Unlocked? For over a decade, two million Palestinians in Gaza have lived under a brutal military blockade imposed by Israel. Media stories about Gaza primarily focus on violence and politics, while stories of how the blockade impacts everyday life remain largely untold. Gaza Unlocked gives you access to first-hand accounts from Palestinians…
Ramah Kudaimi, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, 06 Jul 2017 Big news! Minutes ago, the Mennonite Church (USA) voted to create an investment screen for the purpose of “withdrawing investments from companies that are profiting from the occupation.” The resolution was approved near unanimously, with approximately 98% of the 548 voters supporting it. Click here…
Israeli soldiers carried out raid on solar farm which allegedly did not have proper building permits Bethan McKernan, The Independent, 3 July 2017 The Netherlands has lodged a complaint with the Israeli government after dozens of Dutch solar panels donated to a West Bank village were confiscated by Israeli authorities. The hybrid diesel and solar…
During the 2014 Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, 142 Palestinian families lost three or more members. Some of the families were wiped out entirely. The #ObliteratedFamilies project tells the stories of some of these families, their loved ones who were killed and those left behind. © 2017 Obliterated Families. All Rights Reserved. The Gaza…
During the 2014 Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, 142 Palestinian families lost three or more members. Some of the families were wiped out entirely. The #ObliteratedFamilies project tells the stories of some of these families, their loved ones who were killed and those left behind. Even the weather changed Majdalawi family, Jabaliya 4…
We have received an appeal for help from the Atfaluna School for the Deaf in Gaza City. Atfaluna (“Our Children” in Arabic) has for many years been one of the main sources of the beautiful Palestinian crafts, including embroidery, ceramics and wood products, that we market in order to support Palestinian livelihoods. Atfaluna sells these…