Working for Peace on Earth and Peace with Earth since 1952
Opposing the destruction of UNRWA
As Palestinians in Gaza Starve
Dear *********, Member of the Congress:
The Senate tacked onto H.R. 815 "The Relieve Act", which was a small measure to correct a mistake in veterans’ benefits, the $95.3 supplemental defense appropriations bill. We've nothing against helping veterans but do oppose the massive funding in the bill for Israel at a time when the International Court of Justice has ruled that it's plausibly engaged in an act of genocide. The Israeli state is also known to human rights groups as enforcing apartheid, which as you know is an international crime.
We also are staggered that the measure permanently bans U.S. monies from going to UNRWA. On Israeli charges, which were without evidence, that 12 UNRWA employees took part in the in the Oct. 7 attack, the aid was suspended by President Biden. During a time of terrible hunger suffered by virtually all in Gaza and as there is increasing chances of famine, stopping aid through UNRWA, is a shame in itself. Permanently banning aid through UNRWA is beyond shame, an outrage. I'd point out to you that on February 2 Senator Chris Murphy in a press release said, "UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), plays an indispensable role in providing lifesaving aid to people in need." We agree, it’s indispensable.
There is $9.2 billion in the bill for humanitarian aid "in response to the situations in Israel and Ukraine." On the face of it none of the money would go to Palestinians unless you believe the Gaza Strip is part of Israel. Assuming this is language to appease the anti-Palestinian racists in Congress and that the some of the money is intended to go to Palestinians, how would that happen if the agency that takes care of refugee food, education and other necessities (UNRWA) is defunded?
Please speak out against this bill.
Sincerely,
....
Promoting Enduring Peace
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Background:
The Israeli government had the anti-UNRWA propaganda campaign ready for what they knew would be a devastating decision against their actions by the International Court of Justice. It launched it the very day the ICJ decision came out. The Israeli government accused 12 UNRWA workers as taking part of the Oct 7 attack from Gaza. The charges and names of the 12 were sent to Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general. He tried to appease the Israelis by acting before any evidence behind the charges was given and fired all the accused. However, instead of cooling things down this caused the charges to seem more credible leading to Biden's suspension of aid. (It's quite possible that this was choreographed with Secretary of State Blinken and Biden. Maybe we'll find out in histories written in the future.)
This seems incredibly foolish on the part of Lazzarini, but he says he was between a rock and a hard place. According to an interview in The Guardian "He said an Israeli bank account belonging to UNRWA had been frozen and the agency had been warned that its tax benefits would be cancelled. Lazzarini added that a consignment of food aid from Turkey, including flour, chickpeas, rice, sugar and cooking oil, that would sustain 1.1 million people for a month had been blocked at the Israeli port of Ashdod. He claimed the contractor said the Israeli authorities had instructed the company not to move it or accept any payment from a Palestinian bank." So his heart was in the right place, but his actions helped the produce the disaster.
Realize the bill above would take the power to suspend and/or restore away from Biden and stop all U.S. funding to UNRWA permanently by law.
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut helped write the bill that would doom UNRWA. As noted above on February 2 he and other Senators praised UNRWA as "indispensable". Yet a few days later he negotiated an omnibus bill concerning military aid for Ukraine, Israel and measures to restrict migrants. It included the fatal language about UNRWA. That bill was defeated, but the same language on UNRWA was included in the amended "Revive Act". On PBS he said he included the language stopping funding to UNRWA because otherwise Republicans wouldn't allow any humanitarian aid in the bill.
Aid to Palestinians? The bill doesn't mention the word Palestinians or Gaza. Here's a relevant section:
"For an additional amount for 'International Disaster Assistance' $5,655,000,000, to remain available until expended, to address humanitarian needs in response to the situations in Israel and Ukraine, including the provision of emergency food and shelter, and for assistance for other vulnerable populations and communities: Provided, That such amount is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985."
Note the language in the bill talks about Israel and Ukraine and not Gaza. How much aid would actually reach Palestinians is an open question. Some Israelis have been trying to stand in front of aid trucks and block them from going into Gaza. You can imagine the Netanyahu-Ben Gvir government will dream up many many roadblocks to prevent aid from going to people whom it deems "Amalek".
There's also the jobs that UNRWA provides Palestinians, 13,000 in Gaza alone. The U.S. is the biggest contributor to UNRWA. With U.S. contributions gone, a very large number of UNRWA employees will have to be laid off. Bitter.
City Governments Should Call for Ceasefire in Gaza
(Unpublished opinion piece to Hearst Media CT)
By Stanley Heller
Submitted to Hearst Media, January 29, 2024
At the start of January, the City Council of Bridgeport overwhelmingly voted for a resolution calling for ceasefire in the warfare in “Gaza, Israel and the West Bank” and the “the immediate release of innocent Israeli hostages as well as the immediate release of Palestinian prisoners who are unlawfully held in Israeli jails”. It was a fine resolution that should serve as a model for similar resolutions all over the state. The numbers killed and injured are appalling. Tens of thousands of Palestinians civilians have been killed including over 10,000 children. Massive numbers are injured. “Injured” doesn’t sound so bad except that lots of these injuries are grave and those victimized are maimed for life. CNN reported on January 7 that on average 10 Palestinians children a day were suffering an amputation of a limb or limbs, every day since October. Many are carried out without anesthesia because none is available.
Then there are 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza “all struggling with a lack of stable shelter, inadequate nutrition and polluted, salty water.” I know of one case where a father had to deliver the baby himself with only the aid of advice from a doctor over a cell phone. Add to that the many hundreds of hostages, prisoners-of-war, and people on both sides scooped up as bargaining chips. All their fates are intimately tied up to ending the violence.
A number of large U.S. cities are calling for ceasefire, Providence, Detroit, Minneapolis, Oakland the biggest being San Francisco. Some say cities have no business to make statements on international policy, but residents of cities pay plenty in taxes for all manner of military support for Israel and other Middle East conflicts and if conflicts expand out of control, it’s their children who will go to fight. Why shouldn’t their representatives closest to home be able to speak out? In 2008 during the U.S. war inside Iraq the New Haven Board of Alders “voted to stop the war in Iraq and stop developing nuclear weapons.”
All manner of groups are taking stands, most important perhaps being labor unions. The two million member Service Employees International Union is the largest and latest. It follows the United Auto Workers, the United Electrical Workers, and the American Postal Workers Union and a host of others.
The decision by the International Court of Justice is likely to spur more of these statements. Attorney Daniel Machover said, “there has now been an authoritative international ruling that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza.” In the court’s record are remark after remark by key Israeli officials inciting massive violence. For instance, Prime Minister Netanyahu compared Palestinians to the tribe of Amalek whom according to the Bible story God commanded the Hebrews to wipe out to the last man, woman and child. The President of Israel Isaac Herzog on October 12 said, “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware not involved.” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told the Israeli Army that they were fighting “human animals” and that “Gaza won’t return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything”. There are many more.
