Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN)

November 1, 2018November 2, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN October 2018 Monthly Update

October 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
Kumi Now!
Christ at the Checkpoint USA
Gaza–A Laboratory to Boost Israel’s Military Industry Profits
Go HP-Free
Read More

Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after massacre by white nationalist anti-Semite Robert Bowers (Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images)

MennoPIN stands in solidarity with the Jewish community in Pittsburgh and around the country at this time of great sorrow and tragedy. The hatred and violence of Antisemitism has no place in our society. May love and grace surround all affected by this unspeakable act of violence. MennoPIN is an inclusive and anti-racist network that steadfastly opposes Islamophobia, Antisemitism, all forms of racism and any other expressions of bigotry directed at any person or group.

Kumi Now
The Sabeel Theological Education Center in East Jerusalem has created a bold new initiative to challenge the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In the face of overwhelming oppression and ineffective support from the international community, Sabeel “feels that giving up as a people on the margins is not an option.” Kumi Now (Rise Up) has just been launched and is inviting individuals, congregations, and local and international organizations to join the Kumi Now project to work as a united force for justice for Palestine.

Kumi Now is based on Mark 5:21-43 about two healing miracles, Jairus’ daughter and the woman with a hemorrhage. To Jairus’ daughter, Jesus says, Talitha Kumi, rise up! Just as the two were liberated from their suffering, so, too, says Sabeel, “We hear Jesus’ command to rise up in our own context…we say now is the time for action. This is why we are launching the Kumi Now initiative—a call to collectively rise up and act for liberation.”

MennoPIN is one of the Kumi Now partners and we encourage you and your congregation to become involved, too! To find out more about Kumi Now and how you can take action against the occupying forces, click here. To read their engaging Mark 5:21-43 Bible study, click here.

Christ at the Checkpoint USA
The first ever Christ at the Checkpoint USA conference saw a variety of speakers and attendants including supporters of MennoPIN.

Christ at the Checkpoint has been a biennial event put on by Bethlehem Bible College, encouraging Evangelical leaders to come to Bethlehem, and meet with Palestinian Christians to see firsthand the effects of their Christian Zionist theology. This year for the first time, the organizers teamed up with Oklahoma City based pastors led by Darrell Cates, to bring the experience to the United States.

Speakers included representatives of Bethlehem Bible College, Jack Sara, Munther Isaac and Grace Zoughbi; well-known Palestinian Christian leaders, Father Elias Chacour, Alex Awad, Sami Awad, Mubarak Awad, and MennoPIN steering committee member Jonathan Kuttab; Jewish leaders in peace and justice work, Rabbi Michael Davis, and Mark Braverman; prominent American and international Christians, Bishop Robert Hayes, Bob Roberts, Gary Burge, Stephen Sizer; Mae Cannon, and the heroic Palestinian Muslim from Gaza, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish.

A unique aspect of Christ at the Checkpoint is to allow those with conflicting views to be heard at the conference. The organizers invited the most prominent voice in the “New Christian Zionism movement,” Gerald McDermott.

The conference’s many viewpoints still resulted in a clear portrail of the dire situation in the West Bank and the Gaza strip, the negative effects that colonial Christian theologies like Christian Zionism have had on the region, and the need for Christians to embody a theology of peace. To hear the sessions, or get more details about the conference, click here.

Gaza–A Laboratory to Boost Israel’s Military Industry Profits
Israeli Army Brigadier General Roei Elkabetz told a 2012 convention on border control in El Paso, TX, that “we have learned a lot from Gaza. It’s a great laboratory.” He was referring to Israel’s arms industry, the largest homeland security industry in the world.

Guy Keren is the CEO of iHLS, one of Israel’s leading homeland security firms. Speaking at a drone conference he helped organize, Keren explained how Gaza has become the ideal testing ground for new products all year round, giving Israel and iHLS a competitive advantage over other countries and their military industry. Keren said that “we are checking our systems live…because we are in a war situation all the time.”

According to the Electronic Intifada, “Gaza is widely perceived as a human Petri dish—to improve killing capacity and cultivate pacification methods.” The Danish military scholar, Leila Stockmarr, put it this way: “It is central to Israel’s cutting-edge military and policing capacities that new pieces of technology are developed and tested in a concrete situation of controlling populations, such as in the Gaza Strip.”

Since the Great Return March began on March 30, 2018, Israel’s military giants have tested the following weapons on nonviolent demonstrators:

Sea of Tears Drones—appropriately named for drones that drop tear gas on crowds
Shocko Drones—drones that unleash “skunk water”
Butterfly Bullets—among the deadliest bullets every used, they explode on impact

It is horrendous that a live, captive population of human beings are being used to test new and lethal military weapons to control populations and generate profits for the Israeli weapons industry. There is no doubt that the “deadly exchanges” of military practices between the United States and Israel have and will continue to benefit both country’s endless-war economies.

Support Palestinian Human Rights and Go HP-Free
Reach out to your pastor, church council and congregation to encourage your church to sign the HP Free Church pledge, committing to not buy HP computers, printers, inks, and other products until HP stops profiting from occupation and human rights violations. For more on the HP-Free Church Campaign go here.

Read More
The Battle for Justice in Palestine, Ali Abunimah, Haymarket Books, 2014
A Palestinian Theology of Liberation, Naim Ateek, Orbis Books, 2017
Why Palestine Matters
No Way to Treat a Child Campaign
The Palestinian Portal Resource
HP-Free Church Campaign

Prayer
The “Great March of Return” passed its 31^st Friday amid increasing violence from the Israeli forces and militants amongst the legitimate protestors. More than 230 people were injured and five killed, including 19-year-old Nassar Abu Tim. Lord of the suffering, we pray for a commitment to human rights by all sides and the protection of all lives. We pray for effective international intervention to ensure justice. We pray for humanitarian aid and rebuilding where destruction has occurred. We pray for peace and for justice in our homes and on our city streets. Wrap all and each of these people in your love. Let them hear: ‘Come to me you who suffer and are burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Sabeel Wave of Prayer

September 26, 2018September 26, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN September 2018 Monthly Update

MennoPIN Update: September 2018

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MENNONITE PALESTINE ISRAEL NETWORK

September 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
Gaza – Activist Protest in Solidarity
Sabeel Confronts Sexual Harassment in Palestine
“Who Thinks Up These Things?” – Report on a Trip to Palestine
Three CPT Palestine Team Members Denied Entry to Israel
Go HP-Free
Read More
Prayer

International Solidarity Protesters Support Gaza Demonstrators (Photo: Activestills.org)

Activist Protest in Solidarity with Gaza
+972 magazine reported that dozens of international activists protested in support of the Great Return March on the Israeli side of the Gaza border. Waving Palestinian flags and carrying posters, the activists, including Jews for Return and Coalition of Women for Peace, also held photos of Palestinians killed by Israeli snipers during the Great Return March.

Demonstrators in Gaza broke out in cheers at the sight of the activist supporters and their Palestinian flags. In a phone call from an activist on the Israeli side, one Gazan marcher said, “I would like to praise everyone who is protesting in solidarity with us. We are protesting for return, and against the siege that we have been living under for the past 12 years.” One of the activists stated that “We are standing here on two sides of the fence, both rejecting it.”

The Great Return March began on March 30, 2018 and is entering its seventh month. To read the entire report, click here.

Sabeel Confronts Sexual Harassment in Palestine
In the current issue of Cornerstone, Sabeel, the Palestinian Liberation Theology Center, is confronting the issue of sexual harassment in Palestine. Sabeel, in bringing #MeToo into the Palestine, believes justice is at stake: “We at Sabeel have chosen to address this critically important topic because we are a Palestinian Liberation Theology Center. This means that wherever there is injustice, we stand on the side of justice. Wherever people are oppressed, we stand for liberation. Whether we are talking about the occupation of Palestine, or the colonization of indigenous peoples, or the destructive forces of toxic masculinity in our homes, workplaces, and places of worship, we believe Christ our Liberator requires us to stand with him, for freedom.”

