Peace
With Justice In 2010: Remembering The Oppressed
Palestinians
3 January 2010By Mazin Qumsiyeh
A year ago, in the midst of the savage attack on Gaza,
we in the Palestinain Center for Rapprochement between
People in Beit Sahour issued a call for action
composed of 25 things that ordinary people can do
(list below). Today we are gathering in Bethlehem
(Nativity Square 4-6 PM) in the last day of the year.
Bethlehemite Children will read the names of close to
400 children murdered in Gaza a year ago and to pledge
that in 2010 we will intensify our efforts including
with boycotts, divestments and sanctions. The event in
the square of the church of nativity.
It is fitting that attendance at this event will be
higher than expected before because many of the people
who were supposed to go to Gaza and were prevented by
the puppet government in Egypt (acting on behalf of
Israel) have instead come to join us here. For news
and details about the travails of the Gaza Freedom
March, see http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/ Seven of
them who are staying in my house (plus an eighth who
also was supposed to go to Gaza but decided it is not
going to work out) attended our planning meeting and
stayed up last night with me and my wife making
hangings for the tree. Each hanging/"decoration" has
the name and age of one of the children from Gaza on
one side and on the other side is the sticker carrying
the words Freedom, Equality, Return and a call to
boycott Israel. Each will be appropriately hung by a
child from Bethlehem rememberinga child from Gaza.
On this last day of the year as we reflect on the last
year in Palestine where it was filled with hope, began
with Children and ending with children (and youth and
young at heart from around the world). We reflect on
the hundreds of new people we met, on the excellent
and productive year of activism, on finishing my book,
and most of all on the blessings of activism, the best
and most sure recipe for happiness. With your help,
may the new year bring us all peace with justice.
Action call from the Palestinian Center for
Rapprochement Between People:
So far hundreds of civilians have been killed in Gaza.
Five sisters in one family, four other children in
another home, two children on a cart drawn by a
donkey. Universities, colleges, police stations,
roads, apartment buildings were all targeted. The UN
Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied
Palestinian areas issued a statement that "The Israeli
airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent s evere and
massive violations of international humanitarian law
as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard
to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the
requirements of the laws of war."
Twenty-five things to do to bring peace with justice
(slightly uopdated from last year):
1) First get the facts and then disseminate them. ....
2) Contact local media. Write letters to editors
(usually 100-150 words) and longer op-eds (usually
600-800 words) for local newspapers. But also write to
news departments in both print, audio, and visual
media about their coverage. In the US http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/
You can find media listings in your country using
search engines like google
3) Contact elected and other political leaders in your
country to urge them to apply pressure to end the
attacks. In the US, Contact the State Department at
202.647.5291, the White House 202-456-1111 the
Egyptian Embassy 202.895.5400, Email (embassy@egyptembassy.net)
and the Obama Transition Team 202-540-3000 (then press
2 to speak with a staff member).
4) Organize and join demonstrations in front of
Israeli and Egyptian embassies or when not doable in
front of your parliament, office of elected officials,
and any other visible place (and do media work for
it).
5) Hold a teach-in, seminar, public dialogue,
documentary film viewing etc. this is straightforward:
you need to decide venue, nature, if any speakers, and
do some publicity (the internet helps).
6) Pass out fliers with facts and figures about
Palestine and Gaza in your community (make sure also
to mention its relevance to the audience: e.g, US tax
payers funding war crimes and increase in world
instability and economic uncertainty)
7) Put a Palestinian flag at your window.
8) Wear a Palestinian head scarf (Kufiya)
9) Wear Black arm bands (this helps start
conversations with people)
10) Send direct aid to Gaza through the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). http://www.un.org/unrwa/
11) Initiate boycotts, divestments and sanctions at
all levels and including asking leaders to expel the
Israeli ambassadors (an ambassador of an apartheid and
rogue state). See Palestinian call http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10056.shtml
and look at the site of the BDS Movement. http://www.BDSmovement.net
12) Work towards bringing Israeli leaders before war
crime courts (actions along those lines in courts have
stopped Israeli leaders from traveling abroad to some
countries like Britain where they may face charges).
13) Calling upon all Israelis to demonstrate in front
of their war ministry and to more directly challenge
their government
14) Do outreach to neighbors, friends, and cowarkers
(and others) directly. You can reach many others by
the internet to (e.g. join and post information to
various listservs/groups, write directly to all people
in positions of influence).
15) Start your own activist group or join other local
groups (simple search in your city with the word
Palestine could identify candidate groups that have
previously worked on issues of Palestine). Many have
also been successful in at bringing coalitions from
different constituencies in their local areas to work
together (human rights group, social and civil
activists, religious activists, etc).
16) Develop a campaign of sit-ins at government
offices or other places where decision makers
aggregate
17) Do a group fast for peace one day and hold it in a
public place.
18) Visit Palestine
19) Support human rights and other groups working on
the ground in Palestine
20) Make large signs and display them at street
corners and whereever people congregate.
21) Contact local churches, mosques, synagogues, and
other houses of worship and ask them to take a moral
stand and act. Call on your mosque to dedicate this
Friday for Gaza actions.
22) Sign petitions for Gaza, e.g.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1
23) Write and call people in Gaza
24) Work with other groups that do not share your
political views (factionalism and excessive divisions
within activist communities allowed those who advocate
war to succeed).
25) Dedicate a certain time for activism for peace
every day (1 hour) and think of more actions than what
is listed above.
For support and contacts of people in Gaza or to
volunteer, please contact the Palestinian Center for
Rapprochement Between People, via gaza@imemc.org, or
call 989-607-9480 (from the US and Canada) or 972 2277
2018 (from other places).
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
http://www.qumsiyeh.org
http://www.pcr.ps
©
EsinIslam.Com
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