Help End Ethnic Cleansing and Apartheid in Palestine

• A Requiem for Palestine © by Rev. Dr. Waltrina Middleton, CRS Executive Director

• A Right to Peacefully Worship at Al Aqsa Mosque: A Statement in Solidarity with Palestinian Liberation

• Palestinian Solidarity Dialogues

  • Community Renewal Society engaged in sacred dialogue with community leaders to discuss solidarity, bridge building, organizing, ethics of love and honoring the full humanity of all where everyone can flourish.

• Coalitions

  • Joint Statement Calling on Biden Administration to Condemn Israeli government plans to Forcibly Displace Palestinians in Occupied East Jerusalem

  • KUMI NOW – Together For Justice Connecting activists around the world every Tuesday with the organizations working on the ground in Palestine and Israel to bring a just and lasting peace based on international law and nonviolence.

    • The Ongoing Nakba

    • The Palestian Innovators series, happening the first Tuesday of each month (and maybe some other days!), will focus on individual Palestinians that are coming up with creative or innovative ways to support their communities, do business, advocate for Palestine, and otherwise contribute to the world. We are sure they will be an inspiration to us all!

    • The Palestinian Solutions series, occurring the third Tuesday of each month, they take a different approach to Palestine than we, and almost every other organization, have taken in the past. Instead of focusing on what Israel should stop doing or what the UN and other nations should do, they will look at the problems facing Palestine from a Palestinian perspective. Better understanding the internal workings and struggles of Palestine will help us all become better allies and smarter activists as we learn to work together for Palestine.

  • Friends of Sabeel - North America (fosna.org)

    • Sabeel Prayer Service. Join Sabeel every Thursday (10 am CT) for online Bible Study, discussion, and prayer. Examine scripture in light of the ongoing realities confronting the Palestinian Church and the pursuit of Palestinian liberation.

    • Wave of Prayer. Subscribe to receive Sabeel's Wave of Prayer, enabling friends of Sabeel around the world to pray over issues of critical concern to the Holy Land on a weekly basis.

  • Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)

  • Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)

  • Muslim civil rights organization Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR)

• Call to Actions

  • One of the most concrete ways you can help Palestinians right now is by getting your legislators to support HR 2590, the Palestinian Children and Families Act. Jewish organizations have now endorsed it, including the pro Israel  Americans for Peace Now. A recent survey showed that 72% of Democrats in the US support it, but only 13% of legislators and only 4 in Illinois: Danny Davis, Chuy Garcia, Marie Newman and Bobby Rush.

  • Call for interfaith actions at representative offices asking for the demands laid out here.

  • Help refugees in Gaza.

  • Sign the petition to stop Israel's forced displacement of Palestinians from East Jerusalem.

  • End your complicity in Israel’s oppression by refusing to buy from corporations complicit in Israel's settler colonialism. And widen your impact by joining local campaigns to cut university, cultural and policing ties to Israeli apartheid.

  • Amplify Palestinian voices: follow #SaveSheikhJarrah and #GazaUnderAttack on social media and share updates from Mohammed El-Kurd (Instagram + Twitter), Muna El-Kurd (Instagram), Dr. Yara Hawari (Twitter), Noura Erakat (Twitter + Instagram), Mariam Barghouti (Twitter + Instagram), Omar Ghraieb (Twitter) and Jehad Abusalim (Twitter).

  • Get your Congressional rep to support HR 2590, the new bill which requires the US to certify that funding given to Israel is not being used for human rights abuses: illegal annexation of territory, child detention, extrajudicial killings etc. The only Illinois co-sponsors so far are Rush, Davis, Newman, and Garcia. Click this link from Jewish Voice for Peace to send a direct message to your Congressperson.

• Educational Resources (Resources not endorsed by CRS but should be used for educational purposes.)

  • A very short list of books, films, websites, etc. that you can use to learn more about the conflict from KumiNow!

  • United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network Resolution Study & Reflection Guide

  • Watch this six minute video from Jewish Voice for Peace that explains the origins and progression of the conflict

  • Read the testimony of Palestinian Christians in “Kairos Palestine: A Word of Faith, Hope and Love from the Heart of Palestinian Suffering” (2009)

  • Webinar: Calling the Thing by its Proper Name: “Apartheid” Between the Jordan River & the Mediterranean Sea

  • “The B’Tselem Report on Israeli Apartheid” by Richard Falk

  • Read Walter Brueggemann’s book, Chosen? Reading the Bible amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, for a discussion of the theological issues underlying the conflict

  • Read about unequal distribution of COVID vaccines in Israel and the West Bank

  • Learn more about Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territory

  • Learn more about Israel’s discriminatory Nation State Law

  • Learn more about Palestinian refugees and the Right of Return

  • Watch 3 Ways the Media Enables Racist Violence

  • Look up how your tax dollars could be used in your community instead of on weapons to Israel

  • Explore a trove of new resources at DecolonizePalestine.com

  • Educate yourself on Gaza at GazainContext.com

• Media

  • Ukraine, Palestine, International Law & BDS
    3/3/22 Friends of Sabeel North

  • For Lasting Peace, U.S. Must Stop Enabling Israeli Occupation of Palestine
    5/20/2021 Sojourners

  • Violence in Gaza fuels tension in Washington as Democrats' support for Palestinians grows 5/17/2021 USA Today

  • Thousands take to Michigan Avenue to protest occupation of Palestinian territories: ‘Support right now is the only thing we can do’
    5/16/2021 Chicago Tribune

  • The Holy Land: What’s Next? A Conversation Among Faith Leaders Witnessing to Peace and Justice in Israel-Palestine 9/24/2022 Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral

  • Christian Support for the State of Israel: Is it Biblical? 10/7/22