The Olympia chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace will host two speaking events by Irvine 11 member Osama Shabaik. Shabaik’s talk, entitled The Irvine 11, Islamophobia and U.S. Palestine Solidarity Activism, will be held at Traditions Café and World Folk Art in Downtown Olympia, Tuesday, January 31th, at 7:00 p.m. Shabaik will also speak at The Evergreen State College Library Lobby Wednesday, February 1, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.

Osama Shabaik graduated as a Regents Scholar with honors from UC Irvine in June 2010 with a Bachelors in Economics and a Bachelors in International Studies with a focus on Africa/Middle East. During, the four years of his undergraduate studies, Shabaik was active outside the classroom with the Muslim Student Union, serving first as the MSU’s Treasurer and later as its Vice- President. Osama was the first student that stood up and spoke out in protest during Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech at UC Irvine on February 8, 2010.

Shabaik will discuss his recent conviction for his part in the protest against Oren’s speech. He will address how he and other Muslim students planned their protest, why they chose the methods they used, and what occurred during the protest. He will also discuss the reaction by the University and their eventual disipline, as well as the District Attorney’s attempt to charge the protesters with felonies, before settling on two misdemeanors. He will end with the story of the trial and the convictions, and what steps he and his fellow students are taking in order to fight back. Throughout his talk Osama will examine issues of Islamophobia, freedom of speech, and the repression of voices opposed to the Israeli occupation and the oppression of Palestinians by the State of Israel.

Shabaik will be joined for Tuesday’s event by Andrew Meyer, a local organizer with Olympia BDS, TESCDivest, and the Rachel Corrie Foundation, who will relate the experience of the Irvine 11 to Olympia’s own experience with legal intimidation – the current lawsuit against the Olympia Food Co-op over its boycott of Israeli goods.

Tuesday’s event is co-sponsored by Olympia BDS, TESC Divest! and The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.
Wednesday’s event is co-sponsored by the Mideast Solidarity Project, the President’s Diversity Fund, and Evergreen programs “Re-interpreting Liberation” and “Zinn & the Art of Protest”.

Location/Date/Time

Olympia Jewish Voice for Peace presents Osama Shabaik: The Irvine 11, Islamophobia and U.S. Palestine Solidarity Activism:

Traditions Café and World Folk Art, 300 5th Avenue SW, Olympia, Tuesday, January 31, 7:00 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Evergreen State College Library, 2700 Evergreen Pkwy, Olympia, Wednesday, February 1, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

These events are free to the public. Donations for the Irvine 11 Legal Defense fund will be accepted.

For more information, call Olympia Jewish Voice for Peace at 360-524-2318.
Contact: Vincent Calvetti-Wolf, Olympia Jewish Voice for Peace
Email: Olympia@jewishvoiceforpeace.org
Phone: 360-524-2318

Once in Gaza, Rachel documented when the Israeli military destroyed Palestinian olive orchards, gardens, and greenhouses and harassed Palestinians at checkpoints. She worked with women and children and planned for a sister-city project to connect people in Rafah with those in Olympia, her hometown. Through phone calls and e-mails, she introduced family and friends to life in Occupied Palestine: “I don’t know if many of the children here have ever existed without tank shell holes in their walls, and the towers of an occupying army surveying them constantly from the near horizons. I think, although I’m not entirely sure, that even the smallest of these children understand that life is not like this everywhere. An eight-year-old was shot and killed by an Israeli tank two days before I got here, and many of the children murmur his name to me —Ali—or point at the posters of him on the walls.”

Rachel stayed with civilian Gazan families whose homes were threatened by widespread military clearing demolitions. On 16th March 2003, while working with seven international activists, she was crushed by a military Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer as she stood to protect a threatened Palestinian home. The family who owned it watched from inside their garden wall, as the bulldozer approached.

The horror of learning what happened that day is etched in my memory—a searing pain like nothing I had experienced before, and hope never to experience again. The loss is encompassing and forever—and from a parent’s perspective, the price too dear. But there is another cost too much to bear—that of discouraging a child from being all they can be. We are sometimes asked why we did not stop Rachel from going to Gaza. Her father’s response is, “Why weren’t we all there?”

