The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP)
Posts
May 15, 2025
❝Random Quotes❞
The unpleasant and unavoidable comparison is with South Africa during the Apartheid period. And ― having visited South Africa ― I must say that they were much better off than the Palestinians living in refugee camps. ― Richard Falk, Occupation 101, 2006
Anees Mansour, gofundme, November 5, 2016 We are about to enter the winter season in Gaza. The houses can’t handle the weather as they are not insulated properly and we only get about eight hours of electricity a day. The conditions are extremely difficult. We’ve been working with children from some of the most marginalized…
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada Activism and BDS Beat 28 October 2016 EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, left, has affirmed that boycotting Israel is a protected free speech right. (European External Action Service) The European Union recognizes the right of its citizens to boycott Israel, its top foreign policy official has said. “The EU…
It’s easier to leave Palestinians in limbo waiting for a “peace process” that goes nowhere ROGER COHEN, The New York Times, October 28, 2016 One of the largest Israeli settlements on the West Bank, Maale Adumim, rising in the distance over the Palestinian village of Zaim (Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times) TEL AVIV…
C-SPAN video link: c-span.org/video/?416995-3/ben-ehrenreich-discusses-way-spring Wisconsin Book Festival The Way to the Spring Ben Ehrenreich 10/22/2016 – 12:00pm Central Library – Community Rooms 301 & 302 Ben Ehrenreich first started reporting from the West Bank in 2011, on an assignment for Harper’s Magazine. He went back again for the New York Times the following year, which…
Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada, 20 October 2016 Students constructed a mock wall on the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor campus to protest Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights. (SAFE-UMich Facebook) Students have won major victories for free speech on US campuses lately as attempts by Israel lobby groups to suppress Palestine solidarity activism continue to…
Thursday, October 20 “A Public Affair” 12:00 – 1:00 pm Allen Ruff’s Thursday guest will be freelance journalist and novelist Ben Ehrenreich, author of “The Way to the Spring – Life and Death in Palestine,” which describes life in the Palestinian village of Nabi Salih and the villagers’ struggles against settler encroachments and state harassment…
It Won’t Stop Until We Talk A Parents Circle Family Forum Presentation Sunday, October 23 Two families – one Jewish Israeli, one Palestinian Christian – have lost a close family member as a result of the prolonged conflict between their two nations. As part of this organization of over 600 families, George and Najwa Saadeh…
Gifts with a Story Monona Terrace Convention Center 1 John Nolen Drive, Madison 9 am to 4 pm [Map] Admission is free. MRSCP will have a table offering kuffiyehs and other crafts, and olive oil.
Update: The Room No. 4 Exhibit advertised previously will not be available at this event. Monona Terrace Hall of Ideas 1 John Nolen Drive, Madison 11:45 AM to 2:30 PM Please join the UNA-USA Dane County Chapter for our annual luncheon on Sunday, October 23rd, 2016 at Monona Terrace. This year’s luncheon: “Madison: A Tale…
Sunday, November 20 Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ 1501 Gilbert Rd, Madison [Map] Annual Fair Trade Fair! Come find unusual and beautiful gifts and holiday items from around the world. All proceeds go to the organizations and their artisans to help them become self-sustaining. MRSCP will have a table offering kuffiyehs and other crafts,…
Luci Lights for Rafah and Playground finish for Hebron Dear Members and Friends of MRSCP, We would like to ask your support for two modest but important projects this fall. The first is to help MRSCP and the Rebuilding Alliance send a shipment of solar-powered, inflatable Luci Lights to a classroom of Rafah Children. $400…
Andrea Germanos, Common Dreams, October 05, 2016 Group including Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire aimed ‘to highlight the vital role women play not only in the resistance movement, but in the survival of the Palestinian people as a whole’ Map shows the path the boat took through the Mediterranean before it was stopped by the Israeli…
At 15:58 CEST (Central European Summer Time) on 5 October, we lost contact again with the Zaytouna-Oliva and presume that the Israeli Occupation Navy has surrounded it in International Waters (latest recorded position: Lat+31.906033 Lon+33.757630) and has forced it off its course to Gaza. On board are 13 women, including Mairead Maguire, the 1976 Nobel…
Tuesday, October 11 12 noon – 1 pm Central Listen live at http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/livestream Online panel discussion presented by the Palestine Center in DC: Against Israel’s Colonial Tide: Palestinian Initiatives to Shape Their Future with Nur Arafeh, Policy Fellow, Al-Shabaka Tareq G. Baconi, Policy Fellow, Al-Shabaka Nadia Hijab, Executive Director, Al-Shabaka This panel examines the intersection…
UW-Madison Multicultural Student Center Red Gym – 2nd Floor 716 Langdon St, Madison, Wisconsin 7:30 pm Sponsored by UW-Madison Students for Justice in Palestine. Film screening of the documentary Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back!, which follows queer activists fighting against Israeli pinkwashing propaganda in their community, providing a strategic primer on intersectional social justice activism.…
