Monday, March 25, Protest Vigil at the Jewish Community Center in ABQ 5-7 pm

Tonight, Monday, March 25, a number of ally groups are holding a protest vigil at the Jewish Community Center which is hosting the Israeli Consul General from Houston, a direct arm of the Israeli government, who is a genocide denier and strong proponent of the extreme-right Israeli government refusing to stop the war on Gaza, moving ahead with ethnic cleansing and countless war crimes against academics, medical facilities, and journalists.

Distribute the flyer widely and show up for Albuquerque and justice!!

Pray-in for a Permanent Ceasefire: A Nonviolent Witness for Gaza

Pray-in at the U.S. Capitol Calls for Congress to Support a Permanent Ceasefire

When and where: Thursday, March 21, 1-2pm at the Methodist Building, 100 Maryland Avenue NE, with a nonviolent witness action to follow.

RSVP here

Why: The crisis in Gaza and pending full invasion of Rafah demands immediate public action and witness. In addition to the 31,000 killed in the war, at least 27 Palestinians have died from starvation just recently. For Christians, nonviolent witness includes urging for a just peace, especially now as our Muslim family members enter their holy month of Ramadan.

What: All are welcome to join a public pray-in as part of an ongoing Lenten Ceasefire Campaign. We will offer a prayerful vigil with press invited, and then a nearby nonviolent witness action. We will raise our voices together, asking our Creator for guidance and strength as we urge those in power to do the courageous work of nonviolent peacemaking.

We urge all parties to:

a) Publicly call for bilateral ceasefire to prevent the further loss of life

b) Support demilitarization rather than supplying additional military aid or arms to Israel 

c) Focus on a release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners held without due process 

d) Support robust humanitarian assistance and restarting U.S. government funding to UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees
e) Work diplomatically to end the siege on Gaza and end the occupation of the Palestinian Territory in order to address the root causes of the violence, accountability for harm, and move all parties toward a lasting, just peace that protects all human life and ensures long-term security and sustainability in the Middle East

MI Conference Church and Society Division
Task Force Promoting Justice in the Middle East

This is an in-person event

Thursday, February 29 at 9:AM

Nardin Park United Methodist Church, 29887 W Eleven Mile Rd, Farmington Hills, MI 48336.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sSLQSuZzUat4nl-u54ADJdUtfYmr8GIw/view?usp=drive_link

As Black History Month draws to a close, we will reflect on the words of Martin Luther King Jr. who said "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" with respect to the current crisis in Gaza. We'll explore what the oppression of Palestinians means for the freedom of African Americans and the need for solidarity in pursuit of liberation.

We'll hear from Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. Then a panel discussion moderated by Detroit journalist Terrance Friday of CBS-TV will feature Palestinian activist Lexi Zeidan, Joshua Feinstein of Jewish Voices For Peace, Ossama Siblani, Editor of the Arab American News and Rev. Quantez Pressly of Third New Hope Baptist Church.

After the panel discussion, there will be a breakout session where all the attendees will divide into small groups for an organized round table discussion, moderated by a faith leader.  

Enjoy a complimentary continental breakfast after you sign in at 8:30am. 

Sabeel presents:

Challenging Apartheid and Religious Extremism: Zionism and Antisemitism

with Hadar Cohen, Thomas Suarez, and Anthony Lerman

1:00pm ET

Almost four months into the war on Gaza, the International Court of Justice has directed Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza, yet refrained from ordering a ceasefire. In December 2023, the Supreme Court of India rubber-stamped the government’s unilateral abrogation of Article 370, which previously afforded Kashmir a special status that included the right of self-determination. Discussions of the international rule of law, settler colonialism, and its violence have taken the center stage. At this dark moment in history, we must address the connections, parallels, and distinctions between Palestine and Kashmir, for as the Indigenous Peoples in North America remind us, the settler colonial project and genocide is ongoing.

The present situation demonstrates once again how legal apparatuses, be it UN outfits or Supreme Courts, fail to uphold justice currently and historically: affirming abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, failing to prosecute illegal settlements and the breaking of treaties and documented land rights, refusal to prosecute genocide when it fits official legal definitions, not following up with charges when official human rights institutions (like OHCHR) document violations, not upholding the right of the occupied people to armed resistance against an occupier, and so on.

