[Peace-discuss] Anna Baltzer is the new National Organizer for the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

[Karen Medina]

Anna Baltzer is the new National Organizer for the US Campaign to End
the Israeli Occupation.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
<uscampaign at endtheoccupation.org>
Date: Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 3:17 PM
Subject: Announcing our new National Organizer: Anna Baltzer!

  Volume 8; Number 20
                 Occupation End Notes
                   December 6, 2010

Award-winning activist and author Anna Baltzer joins US Campaign team!

As we finish and send this newsletter today, we're also welcoming the
one-and-only Anna Baltzer to our staff as National Organizer. We feel
very excited to have her on-board!

Anna is an award-winning lecturer, author and activist for Palestinian
human rights. As a volunteer with the International Women's Peace
Service in the West Bank, she documented human rights abuses and
supported Palestinian-led popular resistance to the Occupation.

Anna has appeared on television more than 100 times (including The
Daily Show with Jon Stewart) and lectured at more than 500
universities, schools, churches, mosques, synagogues, and policy
institutes on five continents. Baltzer is author of the book, Witness
in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories (see
our bookstore), and has contributed to various other books on the
subject. She is co-founder of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity
Committee.

As National Organizer, Anna will be dedicated to supporting our
coalitiion's many ongoing initiatives.

Below we highlight a few of those most newsworthy in the past two
weeks, so keep reading!...

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OTHER STUFF
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WikiLeaks Exposes U.S. Militarization of Middle East

The cables released so far by WikiLeaks shed light on
behind-the-scenes struggles between Israel's quest for complete
military dominance in the Middle East versus the U.S. desire to
saturate the entire region with a flood of high-tech weapons. Read
more about these revelations here:

WikiLeaks: Israel's Security Concerns Often Clash With U.S. Interests,
by Josh Ruebner, our National Advocacy Director
WikiLeaks: War, Diplomacy & Ban ki-Moon's Toothbrush, by Phyllis
Bennis, a member of our steering committee
Top 10 Wikileaks Palestine Nuggets, by Yousef Munayyer of the
Jerusalem Fund, one of our member organizations

WikiLeaks has done a great service, exposing in detail how U.S.
diplomacy is geared toward flooding the Middle East with weapons,
fueling a never-ending arms race, abetting Israel's crimes against
innocent Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, maintaining U.S. wars
that have cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Boycott: Put more pressure on Israel to change

Steven Goldberg, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
Oregon Live, November 23, 2010

As Israel increasingly ignores our government's objections to the
expansion of settlements, its primary concern is with placating its
own right-wing parliamentary coalition. And why should Israel be
concerned with the protests of the Obama administration when U.S.
military aid to Israel -- now billions of dollars per year, paid by
U.S. taxpayers at a time when they have no jobs and are losing their
homes -- continues unabated?

Israel is increasingly a rogue nation under international legal
standards. Decisions from the International Court of Justice declaring
the separation wall illegal, United Nations reports detailing Israel's
illegal actions during its invasion of Gaza (the Goldstone Report),
and the recent U.N. Human Rights Council report criticizing Israel's
attacks on the Gaza flotilla are bolstered by ongoing reports by
groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch detailing
Israel's illegal actions.

Article continues...

Princetonians call for Sabra hummus boycott

Huffington Post, November 19, 2010

A student campaign at Princeton University is calling for a boycott of
Sabra Hummus because the company that manufactures it provides Israel
soldiers with care packages, the Daily Princetonian reports (a story
also appeared in the New York Times).

The Princeton Committee on Palestine has created a referendum that
asks the school's dining services to sell an alternative hummus on
campus.

Article continues...

Minnesotans support state divestment

Click here to view the MNBBC video

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MNBBC) released a  its first
official video and petition, urging the state of Minnesota to divest
from Israel.

Minnesota's investment in two Israel bonds supports Israel's apartheid
system in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories and enables
widespread abuse of human rights. Israel Bonds finance infrastructure
projects including settlement building on the Palestinian West Bank
and in East Jerusalem; these settlements displace Palestinians from
their own lands.

Sign the petition...

AIPAC's tax exemption challenged

PR Newswire, November 22, 2010

Today the Internal Revenue Service received a 1,389 page filing
demanding that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC)
tax exempt status be retroactively revoked.  The filing, submitted by
the IRmep Center for Policy and Law Enforcement, spans nearly 60 years
-- from the moment AIPAC's founder left the employment of the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- to the present.

