Join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and member groups CodePink and Grassroots International, for two exciting weeks of action this November!  The first week of action, Nov. 2-8, will be to end Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip and building up to the Gaza Freedom March in December/January.  The second week, Nov. 9-15, will be the 7th annual week of action against Israel's apartheid wall organized by Stop the Wall.  While Israel's policies of walls and blockading are meant to divide, we remain unified in our belief that occupation is the root problem throughout the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

Take action to end Israel's siege of the Gaza Strip

Take action to bring down Israel's apartheid wall

Take action to replant an olive tree in the West Bank

Stand with the US Campaign and the International Coalition To End the Illegal Siege of Gaza by taking action November 2-8.  Check out our website for suggestions on how to host a successful event to educate your community about Israel's illegal siege of the Gaza Strip.  Join in the national media day of action on November 5th by using our tools to write a letter to the editor or an op-ed.

This November week of action will build support for the Gaza Freedom March whose international participants will convene in Cairo on December 27th (the day that Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip last year), join their Palestinian colleagues in the Gaza Strip on December 29th, march to demand an end to collective punishment and siege on December 31st, and leave Cairo on January 2nd.  Find out how you can join the march or support it from home by clicking here.

The 7th annual week of action against Israel's apartheid wall is kicking off on November 9th, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Take action on November 9th by using this important anniversary to remind your local media that Israel's apartheid wall needs to fall too.  Israel's apartheid wall is one of the most heinous symbols of apartheid and occupation to Palestinians.  The wall confiscates Palestinian land, which is often used to build illegal Israeli-only settlements.  Use our media toolbox to tell Americans that this wall and the settlements that it supports are illegal and must be dismantled for peace to be possible.  Check out our menu of actions and resources to help you plan local events in solidarity with Palestinians and other international activists marking the 7th annual week of action against Israel's apartheid wall.

You don't need to wait until November to take action.  Even as Israel's apartheid wall prevents Palestinians from accessing their trees for this year's olive harvest, the US Campaign has partnered with Trees for Life to make next year's harvest a better one.  Click here to replant an olive tree in the West Bank.  Two weeks ago, at the beginning of the olive harvest, we set a goal of replanting 500 olive trees that have been uprooted by the Israeli military and settlers.  Today, we are three quarters of the way to our goal!  Help us reach our goal by clicking here to make a $25 tax-deductible contribution to replant one olive tree.  Donate $100 and we'll replant five olive trees. We hope to exceed our goal by the end of the olive harvest, which roughly coincides with the week of action against Israel's apartheid wall.  Click here to read more about how the wall is impacting the harvest in the West Bank village of Bil'in, one of the villages calling for the international week of action against the wall.

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Sign the petition to support Walker, Klein, Ensler, Belafonte, Mortensen and over 1,000 signers of the Toronto Declaration. Say no to the smears.

Why? Because they signed "The Toronto Declaration", a letter questioning the wisdom of unconditionally celebrating Tel Aviv and Israel at the Toronto International Film Festival just months after the brutal attack on Gaza. The letter they signed opposes this celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv when 1.5 million Gazans suffer the effects of an ongoing blockade of food, medical supplies and goods; and while the Israeli government continues to dispossess Palestinians from their homes and lands, without any accountability. 

Now, over 1,000 artists and writers who signed this statement, including many Israelis and Palestinian and the people I named above, are being falsely charged with boycott, censorship, and even, amazingly enough, supporting the destruction of Israel.

Nothing could be further from the truth - read the letter yourself. If anything, they've cracked the debate wide open, and said truths that must be spoken if we are ever to reach a solution. The brave signers of the letter, many of whom are leaders in the struggle against censorship and repression, need your support. We need to continue standing up against the bullying attacks against anyone who dares to question the status quo regarding Israel. We must not let them change the subject. Please sign the petition saying you stand with them.

The part that infuriates me the most is that the people who signed this letter are not singling out Israel - the film festival did that. The signers of the letter are people of conscience who have devoted their lives to social justice and who have spoken out on many issues, among them:

• Harry Belafonte who marched with King and helped plan the March on Washington.
• Howard Zinn, the voice of conscience of American History.
• The legendary screenwriter Walter Bernstein, born in 1919, who was blacklisted and forced to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He knows about real censorship and would never endorse it.
• The playwright Eve Ensler, who has perhaps done more than anyone in the world to shine a spotlight on the mass rapes in the Congo.
  

They also include people like the Palestinian fillmaker Elia Sulieman and Israeli filmmaker Udi Aloni, both of whom have films in the festival; the actor and playwright Wallace Shawn; and musician David Byrne.

This story isn't just about a film festival. This is about defending the right of people, no matter who they are, to express their views, to open up the conversation, and to use nonviolent means to end Israel's occupation and bring justice for all people to the region.

Sign the petition now.

Ask President Obama to go to Gaza:

 
(Posters reproduced with permission from Artist: Michael Thompson)