The International Court of Justice didn’t demand a ceasefire, but the measures it did require (which are binding under international law) can hardly be carried out while the war is going on. Key is the requirement that Israel "take immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions" facing Palestinians in Gaza. This would be a gigantic undertaking because of the huge number suffering catastrophic hunger, the destruction of farmland, roads turned to rubble and the conditions in the city of Rafah. Before October 7 there were 280,000 in Rafah. Now it’s a city of tents and shacks with a population of a million. To carry out the court’s mandate without a ceasefire would be well neigh impossible.
The Council members in Bridgeport summed it up, “Hundreds of thousands of lives are at imminent risk if a permanent ceasefire is not achieved and humanitarian aid is not delivered without delay.” If many more cities echo the sentiment Washington may get the message.
Answering Elisha Wiesel's Questions
(Unpublished letter to USA Today)
Answering Elisha Wiesel’s Questions
By Stanley Heller
Recently the son of Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel posed several questions to those supporting Palestinians human rights. I have some answers to his questions:
Q. When you chant that Palestine should be free "from the river to the sea," what does that mean?
It means there should be democracy and equality from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Palestine is a very old term for the geographic area. When it was a British colony, everyone including Jews called the land Palestine.
Q. What happened after Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005?
In 2006 there was an election and pro-Hamas forces won a plurality. A government of sorts was formed with Hamas politicians at the head. In 2006 Israel blockaded the whole Gaza Strip, a condition that continues to this day. In 2007 forces loyal to the Palestine Authority Abbas tried to overthrow the “Gaza government” by force. Hamas fighters were the winner and Hamas has ruled the area ever since. There’s been warfare between Israel and military-like forces in Gaza ever since. Israel complacently believed that brutal attacks every few years on Gaza would “mow the grass” and keep things stable. Israel allows no airport or seaport.
Q. What is the stated goal of Hamas?
It wants the destruction of the state of Israel. Hamas leaders have at times said awful antisemitic things about Jews as a whole. Yet there is a whole raft of articles saying that Netanyahu actually favored Hamas, seeing its extremism as a way to keep Palestinians divided and making two-state solution impossible. Netanyahu’s government has never called for new elections in Gaza (or the West Bank either, for that matter).
Q. How should Israel defend its population when Hamas hides behind civilians?
First, recognize the “Hamas hides behind civilians” is just a trope used to excuse mass murder of civilians. Second, Israel has a huge army to defend against attacks. Why didn’t that work on October 7? Netanyahu had diverted forces to the West Bank to guard settlers as it launched pograms (race riots). In the long run the best “defense” is to come to an agreement with Palestinians for one democratic state for Israelis and Palestinians including all those expelled or exiled from the area.
Q. What would happen to Israel if it pulled completely out of the West Bank tomorrow, as it did with Gaza?
If it happened “tomorrow” Palestinians there would rejoice that the Israeli boot was off their necks. On the other hand, there would be chaos. You’re talking about taking half a million Israeli settlers out and all the Israeli military. You’d have most of those settlers forming armies to reclaim the land. Rather than speculate about this fantasy think about the plan proposed above, transition to one democratic state.
I have two questions of my own for Elisha Wiesel. Do you think Israel was justified in killing 4,000 Palestinian children during its operations against Hamas? Do you oppose the Israeli government Intelligence Ministry proposed plan to force all 2.3 million Palestinians of Gaza into the Sinai desert?
I would also encourage Elisha Wiesel to read his own father’s book review of Israeli historian Tom Segev’s book, The Seventh Million. After reading Segev’s book Eli Wiesel’s realized that “Jewish leaders of Palestine never made the rescue of European Jews into an overwhelming national priority”. While Eli Wiesel was in Auschwitz, Zionist leaders saw their main priority not in rescuing European Jews, but as building more settlements in the British colony of Palestine. The Jewish state project was more important to them than the fate of actual living Jews. If they were so ruthless to Jews realize what they have been doing to Palestinians.
I hope Elisha Wiesel will reflect and call for an immediate ceasefire.
Anger at Peace Group Award to Economist Jeffrey Sachs
Over Appearances with Putin Propagandist
For immediate release 9-25-2023
on behalf of PEP and the USSC (Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Campaign)
An open letter to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is protesting the NAPF’s plans to present a “distinguished peace leader" award to well-known economist Jeffrey Sachs. The signers of the letter are scientists, economists, professors and writers who praise the anti-nuclear goals of the foundation, but fiercely criticize Sachs view of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and his appearances on the programs of Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov. Solovyov has repeatedly called for the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
The NAPF plans to present Sachs with a “Distinguished Peace Leader” award on October 18, 2023 in Santa Barbara, California.
There are 175 initial signers including Anastassia Fedyk, UC Berkeley economist, noted Black feminist author Barbara Smith, Dr. Zaher Sahloul and Mayson Almisri, co-winners of the Gandhi Peace Award, Joseph Cirincione, National Security Analyst and Author, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, professor of economics, University of California – Berkeley, writer Adam Hochschild, Denys Bondar, Associate Professor of Physics, Tulane University and Bill Fletcher of the National Writers Union.
The letter notes that Sachs claims the war in Ukraine is a “30-year project of the American neoconservative movement” and that he ignores the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s own “Declaration of Concern” which says that the attack is “a violation of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994” which was signed by representatives of Russia. The letter asks how an organization dedicated to avoiding nuclear war could honor someone who has appeared on a program with a man who has repeatedly advocated for the immediate use of nuclear weapons. It calls on the foundation to withdraw the designation of Sachs as a “Distinguished Peace Leader” and to withdraw the invitation to Sachs to speak at their meeting.
The full letter and initial signers can be found at: https://bit.ly/44JSACHS
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation contact information is: (805) 965-3443 Email info@napf.org
Below is the letter itself.
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The Open Letter
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September 25, 2023
Dear President Hughes, Chair Bognar, Members of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Board:
We the undersigned appreciate your work against the spread, possession, and use of nuclear weapons. We are stunned, however, that you are honoring Jeffrey Sachs as a “Distinguished Peace Leader.” His attitudes, interviews and speeches concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine do not further peace. To the contrary, he repeats simplistic cliches which put a false light on a complex and dangerous situation. He has appeared with and lent influence to an overtly belligerent advocate of Russian aggression who has openly called for a nuclear first strike against Ukraine.
We are appalled that despite decades of work educating the public about the dangers of thermonuclear weapons, NAPF has apparently overlooked this failure of Jeffrey Sachs to be in any manner helpful in reducing the risk of nuclear escalation. To the contrary, his every word and deed with regard to Ukraine only fuels misunderstanding, suspicion and fear.
As you know the fighting in Ukraine is not just another war. There is a real risk of it leading to the use of nuclear weapons primarily as a result of nuclear bullying by the Russian Federation.
It has moved nuclear warheads into close proximity to Ukraine’s cities and made overt threats to use them. Already Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants threatens massive releases of radiation.
Sachs has appeared five times on the programs of Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov on March 9, 2023, June 3, 2023, June 22, 2023, July 12, 2023 and on August 2, 2023 , only criticizing actions of the “West” and Ukraine’s government. Sachs never mentions (let alone condemns) Solovyov’s calls for the use of nuclear weapons against Ukrainians which he made on November 21, 2022, January 25, 2023 , June 22, 2023 and August 22, 2023.
In March of 2023 scores of economists wrote to Sachs in an open letter noting Sachs “repeated appearances on the talk shows of one of the chief Russian propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov (apart from calling to wipe Ukrainian cities off the face of the earth, he called for nuclear strikes against NATO countries)”.
How can an organization dedicated to avoiding nuclear war honor someone who will appear on a program with a man who has repeatedly advocated for the immediate use of nuclear weapons?
In an article in June of 2022 in Tikkun Sachs baldly states, “The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement.” Putin’s project to restore the Russian empire is not mentioned, nor are the majority of Ukraine supporters “neocons.”
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in its own Declaration of Concern notes that the Russian attack is a violation of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. Sachs never brings that up. Instead, he talks again and again about “NATO enlargement” and “hegemony.” One would think the invading force that crossed the border into Ukraine came from Poland or Estonia. The views he expressed in Tikkun were not a one off. He repeatedly claims that Putin was provoked into war. Repeatedly he touts the supposed power of offers of negotiations and claims that “President Putin wants political outcomes that, in my view, absolutely can be met at the negotiating table”. He maintains this even while Putin has annexed large and resource-rich sections of Ukraine which he says Russia will retain “forever”.
We don’t agree that Sachs is a peacemaker. He’s an economist, one with a dreadful record in Russia. The social conditions that he helped to create there were are widely viewed as contributing to the rise of the Putin kleptocracy. Sachs' “shock therapy” formula for Russia led it to sell off collectively owned institutions and rush to a poorly planned, makeshift capitalist system. Russia ended up with “tycoon capitalism”. For the Russian people this was a social disaster with Russia’s population declining very significantly.
We call on you to withdraw the designation of Jeffrey Sachs as a “Distinguished Peace Leader” and to withdraw the invitation to speak at your meeting.
^^^^ End ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Anger at Peace Group Award to Economist Jeffrey Sachs
Over Appearances with Putin Propagandist
For immediate release 9-25-2023
on behalf of PEP and the USSC (Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Campaign)
An open letter to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation is protesting the NAPF’s plans to present a “distinguished peace leader" award to well-known economist Jeffrey Sachs. The signers of the letter are scientists, economists, professors and writers who praise the anti-nuclear goals of the foundation, but fiercely criticize Sachs view of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and his appearances on the programs of Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov. Solovyov has repeatedly called for the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
The NAPF plans to present Sachs with a “Distinguished Peace Leader” award on October 18, 2023 in Santa Barbara, California.
There are 175 initial signers including Anastassia Fedyk, UC Berkeley economist, noted Black feminist author Barbara Smith, Dr. Zaher Sahloul and Mayson Almisri, co-winners of the Gandhi Peace Award, Joseph Cirincione, National Security Analyst and Author, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, professor of economics, University of California – Berkeley, writer Adam Hochschild, Denys Bondar, Associate Professor of Physics, Tulane University and Bill Fletcher of the National Writers Union.
The letter notes that Sachs claims the war in Ukraine is a “30-year project of the American neoconservative movement” and that he ignores the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s own “Declaration of Concern” which says that the attack is “a violation of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994” which was signed by representatives of Russia. The letter asks how an organization dedicated to avoiding nuclear war could honor someone who has appeared on a program with a man who has repeatedly advocated for the immediate use of nuclear weapons. It calls on the foundation to withdraw the designation of Sachs as a “Distinguished Peace Leader” and to withdraw the invitation to Sachs to speak at their meeting.
The full letter and initial signers can be found at: https://bit.ly/44JSACHS
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation contact information is: (805) 965-3443 Email info@napf.org
Below is the letter itself.
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The Open Letter
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
September 25, 2023
Dear President Hughes, Chair Bognar, Members of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Board:
We the undersigned appreciate your work against the spread, possession, and use of nuclear weapons. We are stunned, however, that you are honoring Jeffrey Sachs as a “Distinguished Peace Leader.” His attitudes, interviews and speeches concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine do not further peace. To the contrary, he repeats simplistic cliches which put a false light on a complex and dangerous situation. He has appeared with and lent influence to an overtly belligerent advocate of Russian aggression who has openly called for a nuclear first strike against Ukraine.
We are appalled that despite decades of work educating the public about the dangers of thermonuclear weapons, NAPF has apparently overlooked this failure of Jeffrey Sachs to be in any manner helpful in reducing the risk of nuclear escalation. To the contrary, his every word and deed with regard to Ukraine only fuels misunderstanding, suspicion and fear.
As you know the fighting in Ukraine is not just another war. There is a real risk of it leading to the use of nuclear weapons primarily as a result of nuclear bullying by the Russian Federation.
It has moved nuclear warheads into close proximity to Ukraine’s cities and made overt threats to use them. Already Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants threatens massive releases of radiation.
Sachs has appeared five times on the programs of Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov on March 9, 2023, June 3, 2023, June 22, 2023, July 12, 2023 and on August 2, 2023 , only criticizing actions of the “West” and Ukraine’s government. Sachs never mentions (let alone condemns) Solovyov’s calls for the use of nuclear weapons against Ukrainians which he made on November 21, 2022, January 25, 2023 , June 22, 2023 and August 22, 2023.
In March of 2023 scores of economists wrote to Sachs in an open letter noting Sachs “repeated appearances on the talk shows of one of the chief Russian propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov (apart from calling to wipe Ukrainian cities off the face of the earth, he called for nuclear strikes against NATO countries)”.
How can an organization dedicated to avoiding nuclear war honor someone who will appear on a program with a man who has repeatedly advocated for the immediate use of nuclear weapons?
In an article in June of 2022 in Tikkun Sachs baldly states, “The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement.” Putin’s project to restore the Russian empire is not mentioned, nor are the majority of Ukraine supporters “neocons.”
The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in its own Declaration of Concern notes that the Russian attack is a violation of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. Sachs never brings that up. Instead, he talks again and again about “NATO enlargement” and “hegemony.” One would think the invading force that crossed the border into Ukraine came from Poland or Estonia. The views he expressed in Tikkun were not a one off. He repeatedly claims that Putin was provoked into war. Repeatedly he touts the supposed power of offers of negotiations and claims that “President Putin wants political outcomes that, in my view, absolutely can be met at the negotiating table”. He maintains this even while Putin has annexed large and resource-rich sections of Ukraine which he says Russia will retain “forever”.
