End the Occupation Coalition - Northern Illinois

The End the Occupation Coalition of Northern Illinois is a diverse alliance of citizens which includes Christians, Muslims, Jews and other people of faith and belief, who call upon all in our community to join us in our active struggle for peace with justice in Palestine and Israel. Our members reside primarily in the western and southwestern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Our organization unites people to support one cause: Peace with Justice in Palestine and Israel.

We stand for freedom from occupation, and equal rights for all. To insure peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis, we call for an end to the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.

We meet on the third Friday of every month for a potluck dinner and discussion, and host a silent vigil the following Saturday from noon until 1:00 p.m. on the Washington Street Bridge in Naperville.

We invite you to join us and learn more. You can start by viewing the rest of this website and the National End the Occupation website at http://www.endtheoccupation.org.

Opposed to the "war on terrorism"?
Visit the DuPage Peace Through Justice Coalition web site.

Calendar

Regularly Scheduled Events

(Most events take place in central Naperville in the western suburbs of Chicago).

Third Friday: 7:00 - 9:00 PM: Ethnic Potluck

Wesley United Methodist Church, 21 E. Franklin (one block east of Washington).  Franklin is 9 blocks south of Ogden Ave. and 2 blocks north of Jefferson.   Bring a dish to share, paper plates, and tableware and enjoy the feast and fellowship.  Taste the world's best hummus.  Join us and bring a friend.

Saturday after the third Friday: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: Bridge Vigil

Vigil in downtown Naperville on the Washington Street bridge over the DuPage River.  Join us and bring a friend. A selection of signs will be available for you to hold or you may bring your own sign or banner. This is a peaceful, nonviolent, legal event. We neither block traffic nor confront motorists or pedestrians although we do seek opportunities for dialogue.

Specific Events

Past Activities

Coalition Educational Resources

Coalition Tools, Processes, and Actions

• Who are we and what do we stand for?
• Join the ETO Coalition e-mail list
• E-mail list usage guidelines.
• E-mail Etiquette (Netiquette)
• Contribute items to this website.
• Like any organization, we need money to keep things going. Your contributions are gratefully accepted. Make your check payable to "Northern Illinois End The Occupation Org" and send it to our treasurer at 417 Bluegrass Court, Naperville, IL 60563. Your contribution is not tax deductible. Thank you!

Home Destructions (see also Corporate Involvement... below)

• 
• The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
• The Rebuilding Alliance
• Campaign for Secure Dwellings
• Armed with principles
• Israeli troops destroy property in Nazlat `Iza
• Destruction and The Wall
• Help stop Hebron demolitions -- request from Rabbis for Human Rights
• THE MESSAGE OF THE BULLDOZERS
• "I made them a stadium in the middle of the camp"
• Colonel Bukhris, "Kurdish Teddy-Bear", and the Jenin Massacre
• The bulldozer war
• CAT at work: East Jerusalem village of Issawiyeh Monday Jan. 14, 2002
• Home Destroyer: Special Delivery From Peoria to Palestine
• Israeli Army Destroys 73 Palestinian Homes in Rafah Refugee Camp
• Family tells how Israelis buried deaf father alive

Life for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories

• Anti-Arab Racism and Incitement in Israel
• Charts of nine little-known statistics.
• A rough guide to Hebron: The world's strangest guided tour highlights the abuse of Palestinians
• Amos Gvirtz: Don't say we didn't know
• U. S. Department of State - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
• Day 311: Check Point Love Story
• CPTer Art Gish in Hebron
• Palestinian Centre for Human Rights: 2002-4
• Israeli Authorities close Palestinian higher education institutes
• Palestinians forced to choose method of their “punishment” in bizarre “lottery” game
• 'Saddest Christmas Ever' in Bethlehem
• Hunger in Palestine
• A Scene of Humiliation (not for the squeamish)
• Report From Occupied Palestine
• Report from Suzan in Nablus
• Messages From Palestine To Naperville
• What is Israel Hiding?
• Blood for Blood: A Meditation on Power
• HEBRON: Legal Breaking and Entering 
• Too many kids caught in the crossfire
• Easing Palestine's Humanitarian Crisis
• Israel Threatens to Deport Relatives of 2 Fugitive Militants
• Is there an end to this suffering?
• Arrests, searches and house demolitions continue in Jenin town and camp.
• Palestinian jobless rate soars
• Live From Palestine
• Israeli Occupation Army Continues to Massacre Palestinians
• The view from Beit El
• Hebron News Briefs (from Christian Peacemakers Teams in Hebron)
• Palestinian Centre for Human Rights: 2002-4
• Massive Land Confiscation in Hebron's Baqa'a valley
• From Nazareth to Bethlehem, anno 2001

