The Voice bi-annual newsletter

February 2015

Report from the Executive Director

John Erickson

FOSNA is on the move! The Board of Trustees has authorized the hiring of crucial additional staff: two professional National Organizers to support the work of Rev. Don Wagner, our Na- tional Program Director, and one Program Assistant/Data Specialist to work with the organiz- ers and Sr. Elaine Kelley, our Development and Administrative Coordinator. The new hires -- for now part-timers because of budgetary constraints -- are a big step forward towards our goal of becoming the most effective Christian organization in North America working for a just peace in -.

The National Organizers will work with local groups and individuals to guide our national cam- paigns, to build action-oriented coalitions with allied organizations, to reach out to new po- tential allies, and to assure that well-supported and effective advocacy grows out of our con- ferences. We will continue to focus on supporting the BDS movement. It is one of the best tools we have to send our grassroots Christian message to the Israeli and U.S. governments.

The failure of the governments in North America to push for justice in Palestine-Israel continues to hinder our progress. Now we are faced with the prospect of Benjamin Netanyahu speaking to both Houses of Congress on the invitation of Speaker John Boehner. There appears to be some opposition to the speech mounting on Capitol Hill, but John Boehner’s invitation alone demonstrates what peace seekers are up against. The Congressional adulation of Netanyahu simply strengthens our resolve to bring our message of justice and reconciliation to a broader North American audience.

Pro-Israel activists are also throwing more millions into the fight against what they call “delegitimization” – the growing sup- port for Palestinian human rights and opposition to Israeli Apartheid. A recent gathering in Tel Aviv organized by the Israeli think tank Reut Institute brought together developers, cyber experts, Israel activists, and marketing and PR professionals from Israel, the U.S, Canada, the UK, South America and elsewhere to strategize on how to use the internet and social media to undermine the global movement for Palestinian rights.

FOSNA fully understands the importance of the internet and social media in the struggle to bring justice to Palestine. With our limited budget, it is an effective and low-cost way to bring our message to a larger audience. We have built the begin- nings of an amazing electronic media team of volunteers and part-timers, but we need your financial help to bring new strength, expertise and permanence to the effort.

As you browse this newsletter and read more about our new hires, our New Growth group of young activists, our national No Way to Treat a Child/Drop G4S campaign, and our local group activities, you will see FOSNA is indeed on the move. And your generous contributions will enable us to become even more effective in North America as well as continue our substan- tial financial assistance to Sabeel Jerusalem. Please keep them coming!

Thank you so much for your continued support. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. You can reach me at [email protected].

Friends of Sabeel North America, PO Box 9186, Portland, OR 97207  fosna.org Report from the Chair of the Board Wini Wolff

FOSNA has a compelling mission: to amplify the voice of Pales- tinian Christians and to work for a just peace in Palestine- Israel. The Board of Trustees, well aware of FOSNA’s leader- ship role in North America, takes this mission seriously. Throughout the organization and across the continent we have been engaged in important strategic work.