In the opening article, Sabeel probes the story of Jesus’ healing of the Gerasene demoniac: “While this passage does not deal with the issue of sexual harassment directly, we feel it has much to say about the way our society deals with demons—especially demons we’d rather not acknowledge.” To read the entire issue, click here.

Boys on the way to school stand under a sign on the wall: “A country is not only what it does. It is also what it tolerates.” Kurt Tucholsky (1933 Photo, Anita Rediger)

“Who Thinks Up These Things?”
Anita Rediger, a member of the MennoPIN Steering Committee, recently returned from a 15-day trip to Israel/Palestine. Her report witnesses the ever-increasing oppression and violence against the Palestinian people:

“I’m just home from a 15-day trip to Israel/Palestine led by FOSNA Board Co-Chairs, Michael Spath and Doug Thorpe. It was my second trip; I see even more clearly now the utterly comprehensive, systematic oppression of the Palestinian people. Now, I walk the lanes of our farm, seeking to reconnect with my rural Indiana community. The words of lament uttered by a traveling companion wash over me – “Who thinks up these things?” “These things” which craft an intentional, finely-tuned, overarching plan to eradicate all traces of a people – past, present and future.

Let me share just a few of “these things”

It is illegal to teach and speak about the history of the Palestinian people, what Ilan Pappe describes as ‘memoricide.’
In Israeli schools, the word ‘Palestinian’ is not mentioned except in the context ‘in war with,’ the main narrative in the curricula is ‘fear.’ Saher Vardi, (9.8.18)
In a visit to the al Khan Al-ahmar Bedouin community, we learned of the Israeli Defense Force’s practice of planting explosives inside of cameras and cell-phones in the grazing areas. When the children tending the flocks find them, horrible injury results. (9.7.2018)
Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh showed us evidence of the poisons used to kill Palestinian livestock, grains laced with poisons scattered about the pastures and documentation of the use of bone shattering ammunition. (9.5.2018)
Gerard Horton & Salwa Duaibis of Military Court Watch provided graphic detail of what happens in the never-ending practice of night raids, the ‘softening up’ of children ages 12-17 by storming their homes at night, tying their hands with plastic straps, blindfolding them, throwing them on the metal floor of a military vehicle between/under the boots of soldiers, placing them in shipping containers for 10 hours, then facing interrogation and judges – some of whom are settlers.
We learned of ‘The Expulsion Law’ (2016) which allows for the expulsion of Arab Knesset Members who make remarks or undertake actions that the majority claims incite to racism or support terror.
On July 19, 2018 – The Knesset passed an addition to the body of Israel’s Basic Law. The ‘Nation-State Law’ granting special status to persons of Jewish faith. Another law, the ‘Citizenship Law’ is for non-Jews, institutionalizing discrimination, legalizing apartheid.

As we left the country, we were confronted with the massive mural in Ben Guiron Airport proclaiming, ‘The Zionist movement established the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state…Israeli society is tasked with creating a true sense of connection among all of its ethnic, religious and cultural segments, based on respect, harmony, peace and equality.’

All of this right before our eyes – for all the world to see – supported by US policymakers and by many of my shared Christian faith. I ask you, ‘Who thinks up these things?’ and why? May we join the living stones of Palestine and Israel in crying out.”

Three CPT Palestine Team Members Denied Entry to Israel
Christian PeacemakerTeams (CPT) reports that three of its Palestine team members were blocked from entering Israel/Palestine. CPT places teams, at the invitation of local peacemaking communities, that are confronting situations of lethal conflict. These teams support and amplify the voices of local peacemakers who risk injury and death by waging nonviolent direct action to confront systems of violence and oppression. CPT has had a presence in Palestine for many years.

For the three CPTers it was clear at the beginning of their interrogations that the immigration officials knew of their work with CPT and for this reason they would be denied entry. Why? For being associated with an organization which works alongside of and is led by Palestinian nonviolent organizations and activists striving for a peaceful future.

Prayer
The ‘Great March of Return’ continues with more Palestinians coming under life fire from Israeli military forces. It has also been reported that Palestinian fishermen are coming under pressure from frequent arrests and live fire from the Israeli Navy. This constant pressure on the livelihoods of these fisherman means that 95% of the fishing industry in Gaza now live below the poverty line. Lord, we continue to hold the protestors in our prayers; cast our net of protection over Gaza and its fisherman so that they may catch abundant fish without threat of arrest or injury. Lord in your mercy…Hear our prayers. Sabeel Wave of Prayer

—
Mennonite Palestine-Israel Network
mennopin@gmail.com | mennopin.org | facebook.com/mennopin | twitter.com/mennopinSteering Committee:
Tom Harder (Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church, Wichita, KS)
Joy Lapp (Pleasant View Mennonite Church, Mt Pleasant, IA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist)
Anita Rediger (Emmaus Road Mennonite Fellowship, Berne, IN)
Joe Roos (Peace Mennonite Fellowship, Claremont, CA)
Rod Stafford (Portland Mennonite Church, OR)

August 31, 2018August 31, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN Monthly Update – August 2018

MennoPIN Update: August 2018

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MENNONITE PALESTINE ISRAEL NETWORK

August 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
The Growing Power of Palestinian Women
The Poem that Sent Dareen Tatour to Prison
Six al-Khalil Women Held in Administrative Detention
Gaza: The Great Return March Continues
Gaza: Medical Ship Hijacked by Israel
Gaza: An Action Alert from MCC
Israel Detains Jewish Activists Opposing Nation-State Law
Go HP-Free
Read More
Prayer

Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi after her release from prison on July 29 (Reuters/Mohamad Torokman)

The Growing Power of Palestinian Women
Although the 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi has gotten considerable international attention for her years of activism and eight months in prison, many other Palestinian women have also played a strong role in the resistance to the occupation but without broad recognition. In fact, the power of women in Palestine has never been stronger.

When the First Intifada ended with the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 by an all-male Palestine Liberation Organization team, women had almost no role in the struggle for Palestinian rights and were denied any engagement with the decision-making process. Instead, women began agitating for social, political, legal and economic rights within Palestine’s social structure, confronting an entrenched patriarchy and seeking equality with men. It has taken many years for women to rise to key roles in opposing the occupation and seeking justice for all Palestinians. They have now become a formidable force, mediating conflicts between competing Palestinian factions and providing leadership in the Great Return March. Here are just a few of those women:

Iktimal Hamad, 51, sits on the Supreme National Commission of the Great Return March, the only woman on the 15-member commission. Her personal agenda goes beyond the march to include ending the Israeli occupation and promoting equality for women in Gaza. Hamad insists that “women can play a prominent role in the liberation of Palestine because they are integral to the Palestinian community…Women will always be in the front lines of our national struggle.”
Samira Abdelalim, 41, lives in southern Gaza and serves as the Director of the Women’s Department at the General Federation of Trade Unions. Her intense desire to peacefully achieve the right to return to ancestral villages and towns is tempered with realism: “I know that the occupation will not end in one day, but by cumulative work.”
Siwar Alza’anen, 20, is an activist in the Palestinian Student Labor Front and has a deep desire for her and her family to return to their native village. By participating in the Great March of Return, Alza’anen wants “to send the message to the international community that we are suffering a lot, we are living under pressure, siege, pain, poverty.”
Reem Anbar, 28, resides in Gaza City and chooses a musical way to counter the violence of Israeli military forces. Since she was a young girl, Anbar has played the oud, a short-neck lute-type, pear-shaped stringed instrument similar to the mandolin. When Israeli bombs would be dropping near her home, she would pick up her oud where the notes and rhythms would overshadow, at least for a while, the chaos outside her windows. After the war ended, she played for traumatized children at the cultural center and, later, she joined other artists to compose musical plays and performances for children to overcome trauma and promote their inclusion in society.

The next two sections highlight more Palestinian women leaders.

The Poem that Sent Dareen Tatour to Prison

Dareen Tatour at the Nazareth Magistrates’ Court, July 31, 2018 (Rami Shllush)

On July 31, 2018, Dareen Tatour, a 36-year-old Palestinian poet from Reineh, near Nazareth, was sentenced to five months in an Israeli prison, for writing a poem, a poem that Israel found objectionable, claiming the poem intended to incite violence. Tatour insisted that her poem was nonviolent and “about the settlers who kill and burn Palestinians.” More than 150 international literary figures came to her defense, including Alice Walker and Naomi Klein, but to no avail. Here is Tatour’s poem, “Resist, My People,” translated by Tariq al Haydar.

Resist, My People
Resist, my people, resist them.
In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows
And carried the soul in my palm
For an Arab Palestine.
Never lower my flags
Until I evict them from my land.
I cast them aside for a coming time.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist the settler’s robbery
And follow the caravan of martyrs.
Shred the disgraceful constitution
Which imposed degradation and humiliation
And deterred us from restoring justice.
They burned blameless children;
As for Hadil, they sniped her in public,
Killed her in broad daylight.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist the colonialist’s onslaught.
Pay no mind to his agents among us
Who chain us with the peaceful illusion.
Do not fear doubtful tongues;
The truth in your heart is stronger,
As long as you resist in a land
That has lived through raids and victory.
So Ali called from his grave:
Resist, my rebellious people.
Write me as prose on the agarwood;
My remains have you as a response.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist, my people, resist them.

Six al-Khalil Women Held in Administrative Detention

A banner showing six women currently held in administrative detention (Christian Peacemaker Teams)

The Old Town section of Hebron, located in the southern part of the West Bank, was built in the thirteenth century and is known as al-Khalil. The Israeli military in Hebron is increasingly targeting local nonviolent activists and recently arrested six women in al-Khalil, holding them in administrative detention. Administrative detention is incarceration without trial or charge, alleging that a person plans to commit a future offense. It has no time limit and the evidence on which it is based is not disclosed. Israel employs this measure extensively and routinely, holding thousands of Palestinians for lengthy periods of time.

One of the women is a writer and another is a member of the al-Khalil municipality. Nearly 100 people regularly hold the above-pictured banner outside the detention center where they are held, calling for their release.

Gaza – The Great Return March Continues

Palestinian boy shot in Gaza by an Israeli military sniper on August 24, 2018 (Timeline Photos)

The Great Return March, begun on March 30, 2018 is now five months old and is continuing. On August 24, 2018, 5,000 people attended the demonstration protesting the Israeli blockade of Gaza, denying Gaza citizens the internationally-recognized right to return to their ancestral homes. As they have consistently done, Israeli military forces fired upon the peaceful demonstrators, injuring nearly 200 people, about 50 from live bullets. Since the beginning of the Great Return March, at least 155 Palestinians have been killed and over 17,000 injured, many with permanent disabilities.

Gaza – Medical Ship Hijacked by Israel
On July 29, 2018, the Al Awda (The Return), carrying 114 boxes of medical supplies to Gaza and sailing under a Norwegian flag, was traveling in international waters, 49 nautical miles from the Gaza City port, when it was intercepted, boarded and hijacked by Israeli military forces. The 22 people on board the Al Awda came from 16 countries and included human rights supporters, journalists and crew. All were taken captive and released several days later.

“It’s what pirates do,” exclaimed one of the human rights supporters aboard the Al Awda. Larry Commodore is a long-time indigenous rights activist and former elected chief of the Soowahlie native community near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He volunteered to be part of the Freedom Flotilla taking desperately needed medical supplies to Gaza because he feels a deep connection between the way his people were forced into refugee status and how that has happened with Palestinians.

Commodore was verbally assaulted, dragged off the ship and kicked, injuring his foot and bladder. In prison, his foot gash was stitched, but his bladder injury was ignored for four days. About their capture and arrest, Commodore said they prepared themselves well for nonviolent resistance, but he was not prepared for the brutality of Israel’s Navy personnel: “I was more angry than afraid. I had prepared myself pretty well for how I would react if something happened directly to me, but what I hadn’t prepared enough for was my reaction when my shipmates were being assaulted…I asked the [Israeli’s guarding us] ‘Why are you wearing masks, only criminals wear masks?’ They were really quite brutal.”

The badly needed medical supplies never made it to Gaza.

Gaza – An Action Alert from MCC
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has issued a special alert: Support the People of Gaza – Take Action. The alert invites all of us to ask our Congressional representatives to call for a lasting ceasefire between Israel and Gaza and support for the people of Gaza. To read the entire alert, click here.

Israel Detains Jewish Activists Opposing Nation-State Law
In the past month, three Jewish activists have been detained for their opposition to the recently passed Nation-State Law. Each had openly expressed strong disagreement with the law’s definition of Israel as an entirely Jewish state, with no mention of the value of democracy or equal rights for Palestinians.

Peter Beinart, a writer, professor and political commentator, was on vacation, traveling from Greece to attend a family bat mitzvah, when he was detained by the Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, when he arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Jerusalem. Israeli-born poet, Moriel Rothman-Zecher, also arrived at Ben Gurion airport with his wife and infant daughter, where he was warned that his involvement in nonviolent protests was a “slippery slope.” He wondered how he would explain the incident to his daughter when she was older: “Hey kid, on your first visit to Israel, you father was detained at the border because he thinks Palestinians are human beings deserving of equality.” One week later, Simone Zimmerman, a founder of IfNotNow, an organization of young American Jews fighting Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, was detained at the Taba Border Crossing between Israel and Egypt.

Each of the three recognized that as disturbing as their detentions were, what they experienced was nothing compared to what Palestinians experience daily. After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly apologized for Beinart’s detention, Beinart responded: “Benjamin Netanyahu has half-apologized for my detention yesterday at Ben Gurion airport. I’ll accept when he apologizes to all Palestinians and Palestinian Americans who every day endure far worse.”

Prayer

Defiantly waving the Palestinian flag highIn the wake of the protest over the Nation-State Law, which took place on the 14^th of July in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, the Likud party has proposed a new bill. On Wednesday the 22^nd of August, it outlined a bill which would prohibit the Palestinian flag, along with the flags of other “enemy nations,” from being raised in any demonstration where more than three people had gathered. The ban would carry a sentence of one years’ imprisonment for anyone who raised the forbidden flag…Lord, we continue to pray for the safeguarding of freedom of speech and the right of the people to resist injustice in Israel. We pray that those in positions of authority would be mindful of the rights of all their citizens and would work for the benefit of all the people living in Israel. Lord, in your mercy… Sabeel Wave of Prayer

July 30, 2018July 30, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN Monthly Update: July 2018

MennoPIN Update: July 2018

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MENNONITE PALESTINE ISRAEL NETWORK

July 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
Ahed Tamimi Released from Prison
Israel Officially Becomes an Apartheid State
West Bank Palestinian Universities Under Attack
Gaza in the Limelight
MennoPIN is Helping MC USA Implement the Orlando Resolution
Presbyterian Church USA and Episcopal Church Vote to Support Palestine
Ocasio-Cortez Campaign Highlights Support of Gaza
Go HP-Free
Read More
Prayer

Ahed Tamimi with her father, Bassem, and mother, Nariman, who also left prison on Sunday, in Nabi Saleh in the West Bank. (Photo Credit: Mohamad Torokman/Reuters)

Ahed Tamimi Released from Prison
On Sunday, July 29, 2018, Ahed Tamimi arrived home to a hero’s welcome in Nabi Saleh, West Bank. Along with her mother, Nariman, the 17-year-old Ahed was released after serving a full sentence for what an Israeli military court called “assault and incitement” charges after she slapped an Israeli soldier following the shooting of her cousin in the face by another Israeli military gunman.

Upon her exit from prison, Ahed defiantly shouted to those surrounding her: “I say resistance is continuing until the occupation is removed. All female prisoners in jail are strong and I thank everyone who stood by me while I was in prison and who stood by all women in prison.” She continued later in a more solemn tone, saying that she “knew a long time ago” I would be arrested for “choosing this path…Life in prison was very difficult. Anyone who chooses this path should prepare themselves to spend time in prison.”

Saleh Nigazi, Amnesty International’s Jerusalem chief, said in a statement. “Ahed Tamimi has been released, but only after serving an unjust sentence based on the ridiculous premise that she posed a threat to armed and heavily protected soldiers…a blatant attempt by Israeli authorities to intimidate those who dare to challenge the ongoing brutal repression by occupying forces…Ahed Tamimi’s release must not obscure the familiar and continuing story of Israel military using discriminatory policies to lock up Palestinian children.”

After the Knesset passed the Nation-State bill, Arab lawmakers tear up the bill in protest (Photo Credit: Olivier Fitoussi)

Israel Officially Becomes an Apartheid State
On July 19, 2018 Israel shed any pretense of being a democracy when the Israeli Knesset voted by a slim margin, 62-55, to make Israel the nation-state of the Jewish people that gives Jewish citizens the sole right to self-determination. The new law, among other things:

“authorizes a community composed of people having the same faith and nationality to maintain the exclusive character of that community”
“sees developing Jewish communities as a national value and will act to encourage, promote and establish them”
“would also permit Jewish religious law to be implemented in certain cases and remove Arabic as an official language”

In addition to the fervent objection of Arab-Israeli lawmakers, many Jewish members of the Knesset vehemently opposed passage of the law. Tamar Zandberg forcefully protested that “the basic law that advanced today is not a basic law on nationality but a basic law of racism. This is a law that was born in sin and advanced through arm-twisting among the extremist and nationalist elements in the coalition.” Another Knesset member, Dov Khenin, charged that the bill is “a model of undisguised racism, suited only to corrupt rulers who have lost all shame.”

Nearly 20% of Israel’s population are Palestinian and hold Israeli citizenship. The enacted law, which some have called “an Israeli Jim Crow” law, completely disenfranchises these Palestinians. The initiator and sponsor of the bill, Avi Dichter, left no doubt that Israel has become an apartheid state when, after the bill passed, he proudly stated: “We are passing this bill to make sure that no one has any doubt, or even any thoughts, about Israel being a state for all its citizens.”

An irony to this bill is that the majority of the global Jewish population do not live in Israel and never will. And they are not happy with Knesset’s new law. Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace, indicated that there is much more unanimity than usual in the American Jewish community in opposition to this bill. Stay tuned to the MennoPIN Monthly Update for further developments.

West Bank Palestinian Universities Under Attack
Samia Khoury, one of the founders of Sabeel, writes: “As if the nationality law passed recently was not enough, now all the universities are facing this problem.” She was referring to an article in Haaretz entitled, “Destroying Palestinian Universities.”

The quality of education at West Bank academic institutions is being undermined by new Israeli rules on professors. Both foreign lecturers and researchers, as well as Palestinians who studied or taught abroad, are being expelled through bureaucratic maneuvers. More than half of foreign lecturers at these universities, many of whom have taught in Palestinian universities for many years, are having their requests for residency visa extensions denied because they have been “living in the area for more than five years.” A significant number of the lecturers being expelled are Palestinians who studied in the United States and Europe, some of whom were born in occupied territories and studied abroad. Other lecturers from the United States and Europe are being told they need to pack up their bags and go home. Because the presence of international researchers for lengthy periods of time is a criterion for ranking institutions of higher learning, West Bank Palestinian universities and their student population will suffer the consequences of more Israeli oppression.

Gaza in the Limelight
To get an excellent current overview of the situation in Gaza, read the July 2018 issue of This Week in Palestine. The issue highlights not only the overwhelmingly difficult challenges facing Gaza, but also vividly portrays the impressive resilience and determination of Gazans.

MennoPIN is Helping MC USA Implement the Orlando Resolution
In July 2017, the Mennonite Church USA passed the Seeking Peace in Israel and Palestine Resolution. During this past year, MennoPIN has been actively helping with the implementation of the resolution by:

partnering with Palestinian and Israeli Peacemakers by supporting regional groups and conference Task Forces working locally
understanding the realities of the occupation by offering the Kairo Palestine Study Guide and listing learning tours to the Holy Lan d
engaging Christian Zionism through gathering resources on the topic to be shared
advocating with the United States government through participation in MC USA delegations to the U.S. Capitol
avoiding economic support for the occupation while investing in peace and justice, supporting four MC USA congregations (so far) joining the HP-Free Churches campaign, participating in a consultation with Everence reviewing their human rights screen and developing a product boycott campaign
strengthening relationships with Muslim and Palestinian-American communities by offering scholarships for college students to attend the American Muslims for Palestine’s Palestine Advocacy Day in Washington, DC with four students from Goshen College attending
examining the legacy of antisemitism with members of the MennoPIN Steering Committee attending the Mennonites and the Holocaust conference
building relationships with Jewish communities by partnering with Jewish groups and individuals in the United States pursuing the call to social justice and peacemaking, and applauding MC USA creating the Mennonite Jewish Working Group’s pursuit of this much-needed work.

Presbyterian Church USA and Episcopal Church Vote for Support of Palestine
Both Presbyterian Church USA and the Episcopal Church passed a series of resolutions asserting the right of Palestinians for self-determination, opposing anti-BDS legislation and the move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, condemning Israel’s violence against Gaza protestors and more. MennoPIN is grateful for these measures taken.

Ocasio-Cortez Campaign Highlights Support of Gaza
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunned the political world when she defeated long-time congressman, Joe Crowley, in the Queens New York Democratic primary. Even more startling was her open condemnation of Israeli violence against Gazans during her campaign. Referring to the killing of 130 Gazans by Israeli forces, Ocasio-Cortez said: “No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of protestors. There is no justification…The idea that we are not supposed to talk about people dying when they are engaging in political expression just really moved me.”

