Non-Violence is Only Effective When We are Seen

(Editor's Note: Those of us in the movement are always admonished to be nonviolent, as if we have a bent towards violence. But what this article points out is the dual responsibility for effective nonviolence. There must be people from the dominant culture who regard those who are oppressed with humanity. Without that there is silence in the political landscape leaving violence as the only other effective outcry.)

"I find myself asking this same question, but in this case regarding political nonviolent action as a change agent. I want to distinguish nonviolence as a political tool and agent, versus a lifestyle and spirituality. Historically nonviolence has been used by oppressed people to break loose from the chains of oppression in the face of an overwhelming specter of violence, weaponry, and usually the power of the state. As a political tactic nonviolence is utilized to expose and embarrass the brutality, inhumanity, and depravity of oppressive power. It has been historically used in an environment where the oppressor possesses carte blanche powers coupled with tools of violence to enforce rules and the interpretations and implementation of laws. On the other side of this equation are those oppressed by those systems of laws and are met when aggrieved with a cavalier and dismissive attitude. When political nonviolence is employed, even in a context where there are little to no guardrails to the brutality, there is a tacit appeal to the larger community to see, empathize, and express moral outrage against what they see. But this requires that people have some empathetic affinity with people who are brutalized and are morally and ethically outraged by what they see. The tree falls in the forest and there are ears to hear and able to interpret and transmit what is heard."

Six UN aid workers among 18 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school

Unrwa says attack on school sheltering refugees in Nuseirat led to highest death toll among its staff in a single incident

“This is the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident,” the agency said. “Among those killed was the manager of the Unrwa shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people.”

It brings the total number of Unrwa staff killed in Gaza to 220, the agency head, Philippe Lazzarini, said on X. “Humanitarian staff, premises and operations have been blatantly and unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war.”

More than four in five schools in Gaza have been directly hit or badly damaged and will need reconstruction or substantial renovation, a UN survey found in July. The 650,000 children in Gaza have not been able to study for nearly a year."

"Recently, the Israeli army itself has also turned its attention towards the West Bank, using some of the same tactics and weaponry it is using in Gaza against West Bankers. Israel announced that the airforce will now be used in the West Bank, as well as Gaza, and that increased use of weaponized drones and quad copters to assassinate Palestinian activists will be employed. Heavily armored bulldozers are being used to plough up streets and destroy infrastructure in the streets of Jenin, Tulkarem and other northern cities. Restricting and cutting off of water has been announced. And, it was hinted that whole sections of the population will soon receive eviction orders to abandon their homes and that the army has a free hand in destroying whole neighborhoods. Palestinians in the West Bank truly fear–and Israelis openly threaten–that they will face the same fate as the Palestinians in Gaza."

Remembering Aysenur, an activist for Palestine killed by an Israeli soldier

Turkish American Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot in the head as she protested against illegal settlements

"Israel issued a brief statement on Tuesday, in which it said that it had investigated and that Aysenur was “highly likely hit indirectly and unintentionally” by its forces in the area.

It added that the bullet which struck Aysenur in the head had not been “aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot” and that the military had “deep regret” over Aysenur’s death."

Palestinians in the West Bank are completely unprepared for the coming genocide



We need to build an infrastructure of confrontation to resist Israel's coming onslaught on the West Bank. The first step to doing so is by building self-reliance and reclaiming food sovereignty

"It is a mistake to believe that a ceasefire, regardless of its form, will put the genie back into its bottle. We will not go back to the pre-October 7 status quo and move on with our lives until the next time Gaza is bombed. If anything, October 7 showed how completely unprepared the West Bank is for what is coming, partly due to stubborn self-deception nurtured over the last three decades: the idea that there can be any semblance of normal life under occupation in return for obedience."

An Act of Defiance

"In our profession as war journalists we are required to wear bullet-proof vests with the PRESS insignia on them, and our cars are all also marked with “PRESS/TV.”  

It’s to be visible to armed groups, whether it’s the Israeli military or Palestinian resistance groups, that we are PRESS. With that, they’re all supposed to ensure our safety & not target us. 

But in Palestine, being press means being a target. The gear which is meant to protect us has become a marker to attack us."

Israeli Tanks, Bulldozer Attack UN Convoy En Route to Support Polio Vaccination

Soldiers held UN workers at gunpoint, slammed into the convoy and dumped debris on one of the cars

"According to Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the UN had coordinated the convoy’s travel in detail with Israeli forces. Despite this, the Israeli military held the convoy for over eight hours at a checkpoint as it was on its way to northern Gaza. None of the 12 UN staff involved were killed during the incident, but they were forced to return to base and were unable to complete their mission."

Humanitarian Groups Sending Gaza Aid Face Banking Challenges

Many humanitarian organizations have had their bank accounts closed and transactions frozen since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel

"Financial transactions and bank accounts related to the Palestinian territories of Gaza or the West Bank were frequently flagged and questioned by banks even before the most recent conflict. One reason for this is that Gaza was under the control of Hamas, a U.S.-designated global terrorist organization, until Israel’s invasion in late 2023.

But the due diligence required for such transactions has mounted in recent months, and the number of organizations that have had their bank accounts closed with no reason being provided, has risen."

MOST AMERICANS WANT TO STOP ARMING ISRAEL. POLITICIANS DON’T CARE

The number of Americans opposed to sending arms to Israel has grown, month after month, as the brutal war on Gaza grinds on

"The reality is that the public is far more in favor of stopping arms sales to Israel than opposed,” Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine/Israel Program at Arab Center Washington D.C., told The Intercept. He pointed to a June poll from CBS that showed 61 percent of all Americans said the U.S. should not send weapons to Israel, including 77 percent of Democrats and nearly 40 percent of Republicans. 

Poll results have been consistent for months."