We don’t agree that Sachs is a peacemaker. He’s an economist, one with a dreadful record in Russia. The social conditions that he helped to create there were are widely viewed as contributing to the rise of the Putin kleptocracy. Sachs' “shock therapy” formula for Russia led it to sell off collectively owned institutions and rush to a poorly planned, makeshift capitalist system. Russia ended up with “tycoon capitalism”. For the Russian people this was a social disaster with Russia’s population declining very significantly.
We call on you to withdraw the designation of Jeffrey Sachs as a “Distinguished Peace Leader” and to withdraw the invitation to speak at your meeting.
^^^^ End ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
PEP Administrator speaks at solidarity rally Ukraine
At New Haven's Federal Courthouse
Speech 3/6/22 in New Haven by Stanley Heller
How do we ordinary people react in a world where rival imperial powers are at each others throats, where they openly invade or use cyber warfare. How do we act when an empire gets on its high horse to condemn a rival’s horrible misdeeds while hiding its own immense hypocrisy? How do we act when not just millions of lives are at stake, but when military emissions may doom all hope of a livable climate, when the loser in direct US-Russia warfare would be tempted to use nuclear weapons?
Let’s be straight. The main thing going on in Eastern Europe is that an imperial country is invading a smaller country so it can conquer it. We have to show absolute solidarity with the Ukrainian people who are being ravaged by a thuggish regime who is angered that a rival is getting closer to his border, but whose main concern is restoring an empire to its supposed glory under the tsars. We have to show solidarity, and express awe at the resistance being shown by Ukrainians, but we cannot let our sympathy mean support for the US empire and its recklessness that could escalate to nuclear war.
First though we have to condemn. Condemn Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Condemn the rocketing of residential buildings, schools and hospitals. Condemn attacks on a nuclear power complex. Condemn Russia’s groveling parliament that voted unanimously to make any media mention that Russia is at war a criminal offense. Condemn the 8,000 arrests of Russians opposed to the war. And condemn the Biden administration for its lack of aid to Syrians suffering under the same Russian bombs that kill Ukrainians.
Second we have to expose hypocrisy. From what you hear from the Biden administration you’d think the U.S. government was a paragon of virtue. No mention is made of the million Iraqis this government killed by sanctions and war, or the hundreds of thousands of children in Afghanistan who may be perishing because the US left the country a basket case, or the silence about the ongoing Saudi-US war of aggression against Yemenis. The media glories in Ukrainians making Molotov cocktails, but when a 14 year old Palestinian kid made one, the Israelis shot him dead and our corporate media buried the story.
Third we have to be honest. We can’t be blind to the defects of the current Ukrainian government. It is not a perfect victim. For years it has allowed a neo-Nazi unit to flourish inside its own military. CT Senators have lent a blind eye to the fact and so have US presidents. Putin has been using these to keep the naïve and wavering in line. But we have to realize that neo-Nazis are a problem all over, in France, in the USA and in Russia where Putin has treated them with kid gloves and embraces.
Finally, fourth we have to propose courses of action. Here are some ideas. Cancel the Ukrainian national debt to Western banks. Send massive aid to Syrians. End our own monstrous collaborations with the Saudi kingdom in its Yemen war. Stop supporting the Israeli apartheid regime. Propose measures to keep Ukraine out of the grasp of any empire. Commit to dismantling the never-ending war alliance, NATO. Start rationing fossil fuel. Assist refugees running from Ukraine, whether white citizens, Afghan refugees or African students.
Putin, get Out of Ukraine. All Power to Righteous Resistance
Call for Public Officials to Speak Out for Soulemane Family
To the CT Legislature
For more information Stanley Heller, 203-444-3578
Promoting Enduring Peace is calling for political leaders at all levels in Connecticut to speak out on behalf of justice in the case of a New Haven resident shot dead in West Haven by a state trooper two years ago. Mubarak Soulemane was shot dead by State Trooper Brian North on January 15, 2020. He was shot through a closed window of the auto he was in which itself was hemmed in by state police and West Haven police cruisers.
In two years there has been no decision on whether to indict North or any of the other officers involved in the incident. The case was handled by State Attorney Michael A. Gailor and then very recently was sent to the office of Inspector General Robert Devlin.
Stanley Heller, Administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, said, “The lack of a decision has gone on too long. George Floyd was killed after Mubarak Soulemane. Yet the police involved in the Floyd killing have already been indicted, tried and convicted. With all the available video from state police body cams we fail to understand reasons for the delay.”
“Besides the possibility of criminal sanction against officers there’s the question of why there’s been no acts discipline coming from state and local police officials against officers involved. Soulemane was hemmed in an auto with the windows up and no danger to anyone. Isn’t it clearly against established procedures to take the life of a person under those conditions? Shouldn’t North be fired? The governor and state and local officials should speak out.”
For background journalists might look at Heller’s opinion piece about the case that appeared in the Connecticut Mirror today. https://ctmirror.org/category/ct-viewpoints/two-years-is-too-long-for-justice-for-mubarak-soulemane/
Promoting Enduring Peace is a peace and environmental organization founded in New Haven in 1952. Its website is PEPeace.org
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End
Ban/Replace Devices that use small gas engines
To the CT Legislature
December 12, 2021
Dear Member of the Connecticut Legislature:
I’d like to call your attention to an opinion piece that I wrote for the Connecticut Hearst newspapers on behalf of Promoting Enduring Peace. It concerns steps that our organization believes need to be taken to avoid climate collapse.
The smaller action recommended is to use legislation, regulation and free equipment exchanges to follow California and end the use of small off-road gas-engines for leaf blowers, lawn mowers, etc. That would be a start.
As 2030 looms, the year UN climate scientists agree the world must cut back carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 50 percent, we recommend drastic measures: rather than raise fuel prices, set up a system to ration fuel purchases in the state. Also, we call for a complete national takeover of fossil fuel industries and their gradual but speedy abolition. Obviously, these are not measures to be affected in a year, but we have to start seriously considering them.
If you’re not familiar with Promoting Enduring Peace. We’re a peace and environmental organization founded in New Haven in 1952. We’re best known for our Gandhi Peace Award, given out since 1960, and for our Shafer Lecture.
Sincerely,
Stanley Heller
Administrator
PEPeace.org
@pepeace
203-444-3578
Letter to Senator Blumenthal about UNH/Saudi
Are you OK with Saudi Brutality?
July 9, 2021
Senator Richard Blumenthal
via email
Dear Senator Blumenthal:
I recently learned that you had addressed graduates at UNH’s May Commencement. Might we have a copy of your remarks?
I’m rather surprised that you would speak at this university given that it’s the only US college giving direct aid to a police/military facility of an absolute monarchy (King Fahd Security College of Saudi Arabia). Saudi Arabia is a massive human rights violator and an aggressor in Yemen whose bombings have taken tens of thousands of civilian lives. Did you address any of this in your speech?
The UNH contract with King Fahd Security College was to expire in June of this year. Do you know if that contract has been renewed/reworked? Could you find that out?
