Join & Support USPCN Today! Read about our U.S. tour!

December 28th, 2018

Dear Supporters of the Liberation of Palestine,

Please watch this video of our work, and make your tax-deductible donation to USPCN now!

As we have reported previously, USPCN embarked on a historic educational delegation to Palestine this past summer, sending six of our leading organizers to Jerusalem, the West Bank, and 1948 Palestine. We published this extensive documentation of the trip, and have subsequently presented on the delegation to audiences in Michigan, Illinois, Texas, and California.

Michigan

On November 8th at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (U of M), Students Allied for Freedom and Equality and the Eastern Michigan University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted USPCN members Danya Zituni and Muhammad Sankari for our “Report From the Frontlines.” The presentation focused on the leading organizations in Palestine and the major fronts of struggle they lead, from defending political prisoners and practicing cultural resistance to resisting land theft and organizing for the Right of Return. We also discussed the increasingly repressive conditions Palestinians face from the Israeli occupiers, as well as our role in supporting them most effectively from the U.S.

Close to 40 students, professors, and community members, including USPCN-Detroit/Dearborn members Jenna Hassan (who helped organize the event), George Khoury, and Elaine Rumman, attended the presentation, which was followed by a lively discussion. The U of M campus has been highlighted in the news recently, in regards to the academic boycott of Israel, with at least two U of M academics–in compliance with the Palestinian-led boycott of Israeli academic institutions–refusing to write recommendation letters for students to study abroad in Israel. One of them was in the audience, and applauded USPCN for bridging the gap between U.S. based organizations and organizations on the ground in Palestine.

Illinois

On November 13th at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois, in the heart of the Palestinian and Arab communities of Chicago’s southwest suburbs, Zituni and Sankari shared USPCN’s delegation report back during the campus’ Arab Heritage Week.

A diverse crowd of over 50 students, college staff, and community members were in attendance, and the most popular talking point among the mainly Arab and Black audience was our analysis and role in practicing #BlackPalestinianSolidarity. We discussed the challenges faced by the African-Palestinian community living in Jerusalem and other areas of Palestine, as well as our role as the leading Palestinian organization supporting the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression-led campaign for a Civilian Police Accountability Council in Chicago. USPCN looks forward in 2019 to continue building strong relationships with student organizations like SJP on campuses across the country.

Texas

The tour of four cities in Texas on the week of November 11th–organized by our friends with the Anti-War Committee in Dallas and Denton, Students for a Democratic Society and SJP at the University of Houston, and the Palestine Solidarity Committee in Austin–kicked off in Dallas with USPCN member Bassem Kawar presenting to close to 40 people. The attendees expressed determination to continue building strong Palestine support work in coordination with USPCN. From there, Kawar moved to Denton for a more intimate organizing meeting, where he dissected the Israeli repression against Palestinians in Al-Khalil (Hebron), and drew connections with liberation struggles in the U.S.

At the University of Austin, we opened the evening’s event by celebrating the Black Liberation Movement’s victory in Chicago, where killer cop Jason Van Dyke was convicted of the second degree murder of Black teenager Laquan McDonald. Kawar explained the role USPCN played in mobilizing Arabs and Palestinians for that victory, and what it means to build solidarity and power together with Black and Arab people. Over 50 attendees in Austin also debated the current state of the Palestinian resistance, and discussed strategies to further uplift and support Palestinians on the ground.

The last leg of the Texas tour took Kawar to the University of Houston, where another victory was celebrated, that of the unified resistance in Gaza, which withstood the November 12th-13th Israeli raids on the Strip and fought back valiantly, forcing a cease fire that prompted ultra-right-wing Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman to resign!

During Kawar’s presentation, the students and community members in Houston expressed support of USPCN’s work, and affirmed their commitment to our guiding principles: ending the zionist Israeli occupation of historical Palestine and all Arab lands, self-determination and equality for the Palestinian people, and the Right of Return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

California

On November 15th, USPCN kicked off the California leg of the tour with our friends from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) in San Diego, who hosted us at their community center for a delegation report back. Before the meeting, we spent the day on a political tour of the city, visiting Chicano Park in the heart of San Diego’s Chicano community, which has fought to create and maintain a public park in its neighborhood. The event was followed by a private conversation with the leaders of PYM-San Diego, a more in-depth discussion about the delegation’s political lessons, and the work our respective organizations are engaged in across the U.S.

We then traveled to Los Angeles to participate in the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) conference at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). The conference was under heavy attack, not only from the usual zionist organizations, but also from UCLA’s administration and the Los Angeles City Council, the latter infamously passing a unanimous, non-binding resolution calling on UCLA to cancel it. But the NSJP members showed incredible courage and steadfastness by not backing down in the face of zionist attacks, and the conference was a great success, with over 500 people in attendance, the vast majority Palestinian and Arab students.

USPCN members from across the country, including Zituni, Sankari, and Mary Hazboun (whose art is displayed in the picture below) from Chicago, Rani Elhajjar from Milwaukee, and Kareem Youssef, himself a graduate student at UCLA, spent time connecting and engaging with students about our work, as well as encouraging them to transition from student activism to grassroots, community-based organizing after leaving campus. This message was highlighted again by USPCN member Hatem Abudayyeh, who gave one of the keynote speeches on November 17th, the main night of the conference.

After leaving Los Angeles, we continued to San Francisco, where a private meeting was held between USPCN and PYM’s Bay Area chapters. There, we discussed rejuvenating and deepening our respective organizational ties in the Bay. On November 19th, we were hosted by our friends at the community-based Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC). We met with AROC’s core leaders, and then gave another delegation presentation to upwards of 50 members of San Francisco’s broader Palestine support community.

Join USPCN

In 2019, USPCN will continue our national delegation report back tour, with events in Wisconsin, Michigan, Floria, and other states already being planned. If you are interested in hosting our delegates in your city, please email [email protected] with a request.

And to help us strengthen our efforts and organizing in the U.S., BECOME A MEMBER TODAY! Happy New Year to all!

Until Liberation and Return,

USPCN National Coordinating Committee