Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights

Sign the Petition! I stand in solidarity with the Palestinian Hunger Strikers

Israel has long imprisoned Palestinians without charge, a practice called "administrative detention." But now Palestinians are making history by nonviolently resisting these abuses with a 2,000 prisoner hunger strike.

Their demand is just: freedom from arrest without charge, the right of habeas corpus, is at the foundation of international human rights. The hunger strikers have inspired support actions from Palestinians and Israeli allies, as well as from international human rights organizations like Amnesty International.

Two of the hunger strikers are near death. We need to bring them justice before it's too late. Please add your name to petition to end administrative detention below.

I support the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike in opposition to inhumane prison conditions and the Israeli practice of detaining Palestinians without charge. I stand with their historic act of nonviolent resistance to these gross injustices.

About eighty protesters in Portland yet again protested the annual Oregon American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) gathering on April 29th. This year's event was marked by an even greater amount of paranoia and secrecy by AIPAC: the event was not widely announced, the keynote speakers were not promoted, the media was not invited, people who tried to attend were arbitrarily refused entry, and the guests were subjected to searches of purses and metal detectors after passing checks by police and AIPAC security.

AIPAC is one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the United States and promotes right-wing hard-line policies in support of Israel. Former Israeli Knesset member Avraham Burg described AIPAC as "a kind of a filter which filters only darkness through it, rather than light through it. And I would like to see the alternative American Jewry, which is expressed through the liberalism and humanism and civil rights and a total commitment toward peace, as the one which expresses me." AIPAC is currently promoting aggressive sanctions and support for military action against Iran.

According to one of the few websites promoting the event, the keynote speaker was Eli Groner, Israel's Minister for Economic Affairs to the U.S. Eli Groner gave up his U.S. Citizenship to work for his true love, Israel. He is a big supporter of the Bush's neo-con "war on terror" saying of Bush "here is a man who understands that the price of liberty is, indeed, eternal vigilance." Groner also lives in Gush Etzion, a block of illegal Israeli settlements that are built on Palestinian land. In short, the perfect poster child for AIPAC: An American born Israel loyalist, in favor of aggressive neo-con ideology, living on stolen Palestinian land.

We were encouraged by the many expressions of support we received from cars passing by. Even a city bus honked in support. The few that cursed us and gave the finger were usually coming into the event.

Many protesters commented that even fewer people and politicians seemed to be attending the AIPAC event. Unfortunately, because the media refuses to cover the event or do any investigative reporting, we will probably never know of all the politicians who attended, what speeches they gave, or what AIPAC was telling them.

We do know that Senator Ron Wyden attended and spoke to the crowd and so did Congresswoman Susan Bonamici. We know that Oregon Secretary State Kate Brown, a regular, also attended. We know that Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz attended and so did the Mayor of Beaverton Denny Doyle. We also know that many Oregonians would like to know who else attended and what Wyden and Bonamici said to the audience. Unfortunately, a veil of secrecy hides their remarks.

One visibly angry member of the AIPAC crowd tried to get police to take down our largest "tower of peace" sign which proclaimed "No War On Iran." He claimed the sign blocked traffic. The police informed him that they had looked at the sign and determined it wasn't a problem.
The annual AIPAC meeting is a direct expression of what is wrong with powerful special interest lobbies, how politicians fail to meet the real needs of their constituents, and how the media continues to fail to work for the public interest and inform the public on these politically important lobby events.

The protesters also noted the large number of luxury cars with people coming to fete AIPAC: pearlescent Buicks and dark bodied Lexuses. If ever one wanted to get a sense of the 1% working against the legitimate needs and moral compass of the 99%, this event gave it. Why do supposedly progressive politicians like Kate Brown insist on going to events showcasing right wing ideology? Perhaps that is why American politics keeps drifting right.

References:

Eli Groner, A statement of American values ,http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=243311

Facts on Gush Etzion
http://peacenow.org.il/eng/content/gush-etzion

Amy Goodman interview with Avraham Burg, http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/12/former_speaker_of_the_israeli_parliament
Photo 3 The Tower of Peace

Justice requires action to stop subjugation of Palestinians

By Desmond Tutu, special to the Tampa Bay Times

Published Monday, April 30, 2012

A quarter-century ago I barnstormed around the United States encouraging Americans, particularly students, to press for divestment from South Africa. Today, regrettably, the time has come for similar action to force an end to Israel's long-standing occupation of Palestinian territory and refusal to extend equal rights to Palestinian citizens who suffer from some 35 discriminatory laws.

I have reached this conclusion slowly and painfully. I am aware that many of our Jewish brothers and sisters who were so instrumental in the fight against South African apartheid are not yet ready to reckon with the apartheid nature of Israel and its current government. And I am enormously concerned that raising this issue will cause heartache to some in the Jewish community with whom I have worked closely and successfully for decades. But I cannot ignore the Palestinian suffering I have witnessed, nor the voices of those courageous Jews troubled by Israel's discriminatory course.

Within the past few days, some 1,200 American rabbis signed a letter — timed to coincide with resolutions considered by the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA) — urging Christians not "to selectively divest from certain companies whose products are used by Israel." They argue that a "one-sided approach" on divestment resolutions, even the selective divestment from companies profiting from the occupation proposed by the Methodists and Presbyterians, "damages the relationship between Jews and Christians that has been nurtured for decades."

While they are no doubt well-meaning, I believe that the rabbis and other opponents of divestment are sadly misguided. My voice will always be raised in support of Christian-Jewish ties and against the anti-Semitism that all sensible people fear and detest. But this cannot be an excuse for doing nothing and for standing aside as successive Israeli governments colonize the West Bank and advance racist laws.