I’d like to bring these matters to your attention:
To illustrate the arbitrary nature of Saudi “Justice” the prince under whom the negotiations for the Saudi-UNH project took place, Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, is now in prison charged with treason (almost surely because he is a rival with Mohammed Bin Salman).
The man who sliced up the body of Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, Salah al-Tubaigy, was supposedly found guilty of some crime, sentenced to death and then had the sentence changed to 20 years. However, according to journalist Michael Isikoff, al-Tubaigy is being housed in luxury and was seen working out in a gym (see the end of this article Exclusive: Saudi assassins picked up illicit drugs in Cairo to kill Khashoggi (yahoo.com) )
Despite his conviction al-Tubaigy is listed as on the Board of the Saudi Society of Forensic Medicine (which is housed in the King Fahd Security College). The society has a journal and UNH’s famed Henry C. Lee is on its editorial board. (I can send you screen shots of the sites as of this morning to back this up). This has been brought up to Lee, but he won’t resign from the Saudi editorial board.
Finally, the Saudi businessman with whom you shared a platform, Amr Al-Dabbagh, was arrested in 2017 by Saudi authorities and charged with corruption. He was later freed after making a financial settlement with authorities. I don’t hold it against him. The whole operation is generally regarded as a shakedown by MBS. I just mention it to illustrate the lawless nature of the Saudi monarchy with whom UNH is collaborating.
I reiterate the call for you to lead a congressional investigation of the University of New Haven's connections with the Saudi college, an institution of a regime guilty of human rights violations and war crimes.
Sincerely,
Stanley Heller
Administrator
Promoting Enduring Peace
PEPeace.org
This letter was followed up with a phone call, but was never answered. For more on this go to SaudiUS.org
Denouncing Anti-Semitic Attacks
or more information contact: Promoting Enduring Peace, 202-573-7322 office@pepeace.org
Denouncing Anti-Semitic Attacks
We are strong supporters of Palestinian human rights. In 2017 Promoting Enduring Peace gave its Gandhi Peace Award to Omar Barghouti one of the founders of the Palestinian civil movement calling for BDS, which means using boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel to pressure Israel to respect Palestinian rights.
We support human rights for people of all nations and religions, so we are appalled by the apparent attacks by some nationalist or religious extremists against Jews for no other reason than they are Jews. Jews are united by religion, traditions and history of persecution. Many, perhaps most are supporters of Israel, but many are not. The idea that all Jews are responsible for acts of the State of Israel is repugnant.
The Israeli government claims to speak for all Jews. Yet Jewish Voice for Peace with 200,000 supporters regularly criticizes Israel, denounces its wars and supports BDS. IfNotNow is a Jewish organization that demonstrates in the streets against Israeli attacks on Gaza. Many of CODEPINK leaders are Jewish. Among religious Jews there are the streams among the Orthodox who observe the thousand-year-old rabbinical prohibitions against mass immigration to what they consider the Holy Land and regard Israel and Zionism as a heresy and picket along with Palestinians at demonstrations. Those inside of Israel who follow these teachings refuse to observe Israeli patriotic holidays or serve in its military. And there are hundreds of thousands or millions of Jews around the world who are not activists for or against Israel who just live their lives and observe their Jewish customs.
We condemn all physical or verbal attacks on Jews by those angered by Israeli actions toward Palestinians and attacks by racists and fascists who use supposed support for Palestinians as cover for their hatred.
We do have to mention one factor that is increasing anti-Semitism is the very assertion that Israel represents all Jews. Israeli government leaders routinely claim that criticism or condemnations of Israeli government actions are anti-Semitism. They says BDS is anti-Semitic. Israeli government enthusiasts hound political leaders who condemn Israeli actions. It is no wonder that some uneducated or simple-thinking people who have seen this propaganda again and again jump to the conclusion that all Jews support what Israel is doing. It is wrong and we condemn that conclusion, but we say that if Israeli leaders want to reduce anti-Semitism and attacks on Jews they should stop conflating Judaism with Israel and all Jews with Israel.
We also caution that while we are a peace organization, we recognize that a distinction needs to be made between an attack on someone because he or she is perceived to be a Jew and violence against a Jewish person as a result of a clash between supporters or opponents of some act by the Israeli government. One cannot say that any violent act against any Jew is an act of anti-Semitism.
Finally, we honor and salute the millions of Jews worldwide who act with wisdom and compassion in accordance with the Jewish religion, culture, and tradition by either not supporting or peacefully opposing the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people, and who understand the dangers of anti-Semitism are worsened by conflating Judaism and all Jews with Israel.
Promoting Enduring Peace was founded in 1952. It’s best known for its Gandhi Peace Award. Our websites are pepeace.org and peacenews.org
Condemn Attack on Rabbi, Winner of Gandhi Peace AwarD
Press Release
For immediate release, April 27, 2021
For more information contact 202-737-3223 (202-pepeace) or office@pepeace.org
Promoting Enduring Peace (PEP) condemns the beating of Israeli Rabbi Arik Ascherman and the failure of Israeli military and police to arrest those responsible. He was beaten in Palestine/Israel around the so-called Ma’aleh Ahuvia settlement, an encampment of tents and vehicles north of Ramallah in the West Bank. Israeli police have made no arrests since April 7, when the unprovoked attack occurred and have not told the rabbi of any progress in the investigation.
Rabbi Ascherman is a co-winner of the Gandhi Peace Award, an honor given out by our peace and environmental organization. He received it in 2011 along with Rabbi Ehud Bandel. The award has been received by people as illustrious as Eleanor Roosevelt, Caesar Chavez, Dorothy Day, Bill McKibben and Ralph Nader. Ascherman now leads Torat Tzedek.
According to an article on April 8 in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “Police forces and the Civil Administration removed the outpost [during the week of April 4]. The settlers who lived there and who own a herd of sheep were documented rebuilding the outpost a short time after being evicted, in violation of an order declaring the area a closed military zone.” Yet when police received a Torat Tzedek complaint that settlers had re-established their encampment and were grazing their sheep on Palestinian land, they did nothing. After the attack on Ascherman, police said they were “opening an investigation”.
This is not the first time Rabbi Ascherman has been assaulted. In January, his car was sabotaged to cause the tires to fall off as he drove. In March, his ear was torn, sending him to the emergency room. A recent article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretzsays Ascherman has been assaulted over the years 20 to 30 times.
The April 7 beating was recorded on a cell phone by Gil Hamerschlag. A masked person struck Rabbi Ascherman with a large wooden stick more than thirteentimes. The other assailant seized his cell phone and threw it away.
Rabbi Ascherman was given the Gandhi Peace Award in 2011 for bringing to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict a human rights voice in the Jewish tradition. At that time he was one of the leaders of the Israeli group, Rabbis for Human Rights. In 2017 Rabbi Ascherman founded Torat Tzedek (Torah Justice) and has led the group since then.
