Free, Free Palestine! (Sami Awad's recent speech) and other resources

"The Future of Nonviolence in Palestine/Israel" with Sami Awad

On Friday, Nonviolence International hosted an insightful and powerful talk titled The Future of Nonviolence in Palestine/Israel at St John’s Episcopal Church. This event featured Sami Awad, a prominent advocate for peace and nonviolence, as he shared an in-depth update on the worsening violence and shifting dynamics in the West Bank.

He highlighted the escalating tensions and violence in the region, offering a vision for a peaceful resolution that involves a surge of international tourism and unarmed civilian protection teams. Awad argued that these collective efforts could help alleviate the suffering in Palestine while fostering a sense of solidarity. In the case of Gaza, Awad called for international monitoring to help sustain ceasefires and ensure lasting peace.

The event sparked a vital conversation about the role of global communities in supporting nonviolent initiatives and contributing to long-term peacebuilding efforts in the region. It was an inspiring call to action for all those who believe in a future of peace, justice, and nonviolent solutions

Click below to view a recording of the event! 

The Future of Nonviolence in Palestine/Israel

https://youtu.be/VTG6GZBq_TI?si=hfoFH5j2bGz8SvkC


Apartheid in Palestine and Israel is intensifying. Nonviolent mobilization is needed now more than ever.

An update on the Arrest Warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu 

The ongoing war on Gaza has seen unprecedented levels of destruction and human suffering, drawing global condemnation and calls for accountability. In a major development, an international arrest warrant has been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing alleged war crimes and violations of international law. This pivotal moment could mark a turning point in the struggle for justice and peace in Palestine.

The Arrest Warrant: A Step Toward Accountability

The arrest warrant signals a significant step by the international community toward holding leaders accountable for actions that may constitute war crimes. Netanyahu’s leadership has been marked by policies and military actions in Gaza that many human rights organizations have decried as disproportionate and in violation of international law. This warrant is a testament to the growing demand for justice for the Palestinian people, particularly in light of the devastating consequences of the recent escalation.

This is a defining moment for the global movement for Palestinian rights. We urge supporters of justice and peace to:

  • Contact Your Representatives: Demand that your government supports international accountability mechanisms and presses for an end to the war in Gaza.

  • Raise Awareness: Share information about the arrest warrant and its implications on social media, and encourage others to take a stand.

  • Support Humanitarian Efforts: Donate to organizations providing critical aid to the people of Gaza.
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Nonviolence International stands in solidarity with the people of Gaza and calls for immediate international action to end the violence and ensure accountability. Together, we can work toward a future where justice and peace prevail.

The apartheid system in Palestine and Israel has reached new levels of repression. Palestinian communities are facing severe and unrelenting challenges—from the ongoing expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, which force families from their homes and strip them of their land, to the genocidal attacks in Gaza, where civilians suffer devastating loss and relentless violence. These escalating atrocities make it clear that the time to act is now.

In the face of these threats, our Palestinian partners and allies are undeterred. They continue to resist through bold, creative, and steadfast nonviolent action, holding onto hope for justice despite immense obstacles. Join them—and us—in resisting occupation and apartheid. Here’s how you can make a difference:


Action Items

  1. Demand accountability and action for Palestine in the US:
    • Reach congress and other public figures with USCPR Action Alerts.
    • Reject AIPAC! Sign on to show our political leaders, community leaders, and the public that American Jews and allies believe AIPAC has no place in our communities or in our politics. You do not have to identify as Jewish to sign.
  2. Support NVI’s fiscally sponsored partners 
  3. Engage with Palestinian leaders of NVI  
  4. Get involved in a movement or organization working for justice in Palestine–please reach out if we can help guide or connect you. Here are some of the many movements and organizations we admire:
  5. Commit to changing the conversation towards a realistic solution. Israel’s new extreme government puts to rest any lingering debate about the viability of the Two-State Solution.

Follow these social media accounts:

https://www.instagram.com/youthofsumud/

https://www.instagram.com/ali_awad98/

https://www.instagram.com/basilaladraa/

https://www.instagram.com/samihuraini/

https://twitter.com/YouthOfSumud

https://twitter.com/SoHebronWatch

https://twitter.com/masaferyatta

https://twitter.com/Cjnvtweets

https://twitter.com/holylandtrust

#SaveMasaferYatta 

#DefendMasaferYatta


Background Information

For those wanting to learn more about the Palestinian struggle for freedom, please see these NVI resources below. Below the NVI resources are primers welcoming people who are not yet immersed in the conversation. 

