Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right To Return Coalition
June 23, 2010

In the year and a half since Israel’s massacres in Gaza, the Palestine solidarity movement, for fifteen years weakened by the two-state “Peace Roadmap” of the 1993 Oslo Accords, has gone through what can only be described as a major political recalibration.

After years of meaningless “peace negotiations,” the aim of Oslo — a “Jewish state” on 78 percent of historic Palestine and a rump “Palestinian state” on the remaining 22 percent — is rapidly losing whatever credibility it may have once had among Palestinians. Indeed, outside the Palestinian Authority, created by Oslo to serve Israeli interests, it is hard to find any Palestinian voices advocating for such a solution with conviction.

From the ruins of Oslo have emerged new campaigns with holistic goals. The most significant of these has been the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, initiated and overwhelmingly supported by Palestinian civil society.

This campaign seeks to address the entire spectrum of what BDS leader Omar Barghouti describes as Israel’s “three-tiered system of oppression against the Palestinian people”: the 1967 occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem; the denial of Palestinian refugees’ right of return; and the systemic discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

These BDS demands present a direct challenge to the Zionist regime of Jewish domination over the Palestinian people. The same goals have generated growing support for the principle of a single, democratic state throughout all of historic Palestine. Even longtime two-state supporter Mustafa Barghouti concedes, “I believe the vast majority of Palestinians would accept equal rights and one person, one vote in one state with alacrity. I certainly would were we to reach such a day.”

Outrage over Israel’s atrocities in and against Gaza — including the recent assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla — has dramatically infused these ideas into the international Palestine solidarity movement, thrusting the Palestinian struggle in the world spotlight as perhaps never before. Despite attempts of its opponents to tar it with the brush of anti-Semitism, BDS is increasingly advocated throughout the world, often by Jewish activists.

Zionist organizations have noted these developments with alarm. The Reut Institute, a leading Israeli think tank, recently warned that support for BDS is based on a “set of ideas that are increasingly sophisticated, ripe, lucid, and coherent,” which, if not aggressively countered, could lead to a “paradigm shift from the Two-State Solution to the One-State Solution as the consensual framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Meanwhile, some in the solidarity movement seek to limit or even oppose BDS. They claim that it is “unrealistic,” or even morally undesirable, to advocate BDS goals that challenge the separate “Jewish state” envisioned by the “Two-State Solution.” Although those who argue this include courageous critics of Israeli policy, their position here is deeply flawed.

First, the principle of self-determination means, above all, that decisions about what is or is not “realistic” belongs to those who live under oppression, rather than their sympathizers — however well meaning. “As in the struggle against South African apartheid,” writes Omar Barghouti, “genuine solidarity movements recognize and follow the lead of the oppressed, who are not passive objects but active, rational subjects that are asserting their aspirations and rights as well as their strategy to realize them.”

Second, is there any social justice movement that has not seemed “unrealistic” or even impossible? Yet, circumstances change rapidly and unpredictably; what was fantasy yesterday often comes true tomorrow. It is enough to remember the long decades that preceded the abolition of slavery, the civil rights victories of the 1960s, or the collapse of colonialism and apartheid in southern Africa.

Third, the “Two-State Solution” is itself realistic only as ratification of a fractured, Israeli-controlled Bantustan; a “Two-Prison” solution, as Palestinian activist Haidar Eid bluntly describes it. This has been the Israeli and U.S. goal since the beginning of the “peace process”; indeed, anyone looking to catch glimpse of a future Palestinian “state” need look no further than the systematic strangulation of Gaza and continued “Judaization” of the land on both sides of the 1948 “Green Line.” In that sense, the most dangerous aspect of this solution is precisely that it is possible.

Finally, “pragmatism” at the expense of justice is always an illusion. As Martin Luther King Jr. famously pointed out, true peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice. An apartheid state built on the notion of Jewish supremacy in an Arab land cannot be part of that vision of justice; on the contrary, it promises unending oppression and conflict.

Although it would be naive to expect an imminent collapse of this state, the genie is out of the bottle. If King was right — that the arc of the “moral universe” does indeed bend toward justice — there is reason to be confident about the movement’s long-term prospects.

