Tree of Life Conference: EYES ON GAZA Portland, OR - Oct. 16,17,18

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Written by Tree of Life Conference Tree of Life Conference

Published: 14 October 2015 14 October 2015

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http://gazaconference.brownpapertickets.com/

Come and hear firsthand accounts of life in Gaza & the West Bank and learn why activists work day in and day out for justice in Palestine.  Join us and find out what you can do to take part in this important justice work.

Event location (host church):
First Congregational United Church of Christ
1126 SW Park Avenue, Portland, Oregon

>>  Friday evening. October 16, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
FILM "ROADMAP TO APARTHEID" - an award winning documentary, narrated by Alice Walker, about why many Palestinians feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing number of people around the world agree with them.  
Free to the public.

>>  Saturday October 17, 9:00 am (registration) - 5:30 pm
FEATURED PRESENTATIONS, FILMS, WORKSHOPS, AND MOMENT OF REMEMBRANCE.
Hear firsthand accounts from residents of Gaza and humanitarian volunteers recently returned from that besieged strip of land.  Learn about opportunities here in the Northwest to work for peace and justice in Gaza and in all of occupied Palestine.

>> Saturday, October 17, 7pm
Reception and Fundraiser for Gaza Community Mental Health Program - at First Unitarian Church​ 1011 S.W. 12th Ave. Buchan wing, first floor
Welcoming Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei! Please join us for a reception and fundraiser for Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) following the day’s events at the Eyes on Gaza conference.

>>  Sunday afternoon. October 18, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
BENEFIT CONCERT for MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE
Featured singer: David Morgan - singer and songwriter from the LA scene, with songs full of truth and wisdom that reach to the heart
Featured presentation:  Barbara Lubin - Middle East Children's Alliance.

Read more: Tree of Life Conference: EYES ON GAZA Portland, OR - Oct. 16,17,18

Portland Takes First Step Towards Becoming Occupation Free

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Written by Occupy-Free Portland Occupy-Free Portland

Published: 12 October 2015 12 October 2015

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Portland Takes First Step Towards Becoming Occupation Free
Portland Human Rights Commission endorses placing companies on a “Do Not Buy” List for human rights abuses in Israel/Palestine

Portland, Oregon - October 12, 2015– Occupation-Free Portland Coalition congratulates the Portland Human Rights Commission (HRC) for their unanimous endorsement of the coalition’s proposal to the City Of Portland Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) Committee to place four companies on the City’s “Do Not Buy List” due to their serious human rights violations in the ongoing illegal and brutal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The companies are Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, G4S, and Motorola Solutions.

The proposal was brought to the HRC by Occupation-Free Portland, a coalition of religious, social justice and human rights groups working for justice for Palestine. The coalition stated: “We applaud the Portland HRC for this action. This endorsement demonstrates that the HRC continues to be a “moral compass” for human rights in our community. They understand that diverse struggles for human rights and dignity are connected and deserve our local attention and commitment to change.”

Read more: Portland Takes First Step Towards Becoming Occupation Free

Proposed Recommendation for Do-Not-Buy List for Portland Socially Responsible Investments Committee

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Written by Occupy-Free Portland Occupy-Free Portland

Published: 12 October 2015 12 October 2015

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September 9, 2015

Socially Responsible Investments Committee

Office of Management & Finance

1120 SW 5th Ave.

Room 1250

Portland, OR  97204

Re: Proposed Recommendation for Do-Not-Buy List

Dear Committee Members,

We are urging you to adopt a recommendation that four multinational corporations—Caterpillar, G4S, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola—be added to the list of corporate securities that the city of Portland shall not invest in due to the impact their products or services have had on human rights.  As stated in the official Socially Responsible Investing policy, this list is referred to as the Do-Not-Buy List.

These four corporations have played a well-documented role in assisting the Israeli government’s violations of Palestinian human rights in Israel/Palestine. Caterpillar, for example continues to sell bulldozers and other heavy equipment to the Israeli government and military, despite its use in demolishing homes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in violation of international law. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Conventions prohibits the transfer of a civilian population from an occupying power to the territory it occupies.  Despite this fact, Caterpillar knowingly provides bulldozers to the Israeli government for use in destroying Palestinian homes and uprooting crops on farmland owned by Palestinian farmers to make way for illegal settlements. Moreover, Caterpillar bulldozers have been used and continue to be used to help construct a barrier wall that has been found illegal by the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands.

Many of us who live in the Pacific Northwest remember that an Evergreen University student, Rachel Corrie, was killed by a Caterpillar bulldozer when she attempted to stop a home demolition in occupied Gaza.

