A New Day? Organizing to Change US Policy on Israel and Palestine

A New Day? Organizing to Change US Policy on Israel and Palestine

A New Day?

Organizing to Change US Policy on Israel and Palestine

Saturday, November 14, 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Note New Location: Harvard University, Jefferson Laboratory 250, 17 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA

A half-day conference 

Speakers

Rami Khouri: a Palestinian-Jordanian and U.S. citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut and he is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative . His journalistic work includes writing books and an internationally syndicated column, and he also serves as editor at large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper.

MJ Rosenberg: A thirty-five-year career on Capitol Hill, at the State Department and, significantly, four years at AIPAC led Rosenberg to become a champion of Israeli-Palestinian peace and a vocal opponent of the right-wing "pro-Israel" lobby. Rosenberg writes for The Nation, Washington Spectator, and has a weekly column for the Huffington Post.  He blogs at http://mjrosenberg.net/

Nadia Ben-Youssef: a lawyer and human rights advocate serving as the first USA Representative for Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. After four years in the Naqab (Negev) in southern Israel leading Adalah’s international advocacy efforts on behalf of the Palestinian Bedouin community, she is now developing Adalah’s US advocacy strategy to shape American discourse and influence American policy and practice towards a human rights-based approach in Israel/Palestine. Nadia holds a BA in Sociology from Princeton University, and J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Waves of violence and reprisals, demolitions and detentions, religious incitement and “extrajudicial executions” are once again the norm in occupied Palestine, even as Israel’s Prime Minister comes to the White House in November to collect billions more in US military aid.  For a time, this horrible pattern was seemingly about to change.  Is change still possible?  

Our conference will bring together activists from a variety of local organizations and movements to ask:

• What is the current state of the US politics and policy regarding Israel-Palestine?

• What are the new opportunities arising from the growing partisan divide on the issue?

• What are the lessons from the struggle against South African apartheid?

• How can we organize more consistently and effectively to pressure our elected representatives?

The conference as a whole will assess the two Massachusetts senators, and also break up into workshops based on Congressional districts, with workshop leaders able to outline the experience so far and the members voting record.  It is expected that the conference will establish the organizational basis and mechanisms for improved ongoing work in this arena.

We invite area groups, activists and all those interested in Palestine/Israel/Peace issues to help better organize our efforts to challenge US government policy more effectively. In addition to other ongoing important campaigns such as direct solidarity, BDS and public education, we see the need for a simultaneous campaign to contest the reigning US government policies which enable Israeli occupation, oppression and military aggression.

Sponsored by the Massachusetts Peace Action Palestine/Israel Working Group. 

Cosponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace - Boston, United for Justice with Peace, Arlington UJP, Greater Boston Code Pink, Friends of Sabeel North America - New England Chapter, Dorchester People for Peace, Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, North Shore Coalition for Peace & Justice, Tree of Life Educational Fund, Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East – Massachusetts chapter, Palestine Israel Task Team of First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC, Cambridge Bethlehem People to People Project, Grassroots International, Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee, Merrimack Valley People for Peace (list in formation).

Sign up to attend.  $5 donation requested/ No one turned away.

For information contact pi@masspeaceaction.org or call 617-354-2169 

Yours for peace and justice,