Remarks by Susan Schuurman

On this 60th anniversary of this elegant expression of humanity’s highest ideals, we dedicate ourselves to working to create a world that comes ever closer to seeing these ideals become reality for each and every person living on the planet.

We members of MEPJA are committed to continuing our work to educate ourselves and others about the 60 year old Nakba or catastrophe and the 40 year old occupation of Palestine as well as fundraising for humanitarian projects in Gaza and the West Bank.

This is not an easy issue to work on. The people and groups who want to maintain the status quo in Israel/Palestine are well funded and well organized. But we continue in the belief that we must be able to say that we were not silent in the face of egregious human rights violations against the Palestinian people.

With knowledge comes responsibility; American tax dollars are being used to give billions in military aid to the Israeli government, a government which conducts collective punishment by demolishing Palestinian homes with Caterpillar bulldozers, a government that maintains hundreds of checkpoints that only Palestinians have to endure; hundreds of Palestinians seeking medical care have died while waiting to pass through Israeli checkpoints.

You are all invited to help us in our work. We are launching a coalition to stop the thirty billion dollars in military aid the US government plans to give the State of Israel over ten years. Several work groups are in the process of forming here in Albuquerque; we are preparing to do outreach to our new congressional delegation and the Obama Transition Team, and we are researching the connection between the Israeli military and local defense contractors here in New Mexico. Please support us.

Remarks by Susan Schuurman representing MEPJA at the Albuquerque United Nations Association-sponsored gathering in observation of the 60th anniversary of the ratification of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)