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“Despair Is Not an Option” Find Us at 339 Lafayette Street January 27, 2016 Dear Friends, We’re welcoming 2016 with: Expanded grants: Our Social Justice Fund grants are up to $5,000 each, and NewsMUSTE from the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute we’ve broadened our criteria. See our website for details, and help us share this exciting news! A new home: We’ve signed a five- year lease on a beautiful office loft in Manhattan. The space is bright, wheel- VOLUME 23, NUMBER 2 NOTESWINTER 2016 chair accessible, and large enough for all our tenant groups and some new ones. We’ll move by June; until then, you can “Despair Is Not an Option” find us at 339 Lafayette Street. We’re planning a party to say goodbye to our How can we end occupation and violence in Israel/Palestine? Our grantees respond. old home—and you’re invited! Sign up on How do you hold on to hope? What and most impossible choice for us. I can our website to stay informed. motivates you to keep resisting? speak for the people who work with me Great people: Our board and staff We do not always hold on to hope. when I say that we feel personal respon- are managing this transition with vision, But, even if sometimes without hope, we sibility to find a way forward. I wake up inspiration, and hard work. We’re pleased can and will express that we don’t agree. every morning with an understanding to welcome Ivy Schwartz as our new As Palestinians cannot stop being occu- that there is no other choice than a shared society between Israeli Jews and Arabs. Operations Manager. With gratitude for pied, we owe them at least this solidarity. —Gush Shalom team —Jamal Alkirnawi, their dedicated service, we bid goodbye to A New Dawn in the Negev Ellen Luo and Bruce Cronin, who stepped We hold onto hope when Palestinians down from the Muste board to focus on approach us and let us know that our When we think of those who are other projects. presence in the military courts, or in the living the struggle every moment— checkpoints, makes a difference. We also the family whose home Rachel stood Thanks most of all to YOU—our before in Gaza, our many friends generous donors, sustainers, and grant- feel hope when we take Israelis of all ages to see the checkpoints and to meet there and throughout a very turbulent ees—for your commitment to grassroots Middle East, our Palestinian friends nonviolent action for social justice. We’re Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and they tell us afterwards how we have in the U.S. and throughout the world counting on your help in 2016. challenged their views and perspectives. steadfastly challenging displacement, We say that we will not finish our work and our colleagues inside Israel who Sincerely, until the Occupation is over, and the work endlessly for change despite military administration is dismantled. great threat and many obstacles—we —Ela Greenberg, MachsomWatch know we must resist with them. It is energizing, because it is right. My hope springs from the many —Cindy and Craig Corrie, people I meet who desire the same Rachel Corrie Foundation Heidi Boghosian changes I do, people from both sides of Executive Director the conflict. Despair is both the easiest continued on page 2 PHOTOS BY OREN ZIV/ACTIVESTILLS.ORG PHOTOS Hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli activists marched on Friday, January 15, 2016 along the major Hebron-Jerusalem highway in the southern West Bank to protest Israel’s settlements and demand an end to the occupation. Combatants for Peace co-director Sulaiman Khatib called on Palestinian and Israeli activists to join these new monthly marches: “We all know that there is no military solution,” Khatib told +972 Magazine. “We need a third way, which is not just Israel and not just Palestine—a path of dialogue and joint nonviolent struggle.” 2 • Muste Notes Winter 2016 “Not an Option” Palestinians line up continued from page 1 to cross Qalandiya checkpoint in Despair is not an option. We believe Jerusalem during that we have no alternative but to Ramadan in the continue the struggle for a just resolu- summer of 2015. tion of the conflict. And as neighbors MachsomWatch whose fates are intertwined—some- monitors the one once called us Siamese twins—we checkpoints and are committed to continuing to work the military together, for the sake of future genera- courts in order to tions of both peoples. expose abuses and —Ziad AbuZayyad and Hillel MACHSOMWATCH FLEISHMAN, TAMAR BY PHOTO draw attention to Schenker, Palestine-Israel Journal injustice. What impact do you see for your What can people around the world work in 2016? Our goal will remain much as it has been for the past twelve years—to inform do right now? That “they” will not succeed to and educate about this issue and to Multiply our protest; support us with silence us, and that