Al-Haq, 26 September 2016 The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) expresses its full supportof the Women’s Boat to Gaza, with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, to break the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip. PHROC calls upon the international community to support the voyage of the Boat until it reaches Gaza’s shores in an expression…
Amal-Hope II to follow soon Women’s Boat to Gaza, Messina, Italy, September 27, 2016 This morning at 9:50 am, women representing 13 countries spanning five continents began their journey on Zaytouna-Oliva to the shores of Gaza, which has been under blockade since 2007. On board are a Nobel Peace Laureate, three parliamentarians, a decorated US…
Women’s Boat to Gaza, September 20, 2016 Ajaccio, Corsica, France: The Women’s Boat to Gaza (Zaytouna-Oliva) left the port of Ajaccio at 09:30 this morning. It is due to arrive later this week in Messina, Sicily, Italy, where it will dock for the last time, prior to sailing to challenge the illegal blockade of Gaza.…
The Hope and Peace Foundation has now been providing services for Rafah children for one year. The program is going to lose the lease on the building they are presently using, unless they raise six months worth of rent by the end of this month, through this on line funding campaign. Please see the link…
Washington, DC | www.adc.org | September 16, 2014 — Today marks 32 years since the Sabra and Shatila massacre — one of the bloodiest and most brutal atrocities of our time. On September 16, 1982, shortly after Israeli troops seized control of west Beirut, the right-wing Lebanese militia forces operating under the direction of Israeli…
International activists on two boats carrying food and medicine aim to break Israeli siege on Palestinian territory Al Jazeera, 15 Sep 2016 Two boats, Amal and Zaytouna, will have 11 women on board each [Courtesy: Rumbo a Gaza] A new flotilla of international activists has left for the Gaza Strip from the Spanish city of…
Women’s Boat to Gaza, September 12, 2016 Barcelona, Spain – From September 12-14, the sailing vessels Amal-Hope and Zaytouna-Oliva will moor at Bosch i Alsina dock in the port of Barcelona where various events (concerts, talks, nonviolent workshops, a street parade and visits to the boats) will take place as farewell for the women leaving…
The owners of the club have canceled a concert, citing a platform of groups affiliated with Black Lives Matter that calls Israel “an apartheid state” MICHAEL PAULSON, The New York Times, September 8, 2016 Photo Credit: Karsten Moran for The New York Times A popular Broadway cabaret club has canceled a concert benefiting Black Lives…
9:00 am – 6:00 pm Breese Stevens Field, Madison MRSCP has activities planned for Fighting Bob Fest. Admission is free although they ask for donations. There are also movies and speakers scheduled for the Barrymore Theater on Thursday and Friday nights before the Saturday main event. Admission will be charged there. This year, we are…
Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice Saturday, October 15, 2016 11:30am to 5pm TBA, Madison, Wisconsin Honoring our Past, Visioning our Future WNPJ is celebrating 25 years of work towards the realization of a peaceful, just, and sustainable world! Our individual and organizational members have done a tremendous amount of work both together in coalition…
CODEPINK, August 28, 2016 California’s AB 2844 is an attack on the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and protest. It is intended by its authors to create a blacklist of supporters of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns for Palestinian human rights. This is of urgent concern to Californians who will be immediately…
The country must be held accountable for its human rights abuses. Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace The Washington Post, June 24, 2016 In 2009, I was living in Tel Aviv during Operation Cast Lead. During that offensive, Israel killed about 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza. When small numbers of us went out…
WORT 89.9 FM Local News – Tuesday, 23 Aug 2016 6:00 pm U.S. Representative Mark Pocan at First United Methodist Church following his recent trip to Israel and Palestine, starting at 09:36. http://archive.wortfm.org/mp3/wort_160823_180001iobytue.mp3 Mark Pocan on Facebook
Ma’an News Agency, August 22, 2016 BETHLEHEM (Ma’an ) — A small majority of both Palestinians and Israelis support the two-state solution despite their differing views on the terms of a permanent settlement to peace negotiations, a survey published on Monday found. The survey, conducted jointly by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research…
This article has raised concern about the welfare of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights staff and our other friends and fellow civil society activists in Rafah and Gaza. Attacks on human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are recurrent, and are part of a consistent Israeli policy targeting voices critical of the prolonged…
Israel’s public security minister, Gilad Erdan, said everything possible must be done to weaken the boycott movement. (Tsafrir Abayov/AP) Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, 8 August 2016 Israel is intensifying its campaign against foreign pro-Palestinian activists, announcing that it will establish a taskforce to identify and deport or deny entry to individuals who support the Boycott,…
Following his recent trip to Israel and Palestine Fellowship Hall, First United Methodist Church 203 Wisconsin Avenue, Madison (Dayton St and Wisconsin Ave) [Map] 11:30 am (Doors open at 11:00 am due to the large number of RSVPs) Earlier this summer Rep. Mark Pocan went on a delegation trip to Israel/Palestine with several other members…
