Anna Baltzer  

www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com/presentations/schedule

Upcoming Events Open To Public:

Apr 30; 8:30PM; KPFK Radio Interview; LA & SANTA BARBARA**

May 1; 7PM; Sacred Heart Church; PALM DESERT

May 2; 11:30AM; Claremont School of Theology; CLAREMONT

May 2; 8PM; Islamic Institute of Orange County; ANAHEIM

May 3; 2PM; All Saints Episcopal Church; PASADENA**

May 5; 7PM; George’s Cafe; PASADENA**

May 6; 12PM; Cal State Long Beach; LONG BEACH**

May 7; 7:30PM; Holy Cross Melkite-Greek Catholic Church; PLACENTIA

May 8; 2:30PM; Cypress College; CYPRESS

May 9; 7:30PM; Four Points Sheraton Hotel; SAN DIEGO**

May 10; 7:30PM; Unitarian Universalist Church; STUDIO CITY

May 12; 7PM; First Congregational Church; LONG BEACH

May 14; 12PM; University of California; IRVINE**

May 14; 6PM; University of California; LOS ANGELES**

**Starred events will be some variation of a normal talk, such as a DVD-screening followed by Q&A or part of a larger series of events commemorating the Nakba. Check website for details: www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com

Events subject to change. Please check website for addresses and details. At all events, Baltzer will also be selling and signing copies of her updated book: ‘Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories.’

 

Anna Baltzer, a Jewish American Columbia graduate, Fulbright scholar, granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service, is touring the United States with her acclaimed presentation and book describing her experiences documenting human rights abuses in the West Bank and supporting Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance to the Occupation.

Providing photographic documentation and critical information often misrepresented or ignored in the Western media, Anna’s presentation covers checkpoints, settlements, demonstrations, Israeli activism, the 1948 war & refugees, censorship, the Separation Wall, and more. For further information about Anna’s work and tour, please visit www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com

Visit: www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com/presentations/schedule for details.

FACT SHEET accompanying  PRESENTATION

Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos

Facts, Sources, and Ways You Can Help

 

FACTS:                                                    

 

Killed in the conflict in 2007: 373 Palestinians, 13 Jewish Israelis; in 2006: 633 Palestinians, 31 Jewish Israelis. Since Sept 2000: 4497 Palestinians, 1030 Jewish Israelis [MEPC Oct 2007: www.mepc.org/resources/mrates.asp].

 

Checkpoints: Barriers manned by Israeli soldiers &/or border police used to monitor &/or prevent Palestinian movement. Most checkpoints are not on the Green Line (between Israel & the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territories [OPT]), but mainly between Palestinian towns & villages, hindering teachers, doctors, farmers, schoolchildren, etc. Most checkpoints are closed overnight, blocking sick or pregnant villagers from getting to the hospital in emergencies.

 

Roadblocks: Concrete barriers or earth mounds to prevent Palestinians from using their vehicles on their roads— housing & transport within the OPT are segregated—disabling the Palestinian economy & civilian movement.

 

Settlements: Jewish-only colonies on internationally-recognized Palestinian land.

• There are currently about 500,000 settlers living illegally on Palestinian land (275,000 in the West Bank & 225,000 in East Jerusalem). In 2005, 8,000 settlers were evacuated from Gaza, while 13,000 new settlers moved into new or expanding settlements in the West Bank & East Jerusalem [B’tselem].
• International law prohibits an occupying power from transferring citizens from its own territory to the occupied territory [Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49]. Yet Israel spends more than $400 million/year encouraging Jewish citizens & businesses to move from Israel into the OPT by offering financial benefits such as government tax breaks & real estate subsidies [Mother Jones magazine].
• 80% of settlers say they came primarily for economic benefits & would be willing to leave the OPT if offered compensation [Peace Now: Settlement Watch]. The remaining 20% are known as ideological settlers, many of them armed & protected with impunity even after killing Palestinians or poisoning animals & fields.

 

The Wall:

• … will separate 34.4% of Palestinians from each other or their land, and Israel will annex approximately 15% of the West Bank, including 60-80% of the region’s most fertile land and water resources [UN OCHA].
• >80% of the Wall doesn’t touch the Green Line, rather it weaves through the West Bank, trapping 274,000 Palestinians between the Wall & the 1967 border, & completely surrounding >50 communities [UN OCHA].
• >1,000,000 Palestinian fruiting trees have been uprooted for the Wall & other expansion [MIFTAH].

Imprisonment:

• About 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners are being held in Israeli prisons; roughly 10% are administrative detainees, meaning they can be held without charge or trial, indefinitely. About 40% of adult male Palestinians in the OPT have spent time in Israeli detention [Mandela Institute for Human Rights].
• Torture, brutalization, & humiliation of Palestinian prisoners are widespread & systematic [Amnesty Int’l].

 

Recommended: Read the 1973 UN International Convention on Apartheid. In short, “apartheid” is defined as systematic oppression, segregation, & discrimination to maintain domination by one racial group—‘demographic group,’ in Israeli parlance—over another, as through denial of basic human rights & freedoms, including the right to work, education, movement, & nationality; torture or inhuman treatment; arbitrary arrest & illegal imprisonment; & “any measures designed to divide the population along racial lines by the creation of separate reserves & ghettos,… the expropriation of landed property belonging to a racial group… or to members thereof”

 

Israel is the highest recipient of US foreign aid—$5 billion/year = $15 million/day! (IfAmericansKnew.org)—& the only country not held accountable for how its aid is spent, even though it has violated more UN Resolutions than Iraq, Iran, or any other country in the UN. As Americans, it is our right & responsibility to speak out against violations of human rights & international law carried out with our own tax dollars. (See back for ideas on taking action.)

