News from the Region
2007 Olive Harvest Delegation
The Palestinian olive harvest takes place in October and November each year. The harvest is a time for celebration and solidarity. Families and friends gather to go harvest olives together, and Israeli peace and justice groups, as well as international groups, often join farmers as they reap their harvest.
The Fall Meeting & the Trend to Focus on Aid Rather than Rights
By Nadia Hijab and Diana Buttu
The timing and substance of the international meeting called by US President George Bush in his 16 July 2007 speech on the Middle East may end up focusing on aid at the expense of a political solution.
Reports from the Assessing the Prospects for Peace: 40 Years of Occupation, 40 Years of Nonviolent Resistance Delegation
May 27, 2007 - The 2007 Assessing the Prospects for Peace Delegation visited Israel and Palestine from May 27-June 9 and was jointly organized between the American Friends Service Committee and Interfaith Peace-Builders. Read archived reports from the delegation.
Victory for Bil’in: Court Orders Government to Re-Route Wall in West Bank Village
By Jesse Levene for the Alternative Information Center
On September 4, 2007, residents of the West Bank village of Bil’in were joined by Israelis and internationals to celebrate a resounding victory in their battle against the Segregation Wall. From atop trucks and vans, crowds waved flags, sang and danced at the news from the Israeli High Court of Justice, whose ruling [to reroute the Wall in Bil'in] is being seen as the culmination of and reward for over two years of non-violent protest.
AFSC youth worker wounded in Gaza
AFSC expresses profound sadness that Ibrahim Shatali, program coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee Quaker Palestine Youth Program, was shot Wednesday in Gaza City during a peaceful demonstration calling for an end to violence between Hamas and Fatah supporters.
Peace Prize Winner, Nonviolent Marchers Attacked by Israeli Army
By Kathy Kamphoefner and Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representatives
With sound bombs, tear gas, and rubber bullets, the Israeli army attacked a weekly nonviolent march protesting the Separation Wall in the West Bank town of Bil’in on April 20, 2007. During the peaceful demonstration, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who gave the conference’s keynote address, was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet and suffered from severe tear gas inhalation. Two dozen other people were also injured.
South African Brings Hope to Palestinians
By Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative
Having been involved in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa, Dr. Nomfundo Walaza said she resonated with the pain and trauma of those trying to cope with occupation in Palestinian cities and villages across the West Bank. Dr. Walaza, a clinical psychologist, recently brought a spirit of hope to Palestinians during speaking events in Ramallah, Jerusalem and the West Bank village of At-Tuwani.
Israel and its Allies Follow a Disastrous Course in Gaza
By Jennifer Bing-Canar and Adam Horowitz
The year 2006 marked yet another difficult year for residents of the Gaza Strip. In the words of John Ging, the Gaza-based director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the Palestinians are "effectively living in one big prison." Despite hopes that the Israeli withdrawal of its settlements in the Gaza Strip in 2005 might make life better for Gazans, 1.4 million Palestinians continue to live in devastated, poverty-stricken communities on a strip of land 25 by 6 miles long.
'O little ghetto of Bethlehem'
By Mary Ann Weston
The beloved words of the Nativity story evoke reverence and awe. But a recent visit to Bethlehem left me wondering: If Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem today, would they get in? Would they make it to the manger, or would the holy child be delivered at an Israeli checkpoint?
2006 Olive Harvest Delegation to Israel/Palestine
The 2006 Olive Harvest Delegation visited Israel and Palestine from November 4-18, 2006 and was jointly organized between the American Friends Service Committee and Interfaith Peace-Builders.
Read reports from the delegation.
Also see:
Voices from Palestine and Israel
During the month of September, 2006 the American Friends Service Committee hosted eight interns from Palestine and Israel in offices across the United States. The interns were young Palestinians from the West Bank and Israel, as well as Jewish Israeli conscientious objectors. All of the interns are involved in social change activism at home, and came to the AFSC to get exposure to our work in United States.
During their time in the U.S. the interns had a chance to share their perspectives on the challenges to change in the region,as well as their visions of hope for the future. Below are articles by some of the interns. Although their writings do not always represent the perspectives or policies of the AFSC, we believe it is important to share these testimonies in their own language and for others to hear these voices raised in support of peace.
More Articles
- Ramallah Friends School Hit by Denial of Entry Policy, By Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- A Commitment to Middle East peace: Reaching out to civilians in need, By Tahija Vikalo
- Human-made Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine, By AFSC Chicago Middle East Program Staff
- Combatants for Peace Call for Ending the Cycle of Violence, By
Paul Pierce
- Humanitarian Organizations Warn of Deteriorating Economic Situation in Gaza, By Paul Pierce
- International Aid Cuts Endanger Refugee Hospital, By Paul Pierce
- Effects of Israel's Wall on Palestinian Farmers and the Olive Harvest, By Miryam Rashid
- Hamas and Israel: Is there any hope for peace?, By Jason Erb, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- Israeli Elections 2006, By Rotem More
- Feminism & Military Refusal: An Interview with Idan Halili, By Rotem Mor
- Between Walls and Life, By Rotem Mor
- A Report from the Celebrating Nonviolent Resistance Conference, By Noah Merrill
- The Palestinian Election Outcome: What Does It Mean, By Kathy Kamphoefner, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- An Alternative By AFSC Jerusalem staff
- Palestinian Groups Form Network for Nonviolence By Kathy Kamphoefner, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- Israeli Conscientious Objector Update - Idan Halili By New Profile
- Fear and Confusion Mark First Week of Hebron Schools By Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- Israeli Conscientious Objector Update By The Refuser Parents Forum
- Analysis: Disengaging from Peace By Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- Letting Young People Decide: The Popular Achievement Quaker Palestine Youth Program in the West Bank and Gaza
By Quaker Palestine Youth Program - West Bank Team
- Peace Comes Through Work By Mansour Mansour
- Israeli and Palestinian Summer Camps Pose Alternative to Conflict By Paul Pierce and Rotem Mor
- Palestinians Suffer Amid Rumors of Radical Jewish Attack
by Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- The Israeli Military Refusal Movement Grows by Rotem Mor
- Nonviolence Conferences Focus on Ending Israeli Occupation by Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- Israeli Refusers Resist the Wall by Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- Palm Sunday Demonstration Demands Freedom of Movement by Paul Pierce, Quaker International Affairs Representative
- The End of a Viable Palestinian State by Jeff Halper, Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
- Walaja: No Permits for Land, Houses, or People by Kathy Kamphoefner, Jerusalem Quaker International Affairs Representative
- Bridging the divide from Quaker Action Winter 2005
- The Israeli Occupation Grinds On… by Paul Pierce, Jerusalem Quaker International Affairs Representative
- Separation Wall Cuts Monastery Wall by Paul Pierce
- Israeli Army Escalates Killing and Home Demolitions in Gaza By Kathy Kamphoefner and Paul Pierce
- Five
Checkpoint Day by Kathy Kamphoefner, Quaker Representative Jerusalem
- Palestinian
youths provide new hope in the West Bank
from Quaker
Action Winter 2004
- Israelis
Defy Draft from Quaker Action Winter 2004
- Hedy
Epstein: Holocaust Survivor Works For
Palestinian-Israeli Peace
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