The roundtable addresses the legal frameworks providing parallels and distinctions between settler colonial projects in Palestine, Kashmir, and Turtle Island. It aims to demonstrate how the Indian, Israeli, Canadian, and US governments build on each other's actions to reinforce their settler colonial agendas, what lessons have been learned from North American settler colonial experiences, as well as what the ICJ ruling on Gaza means for India, a state under two genocide alerts.

The event consists of two threads: the first one will cover the broader themes of legal framework and ramifications in Turtle Island, Palestine, and Kashmir; the second will hone in on the lived experiences from the three geographies, providing a grounded view of resistance and ways forward as they relate to settler colonialism.  

Speakers:

- Turtle Island: Sylvia McAdam (Assistant Professor, Windsor Law) & Megan Scribe (Assistant Professor, Toronto Metropolitan University)

- Kashmir: Imraan Mir (Attorney, writer, researcher) & Ather Zia (Associate Professor, Anthropology and Gender Studies, University of Northern Colorado)

- Palestine: Jonathan Kuttab (International Human Rights attorney) & Mariam Barghouti (Palestinian American researcher, writer, journalist based in Ramallah)

- Moderators: Azeezah Kanji (Legal academic and writer, Toronto) & Dean Accardi (Assistant Professor of History and Global Islamic Studies, Connecticut College)

The Episcopal Church has established itself as a leader in corporate engagement seeking to encourage socially responsible investing and corporate governance. The church began this work with a shareholder resolution introduced at a General Motors shareholder meeting by then Presiding Bishop John Hines as part of initiatives to oppose the South African apartheid regime.

Today, the Executive Council Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CCSR) implements the resolutions of the church’s General Convention and Executive Committee applying to corporations and corporate activities. Through shareholder resolutions and campaigns led by corporate engagement leaders such as the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, the Mercy Sisters, and Heartland, CCSR strives to put into practice the mind of the church (such as the role of justice in corporate life), as expressed by elected an appointed leaders from General Convention and the Executive Council, to positively influence corporate behavior and activities.Today, corporate engagement has become a primary driver for the work for social change.This workshop, moderated by JoAnn Hanson of Church Investment Group, will be a conversation among CCSR members. They will discuss CCSR's history and methodology andthen turn to current issues being engaged by the CCSR. Our panelists will share how you can be involved, whether your church invests or you are looking at your personal portfolios.

Panelists include:

• Brian Grieves - Vice Chair, Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility; Honolulu County, Hawaii (FOSNA co-chair)

• JoAnn Hanson - President, Church Investment Group; Tuxedo, New York

• W.B. McKeown - Lawyer, not-for-profit organizations and Consultant, Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility; New York, New York

• Diane B. Pollard - Financial Consultant and member of the Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility; New York, New York

• Winnie Varghese - Rector, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church; Atlanta, Georgia

• Diana Wilcox - Rector, Christ Church; Bloomfield & Glen Ridge, New Jersey

All are invited to join in this international, online consultation featuring Rev. Prof. Mitri Raheb, Founder and President of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem and author of Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible. Responses will be offered by Atalia Omer and Revelation Velunta. This event is being co-organized with the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice.

Main Speaker:

Rev. Prof. Mitri Raheb is the Founder and President of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem. The most widely published Palestinian theologian to date, Dr. Raheb is the author and editor of 50 books including: Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible (2023) and The Cross in Contexts: Suffering and Redemption in Palestine (2017). His books and numerous articles have been translated so far into thirteen languages. Rev. Raheb served as the senior pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem from June 1987 to May 2017 and as the President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land from 2011-2016. A social entrepreneur, Rev. Raheb has founded several NGOs including the Christian Academic Forum for Citizenship in the Arab World (CAFCAW). He is a founding and board member of the National Library of Palestine, and a founding member of Bright Stars of Bethlehem, a US 501c3 non-for-profit organization. He is an elected member to the Palestinian National Council as well as the Palestinian Central Council. Read full bio at https://www.mitriraheb.org/en/page/short-bio

Respondents:

Atalia Omer is a Religion, Conflict, and Peace Studies Professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame in the United States. She is also a senior fellow and Dermot TJ Dunphy Visiting Professor at the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative at Harvard University’s Religion and Public Life program. She earned her PhD in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. Her research focuses on religion, violence, and peacebuilding as well as theories and methods in the study of religion and Palestine/Israel studies. Omer was awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2017, resulting in the publication of Decolonizing Religion and Peacebuilding (Oxford University Press, 2023). Among other publications, Omer is the author of When Peace is Not Enough: How the Israeli Peace Camp Thinks about Religion, Nationalism, and Justice (University of Chicago Press, 2015) and Days of Awe: Reimagining Jewishness in Solidarity with Palestinians (University of Chicago Press, 2019). She is also a co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (Oxford University Press, 2015).