I have connected with families of others lost to the non-violent struggle in Palestine, and to those injured—Palestinians, Israelis and others. Despite the pain, I am struck by their continued conviction about the rightness of the cause, and the methods of resisting. In 2005, Gene Sharp, an expert on non-violent resistance, stated at a Bethlehem conference, “None of this is safe. None of this is easy. But these are the tools for those struggling for liberation and for those of us who work with them.”

With her writings from Gaza, Rachel charted our path: “This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop. I don’t think it’s an extremist thing to do anymore. I still really want to dance around to Pat Benetar, and have boyfriends and make comics for my co-workers. But I also want this to stop.” In the eight years since Rachel was killed, I have witnessed the injustice in the West Bank and Gaza but, also, the imagination and determination of Palestinian activists—and the resilience of all Palestinians who, despite occupation, act with dignity, and with determination not to be silenced. They continue to ask us to visit, and to stand in solidarity with them in Palestine and back home. Israeli Jewish and Palestinian activists challenge their country’s policies and actions, but tell me they cannot succeed alone. They need the rest of us.

International solidarity can take many forms. We can make the journey to Israel/Palestine in person, through the internet, or by connecting to efforts in our own communities. Whatever the path, we must follow the news, share the stories, be visible, and strategically challenge policies that allow the injustice to continue. Rachel was compelled to live meaningfully. She made the journey to Palestine because (as an American) she felt implicated in Israel’s actions and felt a responsibility to challenge them.

Books of Mahatma Gandhi were on Rachel’s shelves. She knew that suffering and sacrifice in some form is one element of non-violent resistance. She also knew from Gandhi that “a small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” Our actions are cumulative; our numbers are increasing; and our struggle is for our own universal human rights. To achieve and maintain those for everyone, we must continue to stand with the Palestinians.

(Cindy Corrie was asked to write an article for the December issue of Emel Magazine, where this article was originally published.)

Farihan prepares traditional Arab treats for a bake sale fund-raiser. Photo courtesy of Assad Bushnaq

Come experience a slice of Arab culture at Olympia’s first ever Arab Festival on October 6, 2012. You will meet Arabs and Arab-Americans living in our community and have a day to experience music, dancing, food, and stories from the diverse countries and cultures of the Middle East.

For years, Palestinian-American and Olympian Farihan Bushnaq attended and enjoyed the biennial Arab Festival at Seattle Center. She loved the entertainment, information, and food from the various Middle Eastern countries and, also, the chance to socialize with others who shared her Arab background. After retiring from her nursing job, Farihan asked herself, “Why not bring this experience to my community in Olympia?” She approached us at the Rachel Corrie Foundation for help, knowing our history of working for peace and human rights in the Middle East. We were enthusiastic and decided to make our 2012 annual Peace Works event a launch of Olympia’s first Arab Festival.

Past Peace Works have largely focused on political activism for human rights for all people in the Middle East, emphasizing the Palestine-Israel conflict. The Olympia Arab Festival will be primarily a social, cultural and educational event and will coincide with the city’s fall Arts Walk. With so many misunderstandings about Arab culture and history, we see the festival as a way to foster connections in the community and to build understanding, respect, and appreciation for all we share, as well as for our differences.

The festival planning committee is meeting regularly and has begun outreach to students, teachers, and those in the greater community who will find creative ways to participate in this inaugural Olympia event. Mark your calendar for October 6, 2012, and join us at the Olympia Community Center for this Olympia Arab Festival – an opportunity to explore new worlds with your friends and neighbors!

By Donna Schumann

It has, at times, been hard to listen to testimony from the Israeli military. While soldiers on the scene have testified that they recognized Rachel and her ISM friends as non-violent demonstrators, their superior officers stated under oath that there are no civilians in war and that the military is at war with everyone in Gaza. After Rachel was killed, the Deputy Battalion Commander reflected in the day’s operations log that orders were to “shoot to kill” anyone in the border area between Gaza and Egypt. His Brigade Commander later confirmed that order. The DBC testified further that this area was ever-expanding – up to the next row of Palestinian houses in Rafah.

