Fourth Annual Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine

Walking Together in Determination and Hope
Closing remarks by Martha Reese at the Fourth Annual Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine

This is the fourth year we have gathered to offer a peaceful, positive alternative to the Walk With Israel, sponsored by the Jewish United Fund and the Jewish Federation. Until this year, the Walk With Israel has been held on Chicago’s lakefront. This year, they have come to us in Oak Park. We are, of course, not here to provoke or respond to confrontation; we will do what we have always done, walk together affirming a positive vision of what it means to be pro-peace and pro-justice.

The Walk With Israel celebrates the Israel Independence Day (a day that Palestinians mark as the Nakba, or catastrophe). Funds raised at this year’s Walk With Israel will support summer camps for low-income Israeli youth—as the publicity says—“from some of the areas hit hardest by terror attacks.” Their gathering stresses the effects terror on Israelis, but utterly ignores the occupation. It’s a simplistic analysis that turns the actual power imbalance upside down and reduces the situation to a drama featuring Jewish victims and Palestinian villains. Meanwhile, the JUF and the Federation defend the construction of the illegal wall, something many of us here find to be an immoral and barbaric monstrosity.

The Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine—this walk—has a different emphasis: our responsibility as Americans for our country’s role in funding and providing diplomatic cover for the Israeli occupation. We also are here to raise awareness of the tremendous power imbalance between the parties; land control and demographic issues; and—centrally—occupation. Without reckoning these factors, the situation in Palestine and Israel cannot be understood and a solution is impossible. We seek peace for Palestinians and Israelis, but we recognize that peace is not a bandaid for injustice.

I want to quote an ad that ran two days ago in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, placed by the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom. The text reads: “The day the occupation ends will be the real Independence Day of the State of Israel.” Many of us here agree: we believe Israeli society cannot be free and healthy while oppressing millions of Palestinians under occupation.

We are gathered here because the JUF Walk With Israel supports the aspirations of one people while ignoring the oppression of another. We choose this alternative walk because we believe that supporting the aspirations of only the Israeli people in this conflict leads directly to the oppression of the Palestinian people, and that this approach, whether at a personal level or a policy level, makes peace impossible to achieve.

We must pursue the vital, often difficult work of listening to and partnering with people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. That is why today’s event is hopeful: the diversity of this crowd can be a model for the diversity essential for an effective pro-justice, pro-peace movement. We cannot, must not seek the comfortable safety of insular groupings of likeminded people.

But this isn’t a contest with the Jewish United Fund and the Federation. That’s a waste of our time and an insult to the Palestinians and Israelis who suffer daily the disastrous effects of occupation. Here we are, walking through the streets of a small American city carrying signs. Let us not allow this walk to be a surrogate for meaningful action, a diversion from the real work that faces us. Let us remember that the occupation is not an “optional weekend activity” for millions of our sisters and brothers in Palestine and Israel. Let us continuously ask ourselves: how can I make a difference?

We are here because we recognize that inaction is not neutrality, it is a vote for the terrible status quo. We know that if we do nothing, we are complicit. Our burden, our challenge, is to seek ways to persistently and creatively challenge the power structures that keep the occupation in place: our government, our media, the apathy, ignorance, and denial of our fellow Americans.

How can we apply the concept of refusal in our lives? Let us refuse to be silent, passive, afraid, disengaged, and discouraged. Let’s walk together in determination and hope.

Martha Reese is a member of the steering committee of the Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine. Known to her friends and comrades as a soccer mom against the Occupation, she lives in River Forest, IL. [Photos above by Sarah Martin.]

See more about the walk:

Ali Abunimah's remarks at the pre-walk rally are posted at the Electronic Intifada.

The call for the Fourth Annual Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine.

