| Occupation End Notes October 16, 2008 Volume 6 Number 15 Dear Stephen,
Please see below for a new edition of Occupation End Notes!
1. US Campaign Update: National Membership & Outreach Coordinator in San Francisco; Virtual Garage Sale: Everything MUST Go; October Book of the Month Club 2. Boycott & Divestment Update: Don't Buy Apartheid? Don't Buy Motorola Pledge 3. Standing Against Apartheid Update: Anti-Apartheid Speaking Tour Cities for November 9th - 23rd Organizing Tour 4. Challenging U.S. Policy Update: We've Been to the DNC & RNC; Now It's Your Turn to Bird-Dog the Candidates 5. Expressions of Nakba Update: Expressions of Nakba Exhibit Coming to a City Near You 6. Membership Update: New Member Groups; Rachel Corrie Foundation Peace Works Conference; Protest the 2008 AIPAC National Summit in Chicago; Global Exchange Reality Tour; 7th International Sabeel Conference 7. Resources & Events: Son of Nun Hits the Road; Slingshot Hip-Hop in Washington, D.C.; BPFNA Friendship Tour to the Holy Land 8. Opportunities to Visit Israel and Palestine: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions; Interfaith Peace-Builders; Resource Center for Nonviolence; Global Exchange; Christian Peacemaker Teams; Middle East Fellowship; The Health and Human Rights Project (formerly Jewish American Medical Project)
| 1. US CAMPAIGN UPDATE: * National Membership & Outreach Coordinator in San Francisco; October 27-29 The US Campaign's National Membership & Outreach Coordinator, Omar Masri, will be in San Francisco, CA from October 27-29 and would like to meet up with member organizations and supporters in the area to discuss our plans for 2009.
If you would like to set up a meeting with Omar, please contact him by email: office@endtheoccupation.org or call him at 202-332-0994 |
*Fall Blow Out Sale: Virtual Garage Sale! Everything MUST Go We are selling all our merchandise, including books, pins, posters, DVD's, olive oil, and embroidered items. Support the US Campaign by purchasing pins, embroidery, olive oil, books, and posters (Please note: For all international shipping, please contact the US Campaign office directly at 202-332-0994 or office@endtheoccupation.org before you make your purchase). Call us for bulk pricing on these items! Click here to find out what's up for grabs!
| * October Book of the Month Club! The End of Spring In The End of Spring, Sahar Khalifeh chronicles the struggle of the Palestinian people with a humane  depiction of Palestinian resistance fighters during the 2002 siege of Yasir Arafat's official headquarters. Khalifeh's tender and moving portrayal of her protagonists delves into the inner consciences of the men and women and children who were involved in the actual resistance-or were simply caught in the middle. These characters come alive through Khalifeh's use of Palestinian colloquial diction, as does the setting, through her measured attention to the details of the natural surroundings in which the characters live, fight, and die. Click here to purchase this book! Contact office [at] endtheoccupation [dot] org to suggest the next book of the month. |
2. BOYCOTT & DIVESTMENT UPDATE: * Don't Buy Apartheid? Don't Buy Motorola! After a year of research and corporate engagement with Motorola they still support Israeli  apartheid. Now we're putting our money where our mouth is and boycotting Motorola. Motorola claims to be a good corporate citizen, but they can't explain why they support apartheid in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Click on the image to the left to sign our pledge not to buy Moto products until they respect international law and Palestinian human rights. Read More »
4. CHALLENGING U.S. POLICY: * We've Been to the DNC & RNC; Now It's Your Turn to Bird-Dog the Candidates  We've been to Denver for the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and St. Paul for the Republican National Convention (RNC) to protest, distribute information, get in the media, and talk to delegates and candidates about our issues.
Now it's your turn. Between now and Election Day, November 4, candidates for public office will attend thousands of town hall meetings, debates, and community events, and shake hands with and kiss the babies of millions of voters. Click here to learn more about bird-dogging the candidates and sign up for a bird-dogging packet.
| 5. EXPRESSIONS OF NAKBA UPDATE: * Expressions of Nakba Exhibit Coming to a City Near You! 
The US Campaign will be offering member groups the opportunity to bring the exhibit directly to your city. If you wish to have the exhibit come to your town or city, please contact our National Organizer, Katherine Fuchs: organize@endtheoccupation.org for more details. If you have not done so already, check out the winning pieces available on the Expressions of Nakba online gallery. Please visit: http://expressionsofnakba.org/gallery/entrance |
6. MEMBERSHIP UPDATE: In an effort to better help our coalition members network and for us to better gauge the coalition's regional diversity, we have put together a map with all 257 coalition members represented by state: 
If you don't see your state represented within the US Campaign: Join us!
