Washington, DC I rawstory.com
Eyewitness Palestine delegates and DC community members went viral on Monday as they protested outside of White House senior advisor Stephen Miller’s apartment in Washington, D.C. Miller is one the prominent minds behind immigration policies that separated +2,000 children from their parents at the U.S. border.
New York, NY I In These Times
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Rahul Saksena writes about how Israeli airport officials confiscated his notebook, details what was written inside of it, and some of his reflections on Israel's mass-expelled Palestinians from their lands 70 years ago and on-going Nakba.
Read MoreNew York, NY I El Diario NY
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Natasha Bannan, on the 70th anniversary of Nakba, writes about the US support of Israel financially, militarily and ideologically. Link: https://eldiariony.com/2018/05/15/masacres-en-nuestro-nombre/
Read MoreNew York, NY I Center for Constitutional Rights
Eyewitness Palestine delegates of the 2018 Justice Delegation published their statement as human rights defenders, calling "on our communities, our allies, our representatives, and the international community to hold Israel accountable for its violent response to Palestinians’ call and march for freedom.”
Read MoreMidland, MI I Midland Daily News
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Emma Johnson wrote an op-ed in the Midland Daily News, calling out her Republican Rep and my Democratic Senator who are both co-sponsoring the Israel Anti-Boycott Act.
Read MoreSt Louis, MO I St Louis Post-Dispatch
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Lea Koesterer was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today, writing about the US condoning the actions of the Israeli military against Palestinian protestors on the #GreatMarchofReturn.
Read MoreCambridge, Massachusetts I Cambridge Day
Interfaith Peace-Builders delegation leader Noura Erakat is featured on Jadaliyya, discussing the Myths of the Two State Solution.
Read MoreMiddletown, CT I The Amal Foundation
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Fer E-J is given honorable mention in the recent Wesleyan Refugee Project's fundraiser to the Amal Foundation.
Read MoreCambridge, Massachusetts I Cambridge Day
Eyewitness Palestine delegates William Ruhm and Elizabeth Rucker speak up at a Massachusetts Against Hewlett-Packard organizing event in Cambridge.
“Today, we have a chance to resist a modern Polaroid…
Read MoreCape Cod, MA I Cape Cod Times
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Melissa Nussbaum wrote a letter to the editor, published in the Cape Code Times, signed by 15 other Cape Cod residents.
Read MoreHouston, TX I Houston Chronicle
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Bridget Jensen’s letter to the editor has been published in the Houston Chronicle, in response to the article “Trump puts Mideast on edge:”
She writes,
“since dropping the pretense of the location of Israel’s capital being other than Jerusalem was one factor in Trump’s recent decision, the discussion of dropping pretenses should be widened, starting with the pretense that there is any peace process.
Read MoreOcala, FL I TEDxOcala
Eyewitness Palestine delegation leader and partner, Anna Baltzer explains that staying neutral in controversial situations is NOT the moral high ground and that neutrality is a dangerous trap – and an illusion. Taking a side, Baltzer explains, not impartiality, is what really helps resolve conflicts.
Read MoreWashington DC I Middle East Eye
Eyewitness Palestine delegation leader Noura Erakat in her new article in Middle East Eye writes,
“Thank you President Trump, you have finally ended US double-speak on Middle East ‘peace’…Far from signalling a doomsday scenario, Trump has removed the emperor’s clothes to reveal the farce of the peace process. Now what next for the Palestinians?”
Read MoreYaffa, Palestine I Mondoweiss
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Amirah AbuLughod just returned from the Oliver Harvest delegation. Her reflection of visiting Yaffa, the city her family once called home, for the first time is now published in Mondoweiss.
She writes “I walked these streets – we walked these streets – with a man whose family stayed after the Nakba in 1948. His family was one of only 4,000 who stayed out of an original population of 120,000.”
Read MoreWashington, DC I Huffington Post
Eyewitness delegation leader Philip Farah writes that the Kansas Commission of Education barred a math teacher from a program for training other teachers because she refused to sign a pledge certifying that she is “not engaged in boycotting Israel.”
San Francisco, California I Electronic Intifada
Delegation leader Nora Barrows-Friedman writes about San Francisco State University’s faculty, Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, victory last week over the lawsuit, filed in June, prepared by The Lawfare Project, a group that describes itself as “the legal arm of the pro-Israel community.”
Nora writes, “The decision to dismiss the suit proves that these types of legal attempts by Israel advocacy groups ‘will fail,’ Palestine Legal’s Liz Jackson said. “They have no merit because the facts they allege are untrue and the legal theory they’re based on is an abuse of civil rights law….
"Abdulhadi said the dismissal of the lawsuit sends a strong message to those trying to silence students and faculty and praised activists and organizations that have fought back.
'For me personally, it renews my faith, my determination [to continue teaching],’ Abdulhadi said. 'These campaigns are designed to destroy careers. So this is a wake up call to the Zionists to say, you need to back off, and the people won’t allow you to do this.’
Read MoreOmaha, Nebraska I Omaha World Herald
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Sharon Conlon wrote to the Omaha World-Herald last week about the Millard North High School’s district revoking their invitation of Nora Carmi, a Palestinian Christian woman, on the basis that the district wanted to ‘protect students from politicization.’
Sharon writes, “I heard Carmi speak three times: at Creighton University, the College of St. Mary and a Pacific Springs Retirement Center luncheon for faith leaders. She spoke about how her faith helped her cope with the injustices of living under the Israeli military occupation.
I know the accuracy of her statements. This spring I was in Palestinian East Jerusalem and the West Bank and experienced the racism of the government toward non-Jews.
It’s a shame that Millard Schools did not allow her to speak; the district used censorship as a form of “protection.” Apparently administrators don’t understand the difference between criticizing the Israeli government policies and hating Jews. When I criticize the U.S. government, I do not hate Americans.”
San Francisco, California I Palestine in America
Delegation leader Nora Barrows-Friedman writes an article titled “Intersectionality and the mainstreaming of Palestine” in Palestine in America.
She writes:
“Princess Nokia did it. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis did it. Queer filmmakers did it. A group of NFL players did it. Barcelona city council members did it. Even Sacramento, California transit officials did it.
Read MoreUSA I Al-Jazeera
As we enter the 35th anniversary of the Sabra & Shatila massacre, we enter 35 years with neither accountability nor justice.
In this reflective op-ed, Nabil Mohamad –a survivor of the massacre, writes that the brutalization in Sabra & Shatila “was a direct consequence of Israel’s violation of the American-brokered ceasefire and the impunity bestowed on Israel by the US and the international community.” He writes, that “the international community is obliged to remedy its moral responsibility” to the victims and the survivors.
Read MoreSanta Clara, CA I Facebook/Al-Jazeera
Eyewitness Palestine delegate Safeer M. wrote a moving post upon recently returning:
“Been trying to avoid sharing this since yesterday morning. Members of the group & I stayed with Fashek and had breakfast with him and Raed when we stayed at the Dehesha refugee camp in Bethlehem. I had written earlier about staying at Fashek’s place and having to close the windows due to the tear gas fired in the camp by the Israeli army. At breakfast, Fashek told us that him and Raed were the only two out of his eleven friends who had not been killed or arrested. A few weeks ago, we found out that Fashek was taken to jail by the the Israeli army - no charges, trial, nothing.
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