This Saturday marked the first time Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends were forced to call off the vigil due to weather conditions. 10 degrees, and 9.3 inches of snow were enough to keep the issue of Israel's occupation of Palestine off the streets of Ann Arbor. Sunday's protest at Hiller's witnessed plowed streets and 7 members of JWPF.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth Phifer met with this writer and longtime peace activist Betsy B. last Wednesday, and suggested that our efforts to raise Palestine awareness in his church be channeled through the Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME). He indicated that he had no direct control over the direction of this group, nor of UUA’s Social Action Committee, and that the church had no position on Israel/Palestine. He stressed that his first duty was to keep the church intact, and did not want a repeat of the 60’s, where the church was divided over our government’s involvement in Viet Nam.

Very Sad News

Abdallah Nasser, friend and former President of the local Muslim Community Association passed away Monday morning of a heart attack in Ann Arbor. Services will be held at the Masjid, 2301 Plymouth Road, at 1:40 PM Wednesday. Members of JWPF join the Ann Arbor peace community in mourning his passing.

The New York Times reported today on the secretly approved decision by the Israel Knesset to apply the Absentee Property Law to East Jerusalem, allowing the State of Israel to seize thousands of acres of land owned by Palestinians who live elsewhere or who are cut-off from their land by the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

Work for Peace,

Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends.
Web page: http://www.a2vigil.org