International Solidarity Movement

• Speech by Sophie Hurndall
• The Daughter I Can't Hear From
• Rachel Corrie and Jessica Lynch
• Eyewitness: Israel Intensifies Attack on West Bank Observers
• ISRAELI FORCES RAID ISM OFFICE
• Support for Human Rights Activists
• INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
• British peace activist shot by IDF troops in Gaza Strip
• A Letter from an Israeli to the International Solidarity Movement

"Transfer"

• The Bad Fence
• THREATS OF ENFORCED MASS EXPULSION
• ETHNIC CLEANSING: SOME COMMON REACTIONS
• Ethnic Cleansing: Past, Present and Future
• The shuttered houses on Holy Days
• Stop ethnic cleansing in the Mideast before it starts
• ETHNIC CLEANSING BY STARVATION
• Zionist Ideology, Non-Jews and the State of Israel

Life for Israelis in Israel

• Democracy an Israeli value?
• Foreign workers flood into Israel
• Amnesty Raps Palestinian Attacks on Israelis
• Where Have All our Shekels Gone?
• Palestinian Violence Has Forced Israel, U.S. to Face Tough Choice

Maps and Negotiations

• URI AVNERY: Facing Mecca
• What "Israel's right to exist" means to Palestinians
• Animated History of the Middle East
• Mapping the Roadmap: Phyllis Bennis-April 23, 2003
• The Myth of the Generous Offer
• Camp David Peace Proposal Of July, 2000, Frequently Asked Questions
• The Matrix of Control
• Settlement Report
• West Bank: Israeli colonies (settlements) and military bases
• Swiss cheese, not green cheese
• Barak's Generous Offers
• West Bank: Sharm Esh Sheikh Memorandum (Phase 2) on January 5th 2000
• The Armistice Lines of 1949
• Zionist Owned Land
• UN Partition Plan

History - The Palestinian Narrative

• Can You Pass The Israel-Palestine Quiz?
• Hamas condemns the Holocaust
• The Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty
• The History of Israel Reconsidered: A Talk by Ilan Pappe
• Israel's right to be racist
• Barry Miller: What is a Balanced View of Israel's Occupation of the Palestinian Territories?
• Fictions Embraced by an Israel at War
• THE SABRA AND SHATILA MASSACRES
• 20 ZIONIST MYTHS EXPOSED
• It is land - land - land.
• Hamas history tied to Israel
• Middle East: Mind your language (Letter From America)
• Jews for Justice in the Middle East: The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict.
• 2002: Year of the 2's
• Survivors' accounts
• The 1948 Massacre at Deir Yassin Revisited

Anti-Occupation Events in Israel

• Tel Aviv: Jewish and Arab protesters call for peace
• Report on Dec 28 activities in Jerusalem

News of the Israeli Military Forces

• IDF refuseniks tell Palestinians that suicide bombings must end
• Letter From an Israeli Jail
• A Letter of Response to the General
• Haggai in prison
• More than 200 young Israelis refuse military service in occupation army
• An Israeli Officer's Response To President Bush
• Why Israel's 'seruvniks' say enough is enough
• Truth From The Land Of Israel
• Open Letter to the Commander of the Israeli Paratroopers
• Courage To Refuse
• Pity the poor soldiers
• Persona Testimony of an Israeli Refusenik
• The message from the high command
• Israel reservists back occupation end
• Reservists refusing service in territories hold first meeting
• Dissent brews in Israeli army:100 refuse Gaza, West Bank duty
• Unprecedented Call to Refuse Military Orders
• Red line, Green Line, black flag
• Shin Bet: No Military Solution To Terror

