<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt;color:#000000;"><DIV><SPAN style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px"><SPAN><B>Israeli Army Refusenik and member of Anarchists Against the Wall will be speaking on campus!</B><BR><BR><B>When:</B> Monday, November 1st, 7pm<BR><B>Where:</B> Noyes Lab Room 217<BR><B>What:</B> Gal Lagassi </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN>will </SPAN>give a presentation about what anti-occupation organizing looks like on the ground in Palestine/Israel, focusing on mass mobilization against the construction of the Israeli Gaza Strip barrier and West Bank separation wall. Gal is an Army refuser and member of Anarchists Against the Wall, a group that does direct solidarity work within occupied Palestine<SPAN style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px">.
<BR><BR>Please note that the speaker has been changed. Sahar Verdi, who was initially going to speak, was denied entry into the US. <BR><BR></SPAN><B>Background info:</B><BR> <BR><B>Anarchists Against the Wall</B> (AATW) is an Israeli direct action group that was established in 2003 in response to the construction of the wall Israel is building on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. The group works in cooperation with Palestinians in a joint popular struggle against the occupation. Since its formation, the group has participated in hundreds of demonstrations and direct actions against the wall specifically, and the occupation generally, all over the West Bank. AATW's work in Palestine is coordinated through Palestinian villages' local popular committees.
<P align=justify><B></B> </P>
<P align=justify><B>The Israeli Refusenik Movement:<BR></P></B>
<P align=justify>Military service is mandatory after high school for young Jewish Israelis. The <I>Shministim</I> are Israeli youth who refuse to serve in the army because it enforces Israel’s 40-year occupation of the Palestinians. While a number of Shministim letters have been written in the past (read about the first letter sent to Prime Minister Golda Meir <A href="https://exchange.cites.uiuc.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b0c151cb899a47ecae982ef3b72dea5c&URL=http%3a%2f%2fdecember18th.org%2f2008%2f11%2f25%2fshministim-history%2f" target=_blank><B>here</B></A> ), dozens of youth have signed the <A href="https://exchange.cites.uiuc.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b0c151cb899a47ecae982ef3b72dea5c&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.shministim.com%2f" target=_blank><B>current letter</B></A> for <B><A href="https://exchange.cites.uiuc.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b0c151cb899a47ecae982ef3b72dea5c&URL=http%3a%2f%2fdecember18th.org%2f2009%2f10%2f13%2fshministim-2010%2f"
target=_blank>Shministim 2010</A></B>, which states, "Our objection to becoming soldiers of the occupation stems from our loyalty to our values and to the society surrounding us, and it is part of our ongoing struggle for peace and equality, a struggle whose Jewish-Arab nature proves that peace and co-existence is possible. This is our way, and we are willing to pay the price." About one hundred signed last year’s 2009 Shministim <B><SPAN style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline"><A href="https://exchange.cites.uiuc.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b0c151cb899a47ecae982ef3b72dea5c&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.refusingtokill.net%2fIsrael%2fShministimLetter2008.htm" target=_blank>letter.</A></SPAN></B> Each letter articulates the basis for refusal by members of that year’s “graduating class.” The <I>Shministim</I> face prison terms as a result of their military refusal.</P>
<P align=justify>This event is sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine.</P></DIV></div><br>
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