Strategic Plan Implementation In the September newsletter I wrote of FOSNA’s significant milestone in completing an eight- month strategic planning process. Since then, we have been hard at work pursuing goals we set for ourselves in three key areas. Our most pressing tasks focused on strengthening FOSNA’s infrastructure. We have three new highly-skilled Board members, we are actively hiring new professional staff, we are making better use of online resources, and we are de- voting more time and talent to fundraising. These internal tasks are not glamorous, but they build vital capacity that en- "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" ables FOSNA to carry out its work. A second area of focus is increasing the effectiveness of FOSNA’s programs. FOSNA Special Offer for Sabeel Members has many programs that are well-aligned with its mission. A newly formed team is thoughtfully evaluating these education The compelling and controversial play My Name Is Ra- and advocacy efforts to ensure they are impactful instruments chel Corrie returns for an Off-Broadway run in New York of real change. And third, we are broadening FOSNA’s out- City for the first time in nine years for 10 performances reach to North American Christians. Plans are underway to co at Culture Project's Lynn Redgrave Theater. The play is -host both a leadership seminar and a major conference taken from the writings of Rachel Corrie and edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner. Performances will geared specifically to evangelical Christians. As we move for- be April 2-5 and April 9-12, 2015. Friday April 10, Rachel ward in our work, the goals of our Strategic Plan will continue Corrie's birthday, will be a special benefit for the Rachel to be guideposts along our path. Corrie Foundation. Refreshments will be served and New Board Members Three new talented professionals have Craig and Cindy Corrie, Rachel's parents, will speak after been elected to the Board. Lynn Martin is a certified public the performance. accountant from Pleasanton, CA and will serve as FOSNA’s Special offer to members of Sabeel: admission tickets Treasurer. Leila Richards is a retired public health physician will be reduced to $35 if purchased by March 1. Just from Pittsburgh, PA who has travelled extensively throughout enter the code RCSabeel35 when purchasing tickets the Middle East and authored a book on her experiences. She before March 1, 2015 for any performance except for brings important writing and fundraising skills. Doug Thorpe is April 10 when all tickets will be $100. a professor of literature in Seattle, WA. He has extensive con- nections in the evangelical community and is thoroughly in- For all ticket information call Ovation Tix at volved in FOSNA’s theology and outreach efforts. 1.866.811.4111 or visit Culture Project's website at cultureproject.org Support for Sabeel-Jerusalem In all we do, FOSNA is steadfast in our support for Sabeel. As FOSNA labors in North America, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Sabeel in its work. Our geographic focuses are distinct, but our purpose is the same: to bring about justice, peace and reconciliation in Palestine-Israel.

There is renewed energy within FOSNA. As the primary ecu- menical Christian organization within a growing movement in America, FOSNA is becoming stronger, broader and more im- pactful every day. The Board is dedicated to the work ahead and we are deeply grateful to you for your continued generous support of FOSNA through your time, talent and treasure. Peace to All! Like a Mustard Seed: FOSNA’s New Growth FOSNA’s next generation is growing right before our eyes. Over the past year, FOSNA has recruited the talent and energy of a wonderful team that spans three continents and myriad backgrounds. And we have only begun: in January, we launched our first internship program to engage college campus activists, and we started a “What is Liberation Theology” training for all our New Growth staff and interns. Support our momentum by helping to fund FOSNA’s New Growth.

Seeking Leadership As We Grow. Seeking 2 National Organizers to direct our national organizing campaigns! Please Share this Job Description http://fosna.org/seeking-part-time-national-organizer

FOSNA’s New Growth Staff Share Their Visions of the Future

“When I think of FOSNA's future, I see a robust domestic organization supported by strong local groups, united together by a vision for a just peace in Palestine. I see FOSNA as part of a larger movement for cross -community awareness and empowerment. This is not solely in the realm of Pal- estine but extends to many communities in North America who face daily and

systematic inequalities.” - Nadya Tannous

“I see FOSNA’s future as one of dynamic intergenerational exchange. I see people from different eras of social struggle sharing stories and strategies. I see us collaborating over new and revived ideas, building on a patchwork of diverse philosophies to achieve our common goal, which is the end of Israeli occupation.” - Kali Rubaii

“I envision FOSNA being a leader in effective Palestinian advocacy work taking place in churches and communities across the U.S.” - Ariel Gold

“My desire for FOSNA is that we become effective partner of the wider US movement pushing for the end of the occupation of Palestine. We can do this best by using our Christian voice to own the mistakes of US Christians, subvert the narratives that lead to displacement, and support ’ call to iso- late economic systems that support the status quo.” - Jay Visbal