Revelation E. Velunta is Associate Professor of New Testament and Cultural Studies at Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines. He also coordinates the Master of Theology Program and the Union Theological Open Seminary (UTOS). He has taught at Vanderbilt University, Teologiska Hogskolan Stockholm, Philippine Women’s University, Philippine Christian University (Manila and Dasmarinas campuses), and Southern Christian College. His work celebrates the pedagogy of the oppressed and insists that there are other ways of reading and doing. More specifically, his Jeepney Hermeneutics (featured in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Bible and Gender Studies) invites students of the Bible to “beat swords into ploughshares.” His latest book, Reading the Parables of Jesus inside a Jeepney, both in its Kindle and Printed versions are Amazon.com bestsellers. Velunta has graduate and postgraduate degrees from Vanderbilt University and Princeton Theological Seminary.

Israel is central to the political and cultural life of the American Jewish community. But it has also become a deeply divisive subject, as painful generational cracks have emerged within the Jewish community over the Israel-Palestine conflict, inspiring argument, protest and even censorship.

Focusing on the stories of two young Americans raised to defend Israel at all costs, Israelism traces their awakening to Israel's dehumanization of Palestinians and the ongoing violence of the occupation.  The film explores the past, present, and future of the relationship between American Jews and Israel, as growing numbers question whether support for Israel should condition and define their Jewish identity.  Featuring a range of American Jewish thinkers, community leaders and activists, Israelism asks how and why Israel became the cornerstone of American Judaism, what the consequences have been, and what will happen as divisions continue to grow.

Register to watch "Israelism" for free at your convenience; then join the Q&A Discussion 1/21 with:

Erin Axelman: filmmaker, co-founder of Tikkun Olam Productions

Simone Zimmerman: Jewish American activist, co-founder of IfNotNow

Lubna Alzaroo: instructor at University of Washington specializing in settler colonialism

Peter Beinart: editor-at-large at Jewish Currents, professor of journalism, CUNY and Publisher, The Beinart Newsletter

https://www.voicesfromtheholyland.org/events/sun-01212024-1200/israelism

EDIT: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CHANGED TO JANUARY 13TH

Palestinians on the ground are calling on us all to join this virtual rally on January 13 at 1pm ET!

Go to youtube.com/@liveforpalestine24 to attend.

This week we are joined by Reverend Naim Ateek, Reverend Carrie Ballenger, Reverend Elaine Enns, and Ched Myers for a special Christmas service.

The Readings of the week:

Romans 16:25-27 

25 Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith-- 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory for ever! Amen.

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Every day, Palestinians wake up to a new nightmare. Sam Bahour and Mariam Barghouti’s brave political commentary and research work highlight the trials of Palestinian life under occupation. This is vital to the congressional advocacy and human rights activism with which we engage. This program will offer their insights and critique of current realities as well as priorities in this moment for the Palestinian movement as well as advocacy in the US. Sam Bahour resides in Al-Bireh/Ramallah, Palestine. He does business consulting as Applied Information Management (AIM), specializing in business development with a niche focus on the information technology sector and start-ups. Bahour was instrumental in the establishment of two publicly traded firms: the Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) and the Arab Palestinian Shopping Centers (APSC). He is Co-founder & Emeritus Member of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (A4VPE) and currently serves as an independent Director at the Arab Islamic Bank P.L.C. and a board member at Just Vision. He writes frequently on Palestinian affairs and has been widely published in leading outlets. He is co-editor of HOMELAND: Oral History of Palestine and Palestinians (Olive Branch Press, 1993), tweets at @SamBahour, and blogs at epalestine.ps. Mariam Barghouti is the Senior Palestine correspondent for Mondoweiss. Her coverage has focused on the rise of armed resistance, the lives of resistance fighters and the roles of the Israeli and Palestinian authorities. Previously she was a researcher and political analyst. She was also a monitoring and evaluation consultant for international humanitarian aid agencies in the levant. Her political commentary has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, BBC, amongst others.