Jonathan Kuttab's Book - Beyond the Two-State Solution

David Hart's invitation to Jewish Americans

Normalization and Co-Resistance, Jonathan Kuttab

Safety Isn’t Demolishing a School, Tess Greenwood

The Many Faces of Nonviolence - A Taste of Palestine

Gaza: Cruelty Without Consequences

Important Update: Nonviolence International Stands in Solidarity with Al-Haq

Raising Up Impressive Group Challenging GBV in Palestine

Music is the Healing Force of the Universe!

Our Partner's Powerful Piece in the Forward.

The Many Faces of Nonviolence - Rachel Corrie

Expand our Compassion to Include Palestinians

The Many Faces of Nonviolence - Ann Wright


NVI Videos

The Future of Nonviolence in Palestine/Israel

Beyond The Two-State Solution, by Jonathan Kuttab. Interactive webinar.

Co-Resistance and Solidarity with Palestine - Webinar

Writer from Gaza Reflects on the Two State Solution

Spotlight on Nonviolence - Huwaida Arraf

A Video Featuring Ahmed Alnaouq, founder of WANN

A Jew Asks Questions of Two Palestinians in a Time of War

Holy Land Trust's Founder Sami Awad's Wonderful Take on Active Nonviolence - Webinar

Courage Along The Divide - Produced and Directed by Victor Schonfeld 1986


Resources from Other Groups

The Popular University of the Palestinian Youth Movement Presents - OUR HISTORY OF POPULAR RESISTANCE: PALESTINE READING LIST

Palestine 101

Palestine-Israel Primer - MERIP

Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU)

Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories

A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution | HRW

Not a "vibrant democracy". This is apartheid. | B'Tselem

Visualizing Apartheid through interactive maps | B'Tselem

For those interested in learning more about state by state US legislation, please see this impressive map from Palestine Legal. They tell us, "The right to stand for justice is under attack. Politicians are pushing unconstitutional laws to stop the movement for Palestinian freedom and shield Israel from criticism."

Your Guide to Difficult Conversations About Israel/Palestine

Israel-Palestine animated introduction

Primer on the Arab-Israeli Conflict - TeachMideast

The Israel Apartheid Report Database 


Do you have suggestions for other high quality introductory material we should consider including?

If so, please contact us. 

And, of course, please help spread the word. Ask people to visit this page, learn, and take action. 

(Art Credit - Kayla Ginsburg - from CJNV)


The brutal occupation of Palestine is likely to get even more repressive. The coalition government in Israel includes unrepentant haters and racists. They have wasted no time showing their true colors. The impacts will be immediate, widespread, and as usual those harmed the most will be Palestinians. 

People who have been paying attention know that the occupation has been supported by successive governments of all parties. And still we recognize we are entering a new and dangerous moment. We will work to make sure that this is also a time with the potential for real and lasting positive change. 

During this time, we will see suffering increase and we must urge people to open their eyes to the reality of the situation. We must find ways to make the power of active nonviolence relevant to this struggle. NVI co-founder Jonathan Kuttab wrote, 

"Successive Israeli governments have pursued these goals steadfastly, while pretending that their aim was security and that their aspirations were for peace with Palestinians, not domination over them. The new Israeli government abandons all such pretense, rips off the mask, and dares the world to do something about it.

Acknowledging that reality is the first necessary step towards addressing it. When Israel determined it wanted to be a Jewish state, and further that it wanted to keep all the land of historic Palestine, the results were inevitable. The only two options Israel allows for are ethnic cleansing or apartheid. Calls for democracy and equality (where democracy includes giving Palestinians [50% of the population] the vote and a stake in running the country) are totally rejected.

The good news is that with this new government, the mask is off, and many people can see the reality. This includes a majority of the Jewish people in the United states and their supporters, who have always been liberal, democratic, and in favor of progressive values. Facing the reality of Israel may be painful for many of them, but it is an important first step towards seeking a new solution based on equality and human dignity, and which would also bring healing and peace."

Tallie Ben-Daniel, the managing director of Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), said the new Israeli government has openly embraced apartheid.

“The horrifying actions of this new government, only five days in, prove exactly what Palestinians have been saying all along: Israel is an apartheid state, where Palestinians are treated as inferior. The dangerous escalations by the new Israeli government make clear that now is the time for action.”

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib wrote, 

“Not even one week into 2023, the new far-right apartheid government is moving to ethnically cleanse entire communities—which would displace more than 1,000 Palestinian residents, including 500 children. All with American backing, bulldozers, and bullets. #SaveMasaferYatta”

Latest posts

Nonlinear Leadership Development Training

“The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.“

Marcel Proust

“To be outstanding leaders and achieve exceptional results, we have to change the way we think about the world and about what is possible.” 

Miki Walleczek

“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” 

Albert Einstein

     Sami Awad giving a NLD training in Palestine, 2010

Are you in a leadership position but find yourself struggling to move forward efficiently and effectively? 

