Women Challenge US Policy
WILPF's Middle East Action Committee will examine the role of U.S. policy in the dynamics of current conflicts. It will educate communities to policy dimensions seldom discussed regarding Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. What economic interests underlie the power struggles in the region? What U.S. policy changes will end violence and promote justice? The Action Committee will work to bridge gaps, engage diverse groups in developing a women's vision for U.S. foreign policy, and join with women in the region to claim U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325's promise that women's active participation can bring peaceful, democratic resolution to the conflicts.
New WILPF DVD Series Exposes Palestinian Situation:
Do you want to learn more about how the U.S. supports Israel? A new, original DVD series is available from the Western Asia Study and Action Group (part of WILPF's Cape Cod Branch.) Hear first-hand what life in occupied Palestine is really like, the real role of the U.S., learn about the plight of children in this region, listen to the words of Rachel Corrie and Howard Zinn, and much, much more. Begun as part of WILPF's "Women Challenge U.S. Policy: Building Peace on Justice in the Middle East" campaign, this study group researched the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Members wanted to take what they'd learned to the wider community, and produced this excellent seven-DVD collection. Funding was provided by WILPF and the Social Justice Ministry of First Parish Brewster.
You can purchase each DVD separately for $10 or the entire collection for only $50. Checks should be made out to: "West Asia" and mailed to: Western Asia Study and Action Group, P.O. Box 668, N. Eastham MA 02651-0668.
Download series brochure in .pdf format here.
Download WILPF's Statement on Human Rights Responsibilities in Gaza here.
Feminist Action Guide To Challenging U.S. PolicyThe WCUSP Feminist Action Guide to Challenging US Policy in the Middle East is a 165 page tool for forming a study group or embarking on independent study as an individual, and is complete with original source material, articles, maps and steps to take action. The Feminist Action Guide will serve as a launchpad for future action to challenge U.S. Policy in the Middle East.
New WILPF DVD Series Exposes Palestinian Situation
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Do you want to learn more about how the U.S. supports Israel? A new, original DVD series is available from the Western Asia Study and Action Group (part of WILPF's Cape Cod Branch.) Hear first-hand what life in occupied Palestine is really like, the real role of the U.S., learn about the plight of children in this region, listen to the words of Rachel Corrie and Howard Zinn, and much, much more. Begun as part of WILPF's "Women Challenge U.S. Policy: Building Peace on Justice in the Middle East" campaign, this study group researched the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Members wanted to take what they'd learned to the wider community, and produced this excellent seven-DVD collection. Funding was provided by WILPF and the Social Justice Ministry of First Parish Brewster.
WILPF Supports Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions for Israel
The situation in the West Bank and Gaza has become so dire in the last two years that the majority of Israeli peace groups now support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). This includes the Israeli section of WILPF. BDS is a global campaign aimed at bringing an end to Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestinian lands. Contrary to what many defenders of Israel would have you believe, the campaign is not intended to destroy Israel. Its aim is to end the Occupation.
In order to accomplish this, various groups have targeted specific companies that further the Occupation. At its recent International Board meeting in India, a WILPF resolution regarding BDS was passed and is now a part of WILPF’s international program, which each section will implement in its own way. [Read the resolution at: http://www.wilpf.int.ch/resolutions/2010.html ]
Boycott Companies Supporting the Occupation of Palestine
Building the Movement for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
How Do Companies Further the Palestinian Occupation?
Corporations further the Occupation either by operating in or supporting the Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law, or by supporting the apparatus of control and oppression which is the hallmark of the Occupation.
That apparatus includes the Separation Wall, the hundreds of checkpoints set up to impair Palestinian travel, the system of Administrative Detention (imprisonment without trial for periods of six months, renewable without review), night raids that frighten children and disrupt normal life, a permit system imposing restrictions upon travel and normal building for Palestinians, the confiscation of homes and lands, and the demolition of houses, among others.
