2017 Commemorations
Enough! Week of Action June 5-10!
2017 marks 10 years of Israel’s blockade of Gaza; 50 years of Israel’s military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; 70 years since the Nakba and ethnic cleansing of Palestine began following the partition of the land against the will of the indigenous people; and 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, which set the stage for the Zionist movement to colonize Palestine and later to establish a Jewish state.
During the June 5-10 week of action, from coast to coast, in the midwest, and in the south, groups were #Marking50, calling for an end to Israel’s occupation and all forms of its ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine as part of a commitment to justice for all Palestinians, whether in historic Palestine or in exile.
Read our report on the week here.
Israel’s actions since 1967 make clear that the occupation was never meant to be temporary. It is not an aberration. It is the latest extension of Israel’s ethnic cleansing and subjugation of Palestinians, which continues to this day.
The week of action was a response to a call from Palestinians to send a clear message: Enough is enough and Israel must end all its oppression of Palestinians for freedom, justice, and equality to prevail.
Informational Events
- Use the week of action to strengthen your local organizing. Host an event to amplify whatever campaign or focus your group is working on.
- Host a Speaker Event.
- Invite members of your local Palestinian community to share their experiences.
- Screen a Film. Suggestions:
- Set up an Exhibition:
- Obliterated Families is an award-winning multimedia web documentary that draws attention to the families from Gaza whose lives were shattered during the Israeli offensive in 2014. Blending together striking images, in-depth text, infographics, animations and short videos, the project is designed to bring the audience closer to the reality of life for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The site also includes a do it yourself exhibition.
- Take part in One Book, Many Communities campaign.
- Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani is the book chosen by member group Librarians and Archivists with Palestine for their campaign this year.
- Hold a Workshop or Teach In.
Campaigns
- Use the week of action to amplify and further the campaigns your local group is working on.
- Organize an action targeting Hewlett Packard: Technology of Israeli Apartheid. You can find ideas and resources here for flyering and other actions at HP retailers. Approach your faith community to become HP-free!
- Plug into the Deadly Exchange: Ending US-Israel Police Partnerships campaign (member group Jewish Voice for Peace)
- Start planning a campus, faith-based, or municipal boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaign. Here are some options…
- Palestinian queers and their allies are calling for a boycott of the Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival happening June 1-10. Use this as an opportunity to expose and resist pinkwashing. Find action ideas and resources here.
Media
- Here’s a media toolkit from the Institute for Middle East Understanding on messaging, making your own media, and writing press releases.
- Set up a meeting with the editorial board of your local media outlet to discuss their coverage of the issue.
- Reach out to local reporters to suggest story ideas to humanize the occupation after 50 years
- Submit op/eds to be published during week of action.
- Create your own media with videos, blogs, facebook live coverage of actions, and more
- Check out this media kit (Jewish Voice for Peace) for tips on editorial board meetings, op-eds and letters to the editor, getting coverage of actions, and self documentation on social media.
- Share and post on social media facts, pictures, video, and graphics about Palestine the struggle for freedom, justice, and equality. Use #Marking50.
- Stay tuned for more actions to take on social media. Join the Facebook event page to get updates!
Direct Action
Some actions to consider:
- Mass demonstration
- Flash mob
- Mock wall
- Mock checkpoint
- Guerilla street theater
- Die-in
- Use your creative imaginations to think of many other approaches…
Locations to consider:
- Israeli Consulates
- Friends of the Israel Defense Forces galas
- “Celebrate Israel” parades
- Congressional District Offices
- Jewish National Fund offices
- IRS offices
- Stores that sell boycotted products
- The International Defense & HLS Expo, the largest defense and security event in Israel, is being held in Tel Aviv June 6-8. Plan actions at the local offices and factories of the companies profiting off of arming the occupation. Member group War Resisters League has compiled a list of US arms dealers that will be attending to exhibit their weapons.
Policy
- Tell your Members of Congress to attend Defense for Children International – Palestine and American Friends Service Committee briefing, “50 years under Israeli military occupation: A look at Palestinian children’s rights.”
- Organize a Briefing Watch Gathering! Check out this how to flyer from the No Way to Treat a Child Campaign.
- Tell your members of Congress to oppose resolutions supporting 50 years of Israel’s military occupation of East Jerusalem.
Resources
- New 50th anniversary fact sheet
- New media toolkit
- Follow the Institute for Middle East Understanding on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for videos, graphics, and more throughout the week. Also you can find more fact sheets here.
- Postcards. Click on each image for larger file. Email [email protected] if you need the file in a different format for your printing.
- Poster from member group Friends of Sabeel-North America. Click on the image to download the file.
- Kairos Palestine Portal launched this week as an organizing tool, resources hub, and online community.
- 50th Anniversary video and other resources — including infographics — by the Arab American Institute.
- Visualizing Palestine’s History of Occupation infographic, also pictured below:
Get Connected! Use the form below to register your action. We’ll be in touch with resources you can use! We’ll make sure your action is on the map and to connect groups organizing actions. The earlier you can share information, the more time we will have to support and promote it.
We are providing extra resources and more to support USCPR member groups holding actions. Contact [email protected] for more information.