Prayer
Israel has endorsed the Nation-State Law that serves to define the nature of the state of Israel, disregarding human rights and democratic values. There are now more than sixty-five Israeli statutes which discriminate against the Palestinian citizens. Lord, we continue to pray for justice and freedom for all people in our troubled land. Help us to remember that when those who suffer injustice cry out to you, yours eyes are towards them and you ear hears them. You promise to be near the broken-hearted and you saved the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:13-16). Lord in your mercy…Sabeel Wave of Prayer

—
Mennonite Palestine-Israel Network
mennopin@gmail.com | mennopin.org | facebook.com/mennopin | twitter.com/mennopin

Steering Committee:
Tom Harder (Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church, Wichita, KS)
Joy Lapp (Pleasant View Mennonite Church, Mt Pleasant, IA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist)
Anita Rediger (Emmaus Road Mennonite Fellowship, Berne, IN)
Joe Roos (Peace Mennonite Fellowship, Claremont, CA)
Rod Stafford (Portland Mennonite Church, OR)

June 29, 2018September 14, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN Monthly Update: June 2018

June 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
Intersectionality
Update on Esther Koontz and Ahed Tamimi
Congressional Bill to Apply Israel-Centric Definition to Antisemitism on Campuses
Cities for Palestine Campaign and Toolkit
MCC Signs Gaza Statement and Offers Action to Take
Christ at the Checkpoint Conference USA
Go HP-Free
Read More
Prayer

Razan Al-Najjar (left) and Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez (right)

Intersectionality
Oppression does not occur in a vacuum. The dots connecting injustice cross geographic boundaries and specific issues. Antisemitism, Black racism and Islamophobia have common links in the United States and around the world. Intersectionality is the term increasingly used to describe these threads of connection. Four examples illustrate the intersectionality between the United States and Israel:

1. Razan Al-Najjar was a 21-year-old medical volunteer shot dead on June 1, 2018 by an Israeli sniper as she tended the wounded in Gaza during the Great March of Return. Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez was a 20-year-old woman from San Juan Ostuncalco in Guatemala who was also shot dead on May 23, 2018 by a US Border Patrol agent as she marched to a safer and better life in the US. Within eight days of each other, these two young women (photograph above) were murdered at a border, Razan on the Gaza/Israel border and Claudia on the Mexico/US Border.

2. Israel and the US have state-enforced policies to separate children from their families and hold them in detention. Several hundred Palestinian children languish in Israeli prisons and several thousand Central American children suffer detention in cages in the United States, all forcibly separated from their families.

3. The building of racist walls of separation in Israel and the planned expansion of walls on the Mexico/US border involve two Israeli corporations: Elbit and Elta play a significant role in building both walls.

4. The Trump and Netanyahu collaboration with dangerous exchange programs bring together police, ICE, border patrol and the FBI from the United States with soldiers, police and border patrols from Israel for training in control and intimidation tactics and the use of lethal force.

Update on Esther Koontz and Ahed Tamimi

Esther Koontz (left) and Ahed Tamimi (right)

Earlier this year, Esther Koontz, a Mennonite school teacher, filed a lawsuit against the State of Kansas when she lost a job opportunity because she would not promise to not boycott Israeli corporations or institutions that participate in the oppression of Palestinian people. Esther told MennoPIN that after the injunction against the Kansas law took effect, “the state of Kansas passed a new law stating that the anti boycott certificate only applies to companies (not individuals) and only those with contracts over $100,000. Therefore, the law no longer applies to me, so I can no longer be a plaintiff. My lawyers will likely be dismissing the case on our terms.” Stay tuned for further developments on Esther’s case.

Also, a parole board in the West Bank Rimonim prison rejected Ahed Tamimi’s request for early release from prison because she has “dangerous ideology” and should remain in prison for deterrence purposes. The teenaged Ahed was sentenced to eight months in prison last March after confronting and slapping Israeli soldiers who shot here cousin in the face. After serving her full term, Ahed is set to be released from prison later this summer. During her parole session, Ahed told the parole board, “I will get out of prison with my head up.”

Congressional Bill to Apply Israel-Centric Definition to Antisemitism to Campuses
US lawmakers from both houses of Congress and both sides of the aisle have introduced legislation to make criticism of Israel on campuses and at other educational institutions equivalent to antisemitism. The current legislation (H.R.6421 and S.2940) is entitled: “Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2018.” While antisemitism is clearly on the rise in the United States and needs to be addressed and condemned, this bill effectively outlaws expression of a political and moral opinion critical of policies and actions by the government of Israel as antisemitic and illegal. Some states are also crafting similar legislation. MennoPIN encourages you to contact your congresspeople to express opposition to these bills.

Cities for Palestine Campaign and Toolkit
The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights has launched a new campaign called Cities for Palestine. Palestinians in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip are beginning their 51^st year of brutal Israeli military occupation. As resistance builds across Palestine, the US Campaign is encouraging people in the United States to seize opportunities to organize for Palestinian rights in our cities, towns, counties and states. The municipalities approach has worked before, in the South African anti-apartheid movement and environmental justice campaigns.

Go here citiesforpalestine.org to get eight ideas on how to start a campaign and a toolkit to help implementing a municipal campaign in your community.

MCC Signs Ecumenical Gaza Refugee Rights Statement and Offers Actions to Take
The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) sign a statement along with fourteen other church and church agency bodies in support of the right of return for the people of Gaza. Referring to the Great Return March, the statement affirms that “the Gaza demonstrations are an assertion of Palestinian rights: the rights of refugees, the right to demonstrate peacefully against injustice, and the right to live in and with dignity, not under closed military confinement or blockade.” Read the entire statement here.

The MCC Washington Memo also offers “Take Action” ideas to “Tell Congress: 70 Years of Suffering is Enough.” Go here and tell your congresspeople what you think!

Christ at the Checkpoint Conference USA
The first Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in the United States will be held in Oklahoma City, OK October 15 – 18, 2018. Since 2010 Palestinian Christians have held an international Christ at the Checkpoint Conference at Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem, Palestine every other year. Organizers of the U.S. conference feel “compelled to address the injustices that have taken place in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, particularly the Palestine lands under occupation…We believe that standing up nonviolently to injustice is an acceptable expression of our faith.” For more on the conference and to register, click here.

Prayer
The “Great March of Return” continues in Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinians attended morning prayers for Eid-el-Fitr, the celebration which marks the end of the month-long Ramadan fast. Lord we continue to pray for the Palestinian demonstrators and their commitment to non-violence. We pray that the Israeli government would abide by international law and would allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. Lord in you mercy…Hear our prayer. Sabeel wave of prayer

May 18, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN May 2018 Monthly Update

MennoPIN Update: May 2018

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MENNONITE PALESTINE ISRAEL NETWORK

May 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
Targeted Death and Serious Injury Invade Peaceful Gaza Protests
A Harrowing Juxtaposition: Gaza Massacre and US Embassy in Jerusalem
How Much Money Are You Giving to Israeli’s Military Machine?
Christ at the Checkpoint Conference USA
Go HP-Free
Read More
Prayer

(Photo: Ashref Amra/APA Images)

“We know that the road to freedom has always been stalked by death.”
– Angela Davis

Targeted Death and Serious Injury Mark Nonviolent Gaza Protest and Nakba Day
Since the beginning of the Great March of Return, beginning on March 30, 2018 and continuing to May 15, 2018, Nakba Day, tens of thousands of nonviolent demonstrators took to the Gaza/Israel border to claim their right, by international law, to return to their lands. Israeli sharp shooters have responded by targeting and killing more than one hundred men, women, children, infants, medical workers and press with live ammunition and injured thousands more, often resulting in life-long crippling injuries. On May 14, the day before Nakba Day, more than sixty nonviolent protesters were shot dead by Israeli military forces. The tragedy is unspeakable, but some Palestinians present put words to their pain, anger and a glimmer of hope.

“In this regrettable day, the Israelis are cheering up with red wine after shedding our blood and opening the new U.S. embassy in our Jerusalem. But we have nothing to do but being more immovable to the last drop of blood. No problem, shedding more blood could be a message to Trump that recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would turn into a curse and he will be dropped as history’s rubbish.” – Suzan al-Zaza, 45, chair of an orphan association

Our people in Gaza need to live again, since this miserable life under Egyptian-Israeli blockade. I have four brothers who all are unemployed. I think this would not happen in any country, but in Gaza is normal, since we are like slaves who wait for drops of water to drink or pieces of bread to eat.” – Abrar al-Banna, 20, journalism student

“Even if we would be forced to eat the sand, freedom would come closer. Even if we failed to return to Haifa, then our children and grandchildren will do so. So, counting the years is not a problem. One day everything will be changed. Injustice and oppression are not going to stay forever” – Yahya Shallah, 40, painter

A Harrowing Juxtaposition: Gaza Massacre and US Embassy in Jerusalem

(Photo: The Japan Times)

While Israeli forces massacred dozens of nonviolent Palestinian protesters, press and medical personnel in Gaza, political elites from the U.S. and Israel symbolically opened the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. During his speech, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu praised the inauguration of the embassy as a “great day for peace” while Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, imagined that now “peace is within reach.”

“They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” – Jeremiah 6:14

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” – Matthew 23:37

How Much Are You Giving Israel for Weapons?
The Obama administration agreed to give Israel $38 billion dollars of weapons between 2019 and 2028, $3.8 billion dollars per year. Israel will use these weapons, in violation of US laws, to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians, including injuring and killing civilians, detaining and abusing children, demolishing homes, uprooting agriculture, and denying freedom of movement and expression.

U.S. citizens are footing the bill for this carnage through their tax dollars at an average of $25.25 per taxpayer. To find out how much your state or your city is contributing to Israel’s weapons and how you can “offset” your contribution to occupation forces, click here.

Christ at the Checkpoint Conference USA
The first Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in the United States will be held in Oklahoma City, OK, October 15 – 18, 2018. Since 2010 Palestinian Christians have held an international Christ at the Checkpoint Conference at Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem, Palestine every other year. Organizers of the U.S. conference feel “compelled to address the injustices that have taken place in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, particularly the Palestine lands under occupation…We believe that standing up nonviolently to injustice is an acceptable expression of our faith.” For more on the conference and to register, click here.

Prayer
Friday May 11th marked the seventh week of the ‘Great March of Return’ protest in Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians are demonstrating at the borders with Israel to call for the right of refugees to return to their homeland. At least eighty-eight Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the protests began on the 30th of March. Lord, we pray for the safety of those taking part in the protest and we long for their cries to be heard. We pray too that the international community would speak out in support of the right of Palestinians to return to the land they were forced to leave. Lord in your mercy… Hear our Prayers
Sabeel Wave of Prayer

—

Mennonite Palestine-Israel Network
mennopin@gmail.com | mennopin.org | facebook.com/mennopin | twitter.com/mennopin

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April 30, 2018June 23, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN April 2018 Monthly Update

April 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
45 Palestinians Killed in the Great Return March
Nabi Saleh Remains Under Siege
Students for Justice in Palestine Activism Grows
Dangerous Exchanges in Durham, NC
MennoPIN Signs Letter Calling for End to the Occupation
Take A Palestinian Liberation Theology Short Course
Go HP-Free
Read More
Prayer

Transporting a wounded Palestinian demonstrator at the Great Return March. (Credit Mohammed Saber/European Pressphoto Agency)

45 Palestinians Killed in the Great Return March
As the Great Return March enters its fifth week, 45 Palestinians have been killed while thousands more have been injured. The nonviolent demonstrations, at the border between Israel and Gaza, began on Land Day, March 30, 2018 with protests against Israel’s refusal to allow refugees the right of return to their lands guaranteed by international law. The march will end on May 15, 2018, Nakba Day. Known as the “day of catastrophe” among Palestinians, Nakba Day this year marks the time seventy years ago when Israel became a state and violently drove hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into exile and killed thousands more. The demonstrations are expected to spread throughout Palestine on Nakba Day.Most Western media coverage of the Great Return March concentrates its attention on the few who have thrown rocks or rolled burning tires. Hamas is often portrayed as instigators of the demonstrations. Nothing could be further from the truth. The protests are intentionally nonviolent, and organizers of the march come from all segments of Gaza’s civil and political society, of which Hamas is one part, but only one player. It is the Israeli military forces, sheltered safely hundreds of meters away, who commit the violence, using sniper fire, teargas and grenades.Despite the continuing suffering, the spirit of Palestinian people remains strong and determined and the role of women at the forefront of peaceful protest is growing. Make sure that your congressional representatives know that you stand for peace with justice in Palestine.

Nabi Saleh Experiences Ongoing Siege
While 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi and her mother remain in prison, their village of Nabi Saleh remains under siege. For the last nine years, many of the village’s 600 inhabitants stage a weekly nonviolent protest following the Israeli confiscation of the main spring of the village for use by the Halamish settlement nearby. Israeli military forces respond to the peaceful demonstrators with teargas, arrests and sometimes bullets. Three people have been killed there and nineteen residents of Nabi Saleh are in prison.

Israeli soldiers shooting teargas in the center of the village of Nabi Saleh (Photo: Activetills.org)

Recent visitors describe their experience. A quiet Saturday in Nabi Saleh was broken by couple of booms: “Live gunfire followed by a stun grenade. Finally, a couple of minutes later we see teargas coming. In seconds, we were gagging, spitting up, coughing, tearing up—eyes on fire, throats chocking.”

Nabi Saleh is not alone in experiencing the Israeli occupation’s persistent violence against Palestinian villages in the West Bank. Many others also know similar unprovoked violence of Israel’s military forces.

Students for Justice in Palestine Activism Grows
Established in 2010, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has grown to more than 200 university chapters nationwide. Centering on freedom, justice and equality for the Palestinian people, SJP activists seek to educate and raise awareness among fellow students about the oppression experienced by Palestinians under the Israeli occupation, especially most recently in response to the killing of Palestinians in the Great Return March. But they also seek to pressure their respective universities to “divest its stocks, funds and endowment from companies that profit from the state of Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian human rights through its ongoing system of settler colonialism, military occupation and apartheid,” as the Barnard College SJP chapter recently put it.

Barnard became the latest student body to approve a referendum, pressuring its administration to divest, with 64% of students in favor. More than sixty university student bodies have approved similar referendums and specifically name offending companies like Hewlett Packard, Caterpillar, GS4, Lockheed, Boeing and Elbit Systems. SJP works further to get their university to also approve of the measure.

Dangerous Exchanges and Durham, NC
Collaboration between the Trump and Netanyahu administrations has gone beyond embassy relocation and taken a deadly turn. The dangerous exchange programs bring together police, ICE, border patrol and the FBI from the United States with soldiers, police and border patrols from Israel for training in control, intimidation and the use of lethal force. In these mutual exchanges, the two countries learn from each other to promote discriminatory and repressive policies in both countries, including extrajudicial executions, shoot-to-kill policies, racial profiling, spying and surveillance, deportation and detention, and attacks on human rights defenders.

A coalition of racial justice and Palestinian solidarity activists in Durham, North Carolina set out to oppose these deadly exchanges between the Durham police force and agents of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Opposition included an interfaith petition to end the exchanges, calling on the city council to cut any police partnership with Israel. The petition was signed by 72 clergy from Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions. On April 17, 2018 the Durham City Council unanimously passed a resolution to oppose international military-style police training. Hopefully, the Durham City Council will not be pressured into rescinding this resolution like the New Orleans City Council did in repealing a divestment resolution it passed, also unanimously.

Does your city have a dangerous exchange? Do you want to organize opposition? Contact MennoPIN for more information at mennopin@gmail.com.

MennoPIN Signs Letter Urging End to the Occupation
MennoPIN has endorsed a letter calling for Palestinian Christians and Muslims to help end the occupation. Signed by 14 groups supporting Palestinian human rights, the letter expresses “deep concern at the increasingly hostile direction of Israeli policies and actions, emboldened by the equally aggressive foreign policy stance of the Trump administration toward the Palestinian people.” To see the entire letter and endorsers, click here.

Take A Short Course in Palestinian Liberation Theology
Join Naim Ateek for a short course in Palestinian Liberation Theology, in person or by live streaming. Ateek is the co-founder of Palestinian Liberation Theology and has been inspiring readers with his ideas about faith, justice and the Holy Land for many years. For more information and to sign up, click here.

Join Other MC USA Churches and Become HP-Free
MennoPIN encourages you to join Eugene Mennonite Church, Eugene, OR and Peace Mennonite Fellowship, Claremont, CA and become HP-Free. Reach out to your pastor, church council and congregation to sign the HP-Free Church pledge, committing to not purchase Hewlett Packard computers, printers, inks, and other products until HP stops profiting from occupation and human rights violations. For more on the HP-Free Church Campaign go here.Read More
Students for Justice and Peace
Dangerous Exchanges
No Way to Treat a Child Campaign
The Palestinian Portal Resource
HP-Free Church CampaignPrayer
On the fourth Friday of popular protests in Gaza, Israeli forces killed four Palestinians. One of those killed was Mohammed Ayoub, a fifteen-year-old boy who was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper. This incident was caught on film The UN Middle East Envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, express his anger over the killing of the teenager and the European Union has demanded a full investigation into his death. Lord, we give thanks for the non-violent protests which continue to challenge the siege conditions suffered by those living in Gaza. We pray for those who take a stand for justice and raise their voices in protest against the oppression they experience. We pray for an end to the occupation and the liberation of the Palestinian people. Lord, in our mercy…
Sabeel Wave of Prayer, April 26, 2018

—
Mennonite Palestine-Israel Network
mennopin@gmail.com | mennopin.org | facebook.com/mennopin | twitter.com/mennopin

March 30, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN Monthly Update March 2018

MENNONITE PALESTINE ISRAEL NETWORK

March 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
Kairos Easter Alert 2018
5 Killed and 300+ Wounded on Land Day
Ahed Tamimi is Sentenced
Learning Tours to Palestine
Go HP-Free
Read More
Prayer

Kairos Easter Alert 2018
Kairos Palestine, a Palestinian Christian movement advocating for the end to the Israeli occupation and a just solution to the conflict, has recently issued its Easter Alert for 2018. A guiding textbook for Easter to Pentecost, Kairos Easter Alert 2018 offers theological and political reflection including Donald Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem and its effects, the injustices toward Palestinian children and Easter hope. To read Kairos Easter Alert 2018, click here.

During these difficult times for Palestinians and their allies who work to end the occupation, MennoPIN wishes you a joyous and hope-filled Easter.

5 Killed and 300+ Wounded in Gaza Land Day Protest
Since 1976 Palestinians have claimed Land Day at the end of March to voice their legal rights to reclaim land stolen from them in the 1948 Nakba (“the catastrophe”). This year Land Day is March 30 and the peaceful gathering will continue until May 14, Nakba Day. On March 30 thousands of Palestinians gathered nonviolently at the border of Gaza and Israel to protest. Heavily-armed Israeli forces responded by killing 5 Palestinians and wounding over 300 others. The fear is that hundreds more will be killed and thousands more wounded during the two weeks leading up to Nakba Day. Pray for peace as Palestinians nonviolently risk their lives in seeking justice.

Ahed Tamimi Sentenced to 8 Months in Plea Bargain

Ahed Tamimi, the teenage Palestinian girl who became an international symbol of Palestinian resistance, accepted a plea deal in which she will serve eight months in an Israeli military prison and pay a fine of 5,000 shekels (about 1,400 USD).

Her crime was slapping an Israeli soldier in her West Bank home town of Nabi Saleh after Israeli forces shot her cousin in the face with a rubber bullet. She was initially charged with twelve crimes that, if convicted, would have sent her to prison for many years. The plea bargain agreement reduced the charges to four, including assault and incitement. As she left her sentencing at Ofer military prison near Ramallah, Ahed shouted to reporters: “There is no justice under occupation!”

While Ahed’s trial and imprisonment has gained considerable global attention, hundreds of other Palestinian children have suffered similar fates. Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch responded to Ahed’s sentencing by saying, “Plea bargains are the norm in Israel’s military justice system, which is characterized by prolonged pretrial detention, abuse of kids and sham trials. Hundreds of Palestinian children remain locked up with little attention to their cases.” If Israel’s Education Minister Naftali Bennett had his way, Ahed would have been in prison the rest of her life. After viewing the video of Ahed slapping the soldier Bennett said that Ahed and her cousin deserved to “finish their lives in prison.”

During Ahed’s trial and sentencing, another Israeli court reduced the already short sentence of an Israeli soldier, who was filmed executing a prone Palestinian man in cold blood, to just nine months, only one month more than Ahed’s sentence. Ahed, who was credited with time-served, should be home in July 2018.

Learning Tours to Palestine
One of the best ways to understand the people of Palestine and their struggle for justice is to go there yourself. With knowledgeable leadership and guidance, you can see both Holy Land sites and meet and talk with Palestinians and Israelis who oppose the occupation and are working for justice for the Palestinian people. MennoPIN recommends the following conference and five tours taking place in the upcoming months. Go to Palestine and expand your knowledge of the Palestine-Israeli conflict and hear from those working on the ground for justice and peace in the Holy Land.

Christian Peacemaker Teams’ Nakba Day Delegation to Palestine. April 30-May 14. Deadline is April 8. Be part of this Christian Peacemaker Teams’ trip to Palestine to observe Nakba Day 2018, seventy years after Zionist forces drove out Palestinian inhabitants from their homes. CPT delegate members will gain perspective on how ongoing issues affect daily life and will experience the power of Palestinian and Israeli citizens overcoming major obstacles. Delegates will meet with Palestinian human rights representatives and peace workers and visit families whose homes and livelihoods are threatened by expanding Israeli settlements. For more information, click here.

Christ at the Checkpoint. May 28-June 1, 2018. Held at Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem, Palestine and led by a diversity of speakers. Christ at the Checkpoint conference provides a platform for different opinions to be shared, and this year’s speakers will bring diverse perspectives on how to keep Jesus at the center of our lives as it pertains to every aspect of life. The conference seeks to form people by the love of God, teachings of the Bible and a fearless life of discipleship amidst the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To find out more about Christ at the Checkpoint conference, click here.

“Come and See” Trip to Israel/Palestine. June 17-30, 2018. Leaders Kathy Bergen, Joy Lapp and Arnie Voigt. A deeply engaging alternative tour to the Holy Land. See the holy places – Jewish, Christian, and Muslim; Meet with Palestinian and Jewish activists and human rights groups; Learn about the impact of the Israeli occupation on Palestinian life and consider what is needed for a just peace. Beginning and ending in Jerusalem, the trip also includes time in Bethlehem, visiting a Bedouin village in the Negev, touring the site of a Palestinian village destroyed in 1948, traveling to Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee, meeting with the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron, visiting a refugee camp, and much more. For more information, click here or contact Joy Lapp: lappj@earthlink.net; 720-201-3697.

“Come and See” Solidarity Tour of Palestine and Israel. September 2-15, 2018. Led by L. Michael Spath and Doug Thorpe. This tour will take you to Bethlehem (Nativity Church, Shepherds’ Fields and the Tent of Nations); Jerusalem (Holy Sepulchre, Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, Al Aqsa Mosque, Melkite Catholic Cathedral and more); Judean Desert (Jordan River, site of John’s baptisms, Qumran and the Dead Sea); Galilee (Capernaum, Tabgha, the Sea of Galilee, Magdala, Nazareth and the Mount of the Beatitudes); Ramallah (Muqata and Nelson Mandela Square) and Hebron (Old City and Tomb of the Patriarchs). For more information, contact lmichaelspath@gmail.com.