Shut Them Down
By Odile Hugonot Haber
Middle East Issue Committee
Wikipedia tells us that The School of the Americas Watch is an advocacy organization founded by Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois and a small group of supporters in 1990 to protest the training of mainly Latin American military officers, by the U.S. Department of Defense, at the School of the Americas (SOA). SOA Watch conducts a vigil each November at the site of the academy, located on the grounds of Fort Benning, a U.S. Army military base near Columbus, Georgia, in protest over myriad alleged abuses committed by graduates of the academy, including murders, rapes, torture and contraventions of the Geneva Accord. Military officials deny the charges, stating that even if graduates commit war crimes after they return to their home country, the school itself should not be held accountable for their actions.
Responding to mounting protests spearheaded by SOA Watch, in 2000 the U.S Congress renamed the School of the Americas the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), rather than closing the academy.
Walking Down J Street
By Barbara Taft, co-chair
WILPF Middle East Committee
WILPF’s Middle East Committee supports the Goldstone Report and also calls for a credible, independent investigation into Israel’s conduct in “Operation Cast Lead.” The truth must be exposed, and those who have committed war crimes must be punished. Let your political representatives in Washington, D.C. know how you feel.
When Odile Hugonot-Haber and I recently attended the J Street conference in D.C. we found many engaged Americans who wanted to talk about peace. J Street (http://www.jstreet.org/) is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. The organizers of the conference were expecting about 500 people to attend, and were happily surprised to find themselves hosting 1,500 people, all enthusiastic about a group that proclaims itself to be “Pro Israel/Pro Peace” and to speak for what they believe to be the majority of Jews in both the U.S. and Israel: people who believe that making peace is good for Israel, the Palestinians, the region, and the world, and that doing so is a moral imperative.
Children of Gaza: 'Victims of the victims'
Children of Gaza ‘Victims of the victims’ by Regina Birchem
(This article was published in the International Peace Update Volume 74. No. 1. June 2009)
Click here to view and download a pdf version of this article.
The sliver of land called Gaza is part of the Palestinian territories bordered by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. About twice the size of Washington, DC, it has a population of 1.4 million with more than a third living in extreme poverty. About 900,000 are classified as refugees. Children make up about 56% of the population.
US WILPF Signs Letter Opposing Budget Request for Aid to Israel
TO: Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
The undersigned organizations are writing to urge you to oppose the President’s FY2010 budget request for $2.775 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel, an increase of $225 million in military aid compared to FY2009. At this time of acute economic crisis, as well as from a political, legal, security, and moral standpoint, our country should not continue to provide Israel with this blank check.
Israel consistently misuses U.S. weapons purchased through FMF to commit grave human rights abuses against Palestinians and systematic violations of international law in its illegal 42-year military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. Some of those violations are documented every year in the State Department's own human rights reports; far more are documented by the United Nations and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Women in Middle East Suffering
April, 2009
Few studies have measured the consequences on women and children living in regions in constant conflict short of declared war. This is true in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) of the West Bank and Gaza (which remains under virtual occupation, despite Israel’s “withdrawal”). In the OPT, ongoing hostilities over 60 years, punctuated by periodic wars, have taken their toll. The number of female heads of household has been steadily increasing, while poverty has also been on the rise.
US WILPF Letter of Support to Code Pink Delegation to Gaza, March 2009
Click here to view and download this letter as a pdf document
March 1, 2009
To the Code Pink Delegation:
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom would like to extend its heartfelt appreciation and support for the important mission Code Pink has undertaken with its delegation to Gaza in recognition of International Women's Day. We are pleased that WILPF members Regina Birchem and Alice Walker will be part of the group, and know that many more of our members will be with you in spirit over the next several days.
WILPF Joins International Women’s Day Delegation to Gaza
WILPF members Regina Birchem and Alice Walker joined the IWD delegation to Gaza organized by Code Pink. We hope that this delegation will inspire women everywhere to denounce the violence being perpetrated on the Palestinian people and hold Israel accountable for its actions.
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