 

LITTLE KNOWN HISTORY about the origins of the Occupation & conflict:

 

1870 - 7,000 Jews in Palestine (2% of population). Large-scale Zionist immigration begins in early 20^th century.

1930-40s - Jews fleeing Nazis seek haven in Palestine. By 1946, land ownership is 92% Palestinian, 8% Jewish.

1947 - UN Partition Plan proposes 54% of land for a Jewish state, provided it doesn’t harm the native population.

1947-49 – Zionist forces expel >750,000 Palestinians (75% of the native population), to achieve the Jewish majority necessary for a Jewish state. Halfway through the expulsions, surrounding Arab countries invade. Israel triumphs over 78% of historic Palestine & refuses return of Palestinian refugees, who total about 6 million today.

1967 - Israel occupies all remaining Palestinian lands in Six-Day War. The Occupation has continued for >40 years.

1994 - First Palestinian suicide bomber. Palestinian resistance, mostly nonviolent, sometimes violent, continues.

SOURCES of Facts and More Information:

 

AIC, Alternative Information Center: www.alternativenews.org  

Amnesty International, International Human Rights Protection: www.amnesty.org

B’tselem, Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: www.btselem.org

Badil, Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights: www.badil.org

Breaking the Silence: Testimonies of former Israeli soldiers: www.breakingthesilence.org.il

Electronic Intifada, Leading Palestinian Portal for News and Analysis: www.electronicintifada.net

Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc: www.gush-shalom.org/english

Ha’aretz, Left-Mainstream Israeli Daily Newspaper: www.haaretz.com

ICAHD, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions: www.icahd.org

If Americans Knew, What Every American needs to know about Israel/Palestine: www.ifamericansknew.org

Mandela, Institute for Human Rights: www.mandela-palestine.org

MIFTAH, Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue & Democracy: www.miftah.org

Palestine Monitor, News from Palestinian Civil Society: www.palestinemonitor.org

Palestine Remembered, al-Nakba 1948 : www.palestineremembered.com

Passia, Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs: www.passia.org

Settlement Watch, a project of Peace Now: www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=51

Stop the Wall, by PENGON (Palestinian Environmental NGO Network): www.stopthewall.org

UN OCHA, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: www.reliefweb.int/hic-opt

 

Recommended reading on the history of the conflict (by Jewish & Palestinian scholars):

• Tanya Reinhart, Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948, NY: Seven Stories Press, 2002.
• Just about anything by Ilan Pappé, Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, or Norman Finkelstein on the subject.

 SILENCE IS COMPLICITY. What can YOU do to help bring peace & justice to the people of Palestine & Israel?

 

1.       Do Your Own Research – See above sources or consider going to Palestine to see for yourself. Some ideas:

·         Holy Land Trust (HLT): http://hlttravel.org (Palestinian-led tours)

·         Global Exchange: www.globalexchange.org/tours

·         Middle East Children’s Alliance: www.mecaforpeace.org/DelegationIntro.html

·         Birthright Unplugged: www.birthrightunplugged.org (Jewish American-led tours)

·         Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace: www.ffipp.org/delegations.html (for faculty & students)

·         Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD): www.icahd.org (Israeli-led tours)

 

2.       Get involved locally – Air Anna’s DVD on your local Public Access TV channel! Join a local group—many are listed on www.endtheoccupation.org & www.unitedforpeace.org. Write a letter to local press to protest US-funded atrocities &/or biased reporting (Local media are listed on www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media).

 

3.       Join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against Israel - BDS is a nonviolent way to mobilize & put pressure on Israel in a style similar to that used against South Africa to help end Apartheid there. Find companies profiting from the Occupation at InterfaithPeaceInitiative.com/ProfitingFromOccupation.htm

Learn what organizations have already divested and how your community can too: www.bds-palestine.net

 

4.       Work in Palestine - Document human rights abuses & support Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance with:

·         International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS) – www.iwps.info

·         International Solidarity Movement (ISM) – www.palsolidarity.org

·         Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) – www.cpt.org/hebron/hebron.php

·         Michigan Peace Team – www.michiganpeaceteam.org (for people from any state, religion, gender)

 

5.       Call, write, fax, &/or visit your representatives – Demand that the US stop using American tax dollars to fund Israel’s illegal construction of the Wall, expansion and settlement of colonies, military operations, etc. Find &/or write your representatives at www.congress.org; call (202) 224-3121 to be transferred to their DC offices.

 

6.       Talk to your friends and families – Do your own research, and open a dialogue with people around you about the issue. You have the power to affect others in your community—use it!

 

***Highly recommended: Global Exchange’s Activist Toolkits give excellent step-by-step instructions & tips for all the above actions & many others (town hall meetings, demonstrations, teach-ins, etc). Call (800) 497-1994 ext. 251 to order one ($5) or download a free copy at GlobalExchange.org/Countries/Mideast/Palestine/Toolkits.html

 

Anna’s Website (get more stories & photos, sign-up to receive Anna’s eyewitness accounts from Palestine, purchase her book Witness in Palestine or a DVD of the talk, invite her to present, etc): www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.org