PALESTINE-RELATED EVENTS in the SEATTLE AREA for May 2-9

 

For  information about history, issues, and our Seattle Divest from Israeli

Military Occupation campaign, please see www.palestineinformation.org.

E-mail us at palestinejustice@aol.com.  We try to limit this listserv to

Seattle area events and news about the International Solidarity Movement to End

the Occupation.  To have us post an event on this calendar, please email

lindabevis1@aol.com. For more general news and analysis on the Palestinian-Israeli

conflict without a pro-Israeli-government bias, please see:

palestinechronicle.com, electronicIntifada.net, btselem.org, miftah.org and other sites listed on

our website. 

To send a letter about anything you learn here to your congressional rep:

http://www.truemajority.com/index.asp?action=2174&ms=irqpeace

 

PALESTINE SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE/ISM SEATTLE  NEWS

 

*   Next Palestine Solidarity Committee Meeting: May 10, 7-9

*   Next ISM Seattle subcommittee meeting: TBA

*   Next ISM Seattle Discussion Cafe: May 5, 5-8 pm (every first Wed.)

*   Next Sidewalk Education, May 8, 12-2 p.m.

*   Next Divestment meeting: TBA, 7-9 pm.

*   Next Theatre meeting:,May 18,  6:30-8:30 (usually every first Tuesday)

*   Next ISM pre-training: May 22, 23,  2004

*   Next ISM Palestine Campaign: Summer 2004 -- June 25-Aug. 14

*   Palestine Film Festival: October 2004

Call 206 633-1086 for locations, dates, times.

 

PSC now has a copy of the new Media Education Foundation video, "Peace,

Propaganda and the Promised Land:  American Media and the Subversion of Peace"  (75

minutes) that you can borrow to show in your living room or community hall. 

We previewed the video and found it extremely informative as a tool for

understanding what is really happening in the Occupied Territories and why Americans

don't know about it.   For more details on the video, go to the website of

the Media Education Foundation at www.mediaed.org.  To borrow the video, email

woodwend@earthlink.net with your request. To find out about other videos PSC

has for lending: palestinejustice@aol.com.

 

THIS WEEK:

WOMEN IN BLACK ***ISM DISCUSSION CAFE ***SIDEWALK EDUCATION ***PALESTINE IN

YOUR LIVINGROOM? BRING SPEAKERS AND VIDEOS TO YOUR FRIENDS ANYTIME -- CALL PSC

FOR MORE INFO 206 633-1086***

 

WOMEN IN BLACK. Stand against occupation and war every Thursday at Westlake.

4th & Pine. 5-6 pm. Wear Black. Men can support.

 

May 5,  ISM DISCUSSION CAFE at the B&O Espresso, Belmont and Olive on Capitol

Hill. Drop by anytime between 5 and 8 pm to learn more about the

International Solidarity Movement to End the Occupation.  Every first Wednesday of the

month. More info: 206 633-1086.

 

May 8, 12-2 pm. SIDEWALK EDUCATION FOR PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS. Usually

every 2nd Saturday from 12-2 pm.  We have info, banners, signs, and welcome all

anti-racists to join us. Palestine Solidarity Committee.  More info: 

palestinejustice@aol.com.   Check our calendar for updates.  Call 206 633-1086 if you

need to confirm a location.   Next Sidewalk Ed is  May  8,  2004. Westlake Park:

4th & Pine, downtown Seattle.

 

UPCOMING: SHADOWS OF EXILE: REFUGEE COMMEMORATION***ISM TRAINING  

***PALESTINE LIVES ***PALESTINE IN YOUR LIVINGROOM? BRING SPEAKERS AND VIDEOS TO YOUR

FRIENDS ANYTIME -- CALL PSC FOR MORE INFO 206 633-1086***

 

May 15,  7 pm, SHADOWS OF EXILE   An outdoor art and performance event. THE

ARTS BREWERY, 3100 Airport Way South, Seattle. Contact: Edward Mast, (206)

633-1086    edwardmast@aol.com. Over thirty artists, dancers, performers and

writers present Shadows of Exile, an outdoor art and performance event exploring

the theme of refugees.  Music, masks, dance and spoken word will be part of an

interactive guided procession through our refugee planet.  SHADOWS OF EXILE

will commemorate al-Naqba/the Catastrophe of 1948, when over 400 villages were

destroyed and almost a million Palestinians were driven out to become refugees. 