I recall well the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail in which he confesses to his "Christian and Jewish brothers" that he has been "gravely disappointed with the white moderate … who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action;' who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom. ..."

King's words describe almost precisely the shortcomings of the 1,200 rabbis who are not joining the brave Palestinians, Jews and internationals in isolated West Bank communities to protest nonviolently against Israel's theft of Palestinian land to build illegal, Jewish-only settlements and the separation wall. We cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand as relentless settlement activity forecloses on the possibility of the two-state solution.

If we do not achieve two states in the near future, then the day will certainly arrive when Palestinians move away from seeking a separate state of their own and insist on the right to vote for the government that controls their lives, the Israeli government, in a single, democratic state. Israel finds this option unacceptable and yet is seemingly doing everything in its power to see that it happens.

Many black South Africans have traveled to the occupied West Bank and have been appalled by Israeli roads built for Jewish settlers that West Bank Palestinians are denied access to, and by Jewish-only colonies built on Palestinian land in violation of international law.

Black South Africans and others around the world have seen the 2010 Human Rights Watch report which "describes the two-tier system of laws, rules, and services that Israel operates for the two populations in areas in the West Bank under its exclusive control, which provide preferential services, development, and benefits for Jewish settlers while imposing harsh conditions on Palestinians." This, in my book, is apartheid. It is untenable. And we are in desperate need of more rabbis joining the brave rabbis of Jewish Voice for Peace in speaking forthrightly about the corrupting decades-long Israeli domination over Palestinians.

These are among the hardest words I have ever written. But they are vitally important. Not only is Israel harming Palestinians, but it is harming itself. The 1,200 rabbis may not like what I have to say, but it is long past time for them to remove the blinders from their eyes and grapple with the reality that Israel becoming an apartheid state or like South Africa in its denial of equal rights is not a future danger, as three former Israeli prime ministers — Ehud Barak, Ehud Olmert and David Ben Gurion — have warned, but a present-day reality. This harsh reality endured by millions of Palestinians requires people and organizations of conscience to divest from those companies — in this instance, from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett Packard — profiting from the occupation and subjugation of Palestinians.

Such action made an enormous difference in apartheid South Africa. It can make an enormous difference in creating a future of justice and equality for Palestinians and Jews in the Holy Land.

Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, is archbishop-emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa.

Say "No to war on Iran, No to funding Israeli apartheid, and No to AIPAC and the lobbies of the 1%."

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Time:               4 p.m.  to 8 p.m,
Date:                 Sunday, April 29, 2012
Location:            Mittleman Jewish Community Center, 6651 SW Capitol Highway, Portland, Oregon

See our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/207196606050041/

For more information:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Talking points: 10 Reasons Why the Israel Lobby AIPAC is So Dangerous http://mondoweiss.net/2012/02/ten-reasons-why-the-israel-lobby-aipac-is-so-dangerous.html

Event Flyer: http://www.pjw.info/occupyaipac.pdf

#44 buses stop right in front of Mittleman: 44-Capital Hwy/Mocks Crest.  Contact Trimet: http://trimet.org   503-244-0111

Signs will be available at the protest!

Call your politicians! Before the event, we ask that people call their state and federal representatives and ask them to "Say no to AIPAC" and not attend this event.  The AIPAC event regularly attracts State Legislators, our members of congress, Oregon mayors, members of Portland's city council, and even the student body presidents of Oregon's universities! See our sample letter and contact information below!  Please let us know of any responses by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Join a coalition of peace, human rights, and Palestine solidarity organizations for a demonstration outside the annual Oregon fund-raising dinner of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Sunday, April 29. The demonstration will protest AIPAC’s role in promoting a military attack on Iran’s nuclear energy facilities. The protest is also calling for an end to U.S. military aid to the Israeli apartheid government which refuses to halt the construction of illegal settlements and routinely violates the human rights of Palestinians living under Occupation. Israel controls the lives of more than 4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip but denies them the right to vote or to exercise their right to self-determination.  We will be demonstrating at the start of the event and at the end when the politicians leave stuffed full of food and AIPAC talking points.

Some Oregon political leaders have regularly attended AIPAC’s annual fundraiser in past years. This year the protesters are asking Oregon's leaders to represent their constituencies' opposition to another unjust war in the Middle East by boycotting AIPAC's gala. Among the groups protesting are Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR), Friends of Sabeel - North America (FOSNA), Jewish Voice for Peace - Portland (JVP), Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land (LJHL), Occupy Portland, Palestine Action Group--Corvallis Oregon, Peace and Justice Works - Iraq Affinity Group,  and Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER).

At  AIPAC’s recent national convention , Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  tried to justify a military assault on Iran. Such an attack would violate the United Nations Charter, which forbids the use of force except in self-defense. The Iranian government has said that its nuclear energy program is for peaceful purposes. Iran is a signatory to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and is under an inspection regime by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Both the IAEA and U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. Israel, on the other hand, has refused to sign the NPT and is believed to have between 200-400 nuclear weapons.

“AIPAC represents a minority, radically right-wing position in its lobbying for the Netanyahu government,” explained William Seaman, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace.  “They do not represent Jewish opinion in the United States or in Israel, which is one reason groups like JVP and other Jewish organizations are challenging their disproportionate influence on our political process.” Polls show that AIPAC does not speak for most American Jews.

The protest will take place outside the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, 6651 SW Capitol Highway in Hillsdale, beginning at 4 p.m. on April 29. Demonstrators are committed to nonviolence and oppose all forms of racism, including racism against Jews. They are asking Oregon residents and political leaders to say No to war on Iran, No to funding Israeli apartheid, and No to AIPAC and the lobbies of the 1%.