♦ Register for the 9th Annual National Organizers' Conference, "Bringing Home the Cost of Occupation"

The US Campaign is excited to announce that registration is now open for our 9th Annual National Organizers' Conference, which will take place at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, on July 23-25, 2010. Many thanks to US Campaign member group Citizens for Justice in the Middle East and to the Muslim Student Association at UMKC for securing this venue! US Campaign conferences give representatives of member groups that have paid their dues to the US Campaign the opportunity to set overall political direction and priorities for the coming year, review and evaluate the work of the US Campaign, and elect representatives to the Steering Committee. They also provide a forum for local and national groups and individuals to network and exchange resources with one another. To learn more about US Campaign conferences and read reports from past conferences, click here.

Has your organization paid membership dues to the US Campaign this year? Find out by clicking here.

♦ UC Berkeley Divestment: "We lost the vote, but won the fight."

The ASUC Senate at UC Berkeley fell one vote short of the 14 needed to override a veto of a bill calling for divestment from two companies, General Electric and United Technologies, which directly profit from Israel's human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

From Cal Divest from Apartheid:  "We lost the vote, but won the night. 13 senators voted to override, 14 were required. Only 5 senators voted to uphold, less than half the 13.  We made a statement recorded for posterity and forced everyone to listen and watch what the nature of Israeli occupation is, to listen to Palestinian voices, from Palestine and from the US, telling their stories. These transcripts will stay preserved in recorded history, and we shall overcome.  Make no mistake, we lost the vote, but we won the night. Undaunted, Cal Divest Team"

As we've said before, this conversation needs to happen on every campus. Find out how you can make that happen by using US Campaign campus boycott and divestment resources.

♦ Support H.Con.Res.270 and Justice for Tristan Anderson

On March 13, 2009, the Israeli military shot U.S. citizen Tristan Anderson in the forehead with a high-velocity tear gas canister during an unarmed protest against Israel's illegal Apartheid Wall in the Palestinian West Bank village of Ni'lin. Anderson was critically injured and suffered brain damage; he remains today in a Tel Aviv hospital.

After the Israeli Ministry of Justice announced in February that it would not file any indictments stemming from Anderson's shooting, Rep. Barbara Lee, in whose Oakland-based district Anderson lives, introduced H.Con.Res.270 on April 28, calling "on the United States Government to undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation of the circumstances that led to the injury of Tristan Anderson."

In a press release, Rep. Lee noted that "It is with great urgency that we must seek accountability in this matter, and most importantly, ensure that such an unfortunate event does not occur again."

Her sense of alacrity unfortunately does not seem to be shared by many of her colleagues. As of this writing, the resolution has attracted only three cosponsors. Clearly voters disturbed by Anderson's shooting will need to make their voices heard with their Members of Congress for this resolution to stand any chance of passing.

Since May 4, more than 1,000 people have done so by asking their Representatives to sign on as cosponsors to this resolution through an action alert sponsored by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. People wishing to add their voices can do so by clicking here.

Israel's gruesome shooting of U.S. citizen Tristan Anderson is an occasion for Congress and the Obama Administration to demonstrate that its talk of accountability for Israeli actions is more than empty rhetoric. Pass H.Con.Res.270. Tristan Anderson deserves justice, and this resolution is a first step towards it.

♦ Free Ameer Makhoul

In yet another disturbing sign of its increasing repression against Palestinians working to defend their civil and human rights, Israel has arbitrarily arrested and detained one of its most porminent citizens working for civil equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, Ameer Makhoul, the General Director of Ittijah-The Union of Arab Community-Based Associations.

The following is adapted from an action alert on Makhoul's arrest issued by Addameer:

Ameer Makhoul was arrested on 6 May 2010 at 3:10 a.m. when Israeli Security Agency (ISA) agents accompanied by Israeli police raided his family home in Haifa.  According to his wife, Janan, the police confiscated items including documents, maps, the family's four mobile phones, Ameer and Jana's laptops, the hard drives from the girls' two desktop computers, a camera and a small tape recorder containing not-yet transcribed oral histories Janan collects as part of her work.

Approximately 40 minutes after their arrival, a group of the security forces left with Mr. Makhoul in custody. Makhoul was transported to Petah Tikva interrogation center, where he remains.  At around the same time, the Israeli authorities raided the office of Ittijah - The Union of Arab Community-Based Associations and confiscated documents and the hard drives from all of the organization's computers.

Ameer Makhoul's arrest, detention and a previously imposed travel ban are based on emergency regulations and "secret" information that is never disclosed to the defense. They are a flagrant violation of the UN Declaration and the EU guidelines on Human Rights Defenders. Palestinian human rights of freedom of movement, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and association as well as the right to protection from arbitrary arrest are daily violated.

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association in Palestine urges the international community to take action to help Ameer Makhoul:

- Write to your own elected and diplomatic representatives urging them to pressure Israel to release Mr. Makhoul and to put an end to the ongoing harassment against Palestinian human rights defenders.  Contact details for international embassies and consulates in Israel are available here.

- Write to the International Bar Association to protest Israel's use of arbitrary detention and the use of 'secret information' and incommunicado detentions; and, 

- Write to the Israeli government, military and legal authorities and demand that:  Mr. Makhoul be released immediately, and the travel ban against him be lifted; Israeli security authorities immediately cease their unlawful arrest and detention policies of Palestinian human rights defenders; and, Israeli authorities end the practice of arbitrary detention, the use of "secret information", and incommunicado detention.

For more information, click here.

♦ In the Blogosphere

Have you seen the latest voices, videos, and viewpoints on the US Campaign blog?  US Campaign Media Coordinator David Hosey spoke with RTAmerica about finding justice for Tristan Anderson.  Numerous individuals provided video clips and eye-witness accounts of the UC Berkeley divestment debate, including a post by US Campaign Steering Committee member Sophia Ritchie, who attended the final hearing.  The US Campaign and 56 other organizations and artists thank Gil Scott-Heron for heeding the Palestinian call to boycott Israel.  US Campaign Board Member Nadia Hijab and Jesse Rosenfeld of The Daily Nuisance explain how new Palestinians roads in the West Bank further segregation, apartheid, and settlement expansion.  US Campaign National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner discusses H.Con.Res.270 and the need to hold the Israeli military accountable for deaths and injuries of U.S. citizens.  US Campaign member groups and allies protest "Israeli Innovation Weekend" at the Boston Museum of Science.  Lastly, Arizona has just become a little bit more like Israel. 

All this and more, on the US Campaign blog!

♦ Do you have an upcoming protest, vigil, or action event?

Register your event on the US Campaign's online event calendar!  Use the calendar to find out what's happening in your community and to promote human rights and international law in the U.S. policy toward Israel/Palestine.

Upcoming Events

May 15, 2010, Washington, DC: Nakba Day Flotilla on the Potomac

May 22, 2010, Eugene, OR:  Dr. Saree Makdisi lecture & Al-Nakba Film showing

May 30, 2010, San Rafael, CA:  Sailing in Solidarity with the Freedom Flotilla