Ta’anit Tzedek’s next monthly fast day is Thursday, April 15. To mark the occasion we’ll be sponsoring the second monthly phone conference of our new initiative, Resisting the Siege: Conversations with Gazans.
This month our call will spotlight the Popular Achievement Program in Gaza – a project of the American Friends Service Committee. This remarkable program works with 14-17 year old Gazan children, instilling values of civic engagement and empowerment to achieve positive social transformation and sustainable development in their communities. As you can see from the clip above, these kinds of programs demonstrate the critical importance of strengthening Palestinian civil society. Initiatives such as the Popular Achievement Program – not blockades and bombs – are the true key to security for Gazans as well as Israelis.
On our call we will be joined by Popular Achievement director Amal Sabawi and two teenage program participants, Sarah and Roba Salipi, who will discuss how they live with the daily challenges of life in Gaza.
Here’s the call info:
Thursday, April 15, 12:00 pm EST
Toll Free Number: 1-800-868-1837
Direct Dial Number: 1-404-920-6440
Conference Code: 775326#
For those of you who live in the Chicagoland area, Ta’anit Tzedek will also be sponsoring a program, “Dignity Under Siege,” an evening of interfaith reflection, conversation and action on behalf of the citizens of Gaza. Our featured speaker will be Mark Braverman, a longtime advocate for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine and author of the recently published “Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land.”
The gathering will take place at the Evanston Galleria, 1702 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, at 7:30 pm. Check the Ta’anit Tzedek website for more info.
Shalom Rav 
Much of the world wants to see peace come to Gaza. Poking the Israeli paranoid body politic with futile rocketry seems counter productive to this goal.
Would it be possible to find a place where Zionists and Gaza Muslims could meet in safety to discuss the future?
Considering that the official HAMAS leadership of Gaza says, clearly and repeatedly, that they will never agree to peace with Israel and will only consider partial, temporary cease-fires, then your comment that Israelis are “paranoid” reminds me of the comment “even paranoid people can have enemies”. Have you forgotten the thousands of Israelis killed or wounded in the suicide bomber campaign a few years ago that HAMAS played a major role in?
Hamas leadership has said publicly that they will accept Israel within the 1967 boundaries. What more do you want?
Poking the Israeli paranoid body politic with futile rocketry seems counter productive to this goal.
…..that’s precisely why they do it. They have goals other than peace.
Three questions, Gil:
1. Who is the “they” you are referring to?
2. If their goals are other than peace, then what ARE their goals specifically?
3. What are Israel’s goals in continuing to colonize and create “facts on the ground” in the West Bank, and continuing to blockade Gaza such that ordinary civilian people there cannot obtain basic necessities, not to mention materials necessary to rebuild after the massive destruction of the 2008-09 assault?
What a terrific idea. I hope you’ll post the transcript, too, as I don’t think I’ll be able to join in!
I’ve just tweeted about the call to let more people know, and will mention it on my blog later today.
What I would invite YBD to contemplate is the fact that Hamas abided by the 2008 ceasefire. They abided by it. Obviously, a ceasefire is supposed to encourage further confidence-building in trust; the ceasefire was to lead to a lifting of the crushing siege. Israel girded for Operation Cast Lead, instead.
Also, here are the casualty numbers for the Second Intifada:
3,307 Palestinians, including 654 children
972 Israelis, including 117 children.