Sabeel Fall Witness Visit. October 30 – November 7, 2018. Led by Naim Ateek, co-founder of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, East Jerusalem, Palestine. Worship with Palestinian Christians. Meet and reflect with Palestinian Christians and Muslims as well as Jewish Israelis and internationals who partner with Sabeel in nonviolent resistance against the violation of international and humanitarian law. Experience the realities of the Palestinian community living under Israeli Occupation: the Wall, settlements, check points, confiscated land and demolished homes, refugee camps and environmental degradation. Learn about the loss of civil and property rights of Arab Israeli citizens. For more information and to register, go here.

A Peacemaker’s Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. January 16-27, 2019. Led by Richard Blackburn, Executive Director of Lombard Mennonite Peace Center, the three-center pilgrimage will include Jerusalem (Mount of Olives, Mount Zion, the Old City, Yad Vashem, Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center); Bethlehem (Church of the Nativity, Shepherd’s Fields, Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron, Diyar Consortium, Wi’am Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center) and Galilee (Nazareth, Cana, Church of the Beatitudes and a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee). The Pilgrimage will also include visits to various peacemaking ministries led by Palestinian Christians working for peace. Teaching sessions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, biblical peacemaking and conflict transformation are central parts of the tour as well. For more information on the tour and how to register, click here.

Prayer Poem
Christians who follow the Gregorian calendar will celebrate Easter this Sunday, marking the events of Christ’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection. There will be much rejoicing and excitement in Jerusalem and in the surrounding areas. There will be many processions through the Old City and up on the Mount of Olives, to remind us of the paths Jesus walked on these holy days. Lord God, we are filled with hope at the announcement of your Son’s resurrection at Easter. The celebrations of this day remind us that the victory has already been won, and that in the end good will triumph over evil. However, for Palestinians living here, it can be hard to see the light of the resurrection when every day they are surrounded by the darkness of the grave. Grant them fresh hope in their hearts and the strength to persevere in how they live for Your glory. Lord, in your mercy…
Sabeel Wave of Prayer, March 29, 2018

February 28, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

Palestine Advocacy Day Scholarships for Mennonite Students

MENNONITE PALESTINE ISRAEL NETWORK

PALESTINE ADVOCACY DAY SCHOLARSHIPS FOR MENNONITE STUDENTS

MennoPIN and Mennonite Church USA encourage Mennonite students to participate in Palestine Advocacy Day & Training 2018 in Washington, DC, March 16-19, 2018. If you go, we will cover your registration fee (including hotel for three nights, breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday and breakfast on Monday), and we will also reimburse you up to $100 for travel.

As young leaders and activists, you will learn the skills needed to lead campaigns in your communities, engage elected officials and advocate for the rights of Palestinians. The intensive training in political engagement and community mobilization will include a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill. For more information about the advocacy days and to register, click here.

When you register, you will not need to send any money if you use this code: jonathanscode. Then, upon your return, send your travel reimbursement request (up to $100) to mennopin@gmail.com.

We hope you will go and experience the power of organizing for justice and peace!

February 28, 2018 Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) Uncategorized

MennoPIN Monthly Update: February 2018

MENNONITE PALESTINE ISRAEL NETWORK

Esther Koontz Wins Early Court Case in Kansas

February 2018 Monthly Update

In This Issue
Esther Koontz Wins Early Court Decision
Ahed Tamimi Trial Begins Behind Closed Doors
BDS Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
MC USA Investment Consultation
Three Important New Reads in 2018
Join Other MC USA Churches to Become HP-Free
Read More
Prayer

Esther Koontz’ Case Wins Preliminary Injunction Against Kansas Law
On January 30, 2018, in a case testing First Amendment free-speech rights, Kansas Mennonite Esther Koontz and the American Civil Liberties Union won an early court decision in its law suit against Koontz who lost a contract with the State of Kansas because she would not sign a statement pledging not to participate in any Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) actions. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Crabtree wrote the following in his decision: “This ruling should serve as a warning to government officials around the country that the First Amendment prohibits the government from suppressing participation in political boycotts.” Koontz’ refusal to sign was informed in part by the MC USA Orlando decision last summer to boycott consumer products that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Ahed Tamimi’s Trail Begins Behind Closed Doors

Ahed Tamimi arriving at her trial Mohammed Tamimi after surgery

Seventeen-year-old Palestinian protestor, Ahed Tamimi, one of hundreds of Palestinian children imprisoned by Israel, began her trial at Ofer military prison near Jerusalem on January 15, 2018. She asked that the hearing be open to the public and the press, but the military judge refused and began the trial behind closed doors. The judge insisted that he was acting in the best interest of Ahed, but her attorney, Gaby Lasky, protested vehemently, saying the family wants an open trial: “The court decided what is best for the court, and not what is good for Ahed…We believe that this is an indictment solely created to deter Ahed and other Palestinian youth.” Ahed’s family was able to remain in the courtroom and her father, Bassem, was heard shouting out to Ahed: “Stay strong, stay strong.” Ahed is imprisoned because she slapped an Israeli soldier in the face on December 15, 2017, after another soldier shot her 15-year-old cousin, Mohammed, in the face with a rubber-coated steel pellet. Mohammed required surgery to remove part of his skull. Ahed’s trial will resume on March 11, 2018. She is being held in prison for the duration of the trial.

BDS Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
The Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement was nominated on January 31, 2018, for the Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian Member of Parliament. In his formal announcement, Bjørnar Moxnes stated: “Awarding this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to the BDS movement would be a powerful signal, emphasizing the international community’s commitment to support a just peace for the Palestinian people… the Israeli people and all people in the Middle East – and the world at large.” To sign the Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) BDS Nobel Peace Prize support letter, click here.

MennoPIN Participates in MC USA Investment Consultation on Israel/Palestine
In July 2017 at the Orlando MC USA convention, delegates adopted the “Seeking Peace in Israel and Palestine” resolution, which included a commitment to “avoiding economic support for occupation.” On November 20, 2017, representatives from MC USA agencies and related organizations met for a consultation on investments in Israel/Palestine. You can read the report of that first consultation here.

Three Important Publications Just Out
MennoPIN wants to draw your attention to three new reads published in 2018:

Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations (by Ronen Bergman, Random House, January 30, 2018) – Bergman is a journalist based in Israel who probed the targeted killings of thousands of Palestinians by Israel Defense Forces.
Gaza: An Inquest into its Martyrdom (by Norman Finkelstein, University of California Press, January 9, 2018) – Finkelstein chronicles the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, including the eight devastating ‘operations” by Israel against Gaza’s largely defenseless population in which thousands have died and tens of thousands left homeless.
50 Years of Occupation: Dispossession, Deprivation and De-Development(Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), February 12, 2018) – AIDA, a coalition of 70 international NGO’s, including Mennonite Central Committee, combined to document the decades-long strangulation of Palestinian economic prospects and human rights.

Read More
More on the BDS movement
The Palestinian Portal Resource
HP-Free Church Campaign
Rise and Kill First, Ronen Bergman (at your favorite bookstore)
Gaza: An Inquest into its Martyrdom (at your favorite bookstore)
50 Years of Occupation

Prayer
A new book by Ronen Bergman, the intelligence correspondent for the Israeli Yediot Aharonot newspaper, chronicles Israel’s ‘2,700’ assassination operations. In his book,Mr. Bergman raises moral and legal concerns provoked by state-sponsored killings.
Lord, we remember all the people who have been condemned to death by the Israeli government without a fair trial. We pray that the day will come that Israeli decision makers abandon the sword and are held accountable for their crimes. Lord in you mercy…hear our prayers. Sabeel Wave of Prayer – February 1, 2018