Kali Rubaii is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at University of California, Santa Cruz. She lives and works in Palestine, Iraq, and California, studying counterinsurgency regimes and the ethics of death. Kali is interested in strategic thinking, intergenerational activism, and perceptions about the boundaries of nonviolence. She is co-founder of the Islah Reparations Project, and served on the board of Rebuilding Alliance. Ariel Gold grew up in the American peace and justice activist community and works for Palestinian human rights through Judaism. She received her Bachelors degree in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University and her Master’s degree in Social Work from Binghamton Uni- versity. As someone of the Jewish faith working for a Christian organization, Ariel is drawn to the power of liberation theology for a just peace in the Holy Land. Nadya Tannous graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2012 with a B.A. in Anthropology and a minor in Global Information and Social Enterprise Stud- ies. She is a passionate community organizer with a focus on refugee rights, transitional justice, youth education, and inter-community empower- ment movements. She is currently a student at Oxford University, pursuing a graduate degree in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies. She speaks English, Spanish and . Jay Visbal is a freelance photographer, English teacher, and internet marketing guru. He holds a BA from Westmont College in California and has lived and worked in Palestine, Jordan, Iraqi Kurdistan, and . Jay studies the interplay between communal scriptural interpretations, financial donations, and national policy. He is also a board member for the Islah Reparations Project.

Meet Our New Interns

“I was born in , Jordan to a Palestin- “I am a senior in Anthropology at the University of ian Christian family on June 9, 1994. I grew California at Santa Cruz with research interests up in Ramallah, and attended the Ramallah focusing on violence and power relations, espe- Friends Schools until I graduated in 2012. I cially for people who are un-housed and incarcer- am currently pursuing my undergraduate ated, and people affected by wars. When I was 20 degree at Guilford College in Greensboro, years old I moved to London, , and spent North Carolina, majoring in Business Man- two years traveling as much as I could. I just re- agement and minoring in International Business. I am fluent in turned from my first trip to Palestine. What I both Arabic and English, and I am very proficient in Spanish. My found is that although our world is very beautiful, hobbies include traveling, and cooking, and I am very passionate it is also very damaged, and I've become very pas- about Middle Eastern politics.” - Walid Mosarsaa sionate in my role as an ally during this global fight for justice. ” - Marjorie Langdon SABEEL Circle of Friends . . . Celebrating 10 Years of Giving The Board of Trustees of Friends of Sabeel North America established the Sabeel Cir- cle of Friends during Pentecost of 2005 to help provide the level of financial support and encouragement we need to continue to carry a message of hope to the Palestin- ian community. Members of the Circle are people who give $500 or more in a given year. Now, ten years into this campaign, the circle has grown from 53 in 2005 to al- most 200 members in 2014. Our goal for 2015 is to increase the number of new COF level donors and overall giving at the COF level by 10%. Will you be the one to help us reach this goal?

Why People Give (Wilbur and Lorie Wood, COF Members)

“My husband Wilbur and I give monthly to Friends of Sabeel because it is an organization that helps us speak our values of freedom and justice for the Palestinian people. Friends of Sabeel has been instrumental in furthering our knowledge through publications, witness trips, conferences and material to support our lobbying efforts. An added bonus on our investment is that of making friendships with like-minded activists.”

Lorie Wood (Vancouver, Washington)

In Memory of Nick and Mary Eoloff

We remember with love our volunteer lead- ers Nick and Mary Eoloff of St. Paul, Minne- sota, who passed away within months of each other last year. They are shown here holding a photograph of Israeli nuclear whis- tleblower Mordecai Vanunu, a prisoner of conscience held for 18 years in an Israeli prison for exposing Israel’s secret arsenal of nuclear war- heads. In an effort to get Mordecai out of Israel, the Eoloffs legally adopted him in 1997. Though that effort to date has failed and Mor- decai remains confined to an area of where he is treated as a traitor rather than a hero, Nick and Mary continued their relationship with him and did much to improve his lot and to advance his cause and the cause FOSNA is a For-Prophet Organization of the Palestinian peo- ple. Nick and Mary, who had been members of Sabeel’s Cir- cle of Friends since 2005, were active most of their lives in a number of global justice and peace issues. They were leaders of Minnesota Pax Christi. They worked for nuclear disarmament, opposed US military intervention in Central America, risked arrest many times as participants in non- violent civil disobedience protests at the School of the Americas, and led the committee that organized a FOSNA conference at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul in 2004. We remember and celebrate our friends and give thanks to God for their extraordinary witness. Below are listed our 2014 Circle of Friends. Many other generous friends have donated $25, $50, $100, $250 and up to $499 during the year. To list them all in this newsletter would require at least another 8 pages. The list includes individu- als, churches and organizations. We are deeply grateful to every donor.

