18 hour radio broadcast on 60 years of Palestinian dispossession

THURSDAY, MAY 15th, from Midnight until 6pm (EST) - Join us for this historic international radio reflection of the Palestinian Nakba or catastrophe. Content will be hosted by the International Middle East Media Center in Bethlehem (Palestine), in collaboration with CKUT 90.3fm in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), CHRY 105.5fm in Toronto (Ontario, Canada), and KBOO 90.7fm in Portland (Oregon, USA). Including contributions from Pacifica Radio and Democracy Now!

Tune-in and remember!

Thursday, May 15th, 2008, commemorates 60 years of the Palestinian Nakba. In 1948 eighty-five percent of the Palestinians living in the areas that became the state of Israel became refugees. More than 500 Palestinian villages were depopulated and later destroyed to prevent the return of the refugees. Today there are a total of 7 million Palestinian refugees, dispersed throughout the world - the largest and longest running refugee problem yet unresolved.

60-years later, Israel continues to occupy and colonize Palestinian land through the construction of Jewish only settlements and the Wall in the West Bank. The Gaza Strip has been turned into one large prison. Israel violates international law and commits ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity. And Palestinians abroad are the world's oldest refugee population, making-up more than one fourth of all refugees.

Dear AUPHR supporters:

I just got off the phone with one of Representative Blumenauer's staff people. He refuses to sign the letter being circulated by Representatives Kucinich and Hinchey criticizing the settlements and asking for action from the administration.

Apparently there was some language in the letter he did not agree with which I did not go into. The staffer said that Blumenauer did sign some kind of Gaza letter calling for dialog. I said that all this talk without action will lead to the end of any chance of a Palestinian state.

Blumenauer's contact information and the text of the Kucinich letter follow.

Sincerely,
Peter Miller
www.auphr.org

You may contact Earl Blumenauer at:
http://blumenauer.house.gov/index.php?option=com_email_form&Itemid=206

PORTLAND:
729 N.E. Oregon Street
Suite 115
Portland, OR 97232
t: (503) 231-2300
f: (503) 230-5413

WASHINGTON D.C.:
2267 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
t: (202) 225-4811
f: (202) 225-8941


The text of the Kucinich-Hinchey letter:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/kucinich-hinchey-secretar_b_100715.html

We wish to applaud your recent statement, following your meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, that "[s]ettlement activity should stop -- expansion should stop." We commend this sensible approach and urge the Administration to stand firm on this policy.

As you know, construction of more settlements will undermine a two-state solution. A peaceful resolution to conflict can only be achieved with the support and trust of both Israelis and Palestinians.

For that reason, the Administration's peace initiative should include an effective diplomatic response to the Israeli government's March 31, 2008 announcement regarding plans to build hundreds of new settlements on occupied land in the West Bank. We urge you to use your influence to ensure that the commitment to a "settlement freeze" made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Annapolis peace conference is fulfilled.

In addition to undermining the peace process, settlement expansion contravenes international law.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states, that "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Your continued emphasis on halting settlement activity is critical to ongoing peace negotiations.

We look forward to your continued commitment to this important issue.

The world must stop standing idle while the people of Gaza are treated with such cruelty

The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population is being brutally punished.

This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with United States backing, after political candidates representing Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006. The election was unanimously judged to be honest and fair by all international observers.

Israel and the US refused to accept the right of Palestinians to form a unity government with Hamas and Fatah and now, after internal strife, Hamas alone controls Gaza. Forty-one of the 43 victorious Hamas candidates who lived in the West Bank have been imprisoned by Israel, plus an additional 10 who assumed positions in the short-lived coalition cabinet.

Regardless of one's choice in the partisan struggle between Fatah and Hamas within occupied Palestine, we must remember that economic sanctions and restrictions on the supply of water, food, electricity and fuel are causing extreme hardship among the innocent people in Gaza, about one million of whom are refugees.

Israeli bombs and missiles periodically strike the area, causing high casualties among both militants and innocent women and children. Prior to the highly publicised killing of a woman and her four children last week, this pattern had been illustrated by a report from B'Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organisation, which stated that 106 Palestinians were killed between February 27 and March 3. Fifty-four of them were civilians, and 25 were under 18 years of age.

Commemorating 60 years of Palestinian dispossession, 40 years of Israeli occupation.

Saturday, May 31st 2008 

The event is from 1 to 5pm.

Admission is Free.

Hoffman Hall
Portland State University
1833 SW Eleventh, Portland, Oregon 97201

Professor George Bisharat will speak at 2pm about "Ending the Palestinian Nakba"

The event will open at 1pm with drumming by Native Americans in support of Palestinian sovereignty.

See an exhibit of 1948 era UNRWA photos. UNRWA is the official United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

 Films:   1:30 “Sons of Eilaboun”               4:00 “Sands of Sorrow”

Palestinian Handicrafts and Fair Trade Olive Oil.

Sponsored by  Muslim Student Association of Portland State University, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
 and Friends of Sabeel--North America.  See www.auphr.org for more information.

FLYERS: 

Color: http://www.auphr.org/images/stories/flyers/nakba_handouts.pdf

Black&White: http://www.auphr.org/images/stories/flyers/nakba_handoutsbw.pdf 

POSTERS:  

Color: http://www.auphr.org/images/stories/flyers/nakba_poster.pdf

Black&White: http://www.auphr.org/images/stories/flyers/nakba_posterbw.pdf