De Israelische Terreur 356

'Dear friends, colleagues and activists:

Another week of bad news, good news, and activism goes by. We can never rest until justice and peace is restored. Those of you able to make it, there will be a memorial service for Riad Hamad Saturday in Austin Texas (Saturday May 10, 1-3 PM, Celebrating the life of Riad Hamad, St. James Episcopal Church, 1941 Webberville Rd., Austin, TX 78721Info Contact: khartwell@austin.rr.com). I hope to see those of you who can attend there. You may want to check this new article on Riad: "Salamat, Riad Hamad," by Greg MosesRiad would want us to continue and actually expand the work that he dedicated his life to (and lost it!). So in that vein, there will be two other events in Austin on the issues that were central to Riad's work (I will dedicate both talks in Riad's memory):Saturday May 10, 1-3PM Jones Auditorium, Ragsdale Center, St. Edward's University, 3001 S. CongressPalestine/Israel: From the Catastrophe- HopeMazin Qumsiyeh Sponsored by the Interfaith Community for Palestinian RightsSunday May 11, 5:00 pmWestlake Hills Presbyterian Church, 7127 Bee Cave Rd., Austin, TX 78746Mazin Qumsiyeh speaking on the Nakba and the plight of native Christians and Muslims in PalestineYesterday we had a very good event in the Westport Library which created a controversy and today we have a good event in Hartford Seminary. Hundreds of events are going on around the world. Silence is no longer an option. Saying we did not know is no longer an option.Now for this week's other action itemsACTION 1: 100 Prominent British Jews signed and published a statement: We are not celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary A similar effort is being launched in the US to get signatures on this statement. If you are Jewish in the US and agree with the British statement, send your name and any identification (showing organizational affiliation does not mean organizational endorsement) to Stanley Heller at MECC@comcast.net(Stan is chair of the Middle East Crisis Committee, TheStruggle.org)ACTION 2: Canadian Postal Workers Union boycott of Apartheid IsraelFor background, see: http://www.cupw.ca/1/0/6/4/2/index1.shtml Article on the subject (not good but shows how Zionists are trying to minimize and dismiss such critical actions) http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14568&Itemid=86The Zionist organizations are busy exerting pressure on the leadership of the Union. Postal workers could benefit from messages of support sent toDenis Lemelin, National President, CUPW National Office, 377 Bank StreetOttawa , Ontario K2P 1Y3 tel : (613) 236-7238 fax : (613) 563-7861ACTION 3: For those in the Washington DC metropolitan area: 12000 visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum every day. This is an incredible educational opportunity on the issue of Palestine and the slow genocide (Baruch Kimmerling used "politicide") of the Palestinian people. Please contact me and I will connect you with those doing a vigil and flyering there on a weekly basis.ACTION 4: Action week for Dr. Sami Al-Arian. Please take action, seehttp://www.freesamialarian.com/ACTION 5: Congress is about to vote more money for war.. tell them NO.http://capwiz.com/fconl/callalert/index.tt?alertid=11325771&type=COFinally watch these two powerful videos1) If Americans Knew Video seen by half a million people on youtubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynWjYHP91gA2) Amazing poetry reading (forwarded by Peace Action members):http://youtube.com/watch?v=NCOb2YlTJkwHere is the POEM readFor Eli by Andrea Gibson Eli came back from Iraqand tattooed a teddy bear onto the inside of his wristabove that a medic with an IV bagabove that an angelbut Eli says the teddy bear won't liveand I know I don't know but I say, "I know"cause Eli's only twenty-four and I've never seen eyesfurther away from childhood than hiseyes old with a wisdomhe knows I'd rather not haveEli's mother traces a teddy bear onto the inside of my armand says, "not all casualties come home in body bags"and I swearI'd spend the rest of my life writing nothingbut the word light at the end of this tunnelif I could find the fucking tunnelI'd write nothing but white flagssomebody pray for the soldierssomebody pray for what's lostsomebody pray for the mailboxthat holds the official lettersto the mothers,--------fathers,---------sisters,and little brothersof Micheal 19... Steven 21... John 33how ironic that their deaths sound like bible versesthe hearse is parked in the halls of the high schoolrecruiting black, brown and poorwhile anti-war activistsoutside walter reed army hospital scream100, 000 slainas an amputee on the third floorbreathes forget-me-nots onto the window painbut how can we forget what we never knewour sky is so perfectly blue it's repulsivesomebody tell me where god livescause if god is truth god doesn't live hereour lies have seared the sun too hot to live bythere are ghosts of kids who are still alivetouting M16s with trembling handswhile we dream ourselves stars on Survivoranother missile sets fire to the face in the locketof a mother who's son needed money for collegeand she swears she can feel his photograph burnhow many wars will it take us to learnthat only the dead returnthe rest remain forever caught between worlds ofshrapnel shatters body of three year old girltowelcome to McDonalds can I take your order?the mortar of sanity crumblingstumbling back home to a home that will never be home againEli doesn't know if he can ever write a poem againone third of the homeless men in this country are veteransand we have the nerve to Support Our Troopswith pretty yellow ribbonswhile giving nothing but dirty looks to their outstretched handstell me what land of the freesets free its eighteen-year-old kids into greedy war zoneshones them like missilesthen returns their bones in the middle of the nightso no one can seeeach death swept beneath the carpet and hidden like dirteach life a promise we never keptJeff Lucey came back from Iraqand hung himself in his parents basement with a garden hosethe night before he died he spent forty five minutes on his fathers laprocking like a babyrocking like daddy, save meand don't think for a minute he too isn't collateral damagein the mansions of washington they are watching them burnand hoarding the waterno senators' sons are being sent out to slaughterno presidents' daughters are licking ashes from their lipsor dreaming up ropes to wrap around their necksin case they ever make it home aliveour eyes are closedamericathere are souls inthe boots of the soldiersamericafuck your yellow ribbonyou wanna support our troopsbring them homeand hold them tight when they get here-----------------Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhDhttp://justicewheels.org/http://peace-action.org/http://academicsforjustice.org/http://qumsiyeh.org/http://palestineconference.org/