Jerusalem ($50,000 or more) Nablus continued . . . Gaza continued . . . One Anonymous Donor Sally Mackey (Burien, WA) Barnabus Hunt and Andrew Rank (San Diego, CA) John Makhoul (Somerville, MA) Immanuel Presbyterian Church (Montgomery, AL) Bethlehem ($20,000 - $49,999) Gary and Betty Massoni (Corvallis, OR) Brigitte Jaensch (Carmichael, CA) Robert E. Maynard (Lexington, KY) Glenn and Sharon Moeller (Long Beach, CA) Lucy Janjigian (Los Altos, CA) David and Judith Neunuebel (Santa Barbara, CA) Diane Josephy (Hailey, ID) Nazareth ($10,000 - $19,999) Leila D. Nijim (Madison, WI) Pierre and Noha Kassab/Kassab Jewelers Robert Reza Amin (Los Angeles, CA) Lewis and Winifred Pinch (Omaha, NE) (Portland, OR) Randa and Bill Veach (Fort Myers Beach, FL) Edwin Reid (Middleton, WI) Linda Kateeb (Orland Hills, IL) Bob Reynolds and Carol Saysette (Fairfax, CA) Preston and Virginia Kelsey (Hanover, NH) Galilee ($5,000 - $9,999) Rt. Rev. Gregory Rickel (Seattle, WA) Ann M. Kohl (Sacramento, CA) Saleem Ateek (Dallas, TX) Joseph Robinson (Cambridge, MA) Henry and Suzanne Kraus (Valley Center, CA) Betsy Barlow (Augusta, MI) Deb Sawyer (Salt Lake City, UT) Rt. Rev. Robert L. Ladehoff (Portland, OR) Rt. Rev. Edmond and Patti Browning (Hood River, OR) Mary Lou Leiser Smith (Chapel Hill, NC) Barbara LeClerq (Overland Park, KS) John and Barbara Erickson (Berkeley, CA) Richard and Mary Jo Stanley (Muscatine, IA) Rt. Rev. Edward and Kathryn Lee (Merion Station, PA) Rosemary and Ray Hershberger (Columbus, OH) Monica Styron (Pinecrest, FL) Janet Leslie and James Anderson (Chico, CA) Brian Joyce (Alameda, CA) McDonald Sullivan (Snohomish, WA) Tony Litwinko (Los Angeles, CA) Shadia and Azzam Kanaan (Portage, MI) Tarbell Family Foundation (Vacaville, CA) Marilyn Sutton Loos (Haverford, PA) Kintronic Investment Co./Gwen King (Bristol, TN) Manuel and June Tarsha (Nashville, TN) Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns (Maryknoll, NY) Darrel Meyers (Burbank, CA) M. Melinda Thompson (Bridgeville, DE) Nabil Matar (Minneapolis, MN) Timothy and Candace Murphy (Pasadena, CA) G. Tuma (Portland, OR) Marita Mayer (San Anselmo, CA) Keith Reynolds (Whistler, BC) Bill and Mary Kay Vogel (Ames, IA) Marla McGarry-Lawrence (Portland, OR) Leila Richards (Pittsburgh, PA) John and Sylvia Melrose (Sebastopol, CA) Norman Tanber (Monarch Beach, CA) Gaza ($500 - $999) Ron and Mary Miller (Baltimore, MD) Bob and Maurine Tobin (Sunset, ME) Jeff Abood (Silver Lake, OH) Doug Miller (Hillsboro, KS) Dick and Elaine Toll (Milwaukie, OR) Fahed Abu-Akel and Mary Zumot (Atlanta, GA) Jim Moiso and Lea Lawrence (Portland, OR) Ted and Diane Von der Ahe (Pasadena, CA) Frank Afranji and Lena Barghouti-Afranji (Tigard, OR) John Monson (La Crosse, WI) Christine and Mel Andersen (Chapel Hill, NC) Mary Morris and Jim Brentlinger (Portland, OR) Jericho ($2,500 - $4,999) Rt. Rev. Marc H. Andrus (San Francisco, CA) Robert Moyer (Ottsville, PA) Susan Bell (Alexandria, VA) Janet and Rex Archer (Kansas City, MO) Charles Musselman (Watertown, MA) Atef and Susan Azzam (Seattle, WA) Germana Nijim (South Bend, IN) Nablus ($1,000 - $2,499) Rt. Rev. Allen and Jerrie Bartlett (Philadelphia, PA) Polly Parks (Colonial Beach, VA) Patricia Ann Abraham (Charleston, SC) Mary Louise Bartlett (Portland, OR) Maryann and William Picard (Brecksville, OH) Alalusi Foundation (Hayward, CA) Birzeit Society (Norwalk, CA) Pilgrims of Ibillin (Oakland, CA) Karen Batroukh (Moscow, ID) Bradley and Julia Bitar (Olympia, WA) Fred and Mary Pneuman (Medina, WA) Alice Beasley (Oakland, CA) Richard