Over 4 milliion Palestinian refugees live outside Palestine today, with no

right to return to their homes or even their country.  The performance will

include poetry by Mahmoud Darwish and an installation containing all the names of

the destroyed Palestinian villages. Shadows of Exile is presented by the

Palestine Solidarity Committee and Voices of Palestine, as part of the the Art of

Resistance Conference, May 15 and 16.  For more information about the

conference itself:  206 208 4241  or  www.artofresistance-seattle.net

 

May 22, 23, ISM TRAINING IN SEATTLE. Join the Freedom Summer Campaign of the

International Solidarity Movement to End the Occupation, June 25-August 14.

Minimum stay is 2 weeks.  Do nonviolent direct action to confront the Israeli

occupation. Training  before you go over is required. Some partial funding and

lots of advice available.  Also a PALESTINE-FOCUSED FIRST-AID TRAINING More

info: 206 633-1086.

 

June 19, The next PALESTINE LIVES event at the Crossroads community centre

will be Saturday June 19th. 5:30 - 8:00pm, in the gym. More info:

m.simonsen@comcast.net.

 

 

PALESTINE IN YOUR LIVING ROOM: As always, Palestine Solidarity Committee

would love to help you discuss this issue with your community. Invite friends over

for dinner or tea and show a video and host a speaker who's just back from

witnessing the occupation. All for free. Let us know if you're interested: 206

633-1086, palestinejustice@aol.com.

 

ONGOING CAMPAIGNS

STOP THE  WALL CAMPAIGN ***"GO TO RAFAH TO INVESTIGATE RACHEL CORRIE'S

DEATH" CAMPAIGN***OLYMPIA-RAFAH SISTER CITY PROJECT*** SEATTLE DIVEST FROM ISRAELI

MILITARY OCCUPATION CAMPAIGN***

 

STOP THE WALL CAMPAIGN.

The Wall is higher than the Berlin Wall, will take millions of American tax

dollars to build, and cuts the West Bank in two:   confiscating some of the

richest Palestinian farmland and many wells for Israeli  use.  For more info:

John Reese, jreese@scn.org, 206-568-7110  or Community Action Network

can@drizzle.com

 

This link is to a translation of a May 23rd article in Yediot Ahronot titled

"A Wall in the Heart."

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1546.shtml

 

These links have additional information on the wall including maps. 

http://www.gush-shalom.org/thewall/index.html

http://www.poica.org/casestudies/Changing%20Wall%20Path%2016-06-03/index.htm.

 

The Israeli government continues to build a massive wall to surround

Palestinian areas and turn their ghettos into large prisons.  Twice as high and

planned-to-be three times as long as the Berlin Wall, Israel's latest project of

dispossession has already uprooted tens of thousands of Palestinian fruit and

olive trees and has destroyed or isolated from Palestinian farmers tens of

thousands of dunams of farmland, de facto confiscating the Palestinian people's most

fertile land and most important water wells.  Entire farming communities are

losing all of their agricultural land.  More statistics:10% of the West Bank

will be confiscated by and for Israel by the path of this wall.  As of December

2002, some 11,500 dunams of land have been razed for the footprint of the

wall, and 83,000 trees uprooted.  Over 31 groundwater wells will be in the

confiscated areas of the wall's first phase. A number of villages are to lose their

ONLY source of water.  Land confiscation, destruction, and severe restriction

of movement will translate into the loss of over 6,500 jobs.  Over 100

buildings have thusfar been destroyed to make way for the wall, mainly shops, an

important source of income for families and communities At least 17 Palestinian

communities will be trapped between the wall and the Green Line. Some

communities will be surrounded on all sides by the wall.