With characteristic humility, Ascherman turned the focus about the most recent incident away from himself. In his blogon the Israeli news site Times of Israel he wrote, “The real story is not the admittedly horrific images from the attack. It is about the evil and injustice that must be opposed, sometimes physically. After all the sensationalism, what I ask you to remember is that for over three years we have been trying, with very little progress, to get the Israeli security forces to defend shepherds who lose tens of thousands of shekels per family when they need to buy feed to replace what settlers destroy.”
PEP administrator, Stanley Heller, said, “Opening an investigation is not good enough. Weeks have gone by with no one arrested and no announcement that people from the Ma’aleh Ahuvia outpost have at least been questioned. Palestinians and human rights allies are constantly attacked and are told things will be investigated, with only the most outrageous attacks ever getting any kind of justice.”
James van Pelt, the president of PEP said, “We call on Israeli authorities to arrest the perpetrators without delay, and to defend the rights of Palestinian landowners. When so-called settlers come to steal Palestinian land, authorities should take immediate action. Considering the Israeli government’s poor record, we call on the United Nations to involve itself in the investigation.”
Gandhi Peace Award Ceremony
Gandhi Peace Award Ceremony 2020
Honor Went to Syrian Medical Workers and Rescuers
Several score groups partner in publicity
Press release: For immediate release
For more information contact: Stanley Heller 202-573-7322 ( Connecticut, USA), stanley.heller@pepeace.org
Promoting Enduring Peace (PEP) held its Gandhi Peace Award ceremony online this year on Sat. November 21, 2020. The award was given jointly to a Syrian-American and a Syrian to honor the incredible and brave work by Syrian medical and rescue workers. The honorees were Dr. Zaher Sahloul of Chicago and Mayson Almisri of the Syria Civil Defense (better known as the White Helmets) who is now exiled in Canada. The entire ceremony is online at https://youtu.be/-zofwJ-RJE8
The Gandhi Peace Award has been presented since 1960. Its laureates include Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Day, Benjamin Spock, Caesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr., Bill McKibben, Ralph Nader, Amy Goodman, Jackson Browne and many more. The Award comes with a $5,000 prize and a medallion fashioned from “Peace Bronze” made of metals extracted from retired nuclear weapons systems.
Stanley Heller, PEP Administrator said, “Many people have ignored the efforts of Syrians and their democratic uprising against the Assad tyranny. Their revolt been met by incredible violence and Syrians have suffered immense casualties. With this award we want to salute those Syrians who are preserving life. We also worked to get honorees and speakers who support both the Syrian and Palestinian struggles.”
Honoree Dr. Zaher Sahloul is from Chicago and has given an enormous amount of his time to helping Syrians. He was last in Syria last winter. He’s president of Medglobal, which gives crucial help to victims in fourteen countries. Sahloul is a pulmonary specialist based in Chicago and has treated many patients there suffering from the Covid-19 virus. He has frequently been quoted in the media from the Wall Street Journal to Democracy Now!.
The other honoree is be Mayson Almisri. She is from Deraa where the mass demonstrations began in Syria in 2011 and is one of the leaders of the White Helmets. Those rescue workers are the heroes who dig out survivors and bodies from under the rubble. They have enraged the Assad regime by making videos of the devastation and death caused by the barrel bombs and the chemical attacks and are frequently slandered by allies of the dictator. After the fall of Deraa, Almisri made her way out of Syria and was given refuge in Canada.
Dr. Sahloul was introduced by Linda Sarsour, noted Palestinian-Muslim-American activist who co-chaired the 2017 Women's March on Washington and that year was recognized by Time magazine as being one of the world’s 100 most influential people. In her remarks she mentioned PEP giving of the Gandhi Peace Award several years ago to Omar Barghouti, BDS activist. She also mentioned Dr. Sahloul’s work in the Gaza Strip. Ms. Almisri was introduced by Orlando von Einsiedel, the Academy Award-winning director of the film “The White Helmets” (2017), a segment of which was shown as part of the program. He emphasized why it was so important to tell the facts about White Helmet service in the face of campaigns of lies by Assad agents.
Music was provided by Wasfi Massarani and Dylan Connor. There were presentations by artists Akram Swedaan, Molly Crabapple, Marc Nelson, and Adeebah Alnemar. Palestinian music was provided on two of the presentations by Tamer Sahouri, an oud player who teaches at a music conservatory in Beit Sahour, Palestine.
We were very pleased and humbled that 45 Syrian, Muslim, and political groups partnered with PEP in letting members and contacts know about the event. (see below)
Promoting Enduring Peace was founded in 1952 in Connecticut. The websites of Promoting Enduring Peace are PEPeace.org and PeacNews.org.
Members of the media interested in interviewing Dr. Sahloul or Ms. Almisri should contact Stanley Heller at the phone number above or at Stanley.heller@pepeace.org
Partner groups in the event were: Alliance of Middle Eastern and North African Socialists, American Muslim Health Professionals, American Muslims for Palestine, Americans for Free Syria, American Relief Coalition for Syria (ARCS), Arab American Business & Professional Association (Illinois), Campaign for Uyghurs, Central Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, Dwight Hall Peace Initiative (Yale), Emgage, Free Syria PAC, Global Campaign of Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution, Humanitarian Alliance for Yemen, Islamic Society of North America, MedGlobal, Middle East Crisis Committee (CT), Middle East Institute, Multi Aid Programs (MAPS), Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), New Politics magazine, People Demand Change Inc., Physicians for Human Rights, Rahma Worldwide, Refugee One, Revive the Peace Movement Network, Rohingya Cultural Center, Safeguarding Health, Socialist Resurgence, Switchpoint Ideas, Syria Faith Initiative, Syrian American Council, Syrian American Healthcare Professionals, Syrian Association for Citizens Dignity (SACD), Syrian Community Network (SCN), Syrian Emergency Taskforce, Syrian Expatriate Medical Association (SEMA), Syrian Forum, The MECCA Center, The White Helmets, Transnational Solidarity
Gandhi Peace Award - Several Score Groups to "Partner"
November 15, 2020
Gandhi Peace Award Ceremony November 21
Honor Goes to Syrian Medical Workers and Rescuers
Several score groups partner in publicity
Press release: For immediate release
For more information contact: Stanley Heller 202-573-7322 (landline, Connecticut, USA)
Promoting Enduring Peace (PEP) will be holding its Gandhi Peace Award ceremony online this year at 1 p.m. Eastern on Sat. November 21. It is being given jointly to a Syrian-American and a Syrian to honor the incredible and brave work by Syrian medical and rescue workers. The honorees are Dr. Zaher Sahloul of Chicago and Mayson Almisri of the Syria Civil Defense (better known as the White Helmets) who is now exiled in Canada. The public worldwide may view the ceremony on Zoom without charge. The link to register is at the website PEPeace.org.
Stanley Heller, PEP Administrator said, “Many people have ignored the efforts of Syrians and their democratic uprising against the Assad tyranny. Their revolt been met by incredible violence and Syrians have suffered immense casualties. With this award we want to salute those Syrians who are preserving life.”
