Responding to the Crisis in the Middle East

In August, Joel, myself and many others in this region formed a group to protest the bombing of Lebanon. Rather than just be a transient one-time protest, the group has evolved into a serious presence-- hosting many meetings and coordinating vigils and protests. It is called the Mid-East Crisis Response and has a website designed by Fred Nagel at http://mideastcrisis.org/ This is a banner made by Pia Alexander, Woodstock artist.
On February 9, the group sponsored two speakers from the West Bank in New Paltz at the Methodist Church-- Mohammed Khatib and Feryal Abu Haikal. Feryal is a teacher and the mother of eleven children. This is Feryal speaking with Jane VanDeBogart of Woodstock. Feryal lives in Hebron and has struggled to protect her children and her students against violence by Israeli settlers, who harass the children on their way to and from school. She screened amazing footage of the violence. Especially upsetting was seeing the way that Israeli soldiers just watched and seemed amused as the Palestian children were kicked and hit with stones.Mohammed Khatib told of his efforts to organize non-violent protests about the wall construction.
Here is a web site about the village near Hebron: http://www.bilin-village.org/