Ryan Rodrick Beiler, The Electronic Intifada, 17 August 2016 Lutheran church wants US to halt aid to Israel until settlement construction and human rights abuses end. (Ryan Rodrick Beiler) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has become the latest US denomination to take economic action against the Israeli occupation. At its triennial assembly last week…
Ma’an News Agency, Aug. 18, 2016 BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Fans of the Scottish Celtic Football Club waved Palestinian flags during an international playoff game for qualification for the UEFA Champions League tournament against the Israeli Hapoel Beersheba club on Wednesday. Entire sections of Celtic supporters brought Palestinian flags to the Celtic Park stadium in Glasgow,…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been looking to improve its relations with the White House. (Amir Cohen/Reuters) Ruth Eglash and Carol Morello, The Washington Post, July 28, 2016 JERUSALEM — The Israeli government’s plans to build new units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and a spate of home demolitions in Palestinian…
“As Americans who have a constitutional right to criticize our own government, we certainly have a right to criticize and, if we choose, boycott a foreign government that is heavily subsidized by US taxpayers.” Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 25 July 2016 The United Electrical Workers backed BDS in a vote of delegates at the…
Fida Qishta, who visited us in Madison in 2014 and 2015 to show her powerful first film Where Should the Birds Fly, has been in film school in California. She is looking for donations to help fund her thesis film Equally Damaged. Please consider a donation via the gofundme link or check. As of today,…
Palestinian Rights Groups Cheer Berkeley’s Decision to Divest from Private Prisons Friends of Sabeel – North America, FOSNA Voice, July 22, 2016 To see if your city invests or has a contract with G4S, or to launch a campaign, contact Rochelle@fosna.org. Berkeley, CA, July 19, 2016 — The City of Berkeley will divest from corporations…
Gaza Summer Camp — July 17, 2016 [slideshow_deploy id=’3304’] [slideshow_deploy id=’3304′] Dearest Friends, I would like to thank you all so much for your support to our project “Gaza Summer Camp”. I would also like to inform you that we have achieved our goal. Again your support is much appreciated. Here are some pictures of…
JAMES GLANZ, The New York Times, JULY 21, 2016 Avigdor Lieberman, an ultranationalist, said that Army Radio should not have aired a show about Mahmoud Darwish, who is considered the Palestinians’ national poet A memorial for the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in the West Bank city of Ramallah in 2008. He occupies a unique place…
Our photo (above), taken by Mohammad Mansour, was selected as a finalist in Global Giving’s 2016 Photo Contest! This picture was taken while the first pallet of Luci Lights that we sent was being distributed at the Women’s Project Center in Rafah, Gaza. If we win the competition, we will put the prize money towards…
Rabbi Brant Rosen, Shalom Rav, July 17, 2016 This past Friday, I had the honor to participate in an incredible, unprecedented mass action of civil disobedience in the H2 section of Hebron – in the heart of Israel's unjust and illegal occupation. I'll start with a little bit of history: In 1968, a year after…
Women’s Boat to Gaza, July 20, 2016 Gaza has been under Israeli blockade for the past decade during which Israel has also launched countless attacks against the besieged population, turning their life into a nightmare and a continuous struggle. Through Freedom Flotillas and other naval missions we have brought international attention to their suffering and…
Next we meet Hani Amer, whose farm lay on the route of the infamous wall. After a long struggle, Amer won the right to have his house and some of his land preserved . . . The Israeli Army built a gate that they opened for 15 minutes every 24 hours. . . Most disturbing…
Join over 150 renowned writers, poets, translators, editors, artists, public intellectuals and cultural workers. These signers, from Alice Walker and Claudia Rankine to Naomi Klein and Jacqueline Woodson, represent some of the most respected individuals in the arts and literary worlds. For the list of signers, please scroll down. Dareen Tatour has been charged with…
Palestinian BDS National Committee, July 7, 2016 Palestinian campaigners have launched popular boycott campaigns across the West Bank in recent months The Palestinian-led, global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was launched eleven years ago as a nonviolent and effective means for progressive people and organisations across the world to support the struggle of the…
Sarah Irving, The Electronic Intifada, 7 July 2016 Native: Dispatches from a Palestinian-Israeli Life by Sayed Kashua, Grove Press (2016) When novelist and columnist Sayed Kashua announced in 2014 that he and his family would be leaving Jerusalem for the US, the announcement was a minor blip in a summer of death and turmoil in…
His Last Column for Haaretz Everything people had told him since he was a teenager is coming true. Jewish-Arab co-existence has failed. Sayed Kashua, Haaretz, Jul 04, 2014 Illustration by Amos Biderman. I’m incapable of writing a word. I’ll wait until my boys get back from day camp, then maybe I’ll be able to calm…
Kevin Walsh, July 6, 2016 A 2009 study of the legal status of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip concluded that Israel’s practices constitute colonialism and apartheid and are illegal under international law.6 The study took 18 months, and contributors included jurists, academics and international lawyers from Israel, the occupied…