Honoree Dr. Zaher Sahloul is from Chicago and has given an enormous amount of his time to helping Syrians. He was last in Syria in the winter. He’s president of Medglobal, which gives crucial help to victims in fourteen countries. Sahloul is a pulmonary specialist based in Chicago and has treated many patients there suffering from the Covid-19 virus. He has frequently been quoted in the media from the Wall Street Journal to Democracy Now!.
The other honoree is be Mayson Almisri. She is from Deraa where the mass demonstrations began in Syria in 2011 and is one of the leaders of the White Helmets. Those rescue workers are the heroes who dig out survivors and bodies from under the rubble. They have enraged the Assad regime by making videos of the devastation caused by the barrel bombs and the chemical attacks and are frequently slandered by allies of the dictator. After the fall of Deraa Almisri made her way out of Syria and was given refuge in Canada.
Both honorees are willing to be interviewed by the media.
Dr. Sahloul will be introduced by Linda Sarsour, noted Palestinian-Muslim-American activist who co-chaired the 2017 Women's March on Washington and that year was recognized by Time magazine as being one of the world’s 100 most influential people. Ms. Almisri will be introduced by Orlando von Einsiedel, the Academy Award-winning director of the film “The White Helmets” (2017), a segment of which will be shown as part of the program.
Music will be provided by Wasfi Massarani and Dylan Connor. There will be presentations by artists Akram Swedaan, Molly Crabapple, Marc Nelson, and Adeebah Alnemar.
We’re very pleased and humbled that over 40 Syrian, Muslim, and political groups are partnering with us in letting members and contacts know about the event. Their names are listed below.
The Gandhi Peace Award has been presented since 1960. Its laureates include Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Day, Benjamin Spock, Caesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr., Bill McKibben, Ralph Nader, Amy Goodman, Jackson Browne and many more. The Award comes with a $5,000 prize and a medallion fashioned from “Peace Bronze” made of metals extracted from retired nuclear weapons systems.
Promoting Enduring Peace was founded in 1952 in New Haven, Connecticut. Stanley Heller is PEP Administrator
Event partner groups:
Alliance of Middle Eastern and North African Socialists
American Muslim Health Professionals
American Muslims for Palestine
Americans for Free Syria
Arab American Business & Professional Association (Illinois)
Arab American Business and Professional Association
Campaign for Uyghurs
Central Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America
Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago
Dwight Hall Peace Initiative (Yale)
Emgage
Free Syria PAC
Global Campaign of Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution
Humanitarian Alliance for Yemen
Islamic Society of North America
MedGlobal
Middle East Crisis Committee (CT)
Middle East Institute
Multi Aid Programs, MAPS
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
New Politics magazine
Physicians for Human Rights
Rahma Worldwide
Refugee One
Revive the Peace Movement Network
Rohingya Cultural Center
Safeguarding Health
Switchpoint Ideas
Syria Faith Initiative
Syrian American Council
Syrian American Healthcare Professionals
Syrian Association for Citizens Dignity (SACD)
Syrian Community Network (SCN)
Syrian Emergency Taskforce
Syrian Expatriate Medical Association (SEMA)
Syrian Forum
Syrian Forum USA
The MECCA Center
The White Helmets
Transnational Solidarity Network
Tree of Life Education Fund (CT)
Union of Medical Care and Relief Organization (UOSSM)
War Resisters League
Western Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America
******* End ******
Artists and Noted Activists Add to Gandhi Peace ceremony
Oct 31, 2020
Gandhi Peace Award Ceremony November 21
Honor Goes to Syrian Medical Workers and Rescuers
Artists and Noted Activists Add to Celebration
Promoting Enduring Peace (PEP) will be holding its Gandhi Peace Award ceremony online this year at 1 p.m. Eastern on Sat. November 21. It is being given jointly to a Syrian-American and a Syrian to honor the incredible and brave work by Syrian medical and rescue workers. The honorees are Dr. Zaher Sahloul of Chicago and Mayson Almisri of the Syria Civil Defense (better known as the White Helmets) who is now exiled in Canada. The public worldwide may view the ceremony on Zoom without charge. The link to register is at the website PEPeace.org.
Stanley Heller, PEP Administrator said, “Many progressive people have ignored the agency of Syrians and their efforts for a democratic uprising against the Assad tyranny. Their efforts have been met by incredible violence and influenced badly by foreign powers, but they remain active whether hidden in Deraa and Idlib or alive among refugees around the world. We especially want to salute those Syrians doing direct humanitarian work.”
Honoree Dr. Zaher Sahloul is a past president of the Syrian-American Medical Society, which has built and rebuilt hospitals in Syria under attack by Russian and Assad forces; some are operating underground or in caves. He’s now president of Medglobal, which gives crucial help to victims in fourteen countries. He is a pulmonary specialist based in Chicago and has treated patients there suffering from the Covid-19 virus.
The award this year is shared with Mayson Almisri. She is from Deraa where the mass demonstrations began in Syria in 2011 and is one of the leaders of the White Helmets. Those rescue workers are the heroes who dig out survivors and bodies from under the rubble left by the unprovoked attacks. They have enraged the Assad regime by making videos of the devastation caused by the barrel bombs and the chemical attacks.
Artists and speakers will highlight the ceremony. Dr. Sahloul will be introduced by Linda Sarsour, noted Palestinian-American activist who co-chaired the 2017 and 2019 Women's Marches and past executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. Ms. Almisri will be introduced by Orlando von Einsiedel, the Academy Award-winning director of the film “The White Helmets”, a segment of which will be shown as part of the program.
Music will be provided by Wasfi Massarani and Dylan Connor. There will be narrated presentations by artists Akram Swedaan, Molly Crabapple, Marc Nelson, and Adeebah Alnemar.
The Gandhi Peace Award has been presented since 1960. Its laureates include Eleanor Roosevelt, Dorothy Day, Benjamin Spock, Caesar Chavez, Pete Seeger, Martin Luther King, Bill McKibben, Ralph Nader, Amy Goodman, Jackson Browne and many more. The Award comes with a $5,000 prize and a medallion fashioned from Peace Bronze made of metals extracted from retired nuclear weapons systems.
******* End ******
press release Denouncing Trump Plans to "dominate"
June 3, 2020
Denouncing the Trump Attempt at Military Domination of the United States
A Black man was slowly murdered in Minneapolis to the horror of the world. It has led to enormous protests in over 75 U.S. cities and in other cities around the world.
Rather than deal with pervasive racism in our society and the militarization and brutalization of U.S. police forces, the president is demanding that governors flood their states with National Guard troops and he threatens to send regular army troops into U.S. cities to enforce what he says is the law.
We know what he has in mind. Right after his speech on June 1 he had DC police use tear gas to clear peaceful protesters from a path the president took to visit a damaged church for a photo op.