Israelism

Event Date

October 15, 2023

Time

3 pm ET/ 12 noon PT

Israel is central to the political and cultural life of the American Jewish community. But it has also become a deeply divisive subject, as painful generational cracks have emerged within the Jewish community over the Israel-Palestine conflict, inspiring argument, protest and even censorship.

Focusing on the stories of two young Americans raised to defend Israel at all costs, Israelism traces their awakening to Israel's dehumanization of Palestinians and the ongoing violence of the occupation.  The film explores the past, present, and future of the relationship between American Jews and Israel, as growing numbers question whether support for Israel should condition and define their Jewish identity.  Featuring a range of American Jewish thinkers, community leaders and activists, Israelism asks how and why Israel became the cornerstone of American Judaism, what the consequences have been, and what will happen as divisions continue to grow.

Watch the film for free at your convenience; Join the Q&A Discussion

Eric Axelman: filmmaker, co-founder of Tikkun Olam Productions

Simone Zimmerman: Jewish American activist, co-founder of IfNotNow

Lubna Alzaroo: instructor at University of Washington specializing in settler colonialism

       Peter Beinart: editor-at-large at Jewish Currents, professor of journalism, CUNY and Publisher, The Beinart Newsletter

You must register to get the free film link and to participate in the Q&A discussion.

Register at Tinyurl.com/VFHL-October2023.

Watch the Trailers: Tinyurl.com/VFHL-IsraelismTrailer

Sabeel-Kairos UK is Taking Action for Palestine this Autumn with their 4-week Hope for Palestine series. Week 2, "Hope for what?" explores solutions with FOSNA Executive Director Jonathan Kuttab.

Oct 1, 7pm GMT+1, 2pm EDT

This series is FREE to all Sabeel-Kairos paying members. Non-members will need to make a donation of £10 for the series.

We Are All Part of One Another - Webinar Series

Jonathan Kuttab's Book Launch - The Truth Shall Set You Free

Thursday September 28, 2023, Noon-1:30pm ET

Hosted by Maia Carter Hallward, with Special Guest Mubarak Awad, NVI Founder. 

RSVP Here! 

Join us as we welcome Jonathan Kuttab to speak about his memoir along with special guest Mubarak Awad. Jonathan Kuttab is a co-founder of Nonviolence International, a Palestinian Human Rights lawyer-and Christian pacifist. In this marvelous memoir, he takes us on a personal journey from anger and thoughts of violence to his deep commitment to unrelenting peaceful activism. Be forewarned: This is not the journey of a starry-eyed idealist. It’s a true life story of a man who has witnessed violence, terrible injustice, suffering and heart-wrenching losses. 3 of the chapters are devoted to nonviolence and the work of his cousin Mubarak Awad who will also be joining the book launch. After discussion of his book we will transition into talking about nonviolence and the future of Palestinians and Israelis today.

Jonathan will be joined by NVI founder, Mubarak Awad. Mr. Awad is an adjunct professor at the American University in Washington, DC at the School of International Studies. He focuses on promoting peace dialogue and transforming post-conflict societies, as well as teaching graduate courses on the methods and theory of nonviolence. Recently, we celebrate the first ever Mubarak Awad Day. Check out this page for inspirational comments from people who have been influenced by his work. https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/mubarak_awad_day

Hosted by: Dr. Maia Carter Hallward is a full professor at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA, in the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development and Executive Editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. Maia has published widely in the fields of international relations, civil resistance, and international conflict management, including textbooks on International Conflict Management (2019, Routledge) and Nonviolence (2015, Polity). A former intern at Nonviolence International, she became a vegetarian for environmental reasons at 13.

Join PARCEO and Haymarket for a discussion on challenging antisemitism together with all forms of injustice.

Wednesday, September 27 · 7 - 8:30pm EDT

Eventbrite's fee is nonrefundable.

About this event

• 1 hour 30 minutes

• Mobile eTicket

Please join PARCEO and Haymarket Books on Wednesday, September 27th at 7 PM for the launch of our “Curriculum on Antisemitism from a Framework of Collective Liberation” grounded in a deep commitment to challenging antisemitism and all forms of injustice.

