Forum on Israeli Settlers in LA

*This event is from a source outside of SIK and does not necessarily represent the views of SIK or its members.*

A.N.S.W.E.R. Public Forum: Eyewitness Palestine
Israeli Settler & State Violence: The Case of Tel Rumeida

Friday, April 7, 7:30 pm
1800 Argyle Ave, #410
Los Angeles, CA 90028

In April 2005, independent international activists began regular visits to the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

Tel Rumeida is a small neighborhood known for housing the most violent and racist faction of the Israeli settler movement. Palestinian families who live directly next to these settlers are often virtual prisoners in their homes and subject to the settlers´ violent attacks and destruction of property. The 400 fascist settlers, protected by thousands of Israeli troops, control 20% of the city of Hebron, home to 160,000 Palestinians.

After meeting Palestinian families in Tel Rumeida, documenting the circumstances in which they are forced to live, and experiencing the settlers´ violence, the international activists developed the foundations to begin a permanent presence in Tel Rumeida.

Join us for an eyewitness report, discussion and video from U.S. activists Chelli Stanley and John Harmer of the Tel Rumeida Project.

Co-sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Palestinian American Women´s Association and Free Palestine Alliance, members of A.N.S.W.E.R.

$5-10 donation benefits the Tel Rumeida Project. No one turned away for lack of funds.

The Source of the Iraq Quagmire

Some new important articles on the occupation of Iraq.

"[M]ajor media outlets in this country have lost track of the fact that what also entered Iraq was an American administration wedded at home and abroad to a fierce, unbending, and alien set of economic ideas. By focusing attention only on the lack of U.S. (and Iraqi) military power brought to bear in the early days after the fall of Baghdad, they ignore some of the deeper reasons why many Iraqis were willing to confront a formidable military machine with only small arms and their own wits. They ignore — and cause the American public to ignore — the fact that there was little resistance just after the fall of Baghdad and that it expanded as the economy declined and repression set in. They ignore the eternal verity that the willingness to fight and die is regularly animated by the conviction that otherwise things will only get worse." http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=72319

The above article pulls from Naomi Klein's "Baghdad Year Zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia" which can be found here – http://harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html .

Ex-Counter-Terrorist Officer on War in Iraq

Eric Haney, founding member of the elite counter-terrorist unit Delta Force and subject of the new show "The Unit," gave an interview in the Daily News recently in which we gave his opinions on the war in Iraq.

"Q: What's your assessment of the war in Iraq?

A: Utter debacle. But it had to be from the very first. The reasons were wrong. The reasons of this administration for taking this nation to war were not what they stated. (Army Gen.) Tommy Franks was brow-beaten and … pursued warfare that he knew strategically was wrong in the long term. That's why he retired immediately afterward. His own staff could tell him what was going to happen afterward."

Q: What is the cost to our country?

A: For the first thing, our credibility is utterly zero….Our military is completely consumed…The harm that has been done is irreparable"

For more see: http://www.dailynews.com/ontv/ci_3641046

A journalist in Northern Iraq has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for criticizing Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGMDE140162006 (also on www.juancole.com)

Israeli ‘Centrist’ Party Wins National Elections

The Kadima ("Forward") Party led by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is currently in negotiations with the left-wing Labor Party, ultra-orthodox Shas, and the Pensioners Party to secure a majority coalition in the Israeli Knesset parliament.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/700363.html

Christian Leaders have also come together in Israel and Palestine to urge the new Israeli government to re-enter peace negotiations with the Palestinians and reject unilateral withdrawl or annexation of the West Bank.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/700303.html

New Videos and Comedic Developments

The NYTimes has excellent videos on not only a an ex-sex slave in Pakistan being punished by the Pakistani courts (an issue Keran is very active in), but developments in the genocide unfolding in Darfur, Sudan. 

The comedy show on Sunday went very well, and two of the comedians agreed to come to campus and perform.  One of the comedians, Dean Obeidullah, is half-Palestinian and has a comedy routine with a Jewish American called “Stand Up for Peace,” which would go great with our plans for an Israel-Palestine Awareness week which has gotten formal approval from Greg Lehr.