peace

Over the past couple of years a number of friends, most particularly Gershon Baskin of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research Institute (IPCRI) have periodically distributed information concerning the Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem which is the proposed site for a Museum of Tolerance. Mamilla Cemetery is an historic site and a Muslim burial ground. 

A vote is expected at the United Nations next week.   A petition is being circulated to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council on March 22nd.

The issues were recently reported at the Inter-Faith Peace Builders conference in Washington, D.C.

FOR encourages readers to be informed and to sign the petition.

The petition demands that the competent Israeli authorities act:

1. To immediately halt further construction of the Simon Wiesenthal Center "Museum of Tolerance" on part of the Mamilla Cemetery site in Jerusalem;

Last month Interfaith Peace-Builders (IFPB) reported on the crackdown on human rights defenders, activists working for justice, and other nonviolent leaders in Israel and Palestine.

Now, when leaders and activists are most threatened, it is also a vital time to visit the West Bank and Israel.   Interfaith Peace-Builders is organizing two delegations this summer: The first is a May delegation led by Anna Baltzer and Cathy Sultan. A second delegation is planned for July by Jacob Pace and Miryam Rashid. 

Each year the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) awards two peace prizes to individuals or organizations whose commitment to peace, justice, and reconciliation is recognized as extraordinary. The awardees receive a cash prize and a commemorative scroll. FOR members and supporters are encouraged to submit nominations for the 2010 awards.

The deadline for nominations is April 30, 2010.

Read more about the awards and how to nominate your favorite individuals and organizations.

As plans are underway for an international conference in New York City on Nuclear disarmament, peace walks are planned (and in many cases are underway).  Various Buddhist communities have organized walks and invited others to join them either in the walk or by providing hospitality.   Walkers include Buddhist monks and nuns.  All are welcome.  One sponsoring community writes: "Please join us by walking for an hour, a day, or for the entirety. You can support us by organizing a community potluck, a sharing circle, a visit to your mayor, a place for our walkers to sleep, or coverage by the local media. Also please keep this walk in your thought and prayer."

Information on four walks has been shared with the Fellowship of Reconciliation.  All four walks culminate in New York City for the Rally and March on Sunday, May 2nd. The May 2nd Rally is an international call for an end to nuclear weapons in the US and around the world. 

Registration has opened for the International Conference, which will focus on eliminating nuclear weapons and addressing related nuclear issues.  The conference will be held in New York City on April 30 and May 1st to coincide with the official report to the United Nations monitoring the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).   

The conference at Riverside Church features speakers from around the world and opportunities for workshops in four areas: nuclear weapons abolition, peace, environmental sustainability, and economic justice. 

The registration fee is $30 per person (students with ID, $20). Early registration is encouraged.  See the attached registration form available as a downloadable form.  Space is limited to 800 to 1000 attendees.

In January, during his State of the Union message to a joint session of Congress, President Obama said his administration would make a treaty with Russia a priority.   The President noted that the country is "confronting perhaps the greatest danger to the American people – the threat of nuclear weapons."

The President has noted before that limiting nuclear weapons is not enough.   His State of the Union message renewed previous statements by Mr. Obama that nuclear weapons must be eliminated.   He acknowledged that his vision is in line with "the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan" envisioning a "world without them [nuclear weapons]."

Ever think about those killed in the war in Iraq?  You know the collateral damage of war - the people who didn't sign up for a war.

Conservative estimates peg the war dead at around 100,000. Other scientific estimates, which take into account unreported deaths, range up into the 1.4 million range. It's an impressive toll for 8 years of war.

The Iraq Memorial to Life - a project of the Fellowship of Reconciliation - is a memorial to Iraqis who have been killed as a result of the war.

It is an attempt to keep us from forgetting these Iraqis.

At the beginning of the screening of Rethink Afghanistan at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, I challenged the mostly "anti-war" audience to really look at the film critically and to examine the extent to which it would be genuinely persuasive to someone that did not already agree with the premise that the U.S. military role in Afghanistan was a bad thing. The film, produced and directed by Robert Greenwald and the Brave New Foundation can be seen at their website,  in segments that are added to as the war continues to go on. Since our screening on 2/14/10, more segments have been made available that challenge the rationale of Obama's declaration to add another 30,000 troops.

The Supreme Court of the United States has delivered a real blow to democracy.

Today's announcement from the Court has overturned laws restricting the amount of money corporations can spend in political campaign.  The majority says this is a violation of the First Amendment - freedom of speech.  This is not good news.  Yes, it continues the American tradition of treating corporations as the equivalent to a human person, but there is the rub.  Corporations may be managed by people and have boards and stockholders, but the corporation itself is not a person.  It is only treated as one in law so that it can own property and assets, and borrow and trade.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation's executive director, Mark Johnson, leaves the United States today for the Middle East. He'll be heading to Egypt to help lead the Gaza Freedom March next week -- to be joined by FOR members from around the world and hundreds of other international peace activists.

But Mark and these peace people won't get into Gaza without your help! Please act now.

• TAKE ACTION: Currently, Egyptian authorities are denying marchers the ability to cross from Egypt into Gaza. Please send a message to the Egyptian embassy, urging them to allow Mark and other nonviolent peace activists to cross the border.