United States Policy and Actions In The Middle East

• ALISON WEIR: Funding Our Decline
• A Declaration of Independence From Israel
• The Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty
• President Bush asked to rescind nomination of Islamophobe
• A Roadmap to What and Where?
• Has Sharon set a trap for Bush?
• U.S. troops raid Palestinian mission in Baghdad
• U.S Financial Aid To Israel: Figures, Facts, and Impact
• Agreement to Grant Israel $10 Billion by US to be Signed this Week
• Nomination of Daniel Pipes to the Board of Directors of the US Institute of Peace
• Neo-Conservatives Rip Into Mideast Plan
• Aftermath: Time for Boldness in the Mideast
• Roadmaps to devastation
• U.S. Economic Aid Found to Subsidize More than Half of Israeli Settlements Costs
• Economist tallies swelling cost of Israel to US
• Arab American Institute, Americans for Peace Now Release Joint Survey of Arab American & Jewish American Opinion
• Top Ten Reasons to Oppose U.S. aid to Israel
• No Thank You, Mr. President
• The Troubling New Face of America
• The Men From JINSA and CSP
• The Politics of Murder
• BUSH ATTACKS THE PALESTINIANS
• Bush's Mideast Vision is a Myopic Fantasy
• Bush's fantasy Middle East plan is bound to fail. It will strengthen those who want war, not peace
• Right-Wing Hawks Win Big On Middle East
• Israel as a Foil for the US
• Why the U.S. Supports Israel
• Poll Points Toward Peace
• U.S. Arms Transfers and Security Assistance to Israel

Jewish Viewpoints

• ISRAEL: MYTHOLOGIZING A 20TH CENTURY ACCIDENT, By Gabriel Kolko
• Road Map: Sharon & the record
• Israel to kill in U.S., allied nations
• Sharon Gets His Chance to Fail
• PHR-Israel Submits Petition to the High Court Demanding that Israeli Military Forces Cease Use of Flechette Anti-Personnel Rounds
• Prosecute Sharon for war crimes, Israeli women say
• Scottish terror victim's family is happy that kidney went to Arab girl
• Barenboim peace effort is a classic
• Israel set on tragic path, says chief rabbi
• EIN VOLK, EIN FUEHRER, EIN ISRAEL
• PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: An Open Letter From American Jews To Our Government
• Sharon Rewrites the Peace Script
• Some Israelis seeking vengeance
• Settler plot to bomb Arab school foiled
• Likud Central Committee rejects Palestinian state
• MURDERING JEWS, THEN AND NOW: Killer Angels
• Rabbis for Human Rights
• The Core of Muslim Rage
• Redrawing the Map

The Pro-Israel Lobby

• Is The “Israel Lobby” Losing Its Grip?
• Fisk: Fear and loathing on an American campus
• Soros and Media Heavyweights Attack Pro-Israel Lobby's Influence on U.S. Policy
• Senator Clinton's Remarks to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
• Carter enters lions' den
• Molly Ivins: Let's call the Israel lobby the Israel lobby
• A Lobby, Not a Conspiracy
• Mearsheimer and Walt: The Israel Lobby
• Leaked document exposes pro-Israel lobby's manipulation of US public
• Who Decides US Mideast Policy?

Anti-Semitism

• Michael Lerner: There Is No New Anti-Semitism
• Norman Finkelstein Accused of Anti-Semitism
• On left anti-semitism and the special status of Israel
• Open Letter to David A. Harris, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee
• WHY THE RISE IN ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE?
• How to shut up your critics with a single word
• New Anti-Semitism -- A Closer Look
• Jewish groups vigilant but urge calm after FBI warns of possible terrorist plot
• Reflections on Zionism from a Dissident Jew
• IT WASN'T A PEACE RALLY
• Anti-Semitic Riot at San Francisco State University
• Who's Anti-Semitic?
• Sharon's Best Weapon

Discrimination Against Arabs and Muslims

• Muslims are now getting the same treatment Jews had a century ago
• Jews-only bill roils Israel

Right of Return for Palestinian Refugees

• Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist" as a Jewish State
• The Doha Debates on the Right of Return for Palestinians
• Israeli: Palestinians Must Drop Demand
• The '48 Nakba & The Zionist Quest for its Completion
• Sari Nusseibeh and the Right of Return
• We cannot have them back
• Website of Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
• Refugees and the Right of Return

What Can Be Done To Help?