Now more than ever, it is time for the solidarity movement to align itself with the growing number of Palestinians in the 1967 occupied territories, the refugee communities, and within the 1948 lands calling for a single democratic Palestinian state of all its citizens from the river to the sea.

This cannot happen until all those and their descendants who were driven from their villages and cities in 1948 by terror, force and massacre are able to return and live in freedom and equality in all of historic Palestine. For those interested in true peace, that is the only pragmatic option.

If your organization would like to endorse or co-sign this statement, please email us at info@al-awdany.orgor use the form below.

Endorsers as of July 20, 2010

Organizations
Al-Awda NY
Al-Nakba Awareness Project
Labor for Palestine
US Palestinian Community Network
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine
Palestine Justice Network
Delaware Valley Veterans For America
Movement Support Project
Action for Gaza
Malcolm X Commemoration Committee
WESPAC Foundation
Jewish People’s Liberation Organization

Individuals
Mahmud Ahmad
Peter Brown – UK
Joe Catron – Brooklyn, NY
Sean Clinton, Limerick, Ireland
Anne Clinton, Limerick, Ireland
Thomas Cox – Artist
Susan Curtiss – Professor, Department of Linguistics, UCLA
Joel Eigen – Coffee Talk; Norristown, PA
Mani Gilyard – Co-Chair, MXCC, Brooklyn, NY
dequi kioni-sadiki – Co-Chair, MXCC, Brooklyn, NY
Tony Litwinko – Glendale, CA
Antony Loewenstein, author/journalist, Sydney, Australia
Amir M. Maasoumi
Dick Reilly – Hammerhard MediaWorks, Chicago
Dr. Kenneth Ring – Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Connecticut
Raoul R. Swart – Cape Town, South Africa
Shakeel Syed – Culver City, CA
Jerry Taylor – Yardley, PA
Gregory Vickrey – GVConsulting
Barry Weiss – Los Angeles, CA

Sign on here!
* Indicates required field.

“We affirm that Zionism is a form of racism that denies Palestinians the right to self-determination.”

- US Social Forum National People’s Movement Assembly 2010

The US Social Forum concluded on June 26, 2010 with a powerful National People’s Movement Assembly which produced an important series of resolutions, adopted by the over 18,000-strong Forum as a whole, reflecting the outcome of the People’s Movement Assemblies held at the Forum.

The final synthesis document produced by representatives of the over 50 Assemblies held at the Forum comprises a vision of unified struggle against racism, colonialism, oppression, exploitation and imperialism, including clear support for the Palestinian struggle. Such a clear statement is a significant development for the U.S. Left and an achievement for all who worked to ensure the Palestinian and Arab presence at the core of the Social Forum. As the U.S. government funds ongoing Israeli war crimes and welcomes the racist Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, DC, in sharp contrast, the US’s popular movements affirmed the centrality of the Palestinian liberation struggle and expressed full support.

The US Palestinian Community Network is one of the member organizations of the Forum’s National Planning Committee, and organized the Palestine Program of the Social Forum. The USSF has established a website, PMA 2010, where resolutions from the many PMAs at the Forum will be posted in their entirety, as well as an exciting video highlighting the PMAs and their participants, including the Justice in Palestine, United Against Racism, and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions PMAs, jointly organized by USPCN. The BDS PMA’s final statement is available, as is the United Against Racism PMA resolution.

View the new PMA video:

All Out to the House of the Lord Church 415 Atlantic Ave. Thursday June 17, 7 pm

MAVI MARMARA SURVIVORS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HEARD!

Two weeks ago Israeli naval commandos stormed a Turkish ship loaded with humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. They murdered 9 unarmed passengers. The oldest, Ibrahim Bilgen, was 61. the youngest, Furkan Dogan, a U.S. citizen born in Troy , N.Y., was just 19.

On Thursday, June 17, two eyewitnesses to this horror, U.S. filmmaker Iara Lee and British political organizer Kevin Ovenden, and Ahmet Unsal, a former Member of Turkey’s Parliament, have been invited to tell their views and stories at a public forum at Brooklyn’s historic House of the Lord Church. The meeting is cosponsored by dozens of organizations.

They come with nothing but words. But words of truth strike fear into the hearts of certain hate-filled New York politicians who have voted time and again to turn U.S. taxpayers’ dollars into missiles and bombs for Israel’s war machine.

