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July
2, 2007
VOL.
45, NO. 13Oakland,
CA
Conference to
explore resolution of
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
A lineup of
prominent speakers will participate next month in a two-day international
conference focused on finding a just resolution to the Palestine-Israel
conflict. “Breaking Down the Wall of Silence: Voices We Need to
Hear” will be held at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley,
Aug. 24-25.
Jean Zaru, a Palestinian Christian from Ramallah, Palestine, who is former
president of the Jerusalem YWCA and a member of the International Council
of the World Conference for Religion and Peace, will be a featured speaker
as is Rosemary Radford Ruether, Carpenter Emerita professor of Feminist
Theology at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. She is the author
of “The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”
Other speakers include Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international
studies at the University of San Francisco; Isham Ahmad, professor of
politics at St. Mary’s College in Moraga who is originally from
Birzeit University in the West Bank; Anna Baltzer, granddaughter of a
Holocaust survivor and author of “Witness in Palestine: Journal
of a Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories”; Mitchell
Plitnick, director of Jewish Voice for Peace, and Craig and Cindy Corrie,
the parents of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old Olympia, WA, resident who
was killed by an Israeli bulldozer four years ago in Gaza.
On the opening night of the conference, there will be a premier showing
of the documentary film, “Holy Land: Common Ground,” produced
by Ed Gaffney.
The conference has been organized by Sabeel (Arabic for “the way”,)
a Jerusalem-based ecumenical international grassroots peace movement initiated
by Palestinian Christians. It promotes nonviolence, human rights, international
law, democratic principles, and Gospel teaching on justice and peace building.
Its partner organizations include the American Friends Service Committee,
Christian Peacemaker Teams, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Pax Christi
USA and the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation.
Local co-sponsors of the conference are the Dominican Sisters of Mission
San Jose; the Episcopal Diocese of California, the Middle East Children’s
Alliance and St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Berkeley.
Conference hours on Friday, Aug. 24 are 1 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. and 8 a.m.
to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25. A Middle East buffet will be served on
Friday evening.
Cost of the conference is $70 for both days, with a reduced price of $40
for students, seminarians and others on low-income budgets. The Saturday-only
fee is half price. To register by phone, call (503) 653-6625, or send
a check to Friends of Sabeel, PO Box, 9186, Portland, OR 97207.
For further information go to the Sabeel website: www.fosna.org
