< Reflection One: "We Cried Bitter Tears" >
Indigenous and People of Color Delegation to Palestine | 2016
Overview: This first reflection from the delegation features a written submission by Amy, a number of photo submissions from Instagram, and video submissions from Facebook live recorded by Heather Milton Lightening on the delegation's visit to the village of Lifta.
The delegation got off to a rocky start when the group's flight from Washington, DC was canceled. As a result, delegation members arrived at various times between 4 and 28 hours after the scheduled arrival. Amy's piece details the journey of her group, through Ethiopia. Two members of the delegation were denied entry by Israel. The remaining 24 began their journey in Jerusalem before traveling to the coastal city of Haifa.
The Indigenous and People of Color Delegation includes activists and organizers in the Movement for Black Lives, indigenous activists from North America, undocumented immigrant rights organizers, Palestinian-American community leaders, and more. This is the second collection of reflections from the delegation.
Our Fate, Joy and Humanity are Linked and Connected | Amy - Saint Louis, Missouri
I left the DC airport excited about the adventure ahead of me. The giddy and nervous me was even more excited when I learned that I would get to spend time in Ethiopia before getting to Tel Aviv. Landing on the continent where my people were stolen and then enslaved gave me so much joy and a peace unimaginable. I feel like that experience helped prepare me for what I would see when I landed in " The Holy Land".
To witness a militarized state with check points, poverty and a wall that divides people is unholy. To see the distribution of wealth, water and access to resources denied to millions of people makes my heart hurt and also is familiar territory. Form Flint, Michigan to St. Louis, Missouri, to what the US calls suburbs, I have seen all of this before. The ways that we Black people have experienced systemic and institutional racism in America and throughout the world is similar.
If we are going to make the world a more just and equitable place to exist we must continue, encourage and demand that this change. We must work in solidarity and alliance with other people that are experiencing the same. Our fate, joy and humanity are linked and connected.
The Indigenous and People of Color Delegation includes activists and organizers in the Movement for Black Lives, indigenous activists from North America, undocumented immigrant rights organizers, Palestinian-American community leaders, and more. This is the final collection of reflections from the delegation. More updates are pending, including original videos and more!
Your gift builds and strengthens connections between US social movements and Palestinian activists!
|
|
||
Instagram: Visual Reminders of a Shared Past and Future
Members of the Indigenous and People of Color Delegation spared no time in posting moving and powerful photos to Instagram using the hashtags #ifpb59 and #ipocpalestine. Here are several selections:
READ REFLECTIONS FROM THE DELEGATION: |
VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE DELEGATION: |
||||||||||
| SHARE: | |||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
Lifta: Power in Witness | Heather Milton Lightening - Pasqua, Saskatchewan
The delegation visited the Palestinian village of Lifta. Just West of Jerusalem, Lifta was attacked by Zionist forces and depopulated of it's Palestinian residents in 1948. It is one of approximately 500 Palestinian villages that were cleansed in the Palestinian Nakba of 1948. The residents of village are now refugees, barred by Israel from returning to their homes and lands.
The delegation toured Lifta with a village elder who was a child when he fled with his family. Heather Milton Lightening recorded much of the visit and posted her videos on Facebook. An indigenous American, Heather's witness is extremely powerful. "We cried bitter tears since many of us know the pain of the colonial state... know dispossession, know massacre," writes Heather.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Founded in 2001, Interfaith Peace-Builders is an independent 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization working to build movements of solidarity with grassroots struggles for justice in Palestine/Israel. IFPB's grassroots delegations and innovative education and advocacy efforts foster a network of informed and active individuals who understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United States’ political, military, and economic role in it.
Interfaith Peace-Builders delegates root their activism in the realities of Palestine/Israel. We build bridges and build movements. Join us!
This delegation is on the ground concurrently with the 2016
MILITARIZATION AND PATHS TO PEACE DELEGATION
click here for more information
| Select a digest to view reflections: | delegation home | 1 | 2 | 3 | |