I am writing to some of you for the first time and to others with new information about the American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights (AAPER). They have asked me (along with Paige Austin of the Kennedy School at Harvard) to help coordinate a Silent March in Boston on October 10 to call attention to the injustices faced by the Palestinian people. We need all of the help we can get…and that means people who would commit to walking with us.
There will be AAPER sponsored walks throughout the country. For more information, please visit the AAPER website. There is a link there so that people can sign up to be marchers and/or sponsors.
AAPER was founded George S. Naggiar, Esq., AAPER’s Executive Director. He is a member of the New York and New Jersey State Bars. From 2005 to 2007, Mr. Naggiar was an attorney at a major American law firm in New York City. He holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University School of Law, where he specialized in the international law of human rights and armed conflict and where he served as Chairman of Georgetown's Middle East Law Society. It was there that he got to know a Palestinian student, became educated about the situation and committed to effecting change. Prior to attending Georgetown, Mr. Naggiar received a Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa and with honors in Political Science, Economics and History from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He has appeared on a number of radio and television outlets, including the BBC and CNBC, and in a number of publications, including Roll Call, the leading newspaper of Capitol Hill, Lebanon's Daily Star, the Pan-Arab daily, Al-Hayat, Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly and The Jerusalem Post. In addition to checking him out on Google, I suggest you read his article “Occupation is Terrorism” at www.counterpunch.org/naggiar1.html . This article among others he has written caused him to be denied entry to the West Bank when he visited Israel last year.
What AAPER supports:
· The end of the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem
· The right of return for Palestinians
· The end of discriminatory laws and actions against Palestinians who live within the current borders of Israel
· Non-violent resistance to oppression
· A change in U.S. policy that continues to support Israel in spite of Israel’s violations of international law and humanitarian interests.
· The end of house demolitions and destruction of Palestinian property and the siege of Gaza
· An ultimate just peace through either a one-state or two-state solution
Our proposed route will be from Coolidge Corner in Brookline to Copley Square, in front of Trinity Church, where we will conclude with a silent vigil. During and after the vigil, people may feel free to leave the group to engage in conversations with onlookers and to continue to distribute flyers supplied by AAPER. I have attached a flyer to this email so that you can review it. AAPER is advocating a silent march because silence often gets more attention from onlookers; marches throughout the country should have a unified and dignified appearance. By joining this march, you are not giving up your rights to make other types of protest actions on other days, wherever you like.
Our Washington D.C. coordinators are:
Heidi Schramm is AAPER’s Government Relations and Research Associate for the American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights Foundation and a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in At-Tuwani, Palestine. Heidi lived in At-Tuwani from 2005 to 2007, documenting human rights abuses under the occupation, providing accompaniment for residents of the South Hebron Hills region and otherwise supporting the indigenous nonviolent resistance movement. She returned for a month in the summer of 2008 and plans on doing so for years to come. Heidi has a Bachelors degree in Religion from Wartburg College in Iowa and is currently working on her Masters degree in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs at American University in Washington, DC.
Sarah Scruggs is AAPER’s Public Education Associate. She came to AAPER in June 2009 after obtaining a Master of Arts at American University, where she studied International Peace and Conflict Resolution with a focus on the Middle East and nonviolent resistance. Prior to her graduate studies, Sarah worked as a fundraiser for Save the Children, organizing delegations to various Save the Children field programs and coordinating fundraising leadership councils throughout the United States. She previously worked with Manna Inc. as an organizer and advocate for affordable housing in the city of Washington, DC. Sarah has both lived and worked in the Middle East, most recently conducting human rights reporting and civilian accompaniment with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the occupied Palestinian territories during the last three summers.
Please contact me at: kfelgran@yahoo.com with your feedback. Many thanks and I hope we will march together for the common cause of justice.
Kathy
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