[Mitai-announce] This weeks events!

[Karen Figueroa]

Hey everyone

We're going to try something pretty new - emails for amnesty announce will
only be once a week, without reminders the day before events. So when you
see this email, get out your calendar and write stuff down!

If you're very very lazy and don't like writing stuff down, never fear!
We're pleased to announce that we now have a public Gmail calendar! Go to
gmail.com > calendars > Search public calendars for "MIT Amnesty." You will
see all the human rights-ish events we plan to have. However, I only suggest
you use this on a week-by-week or maybe two-week basis, because sometimes
dates are tentative. We will do our best, though.

So, without further ado, your plans for this week =)

1. *Today *until March 16, "Breaking the Silence" Exhibit, sponsored by
Sponsored by Americans for Peace Now, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom: The Jewish
Alliance for Justice and Peace, the Progressive Jewish Alliance of Harvard
University, Hashomer Hatzair, Jewschool.com, Meretz USA, the Union of
Progressive Zionists, Open Society Institute's Documentary Photography
Project, and the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

*Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that
collects testimonies of soldiers who have served in the Occupied Territories
during the Second Intifada. Soldiers who serve in the Territories are
witness to, and participate in military actions which change them immensely.
Cases of abuse towards Palestinians, looting, and destruction of property
have been the norm for years, but are still excused as military necessities
or explained as extreme and unique cases.

Discharged soldiers who return to civilian life discover the gap between the
reality that they encountered in the Territories, and the silence that they
encounter at home. In order to become a civilian again, soldiers are forced
to ignore their past experiences. Breaking the Silence voices the
experiences of those soldiers, in order to force Israeli society to address
this reality.

more information at http://www.BreakingTheSilenceExhibit.org/

To schedule a tour of the exhibit or request a speaker for your synagogue,
classroom or community group, contact Ben Murane at (646) 320-9546 or  ben
at <mailto:ben at shovrimshtika.org>  shovrimshtika.org.

*2. *Tuesday March 4th: *Gaza - between the disengagement and the current
crisis." 7:00, 4-370.

http://events.mit.edu/event.html?id=9004373&date=2008/03/01

*In August 2005 Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza strip.
However, Israel continued to control the coastline and airspace of Gaza and
periodically undertakes military operations in the Gaza strip.

In June 2007 the Hamas movement which does not recognize Israel took over
the
Gaza strip after a brief battle with the Palestinian National Authority.
Partially as a result Israel closed off the borders of Gaza to the outside
world.

In this talk we will discuss the legal implications of this complex
situation
as well as the human rights situation on the ground in Gaza.

Note: Although there are many political aspects to this situation we will
*not*
address or discuss them. We will focus *solely* on the legal and
humanitarian
issues as distinct from the political questions.
**
Saturday March 8th**: *International Women's Day*. *Screening of The Syrian
Bride, followed by speaker Anat Biletzki, fellow at CIS Program on Human
Rights and Justice. 5:30-8:30, 6-120
*
The Syrian Bride is a film by director Eran Riklis, an Israeli Jew. Most of
the cast of the Arabic-language film is Palestinian-Israeli, as is the
screenwriter. But despite collaboration on and off the set, the movie's plot
explores the Middle East conflict through lives fractured by the region's
harsh political realities. It's about a Druze family in the Golan Heights, a
Syrian territory the Israelis have occupied since 1967. Since then, the
Druze in Golan have been cut off from the Druze in Syria. The religion is an
11th-century offshoot of Islam. When the family arranges to marry its
daughter to a Druze from Damascus, the wedding must be held at the border. *

http://events.mit.edu/event.html?id=9001061&date=2008/03/01

*Wednesday March 12th: *Amnesty's next meeting in 5-232, 6pm!

Hope to see you all there!

Love,
MIT Amnesty