On June 14, City Council speaker Christine Quinn, Reps. Jerry Nadler, Anthony Weiner, Carolyn Mahoney, Charles Rangel and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer gathered in Times Square at the behest of the so-called “Jewish Community Relations Council.” They shamelessly demanded that the State Department investigate the invited speakers for “ties to terrorism.” They want to prevent or delay their entry the United States. This is a clear attempt to not only deny the passengers’ right to speak but to deny the people of the United States the right to hear their words.

The group of politicians who issued this call have supported every act of terror by the Israeli state against the native people of Palestine and its neighbors. They cheered the 2008-9 terror bombing and invasion of Gaza that slaughtered 1,400 people, including hundreds of children. They applauded Israel’s 2006 mass murder of 900 Lebanese civilians. They hail the cruel blockade that denies food, medicine, electricity and sanitation to the people of Gaza and they dare to support the killing and kidnapping of Turkish, U.S., British and Irish citizens who tried to break that blockade.

These political hacks now attack our very right to learn and discuss the issues involved. They seek to pin the label of ?terrorist? on any who oppose the vicious and immoral blockade of Gaza and the endless stream of U.S. guns and dollars to Israel’s brutal war machine. And they want to hide the truth about what happened that bloody night on the Mavi Marmara.

We call upon all people who believe in justice and freedom to resist this attack on our rights. Let your elected representative  know that you have the right to hear what the courageous survivors of the Mavi Marmara have to say. And let’s pack the House of the Lord Church Thursday night. Let’s answer this vile attempt at intimidation with a powerful mass meeting.

Sponsors include Muslim American Society, International Action Center, National Lawyers Guild-NYC, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement,  American Muslims For Palestine, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, NYC Labor Against the War,  Arab Muslim American Federation, Labor For Palestine, FIST, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Action for a Progressive Pakistan, ANSWER Coalition, Anakbayan, Bayan USA, Creative Nonviolent Resistance against Injustice, Gabriela USA, International League of Peoples Struggle–NY/LOC, Middle East Crisis Response, El Beireh Society, The Indypendent, Socialist Action, International Socialist Organization, Westchester Peoples Action Coalition, American-Iranian Friendship Committee, US Palestinian Community Network – NY

LET THE TRUTH BE HEARD!

For more information, contact Al-Awda NY at http://www.al-awdany.org or info@al-awdany.org!

Sunday, June 20 5:30 A.M (morning)

Port of Oakland, Berth 57, Middle Harbor Rd.

Protest Israel’s Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla!
Boycott Israeli Ships and Goods!
Lift the Blockade NOW – Let Gaza Live!
Bring Down Israel’s Apartheid Wall!

Unions, labor federations and other organizations around the world — including the San Francisco and Alameda County Labor Councils –have condemned Israel’s deadly attack against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on May 31, 2010. Nine people were killed and dozens seriously injured in the Israeli commando attack in international waters on ships attempting to bring humanitarian cargo to the suffering and blockaded people of Gaza. Six people aboard the ships are still missing and presumed dead.

The Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was a blatant act of piracy on the high seas. No Israeli ship should now be allowed to carry on trading activity anywhere in the world without facing picket lines, protests and embargo. Dock workers in several countries including South Africa, Norway, Sweden and Malaysia have declared that they will refuse to handle Israeli cargo in the coming weeks.

We call on everyone who stands for justice and against occupation and apartheid to join the June 20 picket at the Port of Oakland. This is a moment of great opportunity. In San Francisco in 1984, a picket line and refusal to unload cargo of a ship carrying South African cargo was a key event in mobilizing the anti-apartheid movement worldwide.

Sponsored by: Labor / Community Committee in Solidarity with the People of Palestine:

Arab American Union Members Council, ANSWER- Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, Palestine Youth Network, US Palestinian Community Network, Al Awda- Right to Return Coalition, Arab Youth Organization, MECA-Middle East Children’s Alliance, Students for Justice in Palestine, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, International Action Center, International Solidarity Movement, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, International Socialist Organization, Peace and Freedom Party – SF, Transport Workers Solidarity Committee and many labor activists in the Bay Area [list in formation – reply to endorse]

The Second Popular Conference, like its predecessor, represents a response to the fragmentation that befell the Palestinian people and cause as a result of a host of objective and subjective factors. It is an attempt to bolster the Palestinian national struggle by reconstructing the shattered Palestinian body politic in the Diaspora, including the U.S. There is a strong correlation between the effectiveness of Palestine-related political activism in the U.S., on the one hand, and the existence of sector-based national Palestinian American institutions or networks, e.g. students, youth, women, artists, professional, etc…, on the other.

Historically, grassroots and popular institutions played a major role in mobilizing, organizing, and raising the national consciousness of major segments of the Palestinian population both prior to and after the establishment of the PLO. In fact, the establishment of the PLO should be viewed, not as the beginning of the first chapter in the reemergence of the Palestinian national movement during the post-Nakba period, but as the culmination of grassroots efforts, particularly by Palestinian students, during the 1950s and 1960s.

In the upsurge in organizing in response to the massacre against the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, as in the response to the Israeli criminal siege and war on Gaza, Palestinian students in the U.S. have been in the forefront, organizing protests, fundraisers and activities. It is more crucial than ever that our work be coordinated and strong.

Students continue to constitute the backbone of the Palestinian struggle. Therefore, it is crucial that Palestinian students participate in shaping all aspects of the Popular Conference, restore their unifying national institutions, and bring together the Palestinian community in the U.S. Students who are interested in participating in organizing the conference’s students and youth tracks of the conference, please write to students@palestineconference.org.

Together we will restore our national institutions, reclaim our rights, and empower our community.

Organizing Committee

U.S. Popular Palestinian Conference

The US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) mourns the victims of the attack on the Liberty Flotilla and calls on all people of conscience to demonstrate their outrage by holding protests, set-ins, or press conferences to demand: (1) the immediate lifting of the siege against the people of Gaza, (2) the unconditional release of all members of the targeted Flotilla, and (3) the establishment of an Israeli war crime tribunal by the General Assembly of the UN.

We call upon all Palestinians in the US and their supporters to organize and participate in protests, press conference and mass demonstrations in front of Israeli embassies and consulates in all major cities. These crimes are made possible by the unconditional political, military and diplomatic support provided to Israel by the US government, to which we demand an immediate end. We salute those who sailed on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza and pledge to continue to break the siege, to liberate Palestine, and to continue on their heroic path to struggle for justice, freedom and liberation throughout the world.

PROTESTS TAKING PLACE TODAY, MONDAY, MAY 31:
Washington, D.C. at 3:00pm
Israeli Embassy
3514 International Dr. NW
(near Van Ness and Reno Rd.)

New York City at 3:00pm
Times Square
44th Street & 7th Avenue
+and Tuesday, June 1:
5pm – Israeli Consulate
42nd St & 2nd Ave.

Los Angeles at 4:30pm
Israeli Consulate
6380 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
(Between Crescent Heights and San Vicente)

Boston, Mass. at 4pm
Park St. T Station

San Francisco at 1pm
Powell and Market

Miami at 5pm
Israeli Consulate
100 N. Biscayne Blvd.

New Haven, CT at 3pm
Federal Courthouse
141 Church St.

Additional protests here:
http://gazafreedommarch.org/cms/en/flotilla/protest.aspx

Letter text (download PDF)

سعادة سفير/قنصل الجمهورية اللبنانية المحترم،

نحن أبناء الجالية العربية في المهجر نريد أن نضع بين أيديكم بعض الحقائق و المطالب التي نتمنى ان تصل الى حكومة بلدكم.

لقد مرت 3 سنوات على كارثة تدمير مخيم نهر البارد في شمال لبنان، و مازال اهل المخيم يعيشون في ظل ظروف مأساوية، و يشعرون بأنهم متروكون و منسيون. وصلت الينا رسالة من طبيب يقيم في نهر البارد، و يعيش اليوم في مخيم البداوي شمال لبنان، يشرح فيها الأوضاع الراهنة في المخيم فيقول:

” يبدو الأمر كأنه المستحيل، القدرة على التعايش مع ظروف هي ترفضك وتلفظك. لكنه حصل وبدأت عجلة ترميم المنازل بالممكن وغيره، بعد ذلك   إستحدثت بركسات (غرف من حديد لإيواء النازحيين) .  لو تدري، هذه الغرف ليست صالحة للحياة الآدمية ، انها لا تليق بالحيوانات. عاد حتى الآن الى هذه البيئة نصف سكان المخيم وما زال النصف الآخر منتشرا، مشتتا على مساحة لبنان كله .تفتتت العائلات، غابت القيم، بطل العمل، وقتل الامل.  تحول المخيم الى معزل عسكري محاط باسلاك شائكة ، تحكمه قوانين الامن والعسكر بأبشع صور.. “

ويشرح الطبيب بداية المأساة:

“دون ادنى شك ما حصل تجاه الجيش اللبناني من المجموعة المسماة “فتح الاسلام” كان جريمة ارهابية كبرى بكل المقاييس، لكن المجرم الحقيقي المغيب  دوما هو الذي اتى بهم، جمعهم من كل اصقاع الارض ليستخدمهم كما يريد في الزمان والمكان المناسبين لمشروعه. فيخلص منهم ومن حقيقتهم  التي قد تورط الكثيرين من السياسين والامنيين محليين واقليميين  ودوليين.

لكن هل يبرر حجم الجريمة، التي اريد لهؤلاء الارهابيين ان يرتكبوها، أن يقفل البعض العقول والقلوب، ويصم الاذان عن سماع الحقيقة في جانبها الآخر الانساني والوطني؟ ان تاريخ وهوية وذكريات وعرق وتعب وجنى عشرات من سنين الكد والتعب لسكان المخيم تنتهك اليوم! كأننا في حرب شعواء لا مكان فيها حتى للصراخ من الالم..”

من هنا، اننا كجاليه عربية في المهجر نريد أن نعبر عن قلقنا البالغ و استنكارنا الشديد لأي انتهاك يطال حقوق المواطنين الفلسطينيين الانسانية في لبنان، و نضم صوتنا الى صوت اخواننا سكان مخيم نهر البارد في التحرك الذي سيقومون به يوم العشرين من ايار لتذكير العالم بمأساتهم. كما نحمل لكم مطالبهم التي نتبناها و نلخصها كالآتي:

1. نطالب الدولة اللبنانية باحترام حقوق المواطنين الفلسطينيين الانسانية في لبنان، مما يستدعي التوقف الفوري عن كل ما يؤدي عمليا الى سياسة عقوبات جماعية ضدهم، مثل: حالة الحصار العسكري المفروضة على سكان مخيم نهر البارد، و تقييد حرية حركتهم بالتصاريح، والتعامل المهين معهم  كمشبوهين.

2. الدعوة الى تشريع حكومي لبناني واضح وصريح لاستملاك ارض المخيم لاعادة الاعمار.

3. الدعوة الى مؤتمر جديد للدول المانحة لتمويل اعادة الاعمار.

اننا نعبر عن حزننا وأسفنا الشديدين لهذه الاوضاع غير المقبولة، التي تستطيع الدولة اللبنانية تغييرها في حدود امكانياتها ومسؤوليتها. في الوقت الذي نتفهم و نحترم سيادة لبنان على ارضه، فاننا نساند اخواننا في مطالبهم  لأن  العلاقات اللبنانية- الفلسطينية يجب أن تقوم على مبدأ التضامن و الاحترام : تحترم سيادة لبنان تماما، و تحترم حقوق الشعب الفلسطيني الانسانية و القومية.

Lebanese Embassies and Consulates in the US (Download full list here)

USA, Washington DC
2560 28th, Street  NW
Washington, DC  20008
Tel:   +1 202 939-6300
Fax:  +1 202 939-6324
E-mail:   info@lebanonembasssyus.org
Website: www.lebanonembassyus.org

USA, Detroit
New Center One Building
3031 West Grand Blvd.
Suite 560
Detroit, MI         48202
Tel: +1 313-758-0753
Fax:  +1 313-758-0756
Email:      info@lebconsdet.org
Website:  www.lebconsdet.org

USA, Los Angeles
660 South Figueroa St., Ste 1050
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel:   +1 213-243-0999 / 213-243-0990
Fax:  +1 213 612-5070
E-mail: consuloflebanon@sbcglobal.net

USA, New York
New York N.Y. 10021
9 East, 76th St.
Tel:      +1 212-744-7905
Fax:     +1 212-794-1510
E-mail:    lebconsny@aol.com
Website:  www.lebconsny.org