Two core charges are "False Charitable Purpose," as AIPAC does not
function as a bona fide "social welfare" organization, and "Fraudulent
Application for Tax Exempt Status," in that the majority of its
startup funding came from Israel.

Article continues...

Pocket Cards campaign: Fast facts to shoot down military aid

The "Be On Our Side" Campaign is proud to offer "pocket cards" to help
you spread the word about U.S. military aid to Israel and its damaging
effects on the lives of Palestinians and Israelis.

The striking 4x6 full-color cards show on one side the campaign's
advertisement that filled Chicago's public transit system through
October, and on the reverse, six "Fast Facts." The cards are perfect
for passing along to friends and acquaintances, and also ideal
"leave-behinds" for high-traffic areas, such as airports, libraries,
cafes, university buildings, doctor offices, etc. Carry them
everywhere!

Learn more...

NO to "pinkwashing" Israeli apartheid

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), December 01, 2010

As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and straight activists
and scholars, we condemn the Jewish National Fund's launch of a new
LGBT committee in New York City on December 9, 2010, for what it is:
an attempt to "pinkwash" the JNF's central role in acquiring
Palestinian land on which to build the Israeli apartheid state.

Most immediately, this campaign is designed to cover up the ugly fact
that Palestinians, with few exceptions, are effectively barred from
living on 93% of land in 1948 Palestine ("Israel") ... The JNF's LGBT
committee is also part of a well-orchestrated campaign to deflect
growing international outrage...

Article continues...

Steering committee member speaks at U.N.

Judith LeBlanc is a member of the US Campaign's steering committee,
and an organizer with Peace Action. She gave this speech last Monday
at the U.N., on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity
with the Palestinian People, at a commemoration held by the U.N.
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian
People. Click here to view her full 10-minute presentation about the
U.N.'s role in establishing a just peace, and click here for the press
release.

Arava Institute claims to promote peace while silent on justice

Adalah-NY, November 24, 2010

The Arava Institute's online event "With Earth and Each Other," held
Sunday, November 14, exemplified why the Palestinian call for a
boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions is vital. The
event was billed as a celebration of Palestinians, Israelis and
Jordanians working together for the environment.

But it failed to educate viewers about the most basic facts of Israeli
policies, and thus simply reinforced the status quo. The event, billed
as not "political," suggested that the Middle East conflict can be
resolved if people of different religions and ethnicities are nicer to
each other. It presented no information on the fundamental and
systematic inequalities that are at the root of the conflict.

Adalah-NY and numerous other groups had urged participants, including
religious and environmental organizations and performing artists like
Pete Seeger, Dan Bern, and Mandy Patinkin, to respect the Palestinian
boycott call and bow out...

Article continues...

Open the Al-Bweira Roads

Upper Hudson Peace Action (a US Campaign member group) is asking
everyone to pick up their pens and phones to help open the road to the
West Bank town of Al-Bweira. This is one small step in our larger
effort to end the Israeli occupation.

Help the town to gain adequate access for emergency vehicles. Help the
families of Al-Bweira to once again drive directly to the nearby city
of Hebron.

Take action...

'Tis the season... for solidarity!

Are you looking for unique gift ideas that also warm the spirit? When
you shop End the Occupation, you'll find many beautifully crafted
items. Some are made in Palestine, enabling you to "buy-cott" the
occupation by keeping Palestinian farmers in business.

Here's a superb selection of 10 gifts covering a broad price range. We
think you'll enjoy giving any one of them (to a friend, or yourself!).

Thank you for shopping End the Occupation during the holidays. Every
purchase you make supports our important work.

Shop Now...

Member Groups, Member Groups Everywhere!

To better aid our members' networking efforts, and to better gauge the
coalition's regional diversity, we've mapped our 325-plus members,
state-by-state! Don't see your group listed? Click here to join the US
Campaign.

Back to Top

Occupation End Notes is the US Campaign bi-weekly newsletter, designed
as a tool for activists. For this newsletter to be successful, we need
your participation. Use us to promote events, give feedback on recent
actions, recommend resources, or just learn from other activists in
the movement. If you or your organization is planning an event or you
have information for the Newsletter, please contact the US Campaign by
emailing us here.

The US Campaign aims to change U.S. policies that sustain Israel's
43-year occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem, and that deny equal rights for all.

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