The US public, in the view of long-time Middle East correspondent and author Alan Hart, is the most poorly informed population in the world on Israel and Palestine. Since Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid and the US alone supports Israel in the UN through vetoes of Security Resolutions to censure and sanction Israel, awakening US public awareness is a key element in our activism. To do so, we have provided well-publicized public presentations by authoritative speakers in university and central public settings to promote understanding and support of human rights and international law and to effectively oppose and discredit the false Zionist narrative.
Sponsored community events
Nakba Commemoration Harris Hall, Eugene 7 pm, May 4, 2011 Showing of historic Nakba footage and 50' documentary film, Reel Bad Arabs The films were followed by discussion with Palestinians Chris Bargout and Kamal Hasan whose families were ethnically cleansed from Ramle and Haifa in 1948. Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion Richard Forer, author Lawrence Hall 128, University of Oregon 7 pm, March 10, 2011 A Jewish-American ex-AIPAC supporter, Richard shares his journey from a "righteous" defender of Israel who adamantly resisted examination of the evidence, through an "awakening" as he dsicovered irrefutable facts incompatible with his previously conditioned "Jewish identity," to an activist for Palestinian human rights, described in his newly released book of the above title.
Belonging, a documentary film by Tariq Nasir Dr. Ibrahim Soudy Knight Library Browsing Room, University of Oregon 7 pm, December 9, 2010 The filmtraces the filmmaker's displaced family over two generations, including historic footage. Dr. Soudy speaks on the role of international civil society in securing Palestinian human rights.
Missing Headlines: Stories of Life in Palestine Emily Schick, International Solidarity Movement activist Harris Hall, Eugene 7 pm, October 13, 2010 Emily shares her observations and slides from five months in the West Bank and East Jerusalem coordinating ISM media and working with Palestinians facing dispossession and attack.
Update Gaza Gerri & Bob Haynes, palliative care nurse & cardiologist husband/wife team Harris Hall, Eugene 7 pm, July 22, 2010 Gerri & Bob just returned from leading a medical delegation to Gaza and described their findings and interactions with the people of Gaza, emphasizing their continuous stress and its effects, including slide show of post-Cast Lead conditions.
Report from the West Bank Peter Chabarek, local activist Unitarian Universalist Church, 477 E. 40th, Eugene 7 pm, June 8, 2010
Second presentation by Peter of his slide show with discussion of the occupation and Palestinian non-violent resistance from his recent tour of the West Bank with Global Exchange.
A Nakba and Apartheid that Dare Not Speak their Names
Saree Makdisi, UCLA professor of English literature and author, Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation Lawrence Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene 7 pm, May 22, 2010
Nakba commemoration withNakba photo exhibit, filmed interviews with Nakba survivors, 1950 BBC documentary film on the refugees, keynote address by Dr. Makdisi, and panel discussion with dispossessed and IDF-disabled Palestinian residents of Oregon.
Report from the West Bank Peter Chabarek, local activist Eugene, March 17, 2010
Rachel Corrie commemoration with slide show and discussion of the occupation and Palestinian non-violent resistance from his recent tour of the West Bank with Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights organization
The One-State Solution Ali Abunimah, Author, One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse and Co-founder, The Electronic Intifada Lawrence Hall, University of Oregon, Eugene 1 pm, March 5, 2010
Counteracted Israeli hasbara propaganda and support for the Bantustan "2-state solution" and presented 1-state model.
One Year After Gaza
Rebecca Tumposky, U.S. Chapter Organizer, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Monadel Herzollah, U.S. Palestinian Community Network; Founder & President, Arab American Union Members Council
Eugene, February 25, 2010
Portland, February 26, 2010
Corvallis, February 27, 2010 Presented Jewish alternative to Zionism based in social justice and solidarity with Palestinian demands for human rights.
Palestinian Prisoners in Israel
Ala Jaradat of Addameer, Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights organization Portland State University, Portland November 20, 2009
Described the thousands of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel through arrest or administrative detention, routinely tortured, and denied due process rights.
Eyewitness Gaza
Darlene and Donna Wallach, Jewish anti-Zionist social justice advocates who challenged the Israeli blockade aboard the first FreeGaza boalift in August 2008 and remained through December 2008 to re-establish the ISM in Gaza Harris Hall, Eugene, May 27, 2009
Film footage of life in Gaza, including Israeli Navy attacking Gazan fishermen.
Film: The Land Speaks Arabic
Chris Bargout, son of a Nakba survivor of the Lydda massacre and Ramle expulsion in July 1948 Harris Hall, Eugene, May 13, 2009 Nakba commemoration featuring film on Zionist history preceding the Nakba, followed by discussion
Gaza War Crimes Investigation
Attorney Tom Nelson, Member, National Lawyers Guild delegation to Gaza to investigate evidence of Israeli war crimes during Operation Cast Lead Harris Hall, Eugene, May 4, 2009
Description, slide presentation and discussion
Film: Occupation 101
Alison Weir, Founder & Director of If Americans Knew Commemoration of the death of ISM worker Rachel Corrie by IDF bulldozer in March 2003
Harris Hall, Eugene, March 16, 2009
Film on Israeli occupation followed by presentation by Ms Weir.
Palestine: From Apartheid to Warehousing
Jeff Halper, Co-Founder and Director, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
United Lutheran Church, Eugene, October 11, 2008
Presentation relating Israel’s Gaza strategy of deliberately "warehousing" an unwanted population to "shock doctrine" principles described by Naomi Klein to serve "disaster capitalism."
The Palestine/Iraq Nexus
Mazin Qumsiyeh, author, Sharing the Land of Canaan and Popular Resistance in Palestine Harris Hall and University of Oregon, Eugene, March 3 and 4, 2008
Touring with Wheels of Justice, presentations connected Israel with the attack on Iraq and the common theme of Arab demonization.
Distorted Reporting in the U.S. Press Alison Weir, Founder & Director of If Americans Knew University of Oregon, 2007 Graphic presentation of data comparing reporting accuracy of Israeli and Palestinian deaths in the NY Times, Oregonian and San Francisco Chronicle.
The Israel Lobby Jeff Blankfort, print and broadcast journalist University of Oregon, May, 2006 Discussion of the power of the Lobby, denial of this by prominent "progressive" figures who avoid debating this with Mr. Blankfort, and its decisive influence in the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Demand Freedom, Justice and Equality in the Holy Land