This new curriculum was created by PARCEO, together with educators, scholars, and activists. The need for educational resources on antisemitism within a pedagogic framework of collective liberation is particularly important for this moment–as rising white nationalist violence targets many of our communities, including Jews, Muslims, Black people, immigrant communities, trans and queer people, among others, and as false charges of antisemitism are directed at seekers of Palestinian justice.

Join PARCEO and Haymarket Books for a discussion on a new curriculum on the importance of combatting antisemitism as part of our broader struggles for justice.

Welcome by Nina Mehta

Opening/Moderated by Robin DG Kelley

Remarks from Jamil Dakwar, Nyle Fort, Abby Saul, Lesley Williams

Closing by Mark Tseng-Putterman

***Register through Eventbrite to receive a link to the video conference on the day of the event. This event will also be recorded and live captioning will be provided.***

Speakers:

• Robin DG Kelley, activist, scholar, writer; Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA

• Lesley Williams, activist and educator against racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Palestinianism.

• Jamil Dakwar, human rights lawyer and chair of Adalah Justice Project’s advisory board

• Abby Saul, early childhood educator and social media specialist

• Nyle Fort, minister, social justice organizer, scholar; Assistant Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Columbia University

• Nina Mehta, community educator and co-director, PARCEO, an education, resource, and research center

• Mark Tseng-Putterman, a historian of Asian American community politics, Cold War imperialism, and social movements.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

This event is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books and PARCEO. While all of our events are freely available, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.

Storytelling as Resistance:
Palestinian Identity and Resilience
in Literature for Young People 

presented by UMKR and MFSA
Wednesday, 13 September 2023
10am PT, 11am MT, 12noon CT, 1pm ET (US, Canada)
5pm GMT / 8pm Palestine
Register: www.palestine.events/13Sept2023 

Talking about Palestine with our friends and family can be difficult for many of us. In this webinar, we will hear from a diverse panel of professionals - Christian, Muslim, and Jewish - who through their teaching and writing about Palestine for young people, convey a challenging subject in engaging and educational ways that overcome the all-too-common erasure of the Palestinian people and their story.

Topics will include the importance of representation and truth-telling and how children can learn about difficult subjects in age-appropriate ways. Booklists, curriculums, and other resources will be shared that can help us learn how best to convey the Palestinian story to children. Our discussion and resources should provide valuable insights and learning for Palestine-related conversations and communications with adults as well. 
REGISTER HERE: palestine.events/13Sept2023
 

OUR PANEL

HANNAH MOUSHABECK is a second‐generation Palestinian American author, editor, and marketer who was raised in a family of booksellers and publishers in Western Massachusetts and England. She recently published her first picture book: "Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine," a story that brings Palestine to life for children of the Palestinian diaspora and that can resonate with diverse immigrant families. Born in Brooklyn into Interlink Publishing, a family‐run independent publishing house, Hannah learned the power of literature at a young age and was taught that “books are the gateway to a country’s soul." She has worked in editing and marketing children’s books for Chronicle Books, Interlink Publishing, and The Quarto Group. She has also has served as co-chair of the New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Committee, and on the executive board of the Boston Teen Author Festival. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts on the homelands of the Pocumtuc and Nipmuc Nations. 

NORA LESTER MURAD is a writer, educator, and activist. She co-authored “Rest in My Shade: A Poem About Roots” with Danna Masad and edited “I Found Myself in Palestine: Stories of Love and Renewal From Around the Globe." Her young adult novel, “Ida in the Middle,” about a Palestinian- American girl’s search for belonging, includes curricular materials for 6th-9th grade. While living in Palestine, Nora co-founded Palestine's first community foundation, Dalia Association, and the aid accountability initiative, Aid Watch Palestine. She now lives in Massachusetts where she organizes to expand the teaching of Palestine in schools, among other social justice issues. Murad is a policy member with Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network and been published widely on the subjects of international aid and community philanthropy, including in The Guardian, Aljazeera, Huffington Post, OpenDemocracy, and Counterpunch. 

