Thursday, November 5, 2009
Time: 5:00-7:00 pm
Location: Levin Ballroom, Usdan Student Center (overflow seating in Schwartz Auditorium)

The head of a controversial United Nations fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip and a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations will discuss assertions that Israel and Palestinian fighters committed war crimes during three weeks of fighting in the Middle East last winter.

Justice Richard Goldstone, head of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, and chair of the Ethics Center’s Advisory Board, and Dore Gold, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, will exchange views on the report’s findings. The report said there is evidence of war crimes on both sides and that the Israelis made disproportionate use of force.

Read the full Brandeis University press release and the Boston Globe article about the event. The website of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict includes links to the full report. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs published its “Initial Response to Report of the Fact Finding Mission on Gaza Established Pursuant to Resolution S-9/1 of the Human Rights Council” on September 24, 2009.

The Ethics Center’s recent “Ethical Inquiry” article “Proportionality in the Context of Armed Conflict” includes some historical and legal context for the issue of proportionality and links to additional responses to the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict.

Seating is first come, first served. The event will be streamed live on the Brandeis website and simulcast in the Schwartz Auditorium. Priority for questions will be given to Brandeis students. Doors open at 4:30 pm. Parking is available in the Tower Lot. For directions and a campus map, click here.

This event is hosted by the Ethics Center and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. For more information, please contact the Ethics Center at 781-736-8577 or by email at ethics@brandeis.edu or Charles Radin in the Office of Communications at 781-736-4210 or by email at radin@brandeis.edu.

Dame Pa Matala

The Consulate General of Venezuela presents:
a concert in solidarity with Palestine & Honduras
featuring:

Dame Pa Matala
revolutionary hip hop and folk music
and from Palestine: Sabreena Da Witch
with
The Foundation Movement,
Natural Bliss & los trovadores por Honduras

FREE!

FRIDAY OCTOBER 2nd 8 PM
Kresge Auditorium
77 Mass Ave
Cambridge MA
more info: 781 724 0752

cosponsored by: Boston Boycott Divestment Sanctions
Proyecto Hondureño
and MLK Bolivarian Circle

El Consulado General de Venezuela en Boston presenta
un concierto en solidaridad con el pueblo de Palestina y de Honduras

Dame pa Matala
hip hop y musica folklórica revolucionaria
con
Sabreena da Witch (desde Palestina)
y
The Foundation Movement, Natural Bliss y Los Trovadores por Honduras
Entrada Gratis!!!

VIERNES 2 de Octubre
Kresge Auditorio
77 Mass Ave
Cambridge, MA
mas información: 781 724 0752

con el apoyo de
Boston Boycott Sanctions and Divestment
Proyecto Hondureño
y MLK Bolivarian Circle

Buy tickets and see more movie details here

http://bostonpalestine.bside.com/2009/films

Official website: http://www.bostonpalestinefilmfest.org/

Highlights of BPFF 2009:

We’re bringing Rashid Masharawi and his new feature film Laila’s Birthday (Eid Milad Laila) (2008), starring Mohammed Bakri (Since You Left, Private, Jenin Jenin). Mr. Masharawi will be here to answer your questions during a retrospective of his career, including his famous films Curfew (1993), which won the UNESCO prize in Cannes in 1994 and other awards, and Ticket to Jerusalem (2002), which also won numerous awards.

Najwa Najjar will also be with us to present her debut feature film, Pomegranates and Myrrh (al-Murr w’al-Rumman), a love story about the struggles of a young Palestinian dancer whose new husband is imprisoned for refusing to give up his land to settlers. The film, starring Hiam Abbas (Paradise Now, The Syrian Bride), Ali Suleiman and Yasmine Al Massri, recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

We’re bringing some rare, older films about Palestine too like The Dupes (1971), which is a compelling tale based on Ghassan Kanafani’s acclaimed novella, Men in the Sun (1962).

And, of course, we have the latest films coming out of Gaza as well as a lot of very interesting new documentaries and experimental films about life in Palestine.

As a special sneak preview to our festival, on September 3rd, we’ll be screening one of the first Palestinian films to receive a nationwide theater distribution in the US. It’s called Amreeka, and it’s a debut feature film from American-Palestinian filmmaker Cherien Dabis. Through a special arrangement with the distributors, we’re bringing it to our audiences first (at the MFA) before it opens in Boston theaters in mid-September.

We thank you for your ongoing support, and we look forward to hearing from you.

BPFF Organizing Committee: Salma Abu Ayyash, Emna Ben Salem, Maha Chourafa, Christine Giraud, Katherine Hanna and Kate Rouhana

Israel’s savage attack on Gaza in December and January shocked the world.  It also, as an unintended consequence, brought people around the world together in solidarity with the people of Gaza.  We were heartened and proud to be part of the greatest outpouring of solidarity with Palestinians in Boston in recent memory.  We met together, marched together, organized together, and raised our voices together.

Building solidarity with Palestine, of course, predates the most recent assault on Gaza, and it continues after the bombing.  One of the most inspiring and urgent efforts in that vein is the Viva Palestina U.S. relief mission to Gaza.  The delegation of hundreds of people from the U.S., led by British Member of Parliament George Galloway, leaves on July 4 bringing urgently needed humanitarian aid.  We are excited and humbled to have been invited on the mission.

We would like to invite you to join us in a dinner on Wednesday at 9pm at Andala Cafe in Cambridge (address/link below) following Mazin Quimsyeh’s talk at the Senior Center to celebrate and discuss the convoy, and how it can be connected to the movement in Boston.  We are also asking for your help–in supporting the convoy and our ability to participate in it–financially. The dinner will act as a fundraiser for which all contributions are deeply appreciated.
Your contributions are vital to the success of the Viva Palestina convoy, and our ability to bring this aid directly to the hands of the people of Gaza, an experience which we would then proactively use to help build the movement here with writing and speaking.  We will not be able to join this historic effort without your help.  Please read the attached letter by George Galloway, which explains the purpose of Viva Palestina, and appeals for your support.  We are trying to raise $10,000.  With everyone’s help this is entirely possible.  If you can’t join us on Wednesday, please contact us directly as soon as possible and we can arrange a means to collect your contribution from you.  We hope to see you Wednesday and we look forward to drawing upon our experience in Gaza to contribute to all of our work in Boston.

in gratitude and solidarity,
Tom Arabia and Khury Petersen-Smith

http://www.vivapalestina-us.org/

Tom: 617-970-2701
398 Centre Street #3
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Khury: 617-910-6604

Andala Coffee House www.andalacafe.com 286 Franklin Street Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 945-2212 Get directions

We organized and marched against Israel’s barbaric war on Gaza. Now’s the time to come together and develop strategies to build a sustained movement for solidarity with Palestine in New England. This is a conference for community and student Palestine solidarity activists–experienced and new–to talk about action for solidarity with Palestine.

Conference info:

When: Saturday April 25, 2009. Registration begins at 9am. Opening Plenary 10am
Where: UMass Boston, Campus Center Terrace [Map] 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston MA 02125
Campus Center phone: 617-287-5000

Workshops include:

• Introduction to Zionism
• Campus action for divestment from Israel
• How to start a new group
• Why does the US support Israel?
• History of Palestinian resistance
• Building a community movement for Palestine and more!

Featuring: