The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP)
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Mar 25, 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
Major Givers Reportedly withholding Funds from School, Sparking Fierce Free-Speech Debate on Massachusetts Campus Larry Cohler-Esses, The Jewish Week (New York), February 16, 2007 Major donors to Brandeis University have informed the school they will no longer give it money in retaliation for its decision last month to host former President Jimmy Carter, a strong…
Amira Hass, Haaretz, Feb 14, 2007 The Gaza Strip is ‘abroad’ in a strange way. Israelis need a passport to get there, and Palestinian Jerusalemites need a laissez passer – the same one they need to present when they fly to Paris via Ben-Gurion International Airport. Now it is official: The Gaza Strip is “abroad.”…
Miko Peled, The Electronic Intifada, 13 February 2007 Palestinians wait at the Rafah Crossing in Gaza to pass through to the Egypt, 6 February 2007. (MaanImages/Hatem Omar) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one area where liberals and neo-conservatives in America find common ground. From Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton all the way to George Bush and…
Bassam Aramin, The Forward, February 9, 2007 I fought with my daughter on the day she was shot. On her way out the door to school, Abir announced, in that way children have of doing, that she would be playing with a friend that afternoon rather than coming straight home to study for an exam…
Ali Abunimah is coming to Madison to speak on his new book, One Country — A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. A Palestinian-American, Abunimah is a co-creator and editor of the The Electronic Intifada web site and more recently, of Electronic Iraq and Electronic Lebanon. A graduate of Princeton University and the University…
Victoria Brittain, Guardian Unlimited, January 30, 2007 Mona el-Farra, a Palestinian doctor working in Gaza should have been in London this evening, launching a campaign for peace between Israelis and Palestinians based on recognition of international law. The campaign, simply called Enough, is backed by various aid organisations, trade unions, faith and other campaign groups.…
Ceasefire between Palestinian factions enters into force after five days of intense inter-factional fighting United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 30 Jan 2007 Overview The ceasefire between Palestinian factions announced by Palestinian Foreign Minister, Mohammed al Zahar in the early hours of this morning is holding. The ceasefire follows the heaviest…
The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP) has launched a Student Stipend Program to provide Rafah college students with assistance to remain in school in Gaza and complete their studies. The economic situation in Rafah is dire, with 79 percent of people in the Gaza Strip living below the poverty line due to Israeli restrictions and…
Is the Bush administration violating the law to provoke a Palestinian civil war? Conflicts Forum, 07 Jan 2007 Deputy National Security Advisor, Elliott Abrams — who Newsweek recently described as “the last neocon standing” — has had it about for some months now that the U.S. is not only not interested in dealing with Hamas,…
Haaretz Service Dec 28, 2006 Report: Threefold increase in number of Palestinians killed compared to 2005; 23 Israelis killed in 2006. According to an annual B’Tselem report, from the beginning of 2006 to December 27, Israeli security forces have killed 660 Palestinians, a figure more than three times the number of Palestinians killed in 2005,…
NORMAN FINKELSTEIN, Truthdig, DECEMBER 28, 2006 As Jimmy Carter’s new book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid climbs the bestseller list, the reaction of Israel’s apologists scales new peaks of lunacy. I will examine a pair of typical examples and then look at the latest weapon to silence Carter. Apartheid Analogy No aspect of Carter’s book has…
Chris Hedges, Truthdig, Dec 18, 2006 AP / Khalil Hamra Water mixes with blood in a street of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun in this Nov. 8 file photo. Israeli tank shells landed in a residential neighborhood, killing at least 18 people in their sleep, including eight children, according to witnesses and…
Former president stands by new book despite criticism, says it is meant to stimulate debate in U.S. Haaretz Service, Dec 11, 2006 Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said in remarks broadcast Monday that Israeli policy in the West Bank represented instances of apartheid worse even that those that once held sway in South Africa. Carter’s…
Erez Crossing, Gaza (Credit: The Electronic Intifada, May 29, 2005) Jennifer Loewenstein, CounterPunch, November 15, 2006 A clear and warm November evening; sun sets in a violence of color to the west over the sea and a full luminescent moon on the rise over Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. As if on cue,…
NORMAN FINKELSTEIN, CounterPunch, NOVEMBER 13, 2006 The historical chapters of Palestine Peace Not Apartheid are rather thin, filled with errors small and large, as well as tendentious and untenable interpretations. But few persons will be reading it for the history. It is what Carter has to say about the present that will interest the reading…
Edgewood College Anderson Auditorium 5 to 6:30 pm Anna Baltzer gives the keynote address of the 22nd annual conference of The Wisconsin Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies entitled “New Directions for Peace in the Middle East and Around the World”. Anna will be talking about her five months working with the International Women’s Peace…
