Category Archives: Middle East

Iyad Burnat: Non-Violent Resistance in Palestine

5th anniversary of protests in BilinRecorded April 1, 2015

Iyad  Burnat, born in 1973 in Bil`in, Palestine, heads the Bil’in Popular Committee.  Since 2005, citizens of Bil’in, joined by Israeli and international peace  activists, have held weekly non-violent demonstrations against the Israeli separation wall and the encroachment of illegal settlements. The protesters  have maintained a commitment to non-violent resistance in the face of armed  military opposition. The  demonstrations are the subject of the 2012 Oscar-nominated documentary film 5  Broken Cameras, which was made by Iyad’s brother, Emad Burnat.  Burnat discusses strategies for non-violent popular resistance with social justice activist Trina Jackson.  How has he brought potential adversaries to share his goal of  peace and prosperity for all people?

Watch Iyad Burnat on YouTube here.

Co-sponsored by Don and Jeannette McInnes and by Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East – Massachusetts Chapter; the Middle East Education Group of First Parish (UU) in Cambridge; Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia; Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights; Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston; Jewish Women for Justice in Israel- Palestine; Palestinian House of New England; and United for Justice With Peace.

Framing Military Occupation: Close-Ups of Daily Life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Occupied TerritoriesThe media give us views of the Middle East influenced by politics, international law, and distance.  But what does life in the Middle East feel like on the ground?  Physician Alice Rothchild of American Jews for a Just Peace – Boston leads a panel discussion on living under military occupation in the occupied Palestinian Territories.  Panelists Dr. Alan Meyers, Tali Ruskin, and Laila Bernstein from the AJJP Health and Human Rights Project present their observations of daily life in the West Bank and East Jerusalem made during their visits as part of human rights delegations over the past decade.

Recorded March 5, 2014

Co-sponsored by the Middle East Education Group of First Parish in Cambridge.