April 7 JVP Newsletter: Standing with Methodists, Eyes on Gaza, 400 trees, and more

New on the website	April 7, 2008, JVP E-Newsletter Tell us what you think! Click here to send feedback to JVP! Standing with the Methodist church Eyes on Gaza We need 400 trees by Passover! JVP holds MidWest regional retreat Networking with Canadian Jews against the occupation Standing with the Methodist Church The United Methodist Church will decide at its General Conference (April 23-May 2) whether to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation. We are letting conference delegates know by mail and phone that we fully support this measure. It is our moral responsibility to single out injustice, to denounce it, and to act against it. We stand together with our Methodist brothers and sisters who are seeking a moral, non-violent response to the Israeli occupation. Click here to read more. Eyes on Gaza You wouldn't know it from following the mainstream media, or from listening to any of the US presidential candidates, but some 1.5 million Palestinians are being slowly starved to death, right now, in Gaza. They have been barred from getting the food, fuel, and medical supplies they need to survive. Eighty percent of the population is dependent on food aid. The clinic of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Gaza have been destroyed in an Israeli attack. You can view photos of the destruction and learn about just one powerful nonviolent Palestinian civil society effort you'll never hear about in the press. JVP-Boston's Alice Rothchild comments from Nablus: "Consider our media, where the suffering of the innocents in the Israeli town of Sderot periodically bombarded by homemade rockets from Gaza, is squarely in the public eye, while the innocents in the city of Nablus under frequent attack by a heavily-armed military, stand invisible and unheard" (Read her full account here: "Returning to Nablus: Collateral damage.) The blockade of Gaza is followed by a virtual media blackout in this country. At JVP, we are doing our part to educate and inform about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Won't you help us by sending a letter to the editor of your local paper requesting that they cover Gaza? We need 400 trees by Passover! Thanks to your support, we have managed to raise enough money to donate 1,100 trees to be planted in the West Bank by the Palestine Fair Trade Association. We need 400 additional trees in order to meet our goal of 1,500 trees by Passover. Please support our Trees of Reconciliation campaign! JVP holds MidWest regional retreat Activists from JVP chapters in Chicago, Detroit, and Madison met for a weekend retreat in Chicago to discuss common strategies and opportunities for coordinated work. The meeting, organized by Karey Bacon and Lynn Pollack, allowed the groups to update one another on their local work. JVP Chicago continues its Sunday vigils against the occupation. The chapter also co-sponsored a photographic exhibit of Birthright Unplugged. JVP Detroit is gearing up to co-sponsor the Emmy-award documentary Knowledge is the Beginning in the Detroit Jewish Film Festival (May 5). The film documents Daniel Barenboim's orchestra, where young Arabs and Jews perform and live side by side. JVP Madison continues its work with the Madison-Rafah Sister Project. Networking with Canadian Jews against the occupation JVP's Glen Hauer presented at Canada's largest ever Jewish peace and justice conference in Toronto March 28-30. The conference sponsors, the Association of Concerned Jewish Canadians, invited JVP and several other Jewish peace & justice organizations from around the world to share our expertise in building effective movements. "Canadian and European Jewish peace activists know and respect JVP's work, and use our print and electronic resources," said Glen. "Describing our anti-censorship, selective divestment, Trees of Reconciliation, and CAT campaigns drew applause from the 150 conference goers and allies." The conference came up with national projects and an interim structure to accomplish them. JVP wishes our Canadian comrades well and looks forward to working together on mutual campaigns.
One more reason to support divestment from Caterpillar. ICAHD's Jeff Halper was arrested for attempting to resist the bulldozing of a Palestinian home. Read more. A moral choice: Divesting from the Israeli occupation. JVP fully supports efforts by Methodist and Presbyterian churches to divest from companies that profit from Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Learn more. Lights out in Gaza. News blackout in the US. You would not know what's happening in Gaza if you followed the mainstream media.Help us change this. Donate to JVP now. Go here to make a donation to Jewish Voice for Peace.
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Campaigns

Solidarity with Palestinian Freedom Riders

Sign the petition in solidarity with the Freedom Riders! Stay Connected! Check out these links to hear the latest from the Freedom Riders:

Standing Against Islamophobia

We stand by our Muslim friends and neighbors against anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry.

No More US Vetoes at the UN

It’s time. It’s time, finally, after forty years for the United States to do the right thing for the people of Palestine. Will they? During Wednesday’s United Nations Security Council debate about Palestinian statehood, once again, the United States announced that it would stand in the way of a vote for Palestinian self-determination. This isn’t the first time. Nor the second, or tenth or twentieth time. In fact, it’s the forty-first time.

Young, Jewish, and Proud

Watch the Video of Young Jews "Occupying the Occupiers!"

No More Demolished Villages

Media coverage: Forward: A JNF Drive To Make the Desert Bloom Means Destruction for a Bedouin Village Click here to join our February 18th call-in day to the Jewish National Fund. Media Advisory 18 Israeli and American Jewish groups:

TIAA-CREF: Divest from the occupation

Ask one of the largest financial services in the United States to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation.

Israeli Artists Condemn Settlements

When some 60 leading Israeli actors and playwrights signed a letter stating they would refuse to play in the new theatre in Ariel, one of Israel's largest settlements, the attacks from Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel's Minister of Culture and Sport and many others were swift and intense. Over 150 leading Israeli academics and writers- including Amos Oz and David Grossman- came to their defense.

Support human rights advocates

Palestinians who are struggling for their freedom are increasingly joined by Israelis and internationals inspired by the Palestinian model of unarmed resistance to occupation and discrimination. But the Israeli government has responded to this hopeful movement with a brutal crackdown on human rights advocates.

Campus divestment

Students around the country are calling for investor activism to address human rights violations against Palestinians. Download our full statement on BDS.