Throughout the trial, as the word “terrorist” was applied to every Palestinian in Rafah, I could not help but think of the two families (four adults and five children) huddled behind their garden wall that day as Rachel stood before it. In some ways the most disturbing allegation came from the last witness, the Brigade Commander. In his written affidavit, he stated that his troops had been fired upon from the home Rachel was defending when she was killed. Later, under cross examination, he clarified that the incident happened long after the family was forced from their home by his troops. The realization that his soldiers were safer while this Palestinian family lived in their home, rather than after they were evicted, never seemed to enter the Commander’s mind.

Our family entered this lawsuit to gain information and accountability from the Israeli military. But with that information, we see just how inadequate accountability is – even if we succeed in gaining it from the court. It cannot bring back Rachel or the thousands killed in the second intifada. It is not enough to challenge and punish past transgressions. We must work to stop such egregious acts before they are committed in the first place. Instead of officers who view the other only as “terrorist,” we must demand that our leaders see in these families the potential for new friends.

Our family expects to share more specifics when the verdict is in and we are able to reflect on the entire process. We thank the Rachel Corrie Foundation for providing space to provide information and insight from the trial experience.

By Craig Corrie.

Cindy Corrie speaks at protest outside the National Building Museum in Washington DC. Photo courtesy of Jewish Voice for Peace

The Rachel Corrie Foundation proudly supports the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS seeks to hold Israeli companies, institutions, and their international collaborators accountable for human rights abuses committed against Palestinians under illegal Israeli occupation.
We celebrate several successes within the last year, including the National Building Museum’s cancellation of an award ceremony honoring Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar supplies heavy equipment used to demolish Palestinian homes and infrastructure and is the focus of a long term education and boycott-divestment campaign by RCF, Evergreen State College students seeking to make their campus “Caterpillar free,” and other organizations nationwide. In September, the Corries delivered a petition to the museum – with thousands of signatures and 150 organizational sponsors – to rescind Caterpillar’s award.

Locally, RCF and our supporters celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Olympia Food Co-op’s decision to support BDS. This fall, a lawsuit was filed targeting the Co-op and several of its past and present board members, to intimidate them into repealing their courageous stand. “Allegations that the co-op’s board acted beyond its power are a thinly veiled attempt to stop concerned citizens from using a nonviolent and historical tool for social change,” said Maria LaHood, Senior Staff Attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, representing the Co-op and other defendants. The Co-op seeks to have the case dismissed under Washington’s anti-Strategic Laws Against Public Participation (SLAPP) statute. The first hearing is January 13, 2012, 11am, at Thurston County Superior Court. Please save the date to join us that day in support!

RCF also supports national BDS efforts including divestment initiatives in the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, a Minnesota Bonds effort, and campaigns by California Israel Divestment (IDC) and University of Arizona Divestment. RCF praised NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for boycotting the Spirit of Freedom Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival and asked that he put his action into context of BDS rather than taking a neutral stance.

By Evan Welkin. To learn more about local BDS efforts, visit www.olympiabds.org.

Inside Gaza, the Israeli military maintains a “No Go Zone,” denying farmers access to 1/3 of the Strip’s agricultural land. Truckloads through Kerem Shalom, the single crossing for imports from Israel, are well below 2006 numbers, and exports are severely restricted. Palestinians allowed through Rafah Crossing to Egypt have increased but are well below early 2006 averages. About 3000 exits per month through Erez Crossing (the only crossing for Gazans to Israel) are permitted – largely for medical reasons. Israel severely restricts Palestinian passage between the West Bank and Gaza, while reserving its military’s right to enter Gaza at will. Gisha concludes that Israel does not balance security needs with obligations to the people of Gaza and the West Bank.