ABEER RAMADAN-SHINNAWI is a Palestinian American educator of 20+ years who has used her upbringing as a child of immigrants to help connect students, schools, and communities by providing curriculum and activities that reflect BIPOC students and teachers. Ramadan-Shinnawi founded Altair Education Consulting in 2019, to create learning pathways that amplify the voice and history of the Arab/Muslim American communities. She has been a resource teacher in Baltimore County Public Schools Office of Social Studies, served as an equity liaison and the co-facilitator of an affinity group for teachers of color, and created and facilitated a student support group for Arab/Muslim immigrant female students. A member of many Teacher Advisory groups, she has written numerous education guides and has been featured in several conferences and podcasts. Abeer was also the program leader for the non- profit Re-Imagining Migration. 

Our moderator, LISA BENDER, is Chair of United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR), the grassroots movement mobilizing United Methodist advocacy for Palestinian liberation and a just peace in Palestine/Israel. She also leads UMKR's Boycott and Divestment Committee and serves on the Steering Committee of the Love Your Neighbor Coalition, an alliance of diverse justice- seeking movements and ethnic caucuses in the United Methodist Church. Lisa worked for 18 years as the Executive Secretary for the Director of Connectional Ministries of the UMC's Susquehanna Conference. Today she serves her conference on the boards of Mission Central, Global Ministries, and Preachers' Aid Society. Lisa was a delegate to the UMC General Conference in 2012, 2016, and 2019 and is an alternate to General Conference 2024. 

Erasing Palestine from US School Curricula

Event Date: September 10, 2023

Time: 3 pm ET/ 12 noon PT

Where is Palestine?

What are the occupied Palestinian territories?

What is the Palestinian-Israeli struggle about?

Do teaching materials in US public schools and Jewish private schools provide accurate answers?

Probably not.

People who seek to maintain US support for Israel, both within the Jewish community and in the larger US population, have profoundly shaped the teaching of Israel and Palestine.  VFHL examines this issue through two films.  Between the Lines presents interviews with students and teachers at American Jewish day schools about “Israel education.” The Fight Against Israeli Propaganda in Virginia Textbooks reveals the behind-the-scenes efforts of an Israeli affinity group to erase Palestine from US public school teaching materials and reduce Palestinians to peasants and terrorists.

Watch the film for free at your convenience; Join the Q&A Discussion

Ali Kriegsman: filmmaker, author, entrepreneur, and small business leader

Ezra Beinart: Jewish day school senior; facilitator of on-line discussions between US Jewish teens & Palestinians

Susan Douglass:  educator, author, outreach director for the CCAS at Georgetown University

Faedah Totah (moderator): Associate Professor, School of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University

You must register to get the free film link and to participate in the Q&A discussion.

Register at Tinyurl.com/VFHL-September2023.

Watch the Trailers: Tinyurl.com/VFHL-BetweenLinesTrailer

https://www.voicesfromtheholyland.org/events/sun-09102023-1200/erasing-palestine-us-school-curricula

Palestine for Hawai‘i - Teach-In and Fundraiser to Support Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) Communities Rebuild

Saturday September 9th, 2023

10-11 AM Hawaii / 1-2 PM PST/ 4-5 PM EST

Online, hosted by Jadaliyya (live-streamed and recorded)

Zoom Link: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89743029276
Meeting ID: 897 4302 9276 

Watch the livestream on YouTube here.

Join Palestinian, Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), and allied scholars and movement workers for a teach-in and fundraiser to support Indigenous rebuilding efforts in Maui. 

The recent wildfires in Maui have left historic Hawaiian communities devastated, with 99 confirmed dead, one thousand missing people and thousands more displaced from their homes and lands. As Kanaka Maoli have taught us, these wildfires are not “natural,” but are settler colonial disasters with roots in the expropriation of Native lands, waters, and other natural resources – in the service of the tourist industry and backed by the U.S. military-industrial complex.

This teach-in centers the histories and experiences of Kanaka Maoli communities with U.S. settler colonialism in Hawai’i, continued organizing for Hawaiian sovereignty, and practices of solidarity between Hawai’i and Palestine. It is grounded in the recognition as Palestinians that Native Hawaiian’s ongoing struggles for freedom from U.S. military occupation and settler colonialism are interconnected with our own continued struggle for liberation from Israeli colonial violence.

