| A group of Jewish Americans committed to peace in the Middle East through a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and opposition to American militarism, imperialism, and exceptionalism. | LA Jews for Peace |
Next Regular Meeting Monday, Sept. 15 at 7:00 PM in Crescent Heights (just east of Beverly Hills). Call Jeff at 562-694-1637, or e-mail us at info@LAJewsforPeace.org for the address and driving directions. |
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The Free Gaza Movement [a 501(c)(3) organization] has purchased two boats and will
set sail from Cyprus heading towards to the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Follow progress
of the trip at:
www.freegaza.org.
LA Jews for Peace member Jeff Warner is traveling to Iran with the
Fellowship for Reconciliation for a 2-week peace mission. The trip will leave August 5.
Jeff describes one of his goals for the trip:
On one hand there are 537 photographs of Tehran on
this website , and 26 of the photos are
here. These photos
show a vibrant, modern city. There are high-rise business and residential districts, and many construction cranes suggesting an active building program. There is a new subway that is clean and well appointed with original art. The streets are clean, well paved, and full of newish automobiles. There are photos of modern shopping malls. Photos captioned as high end residential look like they can fit into Beverly Hills. Other photos captioned middle-class neighborhood and subsidized housing look like they would fit into any large eastern American city such as Boston, New York, or Philadelphia.
Brian William (anchor of the NBC nightly news) just returned from Tehran where he interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In a Aug. 31 appearance on the Daily Show, Williams described Tehran with "city streets [that] remind you of a cross between Havana and Baghdad," an atmosphere like an "eastern-bloc nation that hasn't had a cent invested in it in years," and his hotel, formally a Hilton, that "has gone to hell" because "its dirty and awful."
These are completely different descriptions. My mission is to verify one of these pictures of Tehran. Are the photographs on the web site highly selective? Or is Williams supporting the Israeli-American story that all Iran does is support terrorism and build nuclear bombs.
American Jews for a Just Peace (AJJP) is a new national group being formed in Boston. LA Jews for Peace is joining
in the organizational effort fore AJJP. The following paragraph are the AJJP Common
Grounds document as modified by LA Jews for Peace:
INTRODUCTORY NOTE: This is an in-progress draft of Common Ground principles for a new alliance of progressive Jewish activists working under the name “American Jews for Just Peace.” We are committed to a transparent and democratic process for forming this new network and are presenting this document as a thinking and planning document towards the end of adopting shared principles under which we can organize together. We encourage you to comment on this draft, make suggestions for changes and present new or different ideas that we have not included. Our goal is to hammer out a proposal for addressing some of the important issues prior to a founding convention at which a final document can be adopted by majority vote.
Preamble and Common Ground Principles
American Jews for a Just Peace (AJJP) is a confederation of progressive and predominantly Jewish activists in the United States working for an end to the Israeli occupation and colonization of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem and equal rights for all the people of historic Palestine. AJJP operates as an alliance of autonomous chapters and individual members across the United States. AJJP is a grassroots, membership-driven network with the goal of coordinating our collective work under a shared name and agreed statement of Common Ground principles. The founding statement of AJJP’s Common Ground principles is as follows:
PRINCIPLES
AJJP is deeply committed to a peaceful and just resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, a resolution that will provide justice, safety, security and freedom for Jews, Palestinians, and all others living in the greater Middle East. We believe that before such a just peace can be realized, Israel must withdraw from its settlements in the Palestinian territories to the internationally recognized 1967 borders (the Green Line) and address the legitimate national and human rights of the Palestinian people in Occupied Palestine, within Israel, and in the Diaspora, as defined by international law and recognized principles of human rights. We recognize the powerful role of U.S. policy in the greater Middle East and will work to combat the myth of American Jewish consensus in support of Israeli government policy and to promote a U.S. policy that is consistent with international law (e.g, Geneva Conventions) and the legitimate aspirations of all the peoples of historic Palestine.
We therefore advocate for:
Toward those ends, AJJP should:
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LA Jews for Peace was a co-sponsor of this conference to mark the 60th anniversy of the
Nakba.
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