 

If completed as planned, some 95,000 Palestinians will be isolated.  A number

of small villages have been informed that their proximity to the wall will

deem most of their community demolished.  Courtesy of PENGON.  For more

information and statistics, see: www.pengon.org

 

The ISM invites you to join the Palestinian people in coordinated

direct-action, nonviolent resistance to this strangulation, oppression and affront to

peace initiatives.  While leaders talk about peace and the "road map", take part

in working for justice on the ground and paving the road to freedom.  For more

information: www.palsolidarity.org

 

SEATTLE DIVEST FROM ISRAELI MILITARY OCCUPATION CAMPAIGN: Ask Seattle City

Council to divest its pension funds from American companies selling war machines

to Israel. Includes Caterpillar and Boeing. More info:

www.palestineinformation.org; 206 633-1086.

 

GO TO RAFAH CAMPAIGN

CALL ON YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO GO TO RAFAH TO INVESTIGATE RACHEL CORRIE'S

DEATH & TO SUPPORT THE RACHEL CORRIE RESOLUTION (H.Con.Res. 111 calls for a U.S.

investigation into her death. Rachel Corrie was a 23  year-old American peace

activist who was killed by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bulldozer while

nonviolently protesting the demolition of the home of a Palestinian doctor and

his family in the Gaza Strip on March 16. For more details, please see:

http://www.endtheoccupation.org.): Murray: 206.553.5545; Cantwell: 206.220.6400;

McDermott: 206.553-7170; Baird:360.695.6292....

 

DONATIONS IN MEMORY OF RACHEL CORRIE:

International Solidarity Movement -- Palestine

c/o Linda Bevis & Ed Mast

4330 2nd Ave. NE

Seattle, WA 98105

(you can also send donations to Rafah to this address; make checks out to

"MECA")

 

Rachel Corrie Memorial Fund

The Community Foundation of South Puget Sound

111 Market Street NE, Suite 375

Olympia, WA 98501

More information on the Community Foundation can be found at:

http://www.thecommunityfoundation.com

 

Rachel Corrie Memorial Fund

c/o The Evergreen State College Foundation

Library Building, Room 3122

The Evergreen State College

2700 Evergreen Parkway NW

Olympia, WA 98505

 

Corrie Scholarship Fund

c/o Elizabeth Abuhayder

351 Lee Street

Seattle, WA 98109

 

Plant An Olive Tree in East Jerusalem in Rachel's Memory

$20 buys a tree

Contact: Joan Abu Jebara

PR & Advocacy Desk Coordinator

YWCA Palestine

email: pr.advocacy@ywca-palestine.org or olivetree@ywca-palestine.org

 You can also send a check to "Friends of Sabeel-North Amerca", which is an

IRS registered  501(c)(3) organization and the local contact is: sister Elaine

Kelley, admin. officer, 2036 SE Jefferson St., Milwaukie, OR 97222-7660 Ph:

503-653-6625 email: kelleysfcc@aol.com (do this and sister Elaine sent us a

receipt and forwarded the forms to the YWCA/ YMCA in Jerusalem).

 

The Corrie family also encourages people to remember Rachel by doing

volunteer service in their community.

 

Cards and remembrances for the Corrie family should be sent to:

P.O. Box 12149

Olympia, WA 98508

Emails to the family can be sent to:

rachelsmessage@the-corries.com

 

"MIDDLE EAST JUSTICE SCHOLARSHIP IN MEMORY OF RACHEL CORRIE" has been

created.  This was created with the generous contributions of our communities.

If people are still interested in making contributions to this fund they can

do so by writing a check to the name of the scholarship fund and send this to

Evergreen State College at 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW., Olympia, WA, 98505.

 

OLYMPIA-RAFAH SISTER CITY PROJECT

 

 

Dear Friend,

 

 

 

We're writing to ask your help on an urgent matter.

As you likely know, the Palestinians of Rafah, in the

Gaza Strip, have been enduring a terrifying assault by

the Israeli occupation forces.  Hundreds of homes in

Rafah were wantonly demolished last month in an

indiscriminate campaign of destruction that Amnesty

International labeled a "war crime". Thousands of

people, already impoverished, were then left homeless,

and the campaign of home destruction continued with

scores of houses leveled in the month of November.  A

grave humanitarian crisis is taking shape, with many

injured persons cut off from medical care by the

Israeli Occupation forces, and local hospitals unable

to cope with the growing number of casualties.

 

 

 

One international volunteer currently working in Rafah

sent this dispatch on November 19th, which gives a

look into the grim daily existence of Gaza:

 

       

 

 

 

We are spending much of our days visiting families who

have lost children and other family members from

Israeli bullets. The other day in Gaza City, halfway

through Ramadan, a very poor family lost one of its

sons. The 13 year old was out catching birds with

other kids from the neighborhood when an Israeli

military foot patrol came upon them. The autopsy

report describes the child as being shot 17 times at

close range and his face was injured from being

stomped on by the soldiers' boots. His arm was broken

when they dragged him from the place of his murder to

the border, in order to claim they shot him because he

got too close to the Green Line.

 

 

 

In Rafah, another 13 year old child was shot in the

stomach on his way

 

home from school. That day there was an unusual amount

of gunfire all day long...In Block O, one of the refugee

camps along the border, this child was just getting

out of class and on his way home when he was either

targeted or hit with a stray bullet. He was not killed

instantly, but was taken to the ICU where over the

course of 3 days was given 16 liters of blood. In the

end the doctors could not stop the bleeding and the

child died.

 

 

 

 

 

Stories of such atrocities are almost entirely absent

from U.S. media reporting, yet are common fare to

those involved in solidarity work inside Palestine.

As citizens of the country that finances and enables

the Occupation, we are trying to provide some

immediate relief and hope to the victims, while laying

the foundation for long-term change.

Who We Are

The concept of an Olympia-to-Rafah sister city

relationship was begun last year by our friend and

colleague Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli

military bulldozer on March 16.  Rachel insisted on

living in Rafah because she thought it was there that

people faced the occupation's harshest conditions.  It

is well known that she was a member of the

International Solidarity Movement and that she lost

her life defending a Palestinian family's home from

destruction.  Not so well known were her efforts at

establishing a sister-city relationship.  She traveled

to Rafah with the names of school children from her

hometown, seeking to pair them with counterparts in

Rafah in a pen-pal exchange.   She imagined all sorts

of cultural exchanges, aid projects, and direct ways

of connecting people across the many barriers of

distance, language and misunderstanding that separate

us.  She believed that only then might our country's

misguided policies be confronted and changed.

 

 

 

Although Rachel's life was cut short, many of us were

inspired by her and have resolved to carry out her

project.  Beginning with a small core group, we have

steadily expanded since our formation last Spring.  A

number of our members have gone to live in Rafah,

building connections with people and institutions

there.  We have begun a Fair Trade exchange for

Palestinian artwork through the Union of Palestinian

Women, we support a Center for Disabled Persons, we

have sponsored cultural exchanges, and we offer

translation between English and Arabic for our pen-pal

program.  You can find out more about us, or contact

us, through our website at http://www.orscp.org/.

 

 

What You Can Help With Right Now

 

 

Right now the people in Rafah are asking us for help

in obtaining medical equipment and supplies.  The idea

of a Sister City in the U.S. has raised hopes inside

Rafah, and we wish to respond to their appeal as

generously as possible.  While we have longer-term

ideas about setting up doctor exchanges and assistance

from local hospitals, we would like to respond to the

more immediate request of obtaining medical supplies.

Our group's ability to respond to such an appeal is

limited, and so we are reaching out to you for

assistance.

 

 

 

Any contribution you can make to support this project

will be fully tax-deductible, and our transfer of

funds to Palestine will be completely legal and

transparent.  Our 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor is the Middle

East Childrens' Alliance in Berkeley, CA, directed by

longtime activist Barbara Lubin.  If you are not

familiar with them, see their website at

http://www.mecaforpeace.org/.   MECA is one of the

most established aid organizations in the U.S. working

in the Mideast.

 

 The funds they send to Rafah for us will be

distributed through Dr. Mona El-Farar of the Union of

Health Work Committees. You can read Dr. El-Farar's

recent report on Rafah's medical crisis at

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2054.shtml.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us by

phone at (360) 867-0290 or via email at

tomwright59@comcast.net.

 

Thank you so much for your help.

 

Tom Wright and Therese Saliba