The Fourth Annual Walk for a Just Peace in Israel & Palestine May 15, 2005 • Oak Park, IL
Walking Together in Determination and Hope Closing remarks by Martha Reese at the Fourth Annual Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine This is the fourth year we have gathered to offer a peaceful, positive alternative to the Walk With Israel, sponsored by the Jewish United Fund and the Jewish Federation. Until this year, the Walk With Israel has been held on Chicago’s lakefront. This year, they have come to us in Oak Park. We are, of course, not here to provoke or respond to confrontation; we will do what we have always done, walk together affirming a positive vision of what it means to be pro-peace and pro-justice. The Walk With Israel celebrates the Israel Independence Day (a day that Palestinians mark as the Nakba, or catastrophe). Funds raised at this year’s Walk With Israel will support summer camps for low-income Israeli youth—as the publicity says—“from some of the areas hit hardest by terror attacks.” Their gathering stresses the effects terror on Israelis, but utterly ignores the occupation. It’s a simplistic analysis that turns the actual power imbalance upside down and reduces the situation to a drama featuring Jewish victims and Palestinian villains. Meanwhile, the JUF and the Federation defend the construction of the illegal wall, something many of us here find to be an immoral and barbaric monstrosity. The Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine—this walk—has a different emphasis: our responsibility as Americans for our country’s role in funding and providing diplomatic cover for the Israeli occupation. We also are here to raise awareness of the tremendous power imbalance between the parties; land control and demographic issues; and—centrally—occupation. Without reckoning these factors, the situation in Palestine and Israel cannot be understood and a solution is impossible. We seek peace for Palestinians and Israelis, but we recognize that peace is not a bandaid for injustice. I want to quote an ad that ran two days ago in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, placed by the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom. The text reads: “The day the occupation ends will be the real Independence Day of the State of Israel.” Many of us here agree: we believe Israeli society cannot be free and healthy while oppressing millions of Palestinians under occupation. We are gathered here because the JUF Walk With Israel supports the aspirations of one people while ignoring the oppression of another. We choose this alternative walk because we believe that supporting the aspirations of only the Israeli people in this conflict leads directly to the oppression of the Palestinian people, and that this approach, whether at a personal level or a policy level, makes peace impossible to achieve. We must pursue the vital, often difficult work of listening to and partnering with people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. That is why today’s event is hopeful: the diversity of this crowd can be a model for the diversity essential for an effective pro-justice, pro-peace movement. We cannot, must not seek the comfortable safety of insular groupings of likeminded people. But this isn’t a contest with the Jewish United Fund and the Federation. That’s a waste of our time and an insult to the Palestinians and Israelis who suffer daily the disastrous effects of occupation. Here we are, walking through the streets of a small American city carrying signs. Let us not allow this walk to be a surrogate for meaningful action, a diversion from the real work that faces us. Let us remember that the occupation is not an “optional weekend activity” for millions of our sisters and brothers in Palestine and Israel. Let us continuously ask ourselves: how can I make a difference? We are here because we recognize that inaction is not neutrality, it is a vote for the terrible status quo. We know that if we do nothing, we are complicit. Our burden, our challenge, is to seek ways to persistently and creatively challenge the power structures that keep the occupation in place: our government, our media, the apathy, ignorance, and denial of our fellow Americans. How can we apply the concept of refusal in our lives? Let us refuse to be silent, passive, afraid, disengaged, and discouraged. Let’s walk together in determination and hope. Martha Reese is a member of the steering committee of the Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine. Known to her friends and comrades as a soccer mom against the Occupation, she lives in River Forest, IL. [Photos above by Sarah Martin.] See more about the walk: Ali Abunimah's remarks at the pre-walk rally are posted at the Electronic Intifada. The call for the Fourth Annual Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine.		[Photo: Angela Cordaro] The walk goes through downtown Oak Park. [Photo: ISM-Chicago/Kevin Clark] Walkers pass Oak Park-River Forest High School. [Photo: Angela Cordaro] Ali Abunimah addresses the pre-walk rally in Ridgeland Commons Park. [Read text] [Photo: Sarah Martin] Walkers on Lake Street in Oak Park. [Photo: ISM-Chicago/Kevin Clark] Avner Efendowicz, Israeli refuser and Yesh Gvul activist, addresses the pre-walk rally in Ridgeland Commons Park. [Photo: Sarah Martin] Walkers hold signs protesting the use of Caterpillar bulldozers by the Israeli army. [Photo: ISM-Chicago/Kevin Clark]

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