Report Back from Gaza

On Friday evening WESPAC held a panel discussion reporting the outcomes of the recent historic Gaza Freedom March. The march that took place on December 31, 2009 brought 1300 people from 43 different countries together to join the Palestinians of Gaza for a non-violent march to Israel to put forth a global call to end the siege!

Felice Gelmen opened the evening with footage taken by Fida Qishta, Palestinian organizer in Gaza followed by Mike Levinson who was part of the WESPAC delegation to break the siege of Gaza. Next we heard from the two panel speakers of the evening, Dhoruba Bin Wahad and Ali Abunimah.
Dhoruba Bin Wahad is a Veteran Black Panther and 19-year political prisoner in this country. He won his freedom in 1990 after a New York State judge found that the FBI had suppressed evidence that could have helped clear him of his 1971 charge. He recently tried to enter the West Bank to attend a Palestinian conference on political prisoners and was denied entry by Israeli authorities. There are over 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners being held by Israel with hundreds of them under the age of 16.

Ali Abunimah, founder of the Electronic Intifadah, is one of the more than 1,300 international solidarity activists who participated in the historic Gaza Freedom March. He is a writer and commentator on Middle East and Arab-American affairs. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, the Financial Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Jordan Times, Lebanon's Daily Star and Ha'aretz, among others. He is frequent guest on local, national and international radio and television, including public radio and television, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, the BBC and many others.

Chris Turner was also there selling Palestine Fair Trade items. For more information on these crafts including olive oil soap and decorative embroidery contact him at palfairtrade@gmail.com


For more information on how you can take part in the peace and justice process go to: The Gaza Freedom March. Many of the organization in the activist links section are devoted to the peace process, so please visit them all.

Here is a video clip of WESPAC executive director Nada Khader discussing the conflict between Israel and Palestine:

Video from this event will be available soon.