Please help the US Campaign welcome the following groups to our growing coalition! - American Friends Service Committee - Pacific Mountain Region
AFSC San Francisco coordinates various programs and activities related to homeless organizing, peace building, and public education. For more than thirty years, AFSC has brought Arabs and Israelis, Jews, Christians and Muslims together in common cause to work for justice and peace in the Middle East. In this region, the Middle East Peace Program is a clearinghouse for Middle East work in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, organizing speaking tours, public events, and education campaigns and working for change in policy and practice to ensure Israeli security and Palestinian self-determination and to end the US war against Iraq. Click here to find out more about them! - American Jews For A Just Peace
American Jews for a Just Peace (AJJP) is an alliance of progressive and predominantly Jewish activists in the United States working to ensure equal rights, safety, and dignity for all the people of historic Palestine. AJJP operates as an alliance of autonomous chapters and individual members across the United States. AJJP is a grassroots, membership-driven network with the goal of coordinating our collective work under a shared name and agreed statement of Common Ground principles. Click here to find out more about them! - Corvallis-Albany Friends of Middle East Peace
Contact Valori George to find out more about them! Valori [at] peak [dot] org
| * September 12th - October 20th, 2008: Save Our Kindergarten Speaking Tour 
At the US Campaign's 7th Annual National Organizers' Conference, our membership voted to cosponsor the Rebuilding Alliance's speaking tour, featuring the mayor of Al Aqabah village, focusing on Israel's program of illegal demolition in the occupied territories. The Kindergarten in the village of Al Aqabah is scheduled to be demolished along with the entire village including the mosque, the medical center, and almost all the homes. The Rebuilding Alliance Team will tell their story, ask your help to save the Kindergarten, and make the village thrive! From Washington DC, the team travels to New York City, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle for their speaking tour, Rebuilding Hope: a Speaking Tour to Save a Kindergarten and Help a Palestinian Village Thrive. Click here to find more about this exciting speaking tour with a list of the scheduled stops and more.
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* October 17th - 19th, 2008: Rachel Corrie Foundation Peace Works Conference 
"Dual Occupations: Sovereignty and Freedom from Iraq to Palestine"
A Week-end Conference, October 17-19th at
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington. Purchase Tickets | Read About the Exciting Speakers | Download Registration Form This multi-generational conference will connect communities working to end occupation and war in the Middle East and assist those who work in this movement in sharing skills and fresh ideas to become more effective in organizing. Participants will educate each other and build skills to challenge injustice through political, media, and gender analysis, with new knowledge of our roles in the dynamics of the Middle East and US foreign policy. Through bridging communities and acknowledging differences, we intend to find new strategies to build a broader and more effective movement
| * October 26th - 27th, 2008: Protest the 2008 AIPAC National Summit in Chicago 
The AIPAC National Summit October 26-27 in Chicago
Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers
301 E. N. Water Street
(Between N. Columbus Drive & N. Park Drive ) Chicagoans Against Apartheid in Palestine (CAAP) is issuing a public call to action against the AIPAC National Summit which will take place in Chicago on October 26-27. The AIPAC National Summit is exclusively for those who contribute a minimum of $3,600 annually to AIPAC. We are calling for protest actions that will include a diversity of tactics. Organizations willing to endorse and participate in the planning should contact us. For more information or to endorse contact Chicagoans Against Apartheid in Palestine, email caap_mail@yahoo.com |
* November 6th - 16th, 2008: Global Exchange - Fair Olive Harvest Tour Global Exchange partners with the Palestine Fair Trade Association (PFTA) for a tour of Palestine/Israel combining the realities of occupation with the positive effects of fair trade on the economic lives of the Palestinians. The tour includes historic Nablus and Jenin, Roman ruins in olive country, 5 nights with Palestinian farm families while helping bring in the olive harvest, and participation in the Jenin Harvest Festival. Program days in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah and the Negev include meetings with Palestinian and Israeli peace groups focusing on land and water rights, prisoner rights, home demolitions and other human rights issues. Explore beautiful Palestine, and learn how fair trade promotes self-sufficiency and solidarity. Contact Sanaz with any questions about this trip - sanaz@globalexchange.org - or call toll-free 1-800-497-1994 ext. 251. On the Web: http://www.globalexchange.org/tours/957.html
| * November 12th - 19th, 2008: Beyond Remembrance: Facing the Challenges of the Future, Sixty Years After The Nakba 
7th International Sabeel Conference
November 12-19, 2008 The conference will focus on the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, and the complex issues of memory, narrative, and identity raised by the events of 1948. Lectures, workshops, discussions, and cultural events focusing on the last 60 years and the future for Christians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Mark your calendars, and spread the word! For more information, email: conf2008@sabeel.org or call: (972) 2-532-7136 (This is the phone number for Sabeel in Jerusalem. ) |
| 8. RESOURCES AND EVENTS: * October 18th - November 20th, 2008: Son of Nun's Art of Struggle Tour  We're excited to announce that US Campaign has recently teamed up with political hip-hop artist and activist Son of Nun, whose Art of Struggle Tour overlaps with our Separate Is Never Equal speaking tour. We'll be plugging each other during our respective events, and this means that our member groups are welcome and encouraged to do outreach at Son of Nun's upcoming shows.
