| | CMEP Weekly Bulletin: Why We Intend to Pass a New Yemen War Powers Resolution A look at proposals for confederation, new language, and more news in this week’s bulletin. Image: Rescue members clear rubble from aerial attacks carried out by the Saudi-led coalition targeting a prison on January 22, 2022, in Saadah, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud / Getty Images) CMEP’s Bulletin is a weekly round-up of news from the Middle East and represents an array of perspectives on the issues we cover. CMEP does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the articles, and they do not speak on CMEP’s behalf. | | | |  | Image: Rescue members clear rubble from aerial attacks carried out by the Saudi-led coalition targeting a prison on January 22, 2022, in Saadah, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud / Getty Images) | | | Why we intend to pass a new Yemen war powers resolution The Nation “The recent round of devastating airstrikes launched in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition marks the latest escalation of a conflict that has dragged on for nearly seven years, pushed millions to the brink of famine, and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians. A recent bombardment killed at least 90 people and cut off Internet access for the entire country for days. The disturbing truth is that the United States, through its military involvement in the Saudi-led coalition’s war against the Houthis in Yemen, has been directly participating in this horrific war for too long. It’s time for this complicity to end." | | | | | | | |  | Image: The ruins of the Samir Mansour bookshop in May 2021. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images) | | | ‘More than wonderful’ … Gaza bookshop to reopen after unexpectedly successful global campaign
The Guardian “Tens of thousands of donated books have started to arrive at the new location of a Gaza bookshop that was destroyed by Israeli air strikes last year, and owner Samir Mansour now plans to reopen its doors next month. The two-storey Samir Mansour bookshop, which was reduced to rubble last May, had been founded by the Palestinian Mansour 22 years ago and was a beloved part of the local community. Its destruction during the 11-day conflict, which killed more than 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel, prompted a campaign that raised $250,000 (£187,000) to help rebuild it, plus donations of 150,000 books. The Israeli military has said that the store was not its target, claiming that the building that housed it also contained a Hamas facility for producing weapons and intelligence-gathering." | | | | | | | |  | Image: Women view the Erez Crossing. (Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images) | | | Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity
Amnesty International “Israeli authorities must be held accountable for committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians, Amnesty International said today (February 1) in a damning new report. The investigation details how Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people wherever it has control over their rights. This includes Palestinians living in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), as well as displaced refugees in other countries.” | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | Webinar Series: Join CMEP for a series of discussions on Gaza in February and March. This program will openly and honestly present the reality of the siege, the occupation, and political leadership as well as include ways participants can advocate with their elected officials to encourage U.S. policies that will help end the siege of Gaza and advance human rights and security for all. This series is co-organized by Churches for Middle East Peace, Arab American Institute, and American Friends of Combatants for Peace. Each 90-minute session will present on one of these four aspects of Gaza: History & Historical Significance, Politics, Culture, Economics. | | | | |  | CMEP is Hiring:
We are seeking a part-time Finance Manager who will implement and contribute to CMEP's annual finance strategy - including payroll, bookkeeping, accounts payable and receivable, audit support, and other financial tasks. Preference for someone who can work from DC, but remote is possible, 10 hours a week with seasonal increases, and includes PTO benefits. | | | | |  | Pilgrimage2Peace Tour Announcement:
CMEP is excited to announce our first in-person Pilgrimage to Peace tour since 2019. This April, Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon (Executive Director) and Tala AlRaheb (Ambassador Warren Clark Fellow) will travel to Colorado, California, and Washington State to host a conversation with churches and other community groups about peacebuilding and advocacy related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If your group is interested in hosting these speakers in CO, CA, or WA April 18-May 2, please reach out to nicole@cmep.org to inquire about hosting an event. | | | | | | | | Support CMEP Share a little love with CMEP this Valentine's. | | | | | | | | | |  | Image: Israeli forces intervene during a protest against construction of Jewish settlements in Kafr Qaddum. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) | | | Amnesty says Israel is an apartheid state. Many Israeli politicians agree
The Guardian “Who speaks for Israel? Rightwing lobby groups in Washington and US politicians would have Americans believe that it is them – and not Israel’s own former prime ministers and others who actually live in the Jewish state. Earlier this week Amnesty International released a report making a 280-page case that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians constitutes apartheid. The response in the US was a wave of orchestrated outrage – outrage that not only denies what many prominent Israelis say is true but, in effect, denies their right to say it." | | | | | | | |  | Image: Yossi Beilin, a former senior Israeli official and peace negotiator who co-founded the Geneva Initiative, poses for a photo at his house in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov) | | | Ex-Israeli, Palestinian negotiators propose confederation
AP News “Former Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators have drawn up a new proposal for a two-state confederation that they hope will offer a way forward after a decade-long stalemate in Mideast peace efforts. The plan includes several controversial proposals, and it’s unclear if it has any support among leaders on either side. But it could help shape the debate over the conflict and will be presented to a senior U.S. official and the U.N. secretary-general this week. The plan calls for an independent state of Palestine in most of the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel and Palestine would have separate governments but coordinate at a very high level on security, infrastructure and other issues that affect both populations." | | | | | | | |  | Image: Mourners carry the body of Omar Assad, 80, during his funeral in the West Bank village of Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File) | | | Baldwin, Moore request probe of Palestinian-American’s death
AP News “The United Arab Emirates says it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles over Abu Dhabi that were fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the latest escalation in Yemen’s long-running war. Monday’s (January 24) attack came a week after another Houthi drone-and-missile attack on Abu Dhabi killed three civilians. ‘The remnants of the intercepted ballistic “Two members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation asked the Biden administration Monday (January 31) to investigate how a Palestinian-American who lived in Milwaukee before moving back to his home village died at a West Bank checkpoint. Omar Assad, 78, died after Israeli troops stopped him at a checkpoint in his native village of Jiljilya during the early morning hours of Jan. 12, according to family members and media reports. Assad’s nephew, Assad Assad, said others who were detained at the checkpoint told family members that the soldiers dragged Assad out of his car, threw him to the ground and shackled his hands and feet with zip ties, then fled after he died on the spot.fell in separate areas around Abu Dhabi,’ the UAE defence ministry said in a statement in state-run WAM news agency on Monday, adding that it ‘is ready to deal with any threats and … takes all necessary measures to protect the state’." | | | | | | | | CMEP's Bulletin is a weekly round-up of news from the Middle East and represents an array of perspectives on the issues we cover. CMEP does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the articles, and they do not speak on CMEP's behalf. | | | | Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
110 Maryland Ave NE, Suite 311 | Washington, District of Columbia 20002
(202) 543-1222 | info@cmep.org | | | | | | | | | |