In the immediate wake of city, county and state government abandonment, and with private realtors now preying on those who have lost their homes, we call on Palestinians across the diaspora (and our allies) to support Native Hawaiians’ local efforts to rebuild their communities and livelihoods as an act of radical love and reciprocal solidarity. 

We encourage community donations directly to Mauna Medic Healers Hui and Pacific Birth Collective. 

Speakers

Cynthia Franklin is Professor of English at the University of Hawai‘i. She coedits the journal Biography. She is the author of Narrating Humanity: Life Writing and Movement Politics from Palestine to Mauna Kea (2023), Academic Lives: Memoir, Cultural Theory, and the University Today (2009) and Writing Women’s Communities: The Politics and Poetics of Multi-Genre Anthologies (1994). Coedited special journal issues include, for Biography, “Life in Occupied Palestine” (2014).  She has served for 10 years on the Organizing Collective of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), and cofounded Students and Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UH (SFJP@UH) and Jewish Voice for Peace-Hawai'i.  

J. Kēhaulani Kauanui is Professor of American Studies and affiliate faculty in Anthropology at Wesleyan University, where she teaches courses related to critical Indigenous studies, critical race studies, settler colonial studies and anarchist studies. She is the author of Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity (Duke University Press 2008); Paradoxes of Hawaiian Sovereignty: Land, Sex, and the Colonial Politics of State Nationalism (Duke University Press 2018); and Speaking of Indigenous Politics: Conversations with Activists, Scholars, and Tribal Leaders (University of Minnesota Press 2018). She serves on the advisory board for the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Māhealani Ahia (she/her/'o ia) is a Los-Angeles born Kanaka Maoli scholar, activist, songcatcher, and storykeeper with lineal ties to Lāhainā, Maui. Māhea is a PhD candidate in English (Hawaiian Literature) and in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her dissertation entitled, “Shapeshifting Hawaiian Biography: the Life and Afterlives of Kihawahine,” theorizes feminist power and leadership within the moʻo (reptilian water deity) clan connected to Lāhainā. Māhea is an organizer for Students and Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UH and co-organizer of the Mauna Kea Syllabus Project.

Kahala Johnson (he/they/ʻo ia) is an Indigenous politics, futures, and gender and sexuality studies scholar at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Their research focuses on genderqueer and poly decolonial love, and their dissertation, “A Night Slippery with Echoes,” examines decolonized futures of the Hawaiian Kingdom. They are co-founder of the Hale Māhū (LGBTQ space) at Puʻuhuluhulu University at Mauna Kea, where they welcomed Palestinian allies. Born and raised in Nā Wai ʻEhā, Maui, Kahala has been working with family to reoccupy ancestral lands, and has helped build multiple puʻuhonua (refuge) across Maui.

Nour Joudah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at UCLA and a former President’s and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Geography at UC-Berkeley (2022-23). Dr. Joudah completed her PhD in Geography at UCLA (2022), and wrote her dissertation Mapping Decolonized Futures: Indigenous Visions for Hawaii and Palestine on the efforts by Palestinian and native Hawaiian communities to imagine and work toward liberated futures while centering indigenous duration as a non-linear temporality. Her work examines mapping practices and indigenous survival and futures in settler states, highlighting how indigenous countermapping is a both cartographic and decolonial praxis. She also has an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University, and wrote her MA thesis on the role and perception of exile politics within the Palestinian liberation struggle, in particular among politically active Palestinian youth living in the United States and occupied Palestine.

Rana Barakat is Asociate Professor of history and Director of the Museum at Birzeit University in Palestine. Her research interests include the history and historiography of colonialism, nationalism, and cultures of resistance. She has published in several venues including the Journal of Palestine Studies, Jerusalem Quarterly, Settler Colonial Studies, and Native American and Indigenous Studies. She has a book forthcoming with UNC Press titled Lifta and Resisting the Museumification of Palestine: Indigenous History of the Nakba, which advances an Indigenous understanding of time, space, and memory in Palestine by focusing on the details of the people and place of Lifta village over time. And her second book is in progress, The Buraq Revolt: Constructing a History of Resistance in Palestine, argues that this 1929 revolt was the first sign in the mandate period of sustained mass resistance to the settler-colonial project, including direct and rhetorical actions against both political Zionism and British imperialism, planting seeds of a century of mass political mobilization.