[WCUSP] Fwd: End the Occupation End Notes are Back!

[Odile Hugonot Haber]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
<uscampaign at mail.democracyinaction.org>
Date: Oct 13, 2006 5:04 PM
Subject: End the Occupation End Notes are Back!
To: odilehh at gmail.com






Occupation End Notes, October 12, 2006

Volume 4 number 1

In this issue...

1. US Campaign Update:

2. Legislative Update:

3. Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Update: 4.  Membership Update:
New Member Groups

5. Resources & Education:

________________________________




1. US CAMPAIGN UPDATE

The 5th Annual National Organizer's Conference Report is up on the
website! Thank you to all those who made this one of our most
successful conferences yet! Click here to read the 2006 Conference
Report. (http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/2006conferencereport.pdf)

The Washington Post recently profiled former US Campaign Steering
Committee Member Damu Smith, who died earlier this year of cancer, in
its series "Being a Black Man".  Click here to read the article and
view a multi-media presentation on Damu's final days.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501850.html)



2. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Earlier this year, the US Campaign mobilized more than 340 US-based
organizations to oppose the so-called Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act
of 2006, which would impose harsh economic and diplomatic sanctions
against Palestinians for exercising their right to vote.  The House
and Senate passed different versions of the bill but they have not yet
been reconciled and signed into law.

A recent article in the Jerusalem Post suggests that this legislation
might be stalled permanently.  Click here to read the article:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1159193349269

The US Campaign will keep you apprised of any developments on this
legislation when Congress reconvenes after the elections.



3. BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS UPDATE

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign against Israeli Apartheid
Moves Forward as 600 People Attend Landmark Conference in Toronto

October 9, 2006

(Toronto, October 9, 2006) -- Over 600 people attended the landmark
conference, Boycotting Israeli Apartheid: The Struggle Continues, held
from 6-8 October in Toronto, Canada. The conference represents a
watershed moment in the Palestinian solidarity movement, with leading
anti-apartheid activists from Palestine, South Africa, Canada and
England addressing the way forward in the global campaign of boycott,
divestment and sanctions.

Jamal Juma', coordinator of the Stop the Wall Campaign in Palestine,
told the opening night that the burgeoning boycott, divestment and
sanctions (BDS) movement represents a powerful and practical act of
solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. He emphasized that this
movement would succeed as it had in South Africa, "We promise you we
will not give up. We will stand firm on our land; Israeli apartheid
will fall."

Salim Vally, chair of the Palestine Solidarity Committee in South
Africa, gave a powerful analysis of Israeli apartheid and its
resemblance to the South African situation. He stressed that the
solidarity movement to isolate the South African apartheid regime was
built by grassroots and popular forces organized throughout the world.
That same challenge faces the Palestinian boycott, divestment and
sanctions movement today.

Betty Hunter, General Secretary of the UK Palestine Solidarity
Campaign, and Jonathan Rosenhead, Emeritus Professor at the London
School of Economics and member of the British Committee for
Universities in Palestine, spoke to the conference on the lessons of
Palestine solidarity work in England.

Discussions focused on the boycott campaign launched by British
academics against Israeli apartheid as well as the growing support
amongst British trade unionists for a BDS campaign.



The conference was organized by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid

(CAIA), a broad movement formed in response to the call by 171
Palestinian civil-society organizations in July 2005 for the
international community to implement a comprehensive boycott,
divestment and sanctions (BDS) strategy against apartheid Israel as
the focal point of solidarity efforts with the Palestinian people.

The conference developed a detailed program to move the BDS campaign
forward in different sectors. Over 75 people attended a lively session
on labor and the campaign against Israeli apartheid, in which veteran
anti-apartheid activists from the South African struggle presented
lessons on how to build support for the campaign among workers and in
trade unions. A Canada-wide student network was launched to deepen the
BDS movement on campuses across the country. Individuals from
different areas throughout Toronto formed neighborhood committees to
carry the campaign forward at a local level. Workshops were also held
on media, research, art and cultural boycott, and faith-based
communities.

Robert Lovelace, Co-Chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, closed
the conference with a powerful comparison of the experience of
colonialism in Canada and Palestine. He expressed his solidarity with
the Palestinian movement for self-determination, and pledged to
continue to strengthen the links between indigenous activists in
Canada and the Palestine solidarity movement.

To become involved in the campaign against Israeli apartheid, contact
CAIA at endapartheid at riseup.net or through www.caiaweb.org.