Known best for his song "Free Palestine," Son stands unapologetically for equal rights and equal access for people everywhere. The Art of Struggle Tour will visit 10 cities from Oct. 18-Nov. 20, helping to mobilize movements fighting for change - before and after the election. Son of Nun's music reflects voices from the struggles he's been a part of, and he's giving the US Campaign the opportunity to add our voices to the mix. If you're interested, contact Son at sonemcee@yahoo.com
Here's the schedule:
Oct. 18 - NYC
Oct. 25 - Baltimore, MD
Oct. 26 - Chapel Hill/Carrboro, NC
Oct. 27 - Asheville, NC
Oct. 29 - Atlanta, GA
Oct. 30 - Gainesville, FL
Nov 1 - Storrs, CT
Nov 14 - San Francisco, CA
Nov 18 - Chicago, IL
Nov 19 - Detroit, MI
Nov 20 - Columbus, OH
For more details and to sample Son of Nun's music visit www.sonofnun.net.
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* October 26th, 2008: Slingshot Hip-Hop in Washington, D.C.  Come watch the amazing and inspiring film and official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, Slingshot Hip Hop, Sunday, October 26th at the E Street Cinema. The film is put of by Arabian Sights and will screen at 5:00pm, to be followed by Q&A with the director, Jackie Reem Salloum and hip hop artists from the film, DAM and Abeer. DAM and Abeer then will be part of a special performance at the Hard Rock Cafe at 7:45.
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Sunday, October 26, 2008
| | Time: | 5:00pm - 10:00pm | | Location: | Hard Rock Cafe & Landmark's E Street Cinema | | Street: | 999 E Street, N.W. | | City/Town: | Washington, DC | | | View Map |
Landmark's E Street Cinema is located at 555 11th Street, NW, Washington, DC. Take Metro Red, Orange or Blue line to Metro Center. Theatre entrance on E Street between 10th and 11th Street.
| * February 15th - March 2nd, 2009: BPFNA Friendship Tour to the Holy Land  Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America is sponsoring a Friendship Tour to the Holy Land from February 15 to March 2, 2009. Plans are to visit Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, with transit through Syria. Included will be visits to refugee camps, historical and religious sites, as well as discussions with representatives of many groups active in the region.
To learn more, visit www.bpfna.org or contact the tour leader, Barbara Taft, at beejayssite@yahoo.com. |
9. OPPORTUNITIES TO VISIT ISRAEL AND PALESTINE:
| * Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Delegations to Israel/Palestine 
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* Interfaith Peace-Builders Delegations to Israel/Palestine 
| * Fall 2007 Schedule: December 2nd - 12th: Global Exchange's Delegations to Palestine & Israel
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* NEW Christian Peacemaker Teams Delegations to PALESTINE/ISRAEL
| * NEW Middle East Fellowship Delegations to Israel/Palestine 
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* The Health and Human Rights Project (formerly Jewish American Medical Project) Delegation to Israel/Palestine
Occupation End Notes is the US Campaign bi-monthly newsletter, designed as a tool for activists. For this newsletter to be successful, we need your participation. Use us to promote events, give feedback on recent actions, recommend resources, or just learn from other activists in the movement. If you or your organization are planning an event aimed at ending the occupation, or you have information for the Newsletter, please contact the US Campaign at office@endtheoccupation.org.
The US Campaign aims to change U.S. policies that sustain Israel's 41-year occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and that deny equal rights for all.
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