This is the exact opposite of what is needed.
The turning of U.S. police into paramilitary forces, armed to the teeth and trained to see citizens as enemies can only end in unjustified violence against the people. We remember that 50 years ago National Guard troops massacred students after a protest at Kent State. In contrast look at what is happening in Newark, New Jersey this past week. Over 10,000 protested, but the Newark police did not dress in military gear and did not tear gas or pepper spray crowds. So the people of Newark marched displaying righteous anger, but there were no police cars set ablaze, no storefronts smashed and no arrests.
Without offering any evidence the president claims that there is a group called Antifa whose members are terrorists, and which is leading and directing violence at anti-racist protests. Already one of his followers, Rep. Matt Gaetz, referring to Antifa, demands we “hunt them down” like the U.S. hunts down people in the Middle East. His incendiary words easily could inspire someone to start shooting semi-automatic weapons into a crowd of protesters.
In his June 1st speech the president demands something he calls “one law and order”. There are many laws in this country and above all a Constitution which was established to define government powers and individual liberties. “Order” is nowhere demanded by our Constitution.
We fear that the president will use the upheaval over the killing of George Floyd, combined with the pandemic and the growing economic depression as a opportunity to further snuff out our liberties, to divert attention to the gross inadequacies of his Administration, to end the possibility of meaningful protest and to use the U.S. military to enforce his wishes. This would amount to an unconstitutional seizure of power, one that must be resisted. We salute the tens of thousands of people in the streets demanding change and insist that policing be overhauled. We insist that social needs be satisfied by reducing funds going to police departments and the Pentagon.
Open Letter Criticizing Tufts University President
2020
Open Letter
May 9, 2020
President Anthony Monaco
Tufts University
Via email and Twitter @MonacoAnthony
Dear President Monaco:
I’m Administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, founded in New Haven in 1952. Our mission is to advance peace and defend the environment. We’re best known for our Gandhi Peace Award given first to Eleanor Roosevelt in 1960.
We are outraged that you are condemning one of Tuft’s own student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), after it won the 2020 “Collaboration Award” given out by Tufts students. Tufts SJP was given its award for its commendable and successful effort to bring groups together to oppose a wrong-headed policy of having police being trained by Israeli security forces. Israeli military and police actions have been criticized by U.N. resolutions for their racism and brutality. Israeli police, solider and security service actions are often censured by human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and Israeli groups like B’tselem. What do they have to teach other than ethnic profiling, fear mongering and cruelty? It is no wonder that the campaign to oppose Israeli training of U.S. police was started by an important U.S. Jewish organization, Jewish Voice for Peace. #EndTheDeadlyExchange is their slogan.
In your statement of April 24 you criticized the Students for Justice in Palestine group at Tufts for its association with the BDS movement and seek to tar the movement as anti-Semitic. Nothing could be further from the truth. The main activity of BDS is boycotts that seek to pressure Israeli authorities to observe universal human and political rights. Jews have frequently led boycott campaigns notably against the Russian czar, Henry Ford, Nazi Germany and against Soviet discrimination. Ten major Christian denominations take part in BDS in one degree or another. Your “anti-Semitism” charge against the movement is nothing more than a smear.
Our organization has noted that the BDS campaign is peaceful, measured and righteous. In 2017 we gave our Gandhi Peace Award to Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian BDS leader.
We call upon you to revoke your statement.
Sincerely,
Stanley Heller
Administrator
Promoting Enduring Peace
PEPeace.org
Promoting Enduring Peaceis a peace/environmental organization founded in New Haven, CT in 1952
Press Releases
2019
Press Release
January 14, 2020
Palestinian Museum Director Mazin Qumsiyeh to Deliver the Shafer Lecture
for more information contact Stanley Heller 202-573-7322
Mazin Qumsiyeh is the Director of the Palestinian Museum of Natural History and Institute for Biodiversity Research in Bethlehem (Occupied Palestine). He will be giving the Shafer Lecture of Promoting Enduring Peace Saturday, January 18 at 6 p.m. at the Palestine Museum US, 1764 Litchfield Turnpike, Woodbridge, CT. The topic of his lecture will be "“Environmental justice: a key to peace in Palestine”. The annual Shafer lecture has been given in the past by luminaries such as Frida Berrigan, Timothy Snyder and Phil Donahue.
Mazin Qumsiyeh has spoken all over the world about denial of Palestinian human rights and issues of climate change and biodiversity in the Middle East and the world. He was formerly Director of the Cytogenetics Department at Yale University. He was one of the founders of the Palestinian Museum of Natural History in 2017. In 2018 he was a National Geographic grantee. He is author of several books including "Sharing the Land of Canaan" and “Popular Resistance in Palestine”
We're pleased to add to the program a Palestinian writer from Gaza. His name is Yousef Aljamal. He's a writer, translator and researcher. He co-authored "Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories of Young Palestinian Writers". He did nationwide speaking tours in the U.S. in 2014 and 2019. He came to the U.S. this year to attend the 3rd Palestine Scientists Conference at MIT.
Admission to the Palestine Museum US for the lecture will be at a special price $4.
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Denounce Move to Expel Gandhi Peace Award Winner
Press Release: (Oct. 9, 2019)
For more information contact Stanley Heller, 202-573-7322
Promoting Enduring Peace (PEP) is reacting to news that the Interior Minister of Israel is seeking to get Palestinian Omar Barghouti expelled from his home in Acre. Barghouti is married to an Israeli Palestinian citizen and has lived in Acre peacefully for over 20 years. Interior Minister Aryieh Deri claims Barghouti is “a man who does everything to harm the country.” Barghouti has been targeted because he is one of the leaders of the BDS movement, calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions of Israel to pressure it into respecting the rights of Palestinians and this has gotten the ire of Israel’s right-wing government.
Barghouti was given the Gandhi Peace Award by Promoting Enduring Peace in 2017 along with Ralph Nader. The award has been given since 1960 to laureates such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day, Cesar Chavez, Tom Goldtooth, Amy Goodman and Jackson Browne
Stanley Heller, Administrator of PEP, said, “We are appalled that harassment of Omar Barghouti is now reaching the stage where he might be expelled from his homeland. He was given the Gandhi Peace Award because we admire his call for peaceful measures to get Israel to abandon apartheid and respect human rights of all the people living within the land it controls. Far from seeking to harm Israelis, Barghouti is trying to get Israeli authorities to obey international human rights laws to take away the reasons for animosity towards Israelis.”
Barghouti has been harassed repeatedly by the Israeli government. He was denied permission to leave Israel to accompany his mother to a Jordanian hospital for cancer treatment. When she died, he was only allowed to go to her funeral after threat of court suit. In 2017 Israeli announced he was under investigation for tax fraud. That year Israel threatened to deny him permission to go to the United States to receive the Gandhi Peace Award only to reverse itself under pressure.
Promoting Enduring Peaceis a peace/environmental organization founded in New Haven, CT in 1952