MEDIA CONTACT: (647) 831-5516 or media at caiaweb.org



Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid - MEDIA
(647) 831-5516
media at caiaweb.org
www.caiaweb.org



4.     MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

*Update from Nadia Hijab, outgoing Co-Chair of US Campaign to End the
Israeli Occupation:

Dear friends,

 Thank you for all the work you do for peace and justice in Palestine.
 I've been privileged to work closely with many of you during the past
few years.

 I'm now a senior fellow at the Washington DC office of the Institute
for Palestine Studies, and I'm writing to introduce a new service by
the Institute that is available to you free of charge.

 We are now publishing bi-monthly Policy Notes that provide concise
analysis of a topical issue relating to the Arab Israeli conflict. The
Policy Notes are aimed at the media, policymakers, think tanks and the
academic community, with a special focus on the US role in the
conflict. The link to the Policy Notes page on our website is
 http://palestine-studies.org/final/en/bn/

 You can easily subscribe to our listserv on that page and receive
Policy Notes on a regular basis. Spread the word and encourage others
to subscribe as well! The Notes are well-documented and objective, and
can serve as a useful advocacy tool.

 You'll also find information about the Institute's books and journals
on http://palestine-studies.org. The flagship Journal of Palestine
Studies accounts for nearly 20% of all articles downloaded on the
Middle East, according to JSTOR (the database of scholarly journals in
the US).

 With best wishes, Nadia

 Nadia Hijab
 Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Washington Office
 Institute for Palestine Studies
 3501 M Street N.W.
 Washington, D.C. 20007
 www.palestine-studies.org



*The US Campaign is pleased to welcome these groups to our coalition:

Jewish Witnesses for Peace & Friends

Huron Valley Greens

Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice



5.     RESOURCES & EDUCATION

*

In conjunction with the release of "My Name is Rachel Corrie," the
Center for Constitutional Rights invites you to:



Rachel's Legacy



An evening of art and discussion on how activists today are working to
support the people of Palestine



Monday, October 16, 2006



7:00pm



Judson Memorial Church



243 Thompson Street entrance



At the corner of Thompson Street and Washington Square South



Free and Open to the Public



Doors open at 6:00pm; program begins at 7:00pm



Wheelchair accessible



Featuring:



Craig and Cindy Corrie, Rachel Corrie's parents on their daughter's
life, their trips to Palestine, and their fight for justice

Maria LaHood, attorney on Corrie v. Caterpillar, Center for
Constitutional Rights on the case against Caterpillar and the status
of the lawsuit

Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, International Solidarity Movement on
their work today in Palestine and Lebanon

Bread and Puppet installation from Daughter Courage

Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, was killed by a Caterpillar
D9 bulldozer in 2003 as she stood in front of a Palestinian family's
home, protecting it from being demolished while the family was inside.



* Help distribute Palestine advocacy tool from the University of Oxford


The US Campaign is excited to inform you about a new resource on
Palestinian Displacement made available by the Forced Migration
Review.

The September 2006 issue of Forced Migration Review, the in-house
magazine of the University of Oxford's Refugee Studies Centre,
includes a major feature on Palestinian displacement. Twenty-eight
articles by UN, Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights
organizations, relief and development agencies, scholars and activist
groups examine the root causes of the displacement of Palestinians,
the consequences of the failure to apply international humanitarian
law in Occupied Palestine and Palestinian entitlement to protection
and compensation. Full texts of all articles are online. Hard copies
will be available in English, Arabic, French, Spanish and Hebrew. The
magazine is free of charge.

Articles are concise and non-academic.

The Forced Migration Review is grateful to the donors whose support
enables us to substantially increase our normal print runs – A M
Qattan Foundation, DanChurchAid, Interpal, Jews for Justice for
Palestinians, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Save the Children
UK, the Sir Joseph Hotung Programme on Law, Human Rights and Peace
Building in the Middle East, the Sultan of Oman, the UN Relief and
Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the Welfare
Association.

We believe it is a useful advocacy tool drawing wider attention to the
issue at the heart of the crisis in the Middle East. The Forced
Migration Review has resources to distribute several thousand hard
copies in the United States. We want to make sure they reach those who
are ill-informed, not those already committed to peace and justice in
the Middle East. We need to identify people to whom we could post hard
copies to pass on to local opinion-makers, journalists, politicians
etc.

If you would like a copy for yourself or copies for distribution,
email fmr at qeh.ox.ac.uk  Please remember to include your postal address
and indicate how many copies you could distribute.

FMR is also online in Arabic, Spanish, and French.

FMR is the world's most widely read magazine on refugee and IDP issues.

________________________________



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 at endtheoccupation.org.



The US Campaign aims to change U.S. policies that sustain Israel's
39-year occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem, and that deny equal rights for all.



US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation PO Box 21539 Washington, DC
20009 202-332-0994 http://www.endtheoccupation.org

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