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US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, July 13th, 2006 BACKGROUND:Israel is using weapons supplied by the United States to target Palestinian & Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon in violation of the US Arms Export Control Act and the Geneva Conventions. * On July 12th, Israel killed 23 Palestinians…
From: Jennifer Loewenstein Subject: Resuming Emails: Gideon Levy – A Black Flag Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 00:17:34 +0100 Last week I was in the West Bank and East Jerusalem trying to accomplish work for a research project, hence my absence. All I can say now is that what you are reading in real news…
Haaretz Editorial, 30 Jun 2006 Bombing bridges that can be circumvented both by car and on foot; seizing an airport that has been in ruins for years; destroying a power station, plunging large parts of the Gaza Strip into darkness; distributing flyers suggesting that people be concerned about their fate; a menacing flight over Bashar…
Wisconsin State Journal :: FRONT :: A2, Wednesday, April 19, 2006 Rafah is not a city in El Salvador Ald. Lauren Cnare doesn’t oppose buying milk for kids in Rafah on the Gaza Strip in Palestine. She just objects to tax money given to a Madison sister city in El Salvador being used that way.…
Madison.com, May 3, 2006 Madison Ald. Lauren Cnare and State Journal readers can rest easy. Contrary to Melanie Conklin’s April 19 column, the Arcatao, El SalVador, sister city project did not give any city money to the Rafah sister city project. In spite of erroneous comments made by the Sister City Oversight Committee, Arcatao only…
Melanie Conklin, Madison.com, Apr 19, 2006 Ald. Lauren Cnare doesn’t oppose buying milk for kids in Rafah on the Gaza Strip in Palestine. She just objects to tax money given to a Madison sister city in El Salvador being used that way. Cnare sits on the Sister Cities Grant Review subcommittee, which during the grant…
TONY JUDT, New York Times, April 19, 2006 IN its March 23rd issue the London Review of Books, a respected British journal, published an essay titled “The Israel Lobby.” The authors are two distinguished American academics (Stephen Walt of Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago) who posted a longer (83-page) version of…
Kathy Walsh, Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, April 4, 2006 In the article “Settlers, Israeli public part company” (Capital Times, April 3), Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun is quoted as saying “Olmert will at least take something.” Rabbi Bin Nun gets it right. Despite all the fuss about Olmert giving up land to Palestine with his proposed…
Kathy Walsh, Capital Times, November 19, 2005 The photographs titled “Faces of grief in Palestine and Israel” in the April 3 Capital Times once again leave readers with the idea that Palestinians grieve for killers while Israel grieves the victims of terrorism. In reality, many more Palestinians have died at the hands of Israelis than…
UW-Madison 1345 Health Sciences Learning Center 750 Highland Avenue 7-9:00 pm [pdf-embedder url=”http://madisonrafah.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/healthtourflyer.pdf”] Workers from the Ibdaa Health Committee of the Dheisheh Refugee Camp will be in Madison as part of a national tour. The Committee consists of volunteer health professionals, including nurses, physicians, and social workers. The goals of the tour are to build…
[pdf-embedder url=”http://madisonrafah.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/barghouthi.pdf”] Please mark your calendars for April 25-27, when Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, human rights activist, former Palestinian presidential candidate and representative of one of the Independent groups which won parliamentary seats, will be visiting Madison. The following events are scheduled: “Peace and Democracy: The Reality of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” Tuesday, April 25, 7:00 pm,…
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, London Review of Books, 23 March 2006 For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region…
1.5 million Arabs under Israeli siege Amira Hass, Haaretz, Mar 22, 2006 In the elections, Israelis will not be voting just for themselves. Not only will they choose parties that affect their own lives for four years, but also those of 3.5 million occupied Palestinians – as they have done for 39 years now. The…
Humanities Building, Room 1111 455 N. Park St UW-Madison Thursday, 7:00 pm Al-Awda, the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, the Havens Center and The Social Justice Films Series present: DISCORDIA: When Netanyahu Came to Town What happens when Middle East politics touch down on campus? Discordia examines the September 2002 riot that prevented former Israeli prime…
The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP) is partnering with the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) in Rafah to send powdered milk to the people of Rafah. In January 2005 MRSCP sent a delegation to Rafah to meet with governmental and non-governmental community leaders. Although the humanitarian needs of the people of Rafah are many,…