Solidarity campaigns have, therefore, expanded across the globe. BDS actions, Gaza flotillas, and congressional lobbying regularly bring attention to the illegal Israeli Occupation. RCF has joined local and national partners in these efforts and has instituted Palestine House Parties to educate newcomers. We also continue support for grassroots projects in Gaza – the Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament, the Maia and Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural efforts, a new student pen-pal project, and the ongoing sale of Palestinian olive oil and embroidery. We look forward to expanding our work in 2012 to support better lives for all in the Middle East.

To read Gisha’s November 2011 report, visit www.gisha.org.

Alternative Radio’s David Barsamian inspires audience at Nov. 10 discussion, Uprisings: From Kashmir to Egypt to Wall Street. Photo courtesy of John Harvey.

• Presented Peace Works 2011: Solidarity in Action featuring Alice Walker, Sharif Abdel-Kouddous, Dr. Dalit Baum, Noura Erakat, and over 400 participants
• Participated in Move Over AIPAC conference & Washington DC actions
• Contributed to U.S. Campaign annual meeting in Washington DC
• Funded a water purification unit for Rafah, Gaza, kindergarten
• Supported 2011 Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament in Rafah
• Provided olive trees to Palestine farmers Engaged three RCF interns, two work study students, and countless volunteers.
• Educated the public and media about the Corrie family trial in Israel
• Led campaign to convince National Building Museum to cancel public ceremony for Caterpillar Inc.
• Supported local BDS efforts: TESC Divest and the Olympia Food Co-op
• Awarded the Rachel Corrie Memorial Scholarship at The Evergreen State College
• Managed Iraqi Student Solidarity Committee scholarship
• Educated U.S. members of Congress in district meetings with Corries, flotilla participants, Israeli Dorothy Naor, and local constituents
• Launched Gaza Pen Pal Project with UNWRA school
• Corresponded with key Iranian officials to support release of U.S. hikers held in Iranian prison.
• Supported Washington State participants on the U.S. Boat to Gaza
• Co-sponsored Maia Mural Brigade Delegation to Gaza
• Provided numerous Corrie family speaking events and interviews from at home in Olympia, Washington, to Istanbul, the West Bank, Jerusalem, Washington DC, Des Moines, Iowa, and McMinnville, Oregon – to name a few!

Events

• Ziad Abbas: Children Under Occupation: Human Rights, International Solidarity and Water in Palestine
• Mohammed Omer: Voice of the Voiceless
• March 16th: Continuing Quest for Justice: Rachel Corrie Eight Years Later
• May 15th: Palestinian Nakba Day: Reading and Remembrance
• Remi Kanazi and Dr. Nada Elia: Challenging Racism through Art and Activism
• David Barsamian: Uprisings: From Kashmir to Egypt to Wall Street
• Co-sponsor: Mideast Solidarity Project 8th Annual Middle East Film Festival Co-sponsor: U.S. Policy in Palestine-
• Israel: Engaging Faith Communities in Pursuit of a Just Peace
• Provided post-screening panel for film Israel vs Israel by filmmaker Terje Carlsson

Cindy Corrie participating in Washington DC vigil for Troy Davis. Photo courtesy of Edie Garwood.

It’s become part of our annual ritual at the Rachel Corrie Foundation to write this end-of-year newsletter and use it as an opportunity to reflect on all that has been and all that can be. We dedicate this issue to Scott Kennedy – co- founder of the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz, former city council member and mayor, a giant contributor to efforts for justice and peace in Israel/Palestine, and our friend. Scott died unexpectedly November 19th – one week after leading his final tour to the Middle East with Interfaith Peace-Builders. In 2004, as mayor, he declared March 16th Rachel Corrie Day in Santa Cruz and said, “It is a very sad commentary on the state of political affairs in the United States that our national government has done virtually nothing to find out what happened…” In 2005, he hosted Craig and me and members of the family whose home Rachel stood to protect, in a memorable Santa Cruz visit. He was a brave, passionate man who helped us find our voices.