Are you an activist striving to make a difference but feel stuck? 

Do you want to have a breakthrough and lead with more clarity and confidence?

Are you seeking to achieve greater results in your life and for those around you? 

Join Nonviolence International in the launch of their first online training program to develop strong and effective leadership in order to face the challenges we are facing in the world today. 

Nonlinear Leadership Development promotes leadership paradigms that inspire leaders to think beyond traditional frameworks, by empowering individuals and communities to navigate complexities, embrace innovation, and drive positive change.

What is the Nonlinear Leadership Development Program?

It is a deep personal development program to enhance inner skills of leadership. The purpose of the program is to provide leaders with the tools that help them make the impossible possible at the level of their personal life, their work, community, and for their country.

The unique contribution of the nonlinear methodology is that it begins at the individual level, providing a methodology that can successfully put people in touch with their innate leadership potential by unleashing their self-responsibility, creativity, intelligence and commitment, and by giving them a voice and direct access to action through nonlinear thinking and the power of language.

Participants start by creating the visions and strategies for leadership within themselves - understanding what it means to be a leader - and then from there they move on to serving the larger community. Furthermore, this methodology is designed to ensure sustainability through the building of a dynamic, growing network of self-organising communities.

This approach emphasizes distinguishing between interpretations and facts, enabling individuals to move beyond past traumas and make decisions aligned with future possibilities. By adopting NLT, participants are encouraged to engage in deep self-reflection, challenge existing mindsets, and cultivate self-awareness, thereby fostering environments where teams can thrive amidst uncertainty and change.

The training will be provided by our co-director, Sami Awad

What will you learn?

  • Deal effectively with breakdowns and problems on the personal, professional, community and national levels.
  • Build relationships of mutual trust and respect.
  • Deal effectively with what’s happening here and now.
  • Build powerful networks to support you in the future.
  • Create a bold future which is informed by, and honours the past, but is independent from the past.
  • Accomplish breakthrough results.
  • Have effective, purposeful meetings which support you in delivering on intended results.
  • Understand the power and importance of creating and managing context.

What will you accomplish?

  • You will get access to powerful action and result oriented language.
  • You will get access to nonlinear tools that can be applied in different dimensions. 
  • You will unlock yourself from the constraints of the past.
  • You will create a future for yourself, family and community that will be inspiring and transforming.
  • You will build growing dynamic networks of self organising communities which give voice to making the impossible possible.
  • You will engage in the phenomena of nonlinearity, self organisation, and emergence.
  • You will ask yourself: “what allows for self responsibility?”
  • You will get a clear vision on decision making.

What are the requirements to participate in the training program?

  • Leaders committed to a future founded on the principles of nonviolence, justice, equality and peace within society and in relation to others.
  • Leaders who want to have a breakthrough in their lives.
  • Leaders who want to engage in making the impossible possible in their lives.
  • Leaders who are ready to challenge what they know in order to create new opportunities.
  • Be open and interested in learning, especially different approaches to leadership.
  • Commit to all sessions.
  • Selection-based process, since the attendance for this training is limited to a maximum of 25 participants, ensuring an exclusive and unique learning experience.
  • The full training program costs $600, however, our organization is committed to making this training accessible to everyone who feels they need it and is ready to fully commit. Therefore, we welcome voluntary contributions based on each participant's ability to give.

To apply, please fill in the following form: APPLY NOW 

Webinar: Syria Today - Stories of Return, Resistance, and Renewal

Join us on April 23, for a webinar that delves into current Syrian realities and the impact of sanctions. Our experts include long time Syrian human rights leader Bassam Ishak, NVI Board Chair Rafif Jouejati (now in Syria), and our NVI Co-Director Michael Beer who has just returned from Syria.

Guests will share their thoughts— and those of the people they represent - on what rebuilding the nation and fostering reconciliation, unity, and justice look like. This discussion will shed light on the paths to recovery and the steps needed to ensure sustainable stability, dignity, and hope for millions of Syrians.

This webinar is a unique opportunity to gain deep insights from sources who have played an important part in the struggle against tyranny and who offer valuable knowledge so you, as part of the global family committed to peace and justice, can contribute to Syria’s bright future. 

Don’t miss out—register now to be part of this important conversation!

You can RSVP to attend this webinar via our  sign-up page here!

David Hartsough: Presente! A Shining Light for a Nonviolent World

David Hartsough on left, along with Laurence Henry face down neo-Nazis at Arlington Virginia desegregation sit-in in 1961. Photo by Gene Abbott. Courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.

