United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
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Resources Webinar
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Apartheid Free Communities: Exposing and Resisting Israeli Apartheid, Occupation, and Settler-Colonialism
Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Presented by UMKR and MFSA
The international human rights community agrees: Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to apartheid.
In the first two months of 2023, the world has seen the current Israeli regime horrifically doubling down on the brutal oppression of Palestinians. World powers are doing nothing to curb this frightening escalation.
But citizens of the world are standing up to expose and reject Israeli apartheid and to put their words of opposition into action. Apartheid-Free Communities (AFC) is a bold new campaign being organized this year by many faith-based and civil society partners.
In this webinar, an exceptional panel present the inescapable reality of Israeli apartheid and how it works today, both inside Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. They also will offer concrete steps to become part of the solution this year.
The webinar panel includes an outspoken member of Israel's parliament, Aida Touma-Sliman, a world-renowned political commentator, Diana Buttu, and the leader of the coalition launching Apartheid-Free Communities, Dov Baum.
In this webinar, we present a unique briefing on current apartheid realities in Palestine/Israel and the newly emerging collective action to reject and dismantle Israel apartheid.
OUR SPEAKERS
AIDA TOUMA-SLIMAN has been a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset since 2015, representing the political party Hadash. She has chaired the Knesset's Standing Committee on Women and Gender Equality. Aida is a leading activist for feminist causes and the founder and past head of the Arab feminist group, Women Against Violence. Born in Nazareth, Touma-Sliman was previously the editor in chief of the newspaper Al-Ittihad. She is frequently featured in new reports around the world.
OMAR SHAKIR is the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, where he investigates human rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. Omar was the lead author of the groundbreaking report published by HRW in 2021 "A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution" which has had an enormous global impact. In another role at HRW, Omar investigated human rights violations in Egypt. Previously, he worked at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where he focused on US counterterrorism policies, including representing detainees in Guatanamo Bay.
DOV BAUM is the director of the Economic Activism Program at American Friends Service Commitee (AFSC). She is an Israeli citizen who refused to do mandatory service in the Israeli military. Dov is also a feminist activist and scholar who has taught about militarism and the global economy from a feminist perspective in Israeli and U.S. universities. She co-founded Who Profits from the Occupation and the Coalition of Women for Peace in Israel, and she has been active with numerous groups in the Israeli anti-occupation and democracy movement, including Boycott from Within, Zochrot, and Women in Black.
M. THERESA BASILE (MODERATOR) is a co-founder of UMKR, the UMKR Communications Director, and a member of the Steering Committee. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of FOSNA: Friends of Sabeel North America, and has previously served on the SteeringCommittee of US Campaign for Palestine Rights. Theresa also serves on the Leadership Teams of MFSA in theCalifornia-Pacific conference and of the Western Methodist Justice Movement, both of which mobilize UnitedMethodists for action on a wide range of justice issues.
SEE THE VIDEO BELOW AND FARTHER DOWN, FIND RESOURCES ON THIS SUBJECT
Related Resources
Aida Touma-Sliman speaking from Huwarra about the recent pogrom:
https://twitter.com/AidaTuma/status/1632349208232468480?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
The Human Rights Watch report "A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution"
https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution
UMKR's collection of in-depth reports, short videos, and many other resources on Israeli apartheid:
https://www.kairosresponse.org/it_is_apartheid.html
Mondoweiss Video on Israeli Apartheid
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/05/inside-israeli-apartheid/
The Jewish Nation State Law:
https://m.knesset.gov.il/EN/activity/documents/BasicLawsPDF/BasicLawNationState.pdf
TAKE ACTION
#UNinvestigateApartheid
An action to take any time of year:
https://www.kairosresponse.org/it_is_apartheid_3.html
APARTHEID-FREE COMMUNITIES
https://apartheid-free.org
See the AFC Pledge:
https://apartheid-free.org/pledge/
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
Quaker organization promoting lasting peace with justice, in the US and globally:
https://afsc.org/
See their work in the region:
https://afsc.org/programs/jerusalem-ramallah-gaza
The Investigate Project:
Exposing corporate involvement in oppressive state violence structures.
Promoting corporate social responsibility and respect for human rights.
https://investigate.afsc.org/
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