USA, Boston
366 North Main St.
Andover, MA 01810
Tel:   +1 978-289-4142/3
Fax:  +1 978-289-4145
Email:   abrahamhanna@hotmail.com

USA, Houston
2400 Augusta, Suite 308
Houston, TX       77057
Tel:   +1 713-526-2404
Fax:  + 1 713-526-1141
Email:   mabohsali@sbcglobal.net

USA, Miami
Gables One Tower
1320 South Dixie Highway
Suite 241
Coral Gables, FL  33146
Tel:   +1 305-665-3004
Fax:  +1 305-666-8905
Email:   consulmia@aol.com

USA, Raleigh
2501 Blue Ridge Rd.
Suite 150
Raleigh, NC   27607
Tel:   +1 919-863-4306
Fax:  +1 919-863-4101
Email:   honorconslebanon@aol.com

USA, San Diego
148 East 30th St. #D
National City, CA   91950
Tel:   +1 619-656-6991
Fax:  +1 619-336-4800
Email:   lebanonsd@cox.net

Second Palestinian Popular Conference:  

Together, Restoring our National Institutions, Reclaiming our Rights, Empowering our Community

( فلسطين: شعبٌ وَاحدْ ، وَطنٌ وَاحدْ ، مَصيرٌ وَاحدْ )

المُؤتَمرْ الشعبيّ الفِلسطيني الثاني في الولايات المتحدة الامريكية.

مَعاً نَبني مُؤسَسَاتنا الوطنيه، وَننتزعْ حُقوقنا، وَننهض ُقدُماً…

October 29-31, 2010
The Westin Chicago Northwest
400 Park Boulevard
Itasca, IL 60143
(10 minutes from Woodfield Mall; 25 minutes from O’Hare Airport)

To the Palestinian community in the United States, to the Arab and Muslim communities, in the US, and to all groups and individuals in solidarity with our cause….

On May 17, 2010, the 62nd anniversary of Al-Nakba, we remember our past and look towards the future of our cause. As we recall, and pledge to end, our people’s uprooting and displacement from their homeland, the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) calls upon you to participate in the Second Popular Conference for Palestinians in the United States in Chicago, IL on October 29-31, 2010.

Today, it is clear that 62 years of exile and occupation have not weakened the Palestinian people’s determination to regain their rights and liberate Palestine, their historic homeland. Today, and after more than six decades of colonization, imprisonment, massacres, home demolitions and expulsions, Palestinians are a testament to the utterly delusional nature of David Ben-Gurion’s assertion that “The old will die, and the young will soon forget.” Our elders are immortal in our hearts and minds, and our younger generations are forging new horizons of struggle for our cause.

This is an open call to all organizations, individuals and groups in our community and all solidarity movements to participate in the organizing of this popular Palestinian assembly and forum for the second time in Chicago, where the Palestinian community from all backgrounds and sectors – students, youth, and elders; women and men; professionals and workers – will come together to defend our national rights and mobilize our community.

We recall 800,000 Palestinians forced from their homeland by invading Zionist forces; we recall generations of resistance and struggle, within the lands occupied in 1948; within the West Bank and Gaza; in the camps of exile surrounding Palestine; and everywhere in the world where Palestinians established their communities, built their institutions and remained steadfast in their commitment for their land and people. Today, there are over seven million Palestinian refugees in our communities – dreaming, hoping, and struggling wholeheartedly for justice, return and liberation. We recall the history of racism, oppression and brutality – and our people’s history of resistance and struggle, and we are committed to build a future of justice and liberation.

Join us and participate in organizing the Second Popular Conference. The Conference’s primary goal is to empower our community in the US to assume a key role in realizing Palestinian rights and develop principled and pluralistic Palestinian national institutions in the United States. We have an obligation to become full participants in our Palestinian quest for freedom, self-determination and the return of the refugees to their original towns and villages. Your full participation in all aspects is essential as we march together for a free Palestine –  Palestine: One People, One Land, One Destiny!

To get involved with the Second Popular Conference for Palestinians in the US, email USPCN at conference@palestineconference.org or visit our website at http://www.palestineconference.org.