As you know, the Socially Responsible Investment Policy adopted by the City Council includes concerns about human rights among its criteria. We are providing you ample documentation detailing the role of Caterpillar and the other three corporations in Israel’s human rights violations. In addition, G4S is implicated in the mistreatment of immigrants and prisoners held in privately-run prisons and immigration detention centers, and Caterpillar has been found guilty of violations of the Clean Air Act and has acted to oppose legislation that would limit the emissions of fossil fuels responsible for climate change.

Unfortunately, Portland is currently invested in commercial paper issued by Caterpillar through DCAT LLC CP, according to the city treasurer. Fortunately, this is a short-term investment that will hopefully mature soon after the City Council places these four corporations on Portland’s Do-Not-Buy list. We ask that you make this recommendation to the City Council. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Occupation-Free Portland

Occupation-Free Portland is a coalition consisting of Jewish Voice for Peace-Portland Chapter; Friends of Sabeel-North America; Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land; the Wider Church Ministry of the Central Pacific Conference, United Church of Christ;  Oregon-Idaho United Methodist Conference Holy Land Task Force; Portland Fellowship of Reconciliation; Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East-Portland Chapter; Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights; Veterans for Peace, Chapter 72; Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights; and International Socialists.

This statement has been endorsed by other individuals and groups, such as African Youth and Community Organization  *Al-Furqan Islamic Center  * The Reverend Catherine L. Alder, LCSW, MFT, M.Div., UCC Palestine Israel Network  *Charis Barasch * Dr. Curtis Bell, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East * Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Stanford University *Michel Bolsey, Jewish Voice for Peace * Dr. Mark Braverman, Executive Director, Kairos USA * Peggy Jo Bronson, retired Portland public school teacher *Kelly Campbell, Executive Director, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility+ * Paul Cienfuegos * Betty Cobb-Colgan * Ann J. Cornwell  * Virginia Feldman * Margaret Fussell, Tree of Life Educational Fund *Steven Goldberg, Attorney at Law  * Jana Gregory * Sylvan Grey * Joanne Hardesty, private business owner  * Nancy Hedrick * Henry Herring * Human Rights Commission, City of Portland * Steve Kerpen * Hjalmer Lofstrom, St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church * The Rev. Kate Lore, First Unitarian Church, Portland * Katie Miranda * Masjid Umar Bin-Al Khatab Mosque * Joanie McClellan, Chair Emerita, Portland Fellowship of Reconciliation * Allen Menegay * Esther Nelson * Oregon-Idaho United Methodist Conference Holy Land Task Force * Peace Action Group, First Unitarian Church, Portland * Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group *Kirsten Peterson *  Robert J. Picariello *  Elizabeth Sheppard * The Rev. Dan Simmons * The Rev. Rod Stafford * Sandy Stienecker *The Rev. Canon Richard Toll * Day Tooley * Tree of Life Educational Fund * Lisa Westarp, St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church.

+ For identification purposes only.

Solidarity with the Palestinian popular resistance! Boycott Israel now!

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Written by BDS Movement BDS Movement

Published: 11 October 2015 11 October 2015

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Whether the current phase of Israel’s intensified repression and Palestinian popular resistance will evolve into a full-fledged intifada or not, one thing is already evident—a new generation of Palestinians is marching on the footsteps of previous generations, rising up en masse against Israel’s brutal, decades-old regime of occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid.

World governments, especially in the west, are calling this a “cycle of violence” where both sides are to blame, ignoring the root cause of the colonial conflict and their own complicity in enabling Israel to maintain it and to violate international law with impunity. Almost all Palestinians today are calling for a full boycott of Israel and for isolating it internationally, in all fields, just as apartheid South African once was.

In this latest round, Israel has fanned the flames of Palestinian grassroots resistance by stepping up its attacks against al-Aqsa mosque compound, the Noble Sanctuary, located in the heart of the Israeli occupied Old City of Jerusalem. Fanatic, government-backed Jewish fundamentalist settler groups have persistently desecrated the compound, often verbally insulting worshippers with vile racism and openly calling for the destruction of the mosque. This has triggered widespread anger and protests in Jerusalem and among Palestinians everywhere in historic Palestine.

Typically, the Israeli army’s response was to protect the criminal settlers and punish the Palestinian victims, ultimately denying almost all Palestinians access to their holy site.

These threats are taken seriously by Palestinians who suffer daily the consequences of Israel’s official policy of “Judaization” of the city, a policy of gradually colonizing the land and replacing its indigenous Christian and Muslim Palestinian population with illegal Jewish settlers. This policy, which amounts to ethnic cleansing and a war crime under international law, is implemented through incessant land confiscations, expansion of the colonial wall, house demolitions, settler take-overs of Palestinian homes, extrajudicial killings, arrests and expulsions, all supported by Israel’s “justice” system, a constantly reliable, rubber-stamp partner in crime.

