July 13 JVP Newsletter: Corrie vs CAT, JVP olive harvest delegation, new book

        

New on the website July 13, JVP E-Newsletter        Corrie et al v. Caterpillar, Inc. JVP olive harvest delegation New book on Jews and Palestinians  Caterpillar gets bad publicity in the boardroom, the courtroom, and the press. Caterpillar may want to ignore any responsibility for the sale of bulldozers to Israel used to demolish the homes and uproot the orchards of Palestinian civilians, but we won't let them. On Monday, July 9th, the family of Rachel Corrie, and 4 Palestinian families--whose family members were killed or injured when Caterpillar bulldozers demolished their homes on top of them- finally got their day in court. Representing the families at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Seattle were Duke University law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, attorneys from  the International Human Rights Clinic at Seattle University School of Law, and Maria LaHood from the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. Read more about the case  here, or listen to audio of the hearing here (paste case number  into form, and click submit). As Rachel Corrie's mother Cindy wrote, "It was moving and momentous, after four years of seeking accountability, to actually be in a court room, to feel a bit of the majesty of the law and the hope that we still find in it." JVP was among the many supporters outside: a crew of members from the Seattle and Puget Sound chapters (photo above) joined the  coalition of peace activists  in front of the courthouse and held signs rooted in our Jewish values and our respect for human rights. As a national organization with regional chapters (and more on the way) we are able to respond more quickly and to multiply our voices. This action was on the heels of our work in June in Chicago, where JVP once again introduced a shareholder resolution that put Caterpillar on notice about its corporate misconduct, generating global attention about the inhumane policy of home demolitions. JVP has been working in coalition with the Sisters of Loretto and the Mercy Investment Group on these resolutions, which bring the issue of home demolitions to the mailboxes of every CAT shareholder and to the ears of CAT's Board of Directors. Join JVP's olive harvest delegation: October 2007 The JVP Health and Human Rights Project (HaHRP-formerly Jewish American Medical Project) announces its fifth delegation to Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories, 20 October - 3November 2007. We help delegation members connect to their counterparts in Israel/Palestine so they can provide assistance while learning first-hand of the situation on the ground.  Photo: Palestinian child getting care from pediatrician on HaHRP delegation. Upon returning, delegation members are expected to use their experience to educate others.  While HaHRP began as a medical aid project, we have broadened our focus to enable people with different skills and interests to contribute, including volunteers to help Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian Territories to harvest their olives. For more information please go here.                      Important new book by JVP's Dr. Alice Rothchild "Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience" is available now.  Boston JVP member Alice Rothchild, who co-organized the JVP Health and Human Rights Project, has written an important new book that Nobel prize winner Dr. Bernard Lown has said "is a soul searching, painfully honest examination of ordinary people bonded in a tragic embrace....that deserves the widest readership." Dr Rothchild says: This book is an intimate journey grappling with thecomplicated historical legacy of Israel and Palestine and myrelationship to these issues as a Jewish American physician, grounded by the traumas of the Holocaust and my family's passionate love ofIsrael. The book also looks at Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewish Israeli attitudes, the livesof a number of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza and the "personal and political consequences of crossing lines [which]raises troubling questions regarding US policy and the mainstream Jewish community's insistence on standing, unquestioning, behind Israeli policy." Read more about Alice Rothchild and her book here, order it directly here, and go here to request Dr. Rothchild as a speaker at your event.                                                      The Israel Lobby in Perspective Read JVP policy director Mitchell Plitnick and Middle East Report editor ChrisToensing's important new article on the Walt/Mearsheimer debate. Keep Children and Civilians Safe, Ban the Cluster Bomb! JVP has teamed with the American Task Force on Lebanon to send a letter to Condoleezza Rice regarding specific steps to be taken regarding the use of cluster bombs in Lebanon last summer and ways to prevent such atrocities in the future. The Fall of Gaza Read our abridged report here. report on Gaza, and the full version Miss our last print newsletter? Download it now  in PDF format.  Donate to JVP now Go here  to make  a donation to Jewish Voice for Peace. The latest on the blogs Muzzlewatch           Lee Kaplan vs Yaman Salahi: Small claims court muzzling, how Kaplan makes up 'facts'  A different angle: Braverman challenges Rosenfeld's attack on progressive Jews   Peace is now a four-letter word, complains Orthodox rabbi at conference on Jewish future.         Harvard Middle East expert Sara Roy: "I have never experienced such…blatant..censorship." All about Philip Weiss: why he left the Observer, why he's an "Israel-hater" Finkelstein/Larudee: Chicago Tribune rejects ad, DePaul charged with violating own standards           The Third Way         "The Israel Lobby" in Perspective Being Realistic About Peace UN Sec. General Makes a Statement for Fairness The Fall of Gaza: Can Disaster Be Avoided? A Dearth of Leadership:        The International Community Must Get Involved        "Never Again" Means          For Everyone   JVP In the News Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Gap Between Jewish Values, Israeli Policies Becoming Apparent to More Western Jews Huffington Post DC protestors mark 40th anniversary of IsraeliOccupation        Jewish Telegraphic Agency Groups call on US to press Israel on cluster data        Turkish Weekly ICAHD plans to rebuild all Palestinians homes demolished over next year Chronicle of Higher Education DePaul Professor Who Supported Finkelstein Also Was Denied Tenure Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle Fear-mongering stifles debate about Israel's actions Wisconsin Capital Times Israeli soul corrupted by 40 years of occupation Washington Jewish Week Dueling rallies Voices of Protest Reuters Protesters disrupt Caterpillar shareholder meeting Chicago Tribune Activists end Caterpillar meeting: oppose sales of bulldozers to Israel

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