You know, 40 is a good number. And that's how many Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers American Friends Service Committee will be featuring on there website, each week from now until June 8th. It's a wonderful way to spread some hope and help to show people that there are plenty of Palestinians and Israelis who are dedicated to finding a just end to this terrible violence.
The first person who is being profiled is someone who is dear to my heart. Ghassan Andoni is the "Palestinian co-founder of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and the International Solidarity Movement. He has been a proponent of nonviolent resistance for decades." He is also an inspiring man and someone with tremendous wisdom, especially about the role that international solidarity can play in ending the occupation. He writes "Conflicts are fueled by the tendency of the powerful to exploit the power and the anger and frustration of the powerless, which turns into violence. International Solidarity Movement activists are attempting to confront the exploitation of power and to bring back hope to the powerless...."
Check out the rest of AFSC's Profiles of Peace as they go up!
PS: 40 can also be a pretty terrible number. 40 is the number of years that Israel has occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The 40th anniversary of the occupation is coming up this June. I hope that we can find 40 thousand Americans who are ready to say it's time for something different.
2 comments:
Thank you for your post on Ghassan Andoni. I've had a Google alert open since he was nominated by American Friends for the Nobel peace prize. I'm not sure the alert works very well, except in this case. I way too few results for his name.
Thank you so much for your work.
By the way just clicking about on your blog I found two problem links you might want to look into.
- The link to your speaking schedule at Google calendars isn't working.
- the link in the text below has been usurped by a porno site. Eeeeeeeeek!
• Sister Community Program: American communities can help Palestinian communities by creating long-term partnerships with them. The Rhode Island-Qalqillya project a great example of this sort of project: http://www.riqa.info/ The RI-QA puts Americans in touch with Palestinians directly, through videos, internet chats, and pen-pal projects. The RI-QA also supports Palestinian schools with supplies and buys olive oil from Qalqillya. I am very interested in working to set up such a relationship with Oregon and Washington residents.
Thanks, Dean. I apperciate your help! Ghassan Andoni is really wonderful, isn't he?
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