We share the passing of David Hartsough, a long-time supporter of Nonviolence International and the global nonviolence movement. David died at the age of 84 after a battle with cancer. He was a loving husband of Jan and of 2 children. He co-founded Nonviolent Peaceforce, Nonviolent Peaceworks, and World Beyond War, David was a Quaker who dedicated his life to nonviolence and a just world. His vision and commitment to nonviolence shaped countless movements. His memoir, Waging Peace: Global Adventures of a Lifelong Activist, tells the remarkable story of his decades spent on the front lines of nonviolent action. Can you believe he drove to Red Square in 1961 in a VW Bug from Berlin and protested against nuclear weapons? 

Col. Ann Wright called him the “Forrest Gump” of the US Peace Movement implying that he had a knack for being present at so many historic anti-war events for 70 years. In addition to ubiquitous protesting he actively worked on numerous campaigns for peace and justice. In the late 1950’s, he was arrested for nuclear & chemical weapons ban protests, in the 1960’s, he was among the earliest to oppose the Vietnam War, through the then newly created Washington Peace Center and the Friends Committee on National Legislation. In the 1970’s he worked for the American Friends Service Committee where he opposed US wars in Central America and supported the pioneering use of nonviolence intervention by Peace Brigades and Witness for Peace. He became so enamored with nonviolent intervention that In 1996 he presented his idea of a large scale nonviolent army to intervene in conflicts around the world at NVI’s global conference Mainstreaming Peace Teams. His dream later came to fruition at the 1999 Hague Appeal for Peace where he met Michael Beer, Mel Duncan and Timmon Wallis and Nonviolent Peaceforce was provisionally born. 

In 1996, he traveled to Kosovo to support and train the nonviolent student movement in its resistance to Serbian rule and repression. He then encouraged NVI Director, Michael Beer to follow to provide more coaching and training on nonviolent resistance. In the 2000’s, he was repeatedly arrested for opposing US wars against Muslim countries and co-led a peace delegation to Iran.  He then helped David Swanson start the World Beyond War, for which NVI, through David’s suggestion, served briefly as a fiscal sponsor.  He was a life-long war-tax resister and supporter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

But his legacy was not just about ending war. He met Dr. King in Alabama as a young teenager and was a courageous activist in the sit-in movement that ended segregation in the DC area. He was arrested uncountable times for environmental, poverty alleviation, anti-racism, and social justice issues.  In 2011, he was one of the co-founders of the Occupy Movement in Washington DC. Although not a wealthy man, he was a generous financial supporter of all NVI initiatives including our projects in Russia, Iran, Kosovo, Tibet,  Palestine, Burma, and Western Sahara. He donated his massive nonviolent training collection that has been partially digitized and uploaded to NVI’s Nonviolence Training Archives.

NVI is sad to see him leave us but grateful for his relentless support and encouragement. What a remarkable nonviolent life!

Job Fair at the US Senate Victory

Job Fair at the US Senate Victory: Some Workers Getting Jobs Restored...

 

Co-Director Michael Beer helped lead some of the initial protests by Federal Workers in the Senate. Much work remains to reinstate workers and to challenge the illegal firings of tens of thousands of government workers and contractors. NVI remains committed to nonviolently mobilizing public support in the US and globally against criminal actions by the Trump administration.

Article on reinstating fired workers

https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-administration-reinstating-24500-fired-workers-after-court-order-2025-03-18/ 

Job Fair at the US Senate to Protest Illegal Firings

This week, NVI Director Michael Beer, helped launch a “Job Fair” at the US Senate. Each day this week, illegally fired federal workers have walked into senate offices with resumes asking for jobs. These federal workers meet with Senators and staff and tell their stories of being fired from US Aid for International Development, Social Security, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Energy and many others.

Many of them had worked in the government for less than 2 years. Many have worked for decades and had strong job performance evaluations. All were highly skilled and some had previously worked for much higher salaries in the private sector. They fear that the vital work of their agencies will be dismantled and that people around the world will suffer because of the damage done to health and energy research or a sudden halt in humanitarian aid.

 

Here are some articles about the unconventional lobbying.

Here is a Washington Post Article.

 

You can hear some of these workers in their own words.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGV7h1Gx2sR/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGdvjVExh0L/

 

Most of these folks have never lobbied before. But they are angry and want to do something. Hopefully they can persuade/pressure Senators to stand up to Musk and Trump and stop these attacks on federal workers and on these congressionally funded agencies.

These firings are an attempt to cripple government services and force them to be privatized. Other agencies like the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau are cops who prevent and reverse financial fraud perpetrated by big firms and the oligarchs.

Others are doing a sit-in as we do this write-up.

 

Here is a good primer for those looking for something to do.

https://choosedemocracy.us/what-can-i-do/

Also, take a look at NVI’s huge database of 346 nonviolent tactics and get inspired and the number of things you can do.

 

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