Please join our brothers and sisters at Jewish Voice for Peace for this important webinar.
The JVP Health Advisory Council invites you to join Devin G. Atallah, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development for a webinar moderated by Alice Rothchild, MD.
Devin G. Atallah, PhD, will discuss his research, community organizing, and capacity-building work with Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank. He has examined intergenerational trauma across several generations of refugee families and supported health promotion efforts within the camp community.
In particular, he will share about his work with the Lajee Center in the Aida refugee camp, which is a Community Based Organization (CBO) already working on the issue of addressing trauma in children and youth, promoting intergenerational resilience and positive adolescent development for decades in the camp.
Israeli soldiers stand next to cars set on fire by Jewish settlers in the Palestinian city of O’urif in Occupied Palestine, Jul 13, 2018. The graffiti on the wall behind the soldiers reads, “Watch out!” (photo: Majdi Mohammed | AP)
The rise in recent attacks involving cooperation between settlers and IDF soldiers seems to be a prelude to Israel’s efforts to formally annex the entire West Bank.
Settler violence — especially when directly supported by the Israeli military — erects “invisible walls” that pave the way for the annexation of Palestinian land. Indeed, such attacks often force Palestinians to abandon or neglect properties . . . . This abandoned land is then taken over by Israel, whence it then becomes “state land” that is then often given to the very settlements responsible for the initial attacks.
Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has provided evidence showing Israeli soldiers joining settlers in a series of attacks targeting the Palestinian village of ‘Urif, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. The village, home to around 3,600 Palestinians, has been a target of extremist settlers for years given its close proximity to the illegal settlement of Yitzhar, notorious even among the Israeli security establishment for its repeated attacks on Palestinians and arson of nearby Palestinian property. Such attacks have historically taken place on farmland bordering the village, as well as near the village’s water tower.
Yet, while the Israeli government has long dismissed Yitzhar attacks on Palestinians as the work of a handful of settler youth “activists,” B’Tselem has now revealed that many of these attacks are conducted along with the active participation of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, resulting in IDF-settler “joint assaults” on Palestinian civilians that rob Palestinians of “not only their land but also their livelihood.”
B’Tselem detailed several different attacks that have taken place in recent months, in which settlers have exacted damage on Palestinian property, many with direct assistance from IDF soldiers. The first two that involved IDF-settler cooperation took place in March and early June.
The purpose of the project is to enliven and enrich the South Sound community with Middle Eastern films and allied arts, and to raise funds for the upcoming Shuruq IV: Olympia Arab Festival taking place at The Olympia Center on October 6, 2018.
The film festival will feature the following:
2:00 pm: The Prophet, an animated children’s film based on the writings of Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist Khalil Gibran. Exiled artist and poet Mustafa embarks on a journey home with his housekeeper and her daughter; together the trio must evade the authorities who fear that the truth in Mustafa’s words will incite rebellion.
5:00 pm: Persepolis, an adult animated biographical comedy-drama film, based on Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, about a precocious and outspoken Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution.
7:00 pm: Meet & Greet in the theater mezzanine with guests Paula and Jordan Somers and Aisha Jumaan. Paula and Jordan are the mother and brother of Luke Somers whose photography from Yemen is showcased in the theater this month. Luke was killed in Yemen in December 2014.
8:00 pm: Naila and the Uprising, a documentary, chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh whose story weaves through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history — the First Intifada in the late 1980s.
Photography exhibit, “A Day in the Life of Yemen,” showcasing the work of Luke Somers, a British-born American freelance photographic journalist and resident of Yemen, who was held hostage and killed by al-Qaeda in 2014.
Children’s activities, film Q&A sessions, and opportunities to get involved with RCF.
“Peace Works, a cornerstone project for RCF, is always an opportunity for us to creatively engage with community members on issues of injustice and struggle, and this year is no different. We are all too aware of the polarization and oppression occurring in communities around the country, including our own, and we hope that through film and allied arts, we can amplify the voices that are all too often silenced,” stated Whitney Faulkner, RCF Executive Director.
Kenneth L. Marcus, the Education Department official who reopened the case against Rutgers, is a longtime opponent of Palestinian rights causes. (photo: Susan Walsh / AP)
When Mr. Marcus was nominated, human rights organizations protested his confirmation, concerned that he would use his position to further his pro-Israel cause.
Mr. Marcus has sought to use the complaint process to chill a particular political point of view, rather than address unlawful discrimination. — Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights statement
The new head of civil rights at the Education Department has reopened a seven-year-old case brought by a Zionist group against Rutgers University, saying the Obama administration, in closing the case, ignored evidence that suggested the school allowed a hostile environment for Jewish students.
The move by Kenneth L. Marcus, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights and a longtime opponent of Palestinian rights causes, signaled a significant policy shift on civil rights enforcement — and injected federal authority in the contentious fights over Israel that have divided campuses across the country. It also put the weight of the federal government behind a definition of anti-Semitism that targets opponents of Zionism, and it explicitly defines Judaism as not only a religion but also an ethnic origin.
And it comes after the Trump administration moved the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, moved to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority and announced the closing of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington.
Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and blockade of the Gaza strip have triggered a backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world — except the United States. The Occupation of the American Mind takes a look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the US.
Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the film explores how the Israeli government, the US government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different motives, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in Israel’s favor.
