Kathy Kelly speaks in Woodstock

Kathy Kelly spoke to a large group of people this Thursday, March 29 at the Woodstock Community Center. The title of her talk was "Eyewitness to War, Witness to Peace: Reflections on the US war in Iraq and the ongoing Middle East conflict." Having visited Iraq 24 times in the past ten years, Ms. Kelly gave a uniquely personal face to the suffering of civilians in the war zone. Her stories were both harrowing and very moving, and several in the audience expressed a desire to do more to end the occupation of Iraq. The presentation concluded with a plan to stage a sit-in in Hillary Clinton's office in Albany.

The talk was sponsored by a new group, the Middle East Crisis Response (http://www.mideastcrisis.org). Donations were accepted for Kathy Kelly's work in the Middle East.

Kathy Kelly on Activist Radio

It was a privilege to have Kathy Kelly on Activist Radio today. If you didn't hear her tonight in Staatsburg, go to http://www.classwars.org and click on Mar. 28.

I put a picture of Kathy and Gary in the studio (thanks, Tarak).

Fred

Norma Musih

Norma Musih from Zochrot spoke recently about Israeli efforts find the truth about Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948. Thanks, David, for the pictures.



http://www.zochrot.org

Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh

Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, author of "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle," spoke on Wednesday, March 7 at the Woodstock Community Center. His talk entitled "Is It Apartheid?" prompted a lively but courteous debate on the morality of ethnic cleansing in occupied Palestine. Dr. Qumsiyeh described how the 450,000 Jewish "settlers" in the West Bank have made the two state solution impossible. Several Jewish members of the audience spoke of their own inner conflicts when presented with the obvious racism of the occupation. The talk was sponsored by the Middle East Crisis Response.

Paula Silbey at the UU in Poughkeepsie

Eyewitness Palestine
Sunday, Feb. 25 starting at 3:00 PM
at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
67 So. Randolph Ave., Poughkeepsie

Paula Silbey, a resident of the Hudson Valley, joined International Women's Peace Service (http://www.iwps-pal.org/en/index.php) and made two trips to Palestine in 2006. Her talk focuses on daily life, the hardships of Israeli occupation, and the conflict she experienced as an American Jew. But her presentation is full of pictures of Palestinian children, and there is an underlying hope that people of conscience can find a better way.

Mohammed Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal

Mohammed Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal, both from the West Bank, spoke on Friday, February 9 at the New Paltz United Methodist Church. Feryal, headmistress at the Kortuba School in the heart of Hebron's old city, showed pictures of the daily assaults against her students by the Israeli settlers. Mohammed, Secretary of Bil'in's Village Council, spoke of nonviolent resistance to racism directed at Palestinians in their own land. The event was sponsored by a new group, The Middle East Crisis Response (www.mideastcrisis.org).

Hudson Valley Resident Visits Palestine

An Ulster County resident with family in Israel, Paula spent several weeks in the fall and spring of 2006, working with the International Women's Peace Service. She described the constant harassment that average Palestinians go through to harvest their olives and to maintain a normal life. "Apartheid in South Africa," she explained, "never had one road for blacks and one for whites as does the West Bank."