and Arlee Blackburn (Lombard, IL) John R. Poole (Santa Rosa, CA) Bethany Community/Ladies of Bethany Bill and Verna Boland (Fairfax, IA) Presbytery of San Jose (San Jose, CA) (Pittsburgh, PA) Mitchel Bollag (Concord, NC) Paul Rehm and Katja Sander-Rehm (Greenville, NY) William and Margaret Bitar (Portland, OR) Rev. Beverly Brewster (Fairfax, CA) Frances ReMillard (Kamas, UT) Branscomb Family Foundation (La Jolla, CA) Max Douglas Brown (River Forest, IL) Rose City Park Presbyterian (Portland, OR) Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde (Washington, DC) Leonard Cain and Roberta Badger-Cain (Portland, OR) Saba and Shirley Saba (Temecula, CA) John Chamberlin (San Francisco, CA) Christ Presbyterian Church (Madison, WI) Grace Said (Chevy Chase, MD) Beverly Davis-Amjadi (Honolulu, HI) Kathy Christison (Santa Fe, NM) Heidi and Elie Saikaly (Mukilteo, WA) Sharon Duggan (Berkeley, CA) Leslie M. Clarke (Wellington, FL) Sam and Lois Seikaly (Omaha, NE) Elaine Eachus (Villa Park, IL) Ann Coburn (Berkeley, CA) George and Peggy Shalabi (Sauk City, WI) Eastern Pennsylvania Conference UMC Loring Conant (Cambridge, MA) John and Joan Sigler (Kanata, Ontario, CANADA) (Valley Forge, PA) Ted Curtis (Forest Park, IL) Robert L. Smith and Adriana Huyer (Corvallis, OR) John C. English (Baldwin City, KS) Jesse DeWitt (Dexter, MI) St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral (Seattle, WA) Barbara Fauth (Belmont, MA) Robert and Tanis Diedrichs (Cedar Falls, IA) John Stauffer (Wallingford, PA) First Presbyterian Church of Wilmette (Wilmette, IL) Susan L. Dravis (Dubuque, IA) Lorraine and David Stuart (Bend, OR) Cotton Fite (Wilmette, IL) Roberta Du Teil (Argyle, )TX Paul H. Verduin (Silver Spring, MD) Hala Gores (Portland, OR) Diane M. Dwyer (Baltimore, MD) Inga and Michael Vucelic (La Jolla, CA) Gary and Gloria Graber (Freeman, SD) Clyde and Rebecca Farris (West Linn, OR) Donald Wagner (Orland Hills, IL) John and Jennifer Grosvenor (Portland, OR) Leroy Fassett (Highland, IN) Nabil Wahbeh and Emily Wheeler (Oakland, CA) Rt. Rev. Michael Joseph Hanley (Portland, OR) First Presbyterian Church (San Anselmo, CA) Robin and Nancy Wainwright (Severna Park, MD) Angelica and Richard Harter (Cambridge, MA) First United Methodist Church (Madison, WI) David Walrath and Thérèse Mughannan Walrath Alice and Ronald Haznedl (Lake in the Hills, IL) Kinnie Ruth Foote (Sacramento, CA) (Santa Rosa, CA) Donna Hicks (Durham, NC) Daphne Grimes (Cody, WY) Dorothy Jean Weaver (Harrisonburg, VA) Hope and Justice Educational Foundation/ Margo Groves (Port Townsend, WA) DarEll Weist and Diane Kenney (Claremont, CA) Hassan Fouda (Kensington, CA) Andrew and Marina Gutierrez (Kensington, CA) Lee and Caroline Welkley (Jacksonville, FL) Benneth Husted and John McSwigan (Hillsboro, OR) Kenneth and Mary Gutierrez (Riverside, CA) Doug and Andrea Whitmore (Fairway, KS) Barbara Huston (Seattle, WA) Tom and Grace Gyori (Plainfield, IN) Wisconsin Annual Conference UCC (Sun Prairie, WI) Alan and Margaret Kenney (Lafayette, CO) Halderstein Owl Trust (Lincoln, MA) Wini Wolff and Tony Medwid (Wallingford, PA) Suhail and Janet Khoury (Sarasota, FL) Larry and Mary Hansen (Portland, OR) Lorie and Wilbur Wood (Vancouver, WA) Rick Kidd (Sierra Madre, CA) Lynn and Elizabeth Holmes (Carrollton, GA) Vivian and Mario Zelaya (Berkeley, CA) Nader Kury and Sandra Nasser (Castro Valley, CA) Manny and Mary Ryan-Hotchkiss (Portland, OR) John Langfeldt (The Dalles, OR) Please join us in 2015! Message from the National Program Director, Don Wagner

