United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

On the evening of Monday, March 5, two nonviolent grassroots Palestinian activists who are making a speaking tour of the United States will appear on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma (Parkland), WA. -- They will show video footage of Israeli attacks on nonviolent resisters and discuss their efforts to resist expulsion. -- Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall; Feryal Abu Haikal is an educator and sixty-year old mother of eleven children who recently retired as headmistress at the Qurtuba School in the heart of Hebron's old city. -- More information below.[1] -- United for Peace of Pierce County is a co-sponsor of this event....

WHAT: A Farmer in Bil'in, a Teacher in Hebron: Grassroots Nonviolent Resistance to Israeli Apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
WHO: Mohammed Khatib, a farmer from Bil'in, and Feryal Abu Haikal, a teacher from Hebron -- grassroots leaders
WHEN: Monday, March 5, 2007 -- 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Philip A. Nordquist Lecture Hall (Xavier 201), Pacific Lutheran University, Park Ave. S. between Garfield and Wheeler, Tacoma (Parkland), WA 98447

Tacoma is one of 23 cities to host this event nationwide, with eight co-sponsoring organizations, including United for Peace of Pierce County. Even if you can't attend the event on Mon., Mar. 5, (also in Lacey on the Mar. 6), do check out the resource sheets available on the link below the headline.

A FARMER IN BIL'IN, A TEACHER IN HEBRON, THE GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE TO ISRAELI APARTHEID* IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Sposored by: Pacific Lutheran University’s International Core and Department of Languages and Literatures

Co-sponsored by: Pacific Lutheran University’s Peace Studies Working Group; United for Peace of Pierce County; NW Middle East Peace Forum; Women in Black Tacoma; The Micah Project; Pax Christi; People for Peace Justice & Healing; Veterans for Peace-Tacoma

Mohammed Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal are grassroots leaders of Palestinian communities that have received worldwide attention because they are immediately threatened with destruction by the Israeli military and settlers, and because of their communities' nonviolent efforts to resist expulsion. Both have excellent video footage of Israeli attacks and nonviolent resistance in their communities.

Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall. He has been a principal organizer of Bil'in's two-year, creative, nonviolent struggle to prevent the construction of Israel's Wall on Bil'in's land and to block the expansion of neighboring illegal Israeli settlements. Mohammed Khatib has frequently been arrested and injured by the Israeli military for participating in nonviolent protests. He is quoted frequently in the Palestinian, Israeli and international media:

Feryal Abu Haikal, an educator and sixty-year old mother of eleven children, recently retired after eleven years as the headmistress at the Qurtuba School in the heart of Hebron's old city. The Qurtuba school serves 100 Palestinian children in grades 1-10. Some of the most extremist Israeli settlers have taken up residence in Hebron's old city. They regularly attack Palestinian residents in an effort to expel them from their community. By continuing to function despite Israeli attacks on students and staff, the Qurtuba School has served as a model of nonviolent resistance. Feryal Abu Haikal and her family also remain in their home in nearby Tel Rumeida despite continual attacks.

For more details and photographs on Bil'in's nonviolent struggle against having 60% of their farmland taken by Israel without compensation, please go to:

For details about illegal Israeli settler violence against indigenous Palestinians in Hebron, please see Btselem, Israeli human rights organization:

Mohammed Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal will be speaking in eleven states and twenty-four cities around the U.S. from Feb. 1-Mar. 7, 2007.

Also Tuesday, Mar. 6 in Lacey, WA, at 7:00 pm., at the Norman Worthington Conference Center at St. Martin's University, 5300 Pacific Avenue SE, Lacey, WA (next to St. Martin's Pavilion). Free and open to the public; sponsored by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice and endorsed by Veterans for Peace Ch. 109 Rachel Corrie Brigade.

Here's a bit of feedback from the Vt. event: "Mohammed and Feryal were wonderful! After each talk, I had people calling me to tell me how much they appreciated their presentations." -- "We had over 50 people attend each night, which for Montpelier and Burlington (especially on Super Bowl Sunday) was an excellent size crowd. There were many new faces also in the audience. The first night a man whose daughter is a settler in East Jerusalem came and asked if there could ever be peace if the settlers remain. Mohammed responded eloquently. Apparently the event was incredibly educational for this man. Everyone treated them with the utmost respect and was emotionally moved by their talks." -- "Mohammed and Feryal are full of jokes and witty stories that left people laughing to tears."