I’m writing from home, wrapping up work before departing for an uncle’s funeral in Iowa and a grandchild’s birthday on the east coast. Life’s cycles are very present for me. From my living room, I’m able to gaze at “Rachel’s tree.” It’s now a gorgeous, lushly green, fifty-foot-tall Douglas fir, nurtured by the rains, sun, and soils of the Pacific Northwest. It was a tiny five-inch seedling when Rachel brought it home from an elementary school field trip and planted it in our yard. We love trees and have others that are named, but numerous seedlings through the years haven’t fared so well. This tree, though, dominates the view from our dining room window and is a reminder of the ability and power of seeds to grow into things magnificent – and a reminder of all that Rachel has left behind. Seeds planted by people like Scott Kennedy and Rachel expand as we keep their spirits and examples alive in our own work.

It has been a momentous year for the world and for the Rachel Corrie Foundation. The outcomes of all we have seen erupt in the Middle East and North Africa and in Occupy communities across the U.S. remain unclear, but we have turned a corner to a place where personal freedoms, human rights, and opportunity will no longer be easily denied. This newsletter includes news of our 2011 accomplishments – and there are many – but more important are our plans for 2012 and after, intended to support struggles for equality and justice in the Middle East and beyond. We look forward to Olympia’s first Arab Festival in October, to supporting boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) efforts in Olympia and elsewhere, and to increasingly effective connections with friends in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel.

As we embark on our ninth year, our partnerships with those who work on Israel/ Palestine and on many related issues are key. The connections make us stronger. We are strengthened also by volunteers – many locally in Olympia, but by those, too, across the world who creatively share Rachel’s story and the work that emanates from it. We appreciate you!

This is a time of year when we ask for help. We need your support more than ever – to sustain our current work and to do even more. Please take time during this busy season to consider how you can support the Rachel Corrie Foundation now and in the coming year – but most of all, know how grateful we are for your interest and support in 2011 and for all the personal actions you have taken to move our collective efforts for justice and peace in Israel/ Palestine forward.

Peace, Salaam, Shalom,

Cindy Corrie, President, Rachel Corrie Foundation

Today, we enthusiastically and humbly turn to you for help, as we launch our first-ever matching donor campaign.

A very generous and anonymous supporter has stepped up to help us raise $15,000 by matching every donation of $10 and above that we receive from friends like you – up to a maximum of $7,500. We have through November 30th to meet the challenge. We hope you will help!

At a time when it is desperately needed, the Rachel Corrie Foundation is uniquely positioned to continue the work that began with Rachel’s journey to Gaza nearly nine years ago. In the few years of our existence, we have had a substantive, positive, and broad impact by providing a structure for learning, communicating, networking, and acting for a world grounded in justice where people live together in peace. Even as political leaders are mired in struggle, we continue to bring together diverse communities and to support individual and collaborative action for positive change. In multiple ways, we educate and foster grassroots action for a just peace in the Middle East.

This past year, we hosted a national Peace Works conference with over 400 attending, compelled the National Building Museum to cancel its public ceremony awarding Caterpillar Inc. the Henry C. Turner Prize*, and informed thousands about emerging information from the Corrie family’s civil trial in Israel. We have so much planned for the year ahead. Please help to make it all happen!

Send your donation marked “Matching Donor Campaign” to the Rachel Corrie Foundation, 203 East 4th Ave, Suite 307, Olympia, WA 98501, or donate online now. Your thoughtful gifts in any amount will make a difference – double the difference, if you can give now!

Thank you!
The RCF Family

*Caterpillar Inc. has long been on notice about the pattern of Israeli human rights violations committed with its equipment. It sells equipment to the Government of Israel that it knows is systematically used to demolish Palestinian homes, to kill and injure unarmed Palestinian and international civilians, to uproot olive trees and destroy agricultural land, and to facilitate the expropriation of Palestinian territory through construction of Jewish-only settlements and a separation-annexation wall. For decades, Caterpillar Inc. has sold bulldozers, built to military specifications, that are then weaponized in Israel and used in operations against the Palestinian people – often without provocation, without compensation, and against international law. The CAT brand and its bulldozers have become a symbol of destruction – of Palestinian homes, lands, and lives.