Wednesday, September 13
Dr. Penny Rosenwasser
Women Waging Peace in Isreal and Palestine
Stockton Women's Network invited the community for an informative presentation on Wednesday, September 13, 2006, when the network presented Women Waging Peace in Israel and Palestine by Dr. Penny Rosenwasser. The luncheon meeting took place at the Radisson Hotel Stockton, at 2323 Grand Canal Blvd. Networking began at 11:30 a.m. The meeting started at noon and adjourned at 1:15 p.m.
Dr. Rosenwasser is a Jewish American peace activist who has been involved in social justice issues for more than 30 years, on the east and west coasts. She has led four women’s peace delegations to Palestine and Israel, and in 1992 she published a book of interviews called Voices from a “Promised Land”: Palestinians and Israeli Peace Activists Speak Their Hearts, (Curbstone Press). She tours nationally with her slide shows, The Face of Occupation and Women Waging Peace in Israel & Palestine, based on trips in 2001 and 2002, both of which included work with the International Solidarity Movement.
The conflict in Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon rages on, still bringing death and destruction to the peoples directly involved, undermining peace and progress throughout the Middle East, and fueling anti-Americanism around the world, while, as Dr. Peggy Rosenwasser points out, “not nearly enough attention is given to the U.S. role in the violence.”
Most of the coverage in the American media does little to help us understand the roots and real nature of the conflict. From Gaza to Lebanon, U.S. arms are being used – civilians being the overwhelming majority of the victims, one-third of whom are children. It is important to see the faces and hear the voices of the human beings involved, especially those of women resisters and peace makers.
Dr. Rosenwasser will show slides from Women Waging Peace in Israel & Palestine and will discuss the current situation in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, focusing on the perspective of women there.
She says, “Basically, I believe that all the peoples of the region have the right to land, resources, security, and dignity, and that, as US taxpayers, we must pressure our government to be an even-handed broker in encouraging a viable peace based on justice. We must fight anit-Arab racism just as we must fight anti-Semitism; standing up against both of these is not mutually exclusive. My own commitment to social justice stems from the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, or the healting of the world.”
Dr. Rosenwasser is the Special Events Coordinator of the Middle East Children’s Alliance, a human rights and humanitarian aid organization. She also serves on the board of A Jewish Voice for Peace and works with the International Solidarity Movement and Israeli peace groups.
She recently earned a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. Her dissertation was on the psychological effects of Jewish oppression on Jews. She is a member of Kehilla Synagogue in Oakland.