The latest Israeli attack against the al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, moreover, is not an isolated incident. Hundreds of historic churches and mosques have been destroyed by Zionist militias and later the Israeli state since 1948. Last summer, during the massacre in Gaza, Israel bombed to the ground 73 mosques. Many Palestinian churches and mosques have been defaced or otherwise desecrated this year alone by Jewish extremists in so-called “price tag attacks,” including the Church of Loaves and Fishes (Multiplication), overlooking Lake Tiberias, which was set on fire last June.

These racist and criminal attacks against Palestinians and their freedom of religion come as an extension of a massive shift in Israel to the extreme right and the unprecedented prevalence in Israeli society of overt, deeply-seated colonial racism and racial hatred against the indigenous Palestinian people.

Virtually all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza are denied access to Jerusalem, which is besieged by walls, watch towers and barbed wire, and are subject to daily assault and humiliation.

In a typical so-called “period of calm”, Israel enforces its medieval siege of Gaza, conducts incursions into Palestinians cities, confiscates Palestinian land, including in the Naqab (Negev), destroys Palestinian property, and builds illegal Jewish-only settlements. In its ongoing attempts to entrench its system of apartheid and colonial rule, Israel denies Palestinians their full spectrum of rights in the most banal of ways, from a child’s right to education to a mother’s access to health care, to a farmer’s ability to reach his/her land and to the right of a family to even live together in one home. And all this is done with the blessing of the courts.

In light of the apathy or direct complicity of world governments and the UN, and as a result of Israel’s impunity in perpetuating this system of injustice against Palestinians, in historic Palestine as well as in exile, the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has made great strides in redefining Israel’s positioning in the world stage as a pariah state.

Through boycotts of institutions that are complicit in Israeli violations of international law, through divestment from corporations supporting Israeli oppression and through a principled call for sanctions against Israel, the BDS movement has increased the isolation of Israel and started to impose costs on its regime of settler-colonialism, apartheid and occupation.

The World Bank has revealed that Palestinian imports from Israel are falling significantly. Israeli businessmen are reporting that European investors are no longer willing to invest in Israel, while a UN study confirms that foreign direct investment in Israel dropped by 46% in 2014, as compared to 2013. A Rand study predicts that BDS may cost Israel between 1% and 2% of its GDP each year over the next ten years, and, most recently, credit rating agency Moody’s has reported that BDS is a potential threat to the Israeli economy.

More needs to be done, however, to hold Israel to account and shatter its still strong impunity. Complicit governments must be exposed. Corporations that are enabling and profiting from Israel’s human rights violations must pay a price in their reputation and revenues. Israel’s military machine, including its research arm, must face a comprehensive international military embargo, and all Israeli leaders, officers and soldiers who are involved in the commission of the current and past crimes must be prosecuted at the International Criminal Court as well as national courts that respect international jurisdiction.

Israel is not just oppressing Palestinians; it is exporting its ruthless model of securitization and repression to the world. Israel is deeply involved in training and arming death squads in Latin America, often as a US proxy, selling weapons and military expertise to dictatorships in Asia and Africa, often to both sides of a civil war, and militarizing police forces in Ferguson, Los Angeles, London and cities around the world. Israel today is a key player in domestic repression against racial, social, economic and environmental justice movements around the world.

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the Palestinian leadership of the global BDS movement, calls on people of conscience around the world to support Palestinians in their quest for freedom at this crucial moment by stepping up BDS activities against Israel’s regime of oppression. In particular, and related to the current mass revolt on the streets of Palestine, we call on supporters of the Palestinian struggle to:

• Build awareness about Palestinian rights under international law and support for BDS through media outreach, including social media;

• Pressure parliaments to impose a military embargo on Israel;

• Campaign against Israeli military companies such as Elbit Systems;
• Support boycott and divestment campaigns against complicit companies, such as G4S and HP, that are most blatantly complicit in Israel’s infrastructure of oppression;

• Pass effective and strategic, not just symbolic, BDS resolutions in unions, academic associations, student governments and social movements that can lead to concrete measures, and enhance the cultural boycott of Israel;

• Consider legal action against Israeli criminals (soldiers, settlers, officers and decision-makers) and against executives of corporations that are implicated in Israel’s crimes and violations of international law.

Like their parents’ generation, the thousands of Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jaffa, Nazareth and elsewhere who have taken to the streets in large protests against Israel’s occupation and apartheid are first and foremost shaking off despair and liberating their minds of the myth of oppression as fate. They are also nourishing the entire Palestinian people’s aspiration to self-determination and living in freedom, dignity and a just peace.

It is high time to isolate Israel’s regime of militarization, securitization and racism as a danger not just to Palestinians and the Arab region, but to humanity at large.

- See more at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/2015/solidarity-with-the-palestinian-popular-resistance-boycott-israel-now-13313