the more “they” inspire action among our friends, youth, donations; ask your governments to use try, the more we will be heard—inside our leaders, and the public. One of our their leverage influencing Israel toward Israel and worldwide. mentors has said that it continues to be an end of the occupation; show your —Gush Shalom team about “education, education, education.” opinion also by what you buy and don’t To advance transparency by moni- We can grow ourselves and support buy. toring and reporting on the Israeli others in better understanding and inter- —Gush Shalom team military courts, and to raise awareness nalizing how this and other social justice issues share connections and root causes. As the majority of us are retired, we within the Israeli and international travel a lot and give lectures around the public about how the checkpoints —Cindy and Craig Corrie, Rachel Corrie Foundation world. We are always looking for new violate people’s rights and should not audiences, and invite you to contact us be accepted as “normal.” We will continue to create important to speak to your community. If you visit —Ela Greenberg, MachsomWatch resources about the core issues of our Israel/Palestine, we can take you on a I see us continuing on our path of conflict, tools for our target audience tour of the checkpoints. working together, changing the real- of students, researchers, civil society —Ela Greenberg, MachsomWatch activists, opinion and decision-makers ity and stereotypes on both sides, and People around the world can help facilitating activities that encourage in Israel, Palestine, and the interna- tional community. organizations such as ours that promote cooperation. co-existence and help endangered popu- —Jamal Alkirnawi, —Ziad AbuZayyad and Hillel Schenker, Palestine-Israel Journal lations. If a strong lobby outside of Israel A New Dawn in the Negev can truly influence the political echelon of society, this would only be praised. Bernice Lanning: In Fond Memory —Jamal Alkirnawi, A New Dawn in the Negev By David McReynolds Bernice with We would hope in 2016, all of us Bernice Lanning, a founding board fellow board member of the Muste Institute, died in would work harder to operate from a member place of love. There are many tools— New York City on December 2, 2015, Harrop with her daughters Nike and Nile reading, talking, writing, learning, Freeman connecting with organizations and indi- Lanning at her side. at a Muste When we were setting up the Institute, viduals working on the issue, support- Institute ing BDS (boycott, divestment, and it was Bernice who got us the essential meeting in PHOTO BY DAVID MCREYNOLDS BY DAVID PHOTO sanctions). Connect. Act constructively. 501c3 status which made it possible April 1983. for contributions to the Institute to be Magnify this issue so that those in power tax exempt. Ralph DiGia, Bernice and must follow our lead. I made it down to the vast Wall Street —Cindy and Craig Corrie, law offices of the firm of Rose, Mudge, Rachel Corrie Foundation Mitchell and Nixon. The Vietnam War in 1983 and for many years regularly To those who do not live in the was raging. Nixon was President, visited prisoners at the Metropolitan Middle East, our conflict does not only Mitchell was Attorney General, but in Correctional Center, the federal prison “belong to us”, it is played out on the one of those paradoxes of American life, in Manhattan. From the Muste board, international stage, and you all have Bernice knew an attorney at that firm she helped to facilitate grants for proj- a role to play to help end the occupa- who was a tax expert and agreed to ects promoting prisoners’ rights and tion and resolve the Israeli-Palestinian draft the necessary papers. criminal justice reform. She remained conflict, for the sake of both peoples. Bernice, a Quaker, joined the Prison active on the board until her health —Ziad AbuZayyad and Hillel Visitation and Support organization failed a few years ago. Schenker, Palestine-Israel Journal Winter 2016 Muste Notes • 3 A.J. Muste Promoting Grassroots Radio Memorial Institute 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012 phone (212) 533-4335 email: [email protected] website: www.ajmuste.org Board of Directors ANNA JOVER BY PHOTO Susan Kent Cakars Matt Meyer James A. Cole Peter Muste Brian Drolet, Jill Sternberg Vice Chair Nina Streich, Carol Kalafatic Treasurer Dan Kent Robert T. Taylor, Bruce Levinson Secretary David McReynolds Martha Thomases, (Emeritus) Chair Staff Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director Ivy Schwartz, Operations Manager Jane Guskin*, Program Manager Members of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras Sky Hall*, Administrative Assistant (COPINH) upgrade their grassroots radio skills at a workshop in La Esperanza, Salvador Suazo*, Superintendent Honduras.
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