الجالية الفلسطينية الكريمة في الولايات المتحدة الامريكية

الجالية العربية والاسلامية ، أصدقاء وأنصار فلسطين في كل مكان…

تحية العودة والقدس،

اليوم ، الموافق 17 / مايو ، أيار ، 2010 /  ، ومن فضاء ذكرى النكبة الفلسطينية ومرور 62 عاما على طرد وتهجير شعبنا الفلسطيني من وطنه ودياره ، ُتعلن شبكة الجالية الفلسطينية ، بوصفها الهيئة الرّاعية والمنظمة للمؤتمر الشعبيّ الفلسطينيّ في الولايات المتحدة الامريكية، عن مَوعدِ ومكان إنعقاد المؤتمر الشعبي الفلسطيني الثاني ، وذلك في مدينة شيكاغو بولاية الينوي ، وعلى مدار 3 أيام  متواصلة ، تبدأ يوم  الجمعة ، الموافق 29 أكتوبر/  وحتى  يوم الاحد ، الموافق 31 أكتوبر / 2010 ، في قاعات فندق ويستين شيكاغو نورث ويست، إتاسكا ، إلينوي.

ايتها الاخوات، ايهاالاخوة،

هذه دعوة مفتوحة إلى كل أفراد وَمؤسسات الجالية الفلسطينية والعربية وأصدقاء فلسطين في الولايات المتحدة الامريكية ، للمشاركة في التحضير والتنظيم لِعقد التجمُع الشعبيّ الفلسطيني ألاكبر في الولايات المتحدة وللمرة الثانية على التوالي في مدينة شيكاغو ، حيث تلتقي جماهير شعبنا في أمريكا والجمعيات والمؤسسات الفلسطينية – الامريكية وبمشاركة جاليتنا الكريمة والعزيزة ، حيث يلتقي الطلبة والشباب والاطفال ، من مختلف المدن والولايات الامريكية ، لبحث شؤونهم وقضاياهم وللاحتفال بالتراث والهوية الوطنيه الفلسطينية.

اليوم ، اذ نبدأ إستعدادنا لعقد مؤتمرنا الشعبي الثاني ، ندعو أبناء وبنات فلسطين الى تعزيز وحدتهم ورفع صوتهم وتطوير قدراتهم . كما ندعوكم للتواصل والتنسيق والتعاون من أجل الدفاع عن الثوابت والحقوق الوطنيه الفلسطينية وعلى رأسها حق العودة للاجئين الفلسطينيين ، العودة الى ديارهم ووطنهم وقراهم ومدنهم ، على طريق انتزاع حقنا الجماعي والطبيعي في تقرير المصير وفوق ترابنا الوطني…

اليوم ، ندعوكم للوحدة والتلاقي والنهوض، حتى نقوم بدورنا وواجبنا الوطني والاخلاقي في تعزيز صمود ودعم الاسرى والاسيرات في السجون الاسرائيلية ، وللتاكيد على وحدتنا ، رغم المنافي والمهاجر البعيدة . وحدتنا الممتدة من شيكاغو ونيويورك وكاليفورنيا حتى غزة وحيفا ويافا وبيت لحم ورام الله والخليل والنقب وحتى كل بقعة يهتف فيها فلسطيني حُرّ : شعبٌ واحد ، قضيةٌ واحدة ، وطن ُواحد، مَصير واحد ، وعاصمة ابدية واحدة ، هي قدسنا المحتلة.

انها دعوة للانتصار الجماعي ، من أجل حقوقنا المدنية والسياسية والدستورية في الولايات المتحدة ، وممارسة حقنا القانوني والمشروع في بناء وتنظيم مؤسساتنا وحماية هويتنا وتراثنا وتنظيم وحشد قوتنا السياسية والاعلامية والثقافية..

دعوة للطلبة والشباب والاطفال ، للرجال والنساء والشيوخ ، لاطباء فلسطين ولكل المهندسين والفنانين والعمال والمبدعين من ابناء شعبنا ، الى االمشاركة في التحضير لعقد مؤتمركم الشعبي الفلسطيني الثاني ، مؤتمر فلسطين ، مؤتمر العودة ، مؤتمر القدس والوحدة الوطنيه.

نحو جالية فلسطينية قوية وموحدة وقادرة..

دمتم لشعبكم ..