[pdf-embedder url=”http://madisonrafah.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/georgeshrub.pdf”] Dave Lippman is widely known on many coasts for his sharp send-ups of topics ranging from weapons of mass distraction to SUVs and the wars to defend them. He has joined the “Wheels of Justice” tours against the occupations of Iraq and Palestine, and the “Collateral Damage” tour with a Mexican Maquila organizer.…
JESSE McKINLEY, New York Times, February 28, 2006 Potential Off Broadway production of play My Name is Rachel Corrie is delayed because of concerns about show’s political content; play follows story of Rachel Corrie, idealistic American demonstrator and Palestinian rights activist who was crushed to death by Israeli bulldozer while trying to stop destruction of…
NEELA BANERJEE, New York Times, February 9, 2006 WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 – The governing body of the Church of England voted Monday evening to divest from any corporations that it contends support Israel’s activities in Gaza and the West Bank, a move sharply criticized by Jewish groups in Britain and the United States. The resolution…
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GEORGE ARIDA, Madison.com, Dec 9, 2005 Despite appearances to the contrary, Ariel Sharon is one of the true constants of Israeli politics. Although he remains uncompromising in his ideology and consistent in his methods, he periodically redefines his political identity to serve his underlying agenda. This week the mainstream Western media carried characteristically misleading headlines…
Kathy Walsh, Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, December 5, 2005 Regarding Robert Ablove’s letter about the Isthmus article on Camp Shalom (“Ain’t Gonna Study War No More,” 9/2/05): My daughter and I visited Israel/Palestine last winter. While we were there, there were no suicide/homicide bombings by Palestinians. But while we were there a 10 year…
19-Nov-05 Playground for Rafah Campaign Give Children a Chance to Be Children Help Rebuild a Playground in Rafah, Palestine The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP) is partnering with Playgrounds for Palestine (PfP) to rebuild a playground in the Tal al Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, Palestine that was destroyed in January 2004. MRSCP and PfP…
Aaron Nathans,The Capital Times, November 11, 2005 Protesters packed a hearing Thursday on the University of Wisconsin’s investment portfolio, encouraging the Board of Regents to divest from Israel. Many held Palestinian flags, as speaker after speaker called for the university to divest from companies that do business with the Israeli military. They argued, for example,…
Kathy Walsh, Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, November 11, 2005 In the Capital Times article on the divestment debate at UW you quote Professor Ken Goldstein: “When a Palestinian woman loves her child, and does not encourage 14-, 15-, and 16-year olds to strap bombs onto their body and blow up Israeli 3-, 4- and 5-,…
IBDAA! We are excited to announce that on Thursday November 3 the world-renowned Ibdaa Children’s Dance Troupe will perform for the first time in Madison at 7:30 pm in the UW Union Theater. This group of 10 boys and 10 girls between the ages of 10 and 13 is touring major cities in the U.S.…
Samara Kalk Derby, The Capital Times, October 10, 2005 To get to work each day, Tawfiq Nasser needs a green card, known as a “dirty ID.” He also needs what is called a magnetic card to show that he is not a terrorist or security threat. On top of that, he must carry two permits,…
A View From Jerusalem – Challenges for Palestinian Health Care Dr. Tawfiq Nasser, CEO of Augusta Victoria Hospital, Jerusalem St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church 5700 Pheasant Hill Rd., Monona Dr. Nasser will preach at 8:00 & 10:00 Worship and make a presentation beginning at 9:10 Memorial United Church of Christ 5705 Lacey Rd., Fitchburg Dr. Nasser…
A Community Film Series September 22 – Uncovered: The War on Iraq October 20 – Rana’s Wedding November 10 – Hidden in Plain Sight December 1 – Until When . . . Edgewood College, Predolin Humanities Center, Anderson Auditorium 7:00 pm for all showings “The Arts Go to War”, an Edgewood human issues class; the…
Bill Lueders, Isthmus, September 1, 2005 Camp Shalom had children pretend to be Israeli soldiers It was the face paint that tipped Tsele Barr off. Early this summer, she was picking up her two sons from Camp Shalom, a day camp run by the Madison Jewish Community Council, and noticed that some of the children…
Al Jazeera, August 26, 2005 The Palestinian economy has deteriorated sharply since the start of the uprising in 2000, and Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank will depress it further, a United Nations agency said. The economy shrank 1% in 2004, one in three Palestinian workers was jobless at the end of last year…
Mehammed Mack, L.A. Weekly, August 25, 2005 A somber note for many Gazans witnessing the Israeli pullout was the prospect of losing jobs. Al-Jazeera profiled the closure of one of the last remaining monuments of Oslo-era cooperation, the Erez industrial park, a multidisciplinary Gaza manufacturing facility that had employed more than 4,000 Arab workers. One…
Disengagement or Tactical Military Redeployment? SHAMAI K. LEIBOWITZ and KATERINA HELLER, CounterPunch, August 24, 2005 The imminent handover of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority and the evacuation of a small portion of the West Bank from Israeli settlers has been billed by the international media as a turning point in the violent history of…