What YOU can do for justice in Palestine!

Compilation from Hannah Mermelstein of
Birthright Unplugged

(MQ adds: Justice in Palestine is Key to peace in the Middle East and elswhere.  Hannah's
list can be ofcourse much larger but is an excellent list to get you going.  See also http
://www.qumsiyeh.org/whatyoucando/ and especially help us with hosting the Wheels of
Justice bus tour in your area for the Spring: see http://www.justicewheels.org/ and yes,
silence is complicity)

LOTS! No matter how small it seems, every little action is a piece of a larger movement
for justice. Below are a list of campaigns, resources, and specific ideas you can join
others in or use to create your own ideas. There are also many tactics, from public
education to direct action and much much more. Reverse
side includes info on boycott and divestment, as well as Nakba commemoration ideas. Be
creative. Palestine needs you.

Feel free to be in touch with me (Hannah) any time to brainstorm ideas or get contacts (or
to ask me to e-mail you this document so you don’t have to type in all the web addresses):
hmermels@hotmail.com.

Creative ideas anyone can do

*Join a local organization for justice in the Middle East. The US Campaign to End the
Occupation has local groups around the country: www.endtheoccupation.org/groups.php

*Fight for US tax dollars to be spent on healthcare and education, not war.
http://sustainphilly.blogspot.com/2007/01/love-philly-bring-our-money-home.html

*Subscribe to Today in Palestine for daily news headlines:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi

*Learn more, read more, watch more: See
www.birthrightunplugged.org/html/brup11links.html for ideas.

*Host a fundraising event (see “Donate to Palestine” below)

*Host the anti-apartheid speaking tour in 2008: www.endtheoccupation.org

*Get your local bookstore/grocery to carry Needle in the Groove cds:
www.needleinthegroove.org

*Give Needle in the Groove cds and Palestinian fair trade olive oil as gifts:
www.palestinianfairtrade.ps

*Talk to local lawmakers or Congress. Tell them to stop military funding to Israel. See
endtheoccupation.org for a recent congressional “report card” based on 4 resolutions.

*Tax resist: www.warresisters.org

*Speak out against attacks on Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and everywhere else!

*If you’re not Muslim or Arab, find ways to be an ally to your local Muslim and Arab
community. One example: www.supportthemosque.org

*Media! Let them know what you think of their coverage! Letters to the editor, published
or not, are important!

*Organize Palestinian cultural/political events. Invite a Palestinian poet, playwright,
artist, or dance troupe to town. Check out Suheir Hammad, Café Intifada, Olive on a Seder
Plate, Ibdaa… and ask Hannah for more.

*Organize a protest/die-in at your local Israeli consulate, Caterpillar headquarters,
Congress member’s office, or in the middle of the street!

*Public art! Banner drops over highways, posters on street poles, murals, graffiti, etc…

Go to Palestine

*6 day trip through Birthright Unplugged: www.birthrightunplugged.org

*Volunteer with an international solidarity organizations: www.palsolidarity.org,
www.iwps.info

*Volunteer with a Palestinian organization – what’s your particular interest/specialty?

*Study in Palestine, learn Arabic, push your university to accept credit from Palestine:
home.birzeit.edu/pas

Donate to Palestine

* Tax-deductible donations to Birthright Unplugged can be sent to 18 Northview Drive,
Glenside, PA 19038. Most of our money is spent in Palestine: www.birthrightunplugged.org

* Flowers Against the Occupation empowers girls to fight for justice in rural Palestine.
Sell Needle in the Groove cds in your community or make a separate donation to Flowers
(e-mail Hannah).
www.needleinthegroove.org

* Check out Shiraa’, youth organization and circus troupe: http://shiraa.org/index.htm

* Gaza is suffering from ongoing Israeli attacks and closure. You can donate to help
through the Middle East Children’s Alliance: www.mecaforpeace.org.

Join the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli apartheid

It worked in South Africa, it can work in Palestine. Even better, the movement is in
response to a specific call by representatives of all sectors of Palestinian civil
society. The call and campaign: www.bds-palestine.net

A note about BDS: Many of the campaigns linked to below have not yet been “successful” or
have “failed” to pass. However, they are both laying groundwork for other campaigns and
are normalizing the idea of
campaigns against Israeli apartheid. As my Israeli friend says, “Keep starting campaigns.
Whether you win or not, you make us Israelis feel uncomfortable, and that’s great!”

Boycott:
The US Campaign to end Israeli Occupation is developing a boycott campaign against
Motorola for its contracts with the Israeli army and its development of security systems
for illegal Israeli settlements
in the West Bank. If you’re getting a new phone, don’t buy Motorola, and keep your eye out
for the launching of the campaign.

Co-ops/grocery stores – Customers of Rainbow Grocery in Berkeley, the People’s Food Co-op
in Ann Arbor, etc. have worked to deshelve Israeli products. Do it at your local grocery!

Divestment:
Divestment resources:
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=28

Colleges/Universities – In many ways, campuses were the staging ground for the South
Africa anti-apartheid campaign, and there’s no reason that can’t be the case again. The
University of Michigan-
Dearborn and other schools have recently passed resolutions, and there are new campaigns
at Temple, Howard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and others. Google “Students for Justice in
Palestine” and find lots of
campaigns at lots of universities!

Christian denominations around the world have begun to challenge Christian Zionism and
have done extensive research to develop divestment campaigns against companies benefiting
from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Presbyterians, Methodists, and others have taken
the lead and have some great resources. Check out www.neumc.org/divest

Municipalities – Many cities and towns are invested in Israel bonds and/or companies
invested in occupation. Look into it, and ask your city council to take a stand! The
Somerville Divestment Project
almost had a resolution passed, and has gotten 2 questions about Palestine on the ballot.
Now they’re doing public education campaigns in their community:
www.divestmentproject.org

Learn about the 1948 Nakba and act in solidarity with Palestinians displaced for 60
years!

* Invite a Nakba survivor or a younger Palestinian refugee to your community/congregation
to speak about her/his experiences. E-mail Hannah for suggestions.

* Start a study group using Ilan Pappe’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine or Sandy
Tolan’s The Lemon Tree

* Show the film Frontiers of Dreams and Fears in your community, and invite Manar (one of
the girls featured in the film, now in the US) to speak (Hannah can put you in touch).

* Invite the Ibdaa’ dabke (traditional folk dance) troupe to perform in your community
during their US tour in Fall 2008. http://www.dheisheh-ibdaa.net/home.htm

* Bring the Re-Plugged exhibit to your community to share photos and stories from children
living in Palestinian refugee camps.
www.birthrightunplugged.org/text/BRUPexhibitrequirements.pdf

* For Nakba Day (May 15), do a public mapping exercise designed by the Israeli
organization Zochrot in commemoration of destroyed Palestinian villages:
www.zochrot.org/index.php?id=522

Hannah's email:  hannahreports@lists.riseup.net

Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://justicewheels.org
http://qumsiyeh.org
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