Peace Action of San Mateo County

Click Here To Join Today!

Together We Can! Follow us Today!

What we're about

We believe that conflict doesn't have to result in violence or war at home or abroad. All action begins at the local level and activism begins with education. Join us at one of our free monthly events, view a topical film or listen to engaging Bay Area activists, educators and social justice advocates working to reduce militarism at home and abroad. Lively Q & A follows. Free refreshments and wheel chair accessibility.

Donate Today

Add comment

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Sunday, June 13: Author Mitchell Plitnick on responding to Israel and Palestine

The current state of conflict in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza is the latest deadly chapter in a tragic story. The modern history of the uneasy coexistence between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people has taken repeated fraught turns dating back to 1948 – when Israel became a nation – and before, when Jews around the world began inhabiting the Palestine region toward that end. In its goal of establishing a Jewish homeland, Israel’s advancement on Palestinian land has been marked by war, dispossession and oppression, while the Palestinians try to resist in defense of both their collective home and individual homes. Their actions are typically labeled “terrorism”, while Israel’s actions are labeled “self-defense”.

Attempts at diplomacy, well-meaning and otherwise, have brought some hope but much more disappointment to the elusive notions of peace, security and dignity. Both sides of the conflict stake their claim to the land, but the playing field is by no means level as Israel manifests both a steep military and economic advantage. The measure of disfunction in both Israeli and Palestinian governance presents a plethora of obstacles to a peaceful resolution. The outside world is challenged to weigh in, including citizens expressing concern for the kind of human rights that is sorely lacking for Palestinians.

In the eyes of PASMC’s June guest speaker, author and political analyst Mitchell Plitnick, a community that calls itself “progressive” has come up short in its advocacy and activism on behalf of the Arabs who have lived for centuries in Palestine.

Mitchell and journalist Marc Lamont Hill have collaborated on a new book, “Except for Palestine – the Limits of Progressive Politics”. On the afternoon of Sunday, June 13, Mitchell will engage in a conversation to discuss some of the book’s themes… obstacles to a peaceful resolution in the region as well as the lack of attention by progressive activists to the Israel/Palestine story.

We will begin at 4 PM on the Zoom platform…Here is the link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3289220486

Mitchell Plitnick is the president of ReThinking Foreign Policy, a non-profit organization working to provide a clear lens into U.S. foreign policy and promoting progressive change in U.S. foreign affairs. He has also been the Vice President at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Director of the U.S. Office of B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and Co-Director of Jewish Voice for Peace. His writing has appeared in Ha’aretz, the New Republic, Middle East Report, Tikkun Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Events in the Middle East are playing out horrifically in a new way every day; it’s hard to know what kind of backdrop those events will present to us by June 13. But with Mitchell Plitnick on hand, we plan to engage with a problem that has continued far too long…and examine our current and future role in it as advocates for peace and justice.