EVENTS CALENDAR

On 5/20/07 the Israel government tried specifically to bomb Khalil al-Hayya in his home with an F-16. This is called an illegal "political assassination" attempt and is condoned by Israeli leaders, but not by Congress. Instead, 8 Palestinians died as innocent bystanders; many were rounded up as political prisoners; and walls are being erected to suffocate legal residents.

The volley-war is escalating, and we are in a position to try again to pressure both sides to return to peaceful negotiations. On June 11 let us inform our representatives that the UMC supports an Arms Embargo of the Holy Land -- as per our General Conference resolution. [below]

We are responsible for sending our tax money in the form of Military Foreign Aid to
Israel which is not using it as Congress requires. Every year the Foreign Relations Committee must recertify that aid recipients are not restricting human rights. The democratically-elected Hamas/Fatah government of Palestine should be financially supported -- not forced into hiding!

Below is the forward from End the Israeli Occupation mobilization. You can post paragraphs or info updates to this website by emailing to: justpeace@usa.net

A press release could read as follows:
"A mainline Protestant church, the United Methodist Church, is calling for an Arms Embargo of the Middle East until peaceful negotiations take place again. The recent escalation of civil wars in the Holy Land has inspired United Methodists to take action and mobilize pressure in Congress on Su & Mo June 10 - 11, 2007."

Carl Peetz, 661-944-2842
WebAdministrator
www.gbgm-umc.org/peacewithjustice

Volunteer on J10, Get Ticket to Cultural Night

We're less than three weeks away from the historic June 10-11 national mobilization to protest 40 years of Israel 's military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.

We still need dozens of volunteers to help make this mobilization a success. Everyone who volunteers to help out will receive free admission to the June 10^th cultural event.

It's not too late to sign-up to be a June 10^th Volunteer or to sign-up for the DC Local Organizing Committee!

We need people to sign up as volunteers to help us the day-of June 10th. Please review the following tasks and if you have any questions, please contact Omar Masri. The tasks are:

1. Rally Set Up, Morning Shift (12:00AM-11:00AM max.), involves manual labor. We need to form a human chain to move the stage equipment to the grounds of the Capitol and have our Stage Technicians put it together! Sign-up here!

2. Rally Take Down, Afternoon Shift (4:00PM to 12:00PM max.), involves manual labor. After the Rally is done at 4:00 PM, the Stage Technicians will be taking apart the stage and we need a human chain to take the equipment off the Capitol grounds. Sign-up here!

3. Metro & Bus Greeters, Morning Shift (10:00AM-1:00PM). We need folks to greet out-of-towners coming in on busses from the pre-designated Metro arrival points of Greenbelt , Shady Grove, Vienna/Fairfax GMU, Branch Avenue , & Union Station and give them directions to the rally grounds from the Metro stations. We will be providing all the resources needed including Metro Maps, Rally Maps, etc. Contact Ashley Wilkinson to sign up or for more information!

4. Fundraising, Afternoon Shift (4:00PM-6:00PM). We cannot solicit donations on the grounds of the Capitol nor during the march itself, but will ask folks for donations during the march. If you want to help us collect donations, then sign-up here!

If you won't be attending the Rally but would like to make a contribution, please do so here.

5. Security/Marshals (10:30AM-6:00PM). The security committee currently needs volunteers. We would like to have 150 people sign up to work on June 10th and currently have around 40 people. Thank you to those who have signed up!

This is a serious job and requires a commitment to attend one full training session, fill out a questionnaire, and work from 10:30 AM until the end of the march at 6:00PM on June 10th. If you are interested, please send an email to UFPJ's security coordinator, Steve Sher man. If you can't do it but know of others who might, please forward this on.

6. Legal Observers (2:00PM-6:00PM). The primary role of the Legal Observer is to be the eyes and ears of the legal team; to observe and record incidents and the activities of law enforcement in relation to the demonstrators. This includes documenting, for example, any arrest, use of force, intimidating display of force, denial of access to public spaces like parks and sidewalks, and any other behavior on the part of law enforcement that appears to restrict demonstrators' ability to express their political views.

We need Metro DC area volunteers so we can conduct trainings. If you live in or around the DC Metro area and would like to sign up to become a legal observer, please sign-up here.

7. General Volunteers (11:00AM-6:00PM). We are looking for volunteers to help with greeting guests at the Rally on Sunday, June 10, and handing out guides and schedules for the day's events at the Volunteer/Information booth. You will be helping people with the Rally Map, passing out the schedules, getting speakers to where they need to go, etc. If you would like to volunteer or have any questions, please send an email to office@endtheoccupation.org.

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation PO Box 21539 Washington, DC 20009 202-332-0994 http://www.endtheoccupation.org