الهيئة التنظيمية للمؤتمر الشعبي الفلسطيني الثاني في الولايات المتحدة الامريكية.

صدر بتاريخ الموافق17 / مايو ، أيار ، 2010 في الولايات المتحدة الامريكية..

The first Popular Conference took place in August 2008 in Chicago – click here for documents, videos and more from the first conference. In order to make sure this conference is successful and reflects the needs, wants and visions of our community and provides a space for all sectors of our community to raise their level of involvement in our national cause for freedom, justice and return for Palestine and its people, WE NEED YOUR PARTICIPATION! Please tell us: what do you want to discuss? do you have a workshop or speaker you would like to propose? what do you believe our community needs now? From the simplest idea to the biggest proposal, your voices and participation are urgently needed.

Please fill out the online form below, or email us at ideas@palestineconference.org.

* Required information

“At UC Berkeley’s campus, there will be a senate vote to override the President’s veto, to be held in the following weeks. We expect to win this vote, as only 14 votes are needed to override a veto and already 16 senators have stood against war crimes, Israel’s or otherwise. You can help prevent them from bowing to the pressure of the Israel lobby, which has been fierce and deceitful in its characterization of this bill, by

1) coming to the meeting to override Smelko’s veto (the date will be either April 7 or a following Wednesday – for updates see http://calsjp.org)
2) bringing your supportive friends and student group members
3) writing personal or organizational letters to senators (to senate@asuc.org, including ucbdivest@gmail.com in the bcc) when asked to do so in the weeks to come about why you support divestment as a tactic in general and in the case of Israel specifically (at this point, angry letters to the president do little and are discouraged).

Beyond this there is much to do in the broader public. This movement is not just about a victory for divestment at UC Berkeley. Rather it is more fundamentally about spreading divestment and the notion that all nations and corporations, including sacred cows like Israel, must be held to account for their gross violations of human rights, and that all people, Palestinians included, are deserving of basic human rights such as rights to life, property, freedom of movement, and a right to an education. Spread divestment to your church, your synagogue, your mosque, to other schools, to other institutions. And speak up in the press. Write a letter to the editor or an op-ed. Make the media know about the success at Berkeley and the successes to come. We’ll be in touch with next steps in the near future. Thank you so much for your solidarity.”

The US Palestinian Community Network commends the students at Berkeley for their ongoing struggle and pledges all support to them in the future.

The US Palestinian Community Network congratulates the students of the University of California at Berkeley for the courageous and principled vote of the Associated Students of UC-Berkeley, the elected representatives of the student body, calling upon the University of California to divest from its investments in corporations involved in Israeli war crimes, specifically General Electric and United Technologies.

The landslide 16-4 vote, which took place on March 18, 2010, is an achievement for the students of the University of California at Berkeley – where students, particularly from Students for Justice in Palestine, have been advocating for divestment from Israel  since 2000. It follows on the historic accomplishments of students at Hampshire College and the University of Michigan – Dearborn in securing votes favoring divestment. It is a watershed accomplishment of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement at U.S. universities and should be emulated by students around the world.

Please join the US Palestinian Community Network to SEND LETTERS OF SUPPORT to the senate as well as President Will Smelko. Let the senators know that we are incredibly thankful for the 16-4 vote. Let President Smelko know that there are many people on Cal’s campus, as well as the broader community, who support this bill and ask him to NOT veto it.

The senate’s email is: senate@asuc.org
The president’s email is: president@asuc.org

USPCN sent the following letter to President Will Smelko:

“Dear President Smelko;

The US Palestinian Community Network has learned of the important vote for accountability and divestment that took place at the Associated Students of the University of California – Berkeley, from our student members who were directly involved in the effort and other members of our community who participated in efforts to support this bill. The landslide support it received, with a vote tally of 16-4, indicates the strong support of ASUC and the community for this bill holding corporations and governments accountable for war crimes.

We urge you to recognize and support the strong majority of ASUC that voted for justice, and voted for divestment, and to reject any and all calls to veto this bill. This bill is an important step in the U.S. student movement’s work to ensure that U.S. universities are not complicit in war crimes.

We hope that you will act today to support this bill and the strong majority that passed it, and reject any pressure or calls to veto this bill.

Best,

US Palestinian Community Network”