Hello, neighbors!

A little over a week ago, on the evening of Sunday, August 11th, we held our first Palestine 101 educational event at the First Presbyterian Church of Lansdowne. We were blown away by the attendance: over 70 community members! We had the honor of hosting three phenomenal guest speakers: Ethan Cohen (Jewish Voice for Peace, Philly), Samuel Kuttab (Prayers for Peace Alliance), and Marie Kelly (Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Philadelphia chapter). We also partnered with Healthcare Workers for Palestine to fund-raise for their eSIMs for Gaza initiative. It was a lovely evening filled with compassion, an introductory course on the history of and happenings in Palestine, insightful questions from our attendees and answers from our guest speakers — and some yummy Palestinian cuisine samplings from Renata’s Kitchen.

It was delightful to discover that our Lansdowne community is interested in future educational, community-enriching events and hungry to learn more about Palestine. Stay tuned for upcoming events this fall. 

From our earliest planning sessions, we knew it would be necessary to record the event to share with community members who might be unable to attend due to scheduling, illness, or accessibility. One of our core beliefs is that information should be shared freely and not gatekept. Thank you to those graciously waiting for the video; please enjoy:

More about our speakers, in order of appearance:

History of Palestine — Ethan Cohen
Ethan Cohen is a History Ph.D candidate at Temple University studying modern Spain and Morocco. He is an award-winning teacher of undergraduates and children from New York to Philly. His research dwells on the centrality of colonialism to European history and the binary between Europe and non-Europe which remains strong today. His plays, including “The Beauty of English: An Anti-Zionist Comedy,” have been read and performed in New York City. He serves as editor-in-chief of Albinism InSight, a national quarterly magazine for people with albinism. Ethan currently serves on the Steering Committee of JVP Philly and as the co-chair of its education and culture committee.

Palestinian-American experience — Samuel Kuttab
Samuel Kuttab is a Palestinian-American and co-founder of Prayers for Peace Alliance, a mutual solidarity movement advocating for an immediate ceasefire and end to the occupation of Palestine. Prayers for Peace Alliance unites and mobilizes diasporic peoples of different backgrounds to promote justice and equal rights through faith-based organizing and interfaith dialogue.

Gaza, Today — Marie Kelly
Marie Kelly is a registered nurse and steering committee member of the Philadelphia chapter of Healthcare Workers for Palestine, a U.S.-based grassroots network of healthcare workers and student health professionals standing against the U.S.-funded genocide of the Palestinian people. With over 40 years of pediatric nursing experience, including neonatal intensive care, pediatric emergency, and developmental clinic management, Marie applies her vast clinical expertise and advocacy to the humanitarian crises in Gaza today. At the end of her speech, Marie performed a reading of Susan Abulhawa’s poem “We Never Left.”

Q&A session:
After a quick break, audience questions were collected and grouped by category; Pastor Jonathan Britt moderated a very insightful question-and-answer session. Due to time constraints, we could not answer every question, but there’s always the next event! Sarah from Healthcare Workers for Palestine also briefly spoke about their eSIM fundraising campaign. We are happy to share that Lansdowne raised $840 for eSIMs that night, the equivalent of 35-ish 20gB electronic SIM cards for those on the ground in Gaza. AMAZING!

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If you attended our event and have a moment to spare, we would love some feedback via this survey: https://forms.gle/VCjnGuN39vz1cpeS8

Resources

Our program for the evening listed a selection of books available through the Lansdowne Library to learn more about Palestine.

For adults:

• “Mornings in Jenin” by Susan Abulhawa

• “BDS: Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestine Rights” by Omar Barghouti

• “Palestine on a Plate: Memories from my Mother’s Kitchen” by Joudie Kalla

• “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017” by Rashid Khalidi

• “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” by Ilan Pappe

• “The Question of Palestine” by Edward Said

For children:

• “These Olive Trees” by Aya Ghanameh

• “Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine” by Hannah Moushabeck

• “We are Palestinian: a Celebration of Culture and Tradition” by Reem Kassis

We also listed a few charities and organizations to share if anyone wanted to donate toward Palestinian aid efforts:

• Kinder USA: Supports emergency relief for children in Palestine and Beyond — https://www.kinderusa.org/

• Connecting Humanity: Provides connectivity to Gazans by buying and transmitting eSIMs — https://gazaesims.com/

• Operation Olive Branch: A grassroots movement supporting evacuation and aid requests of Palestinian families — https://linktr.ee/opolivebranch

• Playgrounds for Palestine: Supports Palestinian children’s rights to play. Help fund a school for grades 1 through 5 in Gaza. — https://playgroundsforpalestine.org/

• Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Philly — eSIM fundraiser: This organization supports first responders, medics, journalists, and people on the ground in Gaza to communicate with each other and the outside world. — To help purchase eSIMS, they ask folks to Venmo or CashApp @hcw4palphilly

Lastly, if you have a spare moment and would like to keep the momentum going with our elected officials, ask them to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine and demand an immediate arms embargo on Israel — CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE’S CONTACT INFORMATION.

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In solidarity,
Left of Lansdowne

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