Exciting work continues on the Olympia-Rafah Mural Project!

On the north side of the Labor Temple building at State and Capitol, we will affirm the sister-city connection between Olympia, Washington and Rafah, Palestine. The mural will examine Olympia’s “hidden histories” and explore links between our local past and global struggles for social economic justice. Labor history, the dispossession of Native Americans from their land, and current immigration and deportation struggles link us to events which have shaped the history of Rafah. Through art, we seek to understand our own past and present participation in colonialism and occupation.

Four “R’s” frame our design and image selection: relationships, return, resistance, and reconciliation. We celebrate and seek to strengthen the human connections between our communities; affirm the right of return for the Palestinian diaspora; acknowledge the daily acts of resistance to oppression; and express our heartfelt hope for reconciliation.

Central to our mural design is a large olive tree featuring tile leaves painted by local individuals to reflect their visions of peace and justice. Several hundred tiles have been painted and fired, with further workshops and open studios planned to work with artists, students, and organizations on mural design. Two artists from the Rafah Artists’ Association are helping to design scenes from Palestine and hope to join us during the painting. Between the branches, we are asking local groups to paint their social justice visions onto canvas fabric, which will be applied to the wall along with the tile leaves.

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Save the Date! PeaceWorks 2008 will be held October 17-19 in Olympia, Washington at The Evergreen State College!

Behind the Current Israeli Escalation in Gaza: Questions and Answers

Dr. Steve Niva; Member of the Faculty, Middle East Studies, The Evergreen State College

1. There seems to be a massive upsurge in violence in Gaza these past few days; what is happening?

It is important to recognize that the violence is mostly one-sided. On the one side, Israel is conducting a major military operation into the Northern Gaza Strip that includes ground forces, air-strikes and missile-strikes in crowded residential neighborhoods. It has also fired upon ambulances and destroyed many civilian homes. On Saturday (March 1), Israeli operations killed over 60 Palestinians, some of them were reported to be armed fighters but at least half of them were civilians, including 10 children and three women. Since last Wednesday (February 27) the Israeli assault has killed over 100 Palestinians and injured over 200. Israel claims this is only the first phase of the operation; the next phase will involve more ground troops.

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Peace Works 2008 Update- Call for Volunteers

Greetings from the Rachel Corrie Foundation! Our recent Peace Works Conference 2008 planning meeting resulted in a working theme, more solid timeframe, and a clear set of considerations regarding our audience and program.

We are now loosely planning around the dates of October 17th-19th. The working theme that we agreed upon is “Dual Occupations: Sovereignty and Freedom from  Iraq to Palestne.”

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Bonnie Brodersen and Gene Robbins, aunt and uncle to Rachel Corrie, traveled the Middle East in late 2007 with their daughter Emily Robbins, visiting Syria, the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel and Lebanon. These are Gene’s observations.

By Gene Robbins

Two things make this trip different from our two-week stay in Syria two years ago – Emmy’s superb fluency in Arabic and getting out of Damascus for more than just day trips.

We spent 10/19 eating at courtyard restaurants in the Old City of Damascus with Syrian friends (families) of Emily. These courtyards are huge open-air areas originally designed so that women could be outdoors and yet not have to go out in public. Read the rest