The Occupation of the American Mind analyzes Israel’s decades-long battle for the hearts, minds, and tax dollars of the American people — a battle that has intensified over the past few years in the face of international condemnation of Israel’s current right-wing policies.
Stephen Miller’s rabbi’s denunciation follows close on the heels of a similar repudiation by his uncle, David Glosser. (photograph: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters)
Neil Comess-Daniels denounces Miller as a purveyor of “violence, malice and brutality” for zero-tolerance immigration policies.
Honestly, Mr. Miller, you’ve set back the Jewish contribution to making the world spiritually whole through your arbitrary division of these desperate people. The actions that you now encourage President Trump to take make it obvious to me that you didn’t get my, or our, Jewish message . . . You should be ashamed of yourself. — Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels
The childhood rabbi to Stephen Miller, special adviser to Donald Trump and a key architect of his “zero-tolerance” immigration policies, criticized his former charge on Monday as a purveyor of “negativity, violence, malice and brutality” who had learned nothing from his Jewish spiritual education.
Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels of Beth Shir Shalom, a progressive reform synagogue in the beachside city of Santa Monica where Miller grew up, devoted his sermon marking the Jewish New Year to a striking denunciation of Miller and the now-abandoned policy he championed of separating immigrant families at the border.
National security adviser John Bolton plans to announce the PLO office’s closure in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative group, on Monday, Sep 10. (photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Getty Images)
National security adviser John Bolton also plans to threaten sanctions against International Criminal Court.
All of this is making sure the U.S. will never ever play the role of the peacemaker. — Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian representative to Washington
The Trump administration is expected to announce Monday that it will close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington, administration officials said Sunday night, widening a U.S. campaign of pressure amid stalled Middle East peace efforts.
“The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel,” national security adviser John Bolton planned to say in a speech he is scheduled to deliver Monday, according a draft of his prepared remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
“The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel,” he is planning to add.
Senior Palestinian officials strongly condemned the Trump administration decision and described it as a “reckless escalation.”
This decision could cause the collapse of these two respected hospitals [Augusta Victoria Hospital and St. John Eye Hospital] serving the Palestinian community. — Dave Harden, former head of USAID in the West Bank and Gaza
The director of an East Jerusalem hospital said Sunday that a US decision to cut funding to hospitals serving the Palestinians will have a “severe effect.”
Bassem Abu Libdeh, of the Makassed hospital, said that the US currently covers 40 percent of costs in six East Jerusalem hospitals that provide care for Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Trump administration announced on Saturday it was cutting $25 million funding from the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, saying it would redirect the money toward “high-priority projects elsewhere.”
Nassim Ammour, 11, scores a goal as he plays with friends next to the Israeli barrier in the Shuafat refugee camp in east Jerusalem, May 4, 2018. (photo: Ammar Awad / Reuters)
The organization now serves more than five million Palestinian refugees.
No matter how often attempts are made to minimize or delegitimize the individual and collective experiences of Palestine refugees, the undeniable fact remains that they have rights under international law and represent a community of 5.4 million men, women and children who cannot simply be wished away. — UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat threatened to expel UNRWA from Jerusalem, in the first public statement by an Israeli official that called on the government to use its power to shut down the agency that services Palestinian refugees.
“UNRWA is a foreign and unnecessary organization that has failed miserably,” Barkat said in a speech he delivered Monday morning in Jerusalem at a conference sponsored by Channel 2. “I intend to expel it from Jerusalem.”
Barkat explained that he had already instructed his municipal staff to come up with a plan to replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which he plans to present to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He spoke just three days after the US State Department announced that it intends to permanently halt its annual contributions to UNRWA, which last year amounted to $360 million out of the organization’s one billion dollar budget. Netanyahu publicly stated his support for that decision. Continue reading “Jerusalem mayor: I want to expel UNRWA”
Trump stresses “unshakable” bond between US and Israel during Jerusalem speech, May 23, 2017. (photo: ABC News)
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, has tended to the needs of Palestinian refugees for nearly seven decades — if President Trump has his way, it will soon be out of business.
Past US administrations were also slanted toward the Israelis, but what’s different today is that the usual mitigating factors in decision-making, such as American national security interests and the desire to at least appear evenhanded, no longer seem to be present. Instead we have domestic politics and ideology in their purest form dictating US policy on this issue. — Khaled Elgindy, fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy
On Friday, the Trump administration said it would cease funding the UN agency, which was launched in 1949 to provide for more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in what is now Israel. Relying on volunteer donors — of which Washington has been the largest — UNRWA has had its mandate renewed repeatedly by the UN General Assembly as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has dragged on. Over the decades, the population of Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories and now-semi-permanent camps in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon has ballooned to around 5 million, encompassing the descendants of the original exiles.
The White House, along with Israel’s right wing, argues that the rolls of recognized refugees should be limited to those alive in 1949 — a move at odds with other U.N. operations that also confer refugee status upon the descendants of the displaced. At a conference in Washington last week, Nikki Haley, Trump’s envoy to the United Nations, bemoaned the “endless number of refugees that continue to get assistance” and how “the Palestinians continue to bash America.” . . .
“There is only one thing that perpetuates the situation of refugees, including Palestinian refugees, and that is the extraordinary failure of the international community to bring about a just and fair and inclusive solution to the conflict,” Pierre Krähenbühl, UNRWA’s commissioner general, said to The Washington Post’s Ruth Eglash.
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