BELFAST — Maddy Wintermute and Gabriel Eisen will speak, Monday, March 10, at 6 p.m., at UU Church, 37 Miller St., in Belfast. 

Wintermute is from Toronto and is a third generation Anti-Zionist Jew and Gabriel Eisen worked at the Possibly Alliance with Ethan Hughes for a month this past fall. Eisen enjoyed getting to know the Belfast community and hence, he has returned with Wintermute, and together they are sharing and offering a discussion about their time in Burin, West Bank, Palestine.

In October, Eisen left the Possibility Alliance to join a three week long solidarity olive harvest in Burin, West Bank, Palestine. He went with a delegation of activists from the Center for Jewish Non-Violence. In much of the West Bank, olive cultivation has been the main economic activity for centuries, but the Israeli military occupation and the constant land-grabs and harassment from right-wing settlers makes the harvest more dangerous each year. Each season, there is a call for internationals to come and offer “protective presence” with the relative privilege of their passports, with the hopes that farmers can access more of their lands in the short term. Internationals are also asked to observe, document, and share what they experience with their home communities, with hopes that political pressure and structural change can come in the long term. Accordingly, he has been giving “report backs” about his time there, and will now be bringing one of his presentations to Belfast.

The talk will be approximately 45 minutes long with plenty of time for questions and discussion at the end.

Can’t make it?

Zoom in: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4695376814
Link is also on the church website.

Want to learn more beforehand?

Check out this list of resources about the olive harvest and the occupation put together by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence. https://docs.google.com/document/d/17RyEaB-Bc604MHhvoq9VGHjAslGM8ndEGcd_tz2bwu4/edit?usp=sharing

Looking for a specific action step?  

The village of Burin is looking to expand their women’s agricultural cooperative in order to provide more economic security in the face of shrinking job prospects.

You can read about it and donate here. https://secure.everyaction.com/NO_7ECrCokemjKUTQXvGNg2

FMI: Ethan Huges at the Possibility Alliance 207.338.5719