• Looking at Plan C
• Amid chaos, looking at a Plan C
• "One Country": A new book from EI cofounder Ali Abunimah
• SUPPORT THE OLIVE TREE CAMPAIGN
• Divestment from Israel Is Peace Move
• THOSE WHO GIVE US HOPE
• A New Intifada is Born
• One State Solution
• JEWISH-PALESTINIAN DECLARATION FOR A JUST AND LASTING PEACE
• Both sides are wrong
• PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS MEET IN BRUSSELS 23-25 JUNE
• A Moral Campaign to End the Occupation
• Bringing Non-Violence to the West Bank
• Pity the poor soldiers
• I Have a Palestinian Dream
• Armed Resistance and the Chances for a Military Solution
• BEYOND GOVERNMENTS: Release Middle East from the professionals

Corporate Involvement in the Israeli Occupation

• Caterpillar Annual Meeting: 2007-06-13: ( -- Tribune story -- )
• Caterpillar D9 Tractor
• Caterpillar Social Responsibility
• Caterpillar Code of Worldwide Business Conduct (pdf)
• ETO Caterpillar Letter Writing Campaign
• An Iron Triangle: Raytheon-Israel-Congress
• CAT Executives "Arrested" For War Crimes
• A Call to Corporate Responsibility (Pax Christi, Caterpillar)
• Joint Al-Awda.org and BoycottIsraeliGoods.org Alert: Coca-Cola
• CPT walk challenges Boeing and Caterpillar to put children's lives first
• Starbucks the target of Arab boycott for its growing links to Israel
• Corporate America and Israeli Occupation
• The Caterpillar Effect

Mostly Palestinians Opposed to the Occupation

• Why do the Arabs never pool their resources to fight for the causes which officially, at least, they support. And how much further can we sink, asks Edward Said.
• From the Russian Community in Israel/Palestine
• Gingerly, Arabs Question Suicide Bombings
• Urgent Appeal to Stop Suicide Bombings
• Indecent Proposal
• The Jerusalem Center for Women
• Thinking ahead: After survival, what happens?
• Israel blocks path to peace
• Want Security? End the Occupation
• Emerging alternatives in Palestine End the occupation: that comes first.
• Israel shows United States how not to fight terrorism
• The key to understanding the conflict in the Holy Land
• Ray Hanania's web site

Mostly Jews and Jewish Groups Opposed to the Occupation

• Halper: Rethinking Israel after Sixty Years
• Is The "Israel Lobby" Losing Its Grip?
• Silencing critics not way to Middle East peace
• Amira Hass acceptance speech in Stockholm for first Anna Lindh award
• Children of Death
• A Call to Bring the Settlers Home to Israel
• End the occupation NOW, for Israel’s sake, for humanity’s sake
• Jews Like Us
• Half a democracy
• Leave Hebron Now!
• Jewish professors keep divestment drive alive
• Personal Voices: Crossing the Green Line
• Revenge of a Child
• The Murder of Arafat
• Will Palestinians Surrender?
• The ethics of revenge--by a father who lost his son to terror
• With a broken heart
• Ten things you could do to advance peace in the Middle East
• Payback time
• Reform in the territories for the Jews too
• 108 Rabbis-to-Be Sign in Sympathy With Palestinians
• Bat Shalom
• Israel's Jewish Critics Aren't 'Self-Hating'
• In The Name Of God, Seek Peace And Pursue It
• Jewish Manifesto: Sharon is Israel's Worst Enemy
• Napoleon at the Gates of Ramallah
• Twilight Zone: Tell the Truth, Shimon
• GUSH SHALOM
• “The Ships on the Way”
• Ta'ayush Solidarity Convoy to South Hebron accomplished its Objectives
• Israeli Activists Urge Army to Probe Civilian Slayings
• Statement on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by South Africans of Jewish Descent
• Seeking Peace
• Not In My Name
• Jewish Unity for a Just Peace
• Jewish Delegation Meets Arafat in Ramallah
• Israel Isn't David . . . It's Goliath

