Tree of Life Concert and Conference

Nov. 2 and 3, 2013

Kairos-Milwaukie United Church of Christ 4790 SE Logus Road, Milwaukie, OR

To Exist is to Resist: Voices of Conscience on and Palestine

About the Conference and Concert

To Exist is to Resist. These words can be found on a mural on the 28-foot-tall, concrete wall that imprisons , separating them from their families, olive orchards, businesses, universities and places of worship, making it extraordinarily difficult for them to live normal lives.

Nevertheless, the people who live within the Wall have distinguished themselves by their resilience, their determination to provide for their families, and their persistence in keeping hope alive from one generation to another.

While the barrier has been built by Israel to keep Palestinians apart from Israelis, there are those on both sides of it Israelis and Palestinians who refuse to engage in enmity, and by their very existence oppose the forces that would keep them apart.

There is genuine hope for change in their growing non-violent resistance. And there is hope in the growing numbers of corporations, churches, academic institutions, performing artists, unions, human rights organizations and concerned individuals who have come to understand how the Wall and all the other instruments of inhumanity and occupation are impediments to peace.

In this, our second Tree of Life Conference and first concert, we will learn from people who have distinguished themselves as voices of resistance and conscience. Perhaps in hearing them, we will emerge as voices of resistance and conscience ourselves, intent on speaking up and out to promote peace in the very troubled Holy Land.

Concert Nov. 2, 7:30p.m. David Rovics Performing Conference Nov. 3, 12:30p.m. Registration and Palestinian Bazaar 1:00 - 5:30p.m. Speakers Speakers: Mark Braverman: Author of Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land, and A wall in : Hope, healing, and the struggle for Justice in Israel and Palestine. Director of Kairos USA. Zaha Hassan: Human Rights lawyer, expert on Palestinian statehood bid at UN and legal/political implications of current U.S. brokered talks between Israel and Palestine.

Donna Boyd: A neurology nurse who served in Gaza with Washington Physicians for Responsibility.

Debbie Johnson: Works with Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land and sells Canaan Fair Trade items.

Tom Beilman: Organizing a Portland-area boycott of SodaStream products manufactured in an illegal Israeli Settlement.

Kelly Lynn: Member of Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights and a photographer/activist currently living in the West Bank.

Ned Rosch: One of the founders of the Portland chapter of . Ned will speak on "Finding Our Voice in the Struggle for Justice.”

In Concert Nov. 2, 7:30p.m. David Rovics Performing

David Rovics photo credit -Tatjana Ingold

David lives in Portland, Oregon and tours regularly on four continents. He has shared the stage with a veritable who's who of the left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al- Jazeera and other networks. He makes 200+ songs available for free on the web that have been downloaded more than a million times. Most importantly, he's really good. He will make you laugh. He will make you cry. He will have you joining the Just Peace movement.

“Listen to David Rovics.” - Pete Seeger “The peace poet and troubadour for our time” - Cindy Sheehan “David Rovics is the musical version of Democracy Now” - Amy Goodman

************************************************************************************* Registration Form Please mail your check made out to Joanie McClellan - Registrar with Tree of Life Conference in the memo line. Please mail your check with your registration form to:

Joanie McClellan-Registrar Kairos-Milwaukie United Church of Christ 4790 SE Logus Rd. Milwaukie, OR. 97222

Name(s): Address:______Email:______Phone:______Concert $10: #Attending______Conference $15: #Attending______Amount enclosed: $______

Walk-ins are welcome. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Those under 18 and students attend free.

Sponsors Kairos-Milwaukie United Church of Christ; Americans United For Palestinian Human Rights; Friends of Sabeel-North America; If Americans Knew; Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions-USA; Oregon Fellowship of Reconciliation; Jewish Voice for Peace - Portland; Tree of Life Education Fund; First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, CT.; The Council for the National Interest. The Middle East Children’s Alliance; Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land-Central Lutheran; UCC Palestine Israel Network. Church of the Checkpoint-Bethlehem. Canaan Fair Trade; Amnesty International; Council on American Islamic Relations.