A March & A Meeting

Denny Riley
December 14, 2014

The sun came out in San Francisco yesterday as we marched in step with thousands of people across America, shouting “Black lives matter!” “Hands up don’t shoot!” “I can’t breath!” and carrying signs and banners emblazoned with the names of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, and Tamir Rice, unarmed black men and boys who’d been gunned down by police. We staged a die-in on Market Street by the Powell Street cable car turn around, the hub of San Francisco’s shopping district and called out, “Stop shopping! Start marching!” I was with a group from Veterans For Peace and three of us carried the Veterans For Peace flag. Many sad feelings rolled through the march but one good feeling was the number of demonstrators who were young and white. Hope is alive if the majority begins to see the problems and take action to make a change.

Afghanistan: Emergency Hospitals & America’s The Longest War

Hospitals Treat Needy Regardless Of….
Sherri Maurin
November 25, 2014

In late November, President Obama reversed his long held commitment to the American and Afghan peoples, so troubled by war, to end combat missions.  The loss of lives on the Afghan side is virtually incalculable, and the cost of lives, injuries, suicides and other suffering.

Dr Hakim ( Dr. Teck Young, Wee )

Kathy Kelly

Dr. Hakim, and Kathy Kelly both know the cost of that war intimately and on November 25 were interviewed on Democracy Now.

Al-Aqsa Mosque Demonstration

Al-Aqsa Mosque
Meta Peace Team
October 31, 2014

The troubles that surrounded the closing of the Al Aqsa Mosque (which President Abbas called it a declaration of war and which complicate relations with Jordan because the Mosque and East Jerusalem are acknowledged as under Jordanian rule) were the back ground for today’s demonstrations. A Zionist activist who has been advocating demolishing Al Asqa Mosque (the third most holy site in Islam) and building a Jewish temple in its place was shot presumably by an Arab. But the Israeli military later killed a suspect rather than arresting him (wounding him and then killing him at close range before allow an ambulance in), leaving people wondering if they were just using the incident as a chance to target someone they wanted to get rid of. There were planned and unplanned demonstrations in most villages. We went to Qalandiya, a city west of Ramallah. The apartheid wall goes through town and the check point there has been the site of a weekly demonstrations protesting the building of the wall.

Olive Harvest

Eight Trees, Family Of Five
Meta Peace Team
Burin, Nablus, West Bank
October 27, 2014

On Monday October 27, 2014, the MPT team participated in the olive harvest with a family living in Burin, a village in the Nablus region. The village lies in the valley between two illegal settlements on the surrounding hillsides: Bracha and Itshar. Burin has been frequently targeted by settlers in these illegal communities, in forms such as physical attacks on villagers, attacks on villager’s houses and property, and attempted destruction of olive trees. Additionally, a main road used by both settlers from nearby illegal settlements and Palestinians lays in the middle of the village’s olive fields, presenting an easy opportunity for car passengers to stop and cause trouble. The Israeli occupation forces have also recently put up road blocks on the main road into Burin, making transportation to and from the village difficult, if not impossible.

Orwa Hammad Funeral

Tear Gas & Rubber Bullets Fired After Burial
Meta Peace Team
Silwad, Palestine
October 26, 2014

Funeral for Orwa Hammad, fourteen year old US citizen who was fatally shot by the Israeli military (village of Silwad)

On Sunday, the MPT team attended the funeral for Orwa Hammad, the fourteen year old US citizen who was fatally shot by the Israeli military last week. Over a thousand people (mostly men) came out in the village of Silwad to mourn his death. All the shops were closed in honor of him and cars and buildings were covered with posters honoring him.

The funeral had to be postponed until Sunday so his father could arrive from Louisiana and his mother from Jordan. Walking with the precession which filled parallel streets we met the parents of other children who were recent victims of Israeli

Olive Harvest In Burin

Picking Olives
Meta Peace Team
Burin, Nablus, West Bank
October 28, 2014

Today we picked olives in Burin, a short “service” ride south of Nablus. We have picked in the area quite a lot because illegal settlements (Bracha and Yitzar) have been established on the hills on both sides of the valley and the only road from one of them comes right into Burin. The couple we picked with today was quite young, were nice and, took good care of their olive orchard.

 

Meta Peace Team: Helping With The Fall Olive Harvest

West Bank

Meta Peace Team (MPT) Arrives Safely
West Bank
October 1, 2014

We are pleased to share that the team has arrived safely.

Thank you for your support of Meta Peace Team and our wonderful Fall Olive Harvest (and beyond) International Peace Team to the West Bank.

Please watch for reports of their work from the field, as well as photography, as part of the MPT Palestine team blog.

West Bank: International Peace Team Member Shot

Member Survives Shooting
Meta Peace Team
Palestine
Scott Abrams
November 11, 2014

.22 long rifle bullets: L–R subsonic hollow point, standard velocity, hyper-velocity “Stinger” hollow point

One of MPT’s International team members, who is here (Palestine) working the olive harvest, was shot in the chest with a .22 long rifle round. This is not standard military amunition. It is something the Israelis started using during the intifata, claiming it would stop and hospitalize people with major flesh wounds, but would not kill them. After it did kill several people, the Israeli military adjutant limited its use, acknowledging clearly it could be deadly. In the US warnings for the .22 long rifle caution that the bullets can kill at one mile.

The significance of this case is that the shot was clearly aimed at the center of the chest, from a short distance, using a 4X scope for precision.

NOT AGAIN, On ‘A More Expansive Mission’ In Afghanistan!

By Dr. Hakim
Afghan Peace Volunteers
Kabul, Afghanistan
November 24, 2014

President Obama has authorized ‘a more expansive mission for the military in Afghanistan in 2015 than originally planned’.

Imagine that, like the late U.S. war veteran Jacob George, you’re sent on this ‘more expansive mission’. Your military helicopter is landing on farmland amidst mud-house villages, like a futuristic war machine inserted into an agricultural community in the Middle Ages.

VFP 4th Annual Viet Nam Tour: April-May 2015

Veterans For Peace
Vietnam Spring Tour
April 16 – May 2 2015

Seul Jones, President, VFP Hoa Binh Chapter 160, President

Each spring members of the Hoa Binh (Peace) Chapter 160 of Veterans For Peace (VFP) welcomes up to 20 Veterans & non-Vet peace activists & spouses to come for a 17-day insider’s tour of Việt Nam. This year’s includes the 40th Anniversary of Reunification Day commemorating of the end of the Resistance War Against America (Kháng chiến chống Mỹ) or the Việt Nam War (Chiến tranh Việt Nam) on April 30th, 1975.

The mission of the tour is to address the legacies of America’s war & form lasting ties of friendship & peace as well as tour this beautiful country. Each person is asked to bring a minimum of $1,000 as a donation for VFP Chapter 160’s humanitarian projects in Việt Nam: bomb clearance, chemical warfare victims, hospitals, orphanages, schools, etc. The tour includes visits to the recovery & assistance projects supported by VFP. They also meet with Việtnamese families & war veterans struggling with Agent Orange (AO),