Mostly Christian Groups Opposed to the Occupation

• Churches for Middle East Peace (Washington DC)
• Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron
• Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center
• Statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on President Bush's support of the Unilateral Israeli Policy Toward Gaza and the West Bank
• Pope urges separate states of Israel and Palestine to ensure Mideast peace
• Church leaders say Israelis are tightening vise
• Latin patriarch asks Hamas leader to end suicide attacks
• International Quaker Working Party on the Israel-Palestine Conflict
• Middle East Christians support Palestinian state, religious leader says
• Perspectives on the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis
• (Catholic Statement) To the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem
• Three statements by Christian church leaders
• Religious Leaders reach unprecedented joint accord on the Holy Land
• Non-violent “justice and peace” march: Bethlehem – Jerusalem, 31 December 2001
• An unholy land

Christian Zionism

• TV Evangelist John Hagee Wants War With Iran, and He Wants It Now!
• CHRISTIAN ZIONISM: A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS AND CRITIQUE
• On Confronting Christian Zionism—From the Presbytery of Chicago
• Challenging Christian Zionism: Christians Committed to Biblical Truth & Justice
• Apocalypse Please
• Short Fuse to Apocalypse? A look at the political and theological roots of Christian Zionism.
• Not a Monolithic Bloc: Many U.S. evangelicals seek an 'even-handed' Middle East policy.
• How Christian is Zionism? What the Bible says about Israel and the things that make for peace.
• An Alternative Voice to Christian Zionism
• Christian Zionism Series by Don Wagner
• Marching to Zion
• 'The Bible is my road map': American Evangelicals visit Ariel, fundraise for settlements
• Will fundamentalist Christians and Jews ignite apocalypse?
• Crackpot Theology Makes Bad Foreign Policy
• Grace News

Media

• It's only Sderot. Only us
• Israel government orders newspaper closed for two years
• Why my film is under fire
• Chicago Tribune: 5/27/02:The Mideast's tangled politics
• Pro-Israel groups take aim at U.S. news media
• Jordan Times: 5/19/02: Basim Ismail 'Burlesque notion'
• Jordan Times: 5/10/02: Bazim Ismail
• Chicago Tribune: 5/10/02: Bazim Ismail
• Intractable Foes, Warring Narratives
• Chicago Tribune: Forcing peace upon the Mideast
• New York Times: Averting Disaster in the Mideast
• Los Angeles Times: Keep a Line Open to Arafat
• For NPR, Violence Against Palestinians Is 'Calm'

Naperville Sun Dialogue

• 5/22/02: Sheldon Isenberg: Web site has information on Middle East issues
• 5/22/02: Kent Huffman: Reader satisfied with coverage of Israel march
• 5/10/02: Michael Pitula: Palestinian views needed in Israeli rally coverage
• 5/3/02: Naperville residents stand behind Israel at Chicago rally
• 5/3/02: Anti-Semitic vandalism should be wake-up call
• 5/1/02: Reader abhors swastika painted on family's lawn
• 4/26/02: We must condemn acts of hatred
• 3/20/02: Shendon Isenberg: Military violence doesn't equal terrorist violence
• 2/27/02: Cordaro/Mevis: Mideast violence can't end until occupation ceases
• 2/17/02: Michael Levin: 'End the Occupation' group praised for its activities
• 2/13/02: Gene Wollaston
• 2/08/02: Rabbi Jeff Sultar: 'End the Occupation' group called obstacle to peace
• 1/21/02: Bart Beavin

Links of interest to members of the coalition.

• If Americans Knew: What every American needs to know about Israel/Palestine
• Council for the National Interest
• ei: The Electronic Intifada
• Ali Abunimah: Uncovering media myths about the Middle East
• Jonathan Cook in Nazareth: News Archive
• Cactus48 Links

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