Grief over Gaza and qualms over US election add up to anguish for many Palestinian Americans

“Without stopping U.S. financial support and military support to Israel, this will not stop,” said Ghada Elnajjar who in 2020 campaigned for Biden. “I’m a U.S. citizen. I’m a taxpayer ... and I feel betrayed and neglected.”

"For months, many Palestinian Americans have been contending with the double whammy of the rising Palestinian death toll and suffering in Gaza and their own government’s support for Israel in the war. Alongside pro-Palestinian allies, they’ve grieved, organized, lobbied and protested as the killings and destruction unfolded on their screens or touched their own families. Now, they also wrestle with tough, deeply personal voting decisions, including in battleground states.

“It’s a very hard time for Palestinian youth and Palestinian Americans,” Assed said. “There’s a lot of pain.”"

Harris Can Contribute to Israeli-Palestinian Peace and Grow Her Lead

"What the poll found was that 15% of all voters say that the crisis in Gaza would be “very important” in determining their vote (another 33% saying it’s “somewhat important”). But on this issue, like many others in today’s America, there is a deep partisan divide—with Republicans more supportive of Israel and Democrats favoring Palestinians. 

Looking more closely at the data, we find that the partisan divide actually results from deep differences in the views of the demographic groups forming each party’s base—with younger and non-white voters more sympathetic toward Palestinians and critical of Israel, and older, white, and “born-again” Christians much more favorable toward Israel." 

Haiti

BAP’s position has been consistent and unwavering: we support Haitian self-determination. We will continue to struggle against foreign invasion and occupation of the country. Since 2021, we have advocated against U.S. imperial machinations in Haiti, including the continuing renewal of the mandate of the UN office in Haiti (BINUH), which Haitian people see as an occupation force, and the establishment of the MSS. BAP challenged the narrative of “gang violence” as a pretext for occupation and argued that it is the U.S.’s own puppets and Haitian oligarchs that are arming young men in Haiti. We warned that the MSS was a temporary cover for a more permanent military occupation of Haiti through proxies, and with the blessing of the UN. And we continue to remind people of the brutal repercussions of the two decades-long 2004 UN intervention and occupation of Haiti.

Kenya

Kenya's police chief sentenced to six months in prison for contempt

"The case stems from a lawsuit by the country's main bar association, the Law Society of Kenya, which is seeking a court order for the release of three men who it said were taken by the police in August and have not been heard from since.

The three were outspoken on social media platforms in support of mass anti-government protests in June and July. Human rights activists say dozens of people involved in the protests were abducted by state agents and held incommunicado. Most were subsequently released."

The Sudan

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

The horror of cobalt mining in DR Congo

Yemen

US–UK jets bomb girls’ school in Yemen, leaving several casualties 

Two girls were killed and seven were injured in the US–UK attack on Yemen

"Airstrikes launched by US and UK fighter jets against Yemen on 10 September killed two girls and injured seven others at a school. 

The girls’ school which was bombed is located in the Taaziya district of Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province.

“The school in the Al-Jund area was hit by two missiles from US and UK aircraft,” local sources told Al Mayadeen. 

US and British fighter jets had bombed Yemen a day earlier, targeting the Al-Jabana area in the western province of Hodeidah on 9 September.

The attack came a few hours after the Armed Forces of Yemen’s Sanaa government announced bringing down yet another US MQ-9 Reaper drone, worth around $30 million."

Lebanon

Mapping 11 months of Israel-Lebanon cross-border attacks

Israel, Hezbollah and other Lebanese groups have exchanged more than 9,613 attacks between October 7 and September 6

"Israel has attacked Hezbollah nearly four times that of the Lebanese group, tallying more than 7,800 attacks along the 120km (75-mile) border.

Hezbollah, which was formed in 1982 to fight Israel’s invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon, says it will stop attacking Israel if its assault on Gaza stops. Its leader Hassan Nasrallah says the group does not seek an expanded war but is prepared to match Israel’s aggression.

Regarded as the most battle-hardened nongovernmental fighting group in the region, Hezbollah fought a 34-day war against Israel in 2006 that was widely seen as a strategic and military failure for Israel."

Upcoming Actions and Events

Christian Zionism and the Israel Lobby: A Conversation with Ilan Pappe

Join Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP) and Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) for "Christian Zionism and the Israel Lobby: A Conversation with Ilan Pappe," on Sunday, September 15th at 12:00pm ET.

Dr. Awad Halabi will be interviewing Ilan Pappe over Zoom about his latest book, Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic.

Cosponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace DC-Metro and American Muslims for Palestine.

Resist the Annual Air Force Association "Arms Bazaar"

WHEN: Monday, September 16, 2024, from 12 Noon – 1:30 p.m. 

WHAT: A Nonviolent Vigil and Prayer Service for Peace and Justice during the annual AFA Air-Space-Cyber Conference and Technology Exposition, what we call an "Arms Bazaar." See:  

https://www.afa.org/air-space-cyber-conference/

This witness is being held in solidarity with Campaign Nonviolence Action Days: https://paceebene.org/action-days  and Catholic Days of Actions:

https://nonviolencejustpeace.net/days-of-action/

WHERE: Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, 201 Waterfront St., National Harbor, MD 20745. We will meet for the vigil at the corner of Waterfront St. and St. George Blvd., directly across from the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.

Sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker

For more info contact: Art Laffin - 202-360-6416, artlaffin@hotmail.com

If your organization or community of faith would like to endorse this Summit please let us know. Endorsement simply means that you will circulate this announcement and recruit attendance from your networks.

Consider Joining The Fellowship of Reconciliation USA.

I am The Senior Advisor, and Ms. Ariel Gold is our Executive Director. FOR-USA is the oldest Peace and Justice, Interfaith Organization in the country founded in 1915.