Lessons from Palestine: Sustaining Resistance Over the Long Haul

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” These famous lines, which open Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, aptly capture the creative, disciplined and eager resistance of the Palestinians, on the one hand, and the oppression and brutality of the Israeli military, on the other. We viewed this tension first hand on our recent FOSNA witness trip visit (with British and Canadian friends of Sabeel) to the tiny agricultural village of Bi’lin of “Five Broken Cameras” fame. We arrived before noon and heard the Imam’s “qutba” booming from the loud-speakers as we got off the bus. Within minutes Iyad Burnat welcomed us, handed out on- ions, and led us on the Friday non-violent march to confront the Israeli military gathered on an adjacent hill. It wasn’t long before the tear gas canisters (manufactured in Pennsylvania) were fired in our direction. We retreated at Iyad’s suggestion, gasping for oxygen and trying to catch our breath with our onions, while the gutsy and determined villagers moved closer to the military, al- ways maintaining their discipline of nonviolence. The confrontation continued for over two hours as our group retreated to Iyad’s home for a marvelous lunch and time of reflection. We wondered, how have they sustained this action for ten years, as life under occupation gets more difficult each day?

Looking back on that day I would like to briefly reflect on just five of the many lessons we learned from Bi’lin and the other villages we visited in Palestine. First, there is a growing number of Palestinian villages and organizations that embrace in different ways the vision of creative popular resistance to the most powerful military regime in the Middle East. Second, a growing number of Pales- tinian organizations share the conviction that God is just and as Dr. Martin Luther King said: “the arc of history bends toward jus- tice.” Third, grassroots actions must be mobilized and intensified in ever expanding circles with increased support from the inter- national community. Fourth, the journey takes significant sacrifice at the individual and collective levels. Fifth, the struggle de- mands consistency, imagination, and regular acts of well-organized actions.

So we ask: How can FOSNA embrace and adapt these lessons in our North American context?

