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Call for Joint Action

In response to the call for escalating actions against Israel's attacks on Gaza,the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the International JewishAnti-Zionist Network are collaborating in the United States.

If you are in the United States and would like toparticipate, contact information is below.

Internationally, IJAN encourages the creation of similarcalls to action.

The U.S.Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and the International Jewish Anti-ZionistNetwork (IJAN) are calling for joint action.

Israel'shorrifying attacks on Gazacome at the close of the Bush regime and at the onset of the Obamaadministration. Congress has declared the attacks an act of self-defense by Israel. Nothingcan be more untrue as the death toll of Palestinians creeps to 800 and theinjured to more than 3,000.

The need for escalating coordinated action against racistUSpolicies here and abroad coincides with the potential for change that Obama'spresidency represents.

Palestinians and anti-Zionist Jews are calling for jointaction. We are raising our united voices of outrage and grief against 60 yearsof occupation and ethnic cleansing. We are taking collective action insolidarity with and as part of more than 60 years of Palestinian struggle.

We are also co-organizing forums to assert Palestinianand anti-Zionist Jewish narratives and visions of liberation united withgrassroots movements for racial justice and immigrant and indigenous rights.

Joinus in taking another step toward a united front against racism!

Organize and participate in Palestinian/Jewish anti-Zionist joint actions with immigrant, indigenous and people of color communities
Organize and participate in forums, teach-ins and workshops to assert Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish narratives in joint struggle
Organize joint flyering at and messaging for protests
Organize delegations to local representatives and pass local resolutions
Tell us about it: email us at the contact information below

For more information or toparticipate, please contact us:

USPCN email: conference@palestineconference.org

IJAN email: ijan@ijsn.net

Jewish People Speak Out

Madam, - We are people inIreland who are Jewish or of Jewishdescent.

We are appalled by Israel 'sslaughter in Gaza .We have seen people justifying this on the basis ofIsrael 's "securityconcerns" and attacking supporters of peace for being anti-Jewish.

In this climate we feel it important to assert that it is not anti-Semitic oranti-Jewish to oppose Israel 'saction.

Nor, however, can it be part of any progressive political vision to conflatewhat the Israeli state has done and is doing inGaza as being supported by Jews worldwide.

Throughout the world, Jews have opposed the invasion ofGaza .

In Israel itself, tens of thousands protested this war; they have been attacked by policeand right-wing mobs and many Israelis, predominantly non-Jewish but alsoJewish, have been imprisoned.

We ask people to support these Israelis.

As for Israel 'ssecurity concerns, two points need to be made. Firstly nothing, but nothing,justifies the massacre of innocent people.

Secondly, peace will only come about through justice for the Palestinian peopleand through negotiations betweenIsrael and elected Palestinianrepresentatives.

One does not need to be Jewish to know this.

We ask people not to claim to speak for us when justifyingIsrael 'sbarbarity. - Yours, etc,

A Different Voice

KolAcher (A different Voice) from Sderot and the communities around Gazacalls on the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister to act urgently torestore calm in the area.

Theperiod of calm dramatically changed the lives of the inhabitants ofSdrerot, Ashkelon and the communities around Gaza, and enabled us allto re-experience a normal and sane life. Continuing the period of calmis crucial and critical for the inhabitants of the areas from every possible angle: physical, psychological, mental and economic.

Anotherround of escalation could break down our psychological strength,fragile as it is, and bring all of us into another round of selfdestruction and pointless bloodshed. We will not necessarily surviveit, and you should be aware of that, if you really care about theinhabitants of the area. We've been in this movie for too many years,and the results speak for themselves - a feeling of no way out,abandonment and a loss of hope for us and our children!!

Onthe other side of the border a million and a half Palestinians live inan unbearable reality, and the majority of them, like us, want quietand a future for themselves and their families.

Wefeel that you wasted the period of calm, instead of using it to promoteunderstandings and the beginning of negotiations, as well as continuingto fortify the houses of the inhabitants, as you promised.

Wecall on the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister not to lend yourears to the voices of incitement, and to do whatever you can to preventanother round of escalation, to promise the continuation of the periodof calm and to work quietly for direct or indirect negotiations withthe Palestinian leadership in Gaza in order to achieve a document oflong term understandings.

Weprefer an option of a cold war in which not a single rocket is fired toa hot war with tens of innocent victims and casualties from both sides.

We ask that you offer us an option of a settlement and political hope, and not an endless cycle of bloodshed!!!

"KolAcher" - A Different Voice is a group from Sderot and the communitiesaround Gaza, which has been engaged for the past year in conversationswith people from the Gaza Strip that represent "a different voice". Inthe conversations, the suffering and hardship on both sides of theborder come up, as well as the mutual will to break the continuingcycle of violence, and to offer a political option that will givecivilians on both sides of the fence a true hope for a better future.

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