First, the movement must grow through new partnerships and creative thinking to keep the pressure on the Israeli regime. Just as our Palestine partners are creating new ways to resist, FOSNA must find new ways to expose the horrors of the occupation and move our national leaders towards insisting on justice and peace in Palestine-Israel. We must be creative, inclusive, and we must be true to our core beliefs. Our New Growth group of young people is working on ways to carry our message to college campuses and seminaries and, along with the Advocacy Committee, planning our first na- tional advocacy campaign, No Way to Treat a Child/Drop G4S, which will focus on child detention. We also have witness trips and conferences planned for 2015 that will hopefully inspire young people, African Americans, and grassroots leaders from different arenas to join our movement. Most importantly, we are adding new staff and dedicating more resources to help us to create more effec- tive and inclusive programs.

A second lesson from our Palestinian friends is the central role of faith in sus- taining our energy and struggle for the long haul. This issue is often neglected but of supreme importance. Not only do we need to tap into the energy and direction that comes from our values and God’s presence within, but we must put this energy into creative actions that challenge the political and religious narratives that undermine justice in Palestine. Last year FOSNA partnered with our friends in the Israel-Palestine Mission Network (Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.) to publish the book Zionism and the Quest for Justice in the Holy Land and the wonderfully controversial study guide Zionism Unsettled. These volumes chal- lenge the dominant Zionist narratives such as exceptionalism, Christian Zionism, and divine rights to the land. Study groups are emerging across the country to discuss and debate the content of these important resources. Also, FOSNA is partnering with Canadian Friends of Sabeel in a conference on Christian Zion- ism in Vancouver, B.C. on April 23 – 25, which we invite you to attend. FOSNA’s Theology Committee and new partners are embarking on projects that will take us deeper into this critical study of the Bible and the theologies and ideologies that undermine justice for Palestinians, not only in our churches but in the me- dia, academia, politics, and the three Abrahamic traditions. continued . . . The third lesson takes us back to a key strategy in our Strategic Plan: “To broaden and diversify our grassroots base.” Here we look to the work of our New Growth group and our Local Groups Committee that has a renewed vision and energy for 2015. FOSNA now has 13 local groups, recently adding Pittsburgh, PA and South Florida. Having visited both groups I am impressed by the level of commitment and energy that is emerging. Pittsburgh will host a FOSNA conference in mid-October that will reach new audiences in Pennsylvania and Ohio. The new local group in South Florida is working closely with several church denominations and Jewish Voice for Peace to carry forward FOSNA’s national advocacy project on child detention and G4S.

The fourth lesson from Palestine calls us to a journey of personal and collective sacrifice as we rededicate ourselves to our mission of justice. This involves time, increased financial commitment, and greater focus on planning and training to meet the challenges ahead. Like the villagers in Bi’lin and elsewhere in Palestine, we must be ready to pay the price for the long haul. I thank God that we are already seeing the fruits of your efforts in the creative activities in our local groups and your dedicated financial support. I invite you to see the film Selma and its portrayal of the costly path the African American community has paid and is still paying to combat racism. Our sacrifices are miniscule in comparison to theirs and the Palestinians.

Fifth and finally, is the lesson of consistent, well-organized, and impactful programs, acts of resistance and constant evaluation of our effectiveness. The staff, Board of Trustees, and program committees are working very hard to offer more effective programs and careful use of our resources. Our commitment to BDS and work with the church denominations, interfaith partners, and stu- dents are having an impact. Last summer we stood with our Presbyterian friends, who after a ten year struggle, finally saw victory in the divestment vote. Now we must join other denominations as they pursue boy- cott and divestment or other justice resolutions in their annual meetings.

Our Patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu gives us this reminder: “We [in South ] could not have achieved our freedom without the help of people around the world using nonviolent means of boycotts and divestment to compel governments and insti- tutions to withdraw their support for the apartheid regime.” Now it is Palestine’s turn and FOSNA is intimately engaged in the struggle. With your involvement we will be more faithful and more effective in the coming years as we bend the arc of history toward justice, freedom and equality in Palestine and Israel.

Raffle Prize Vase Donated by Folk Art Mavens

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