Update 2/12/08: You can now listen to the whole program, available for free download from Indybay.org/santacruz. Please Click Here to visit the Indybay article which contains the evening divided into 9 MP3’s of all the speakers numbered and presented in order of how they spoke.

Special West Coast Speaking tour appearance in Santa Cruz!
Wednesday Jan. 30th, reception at 5:30 pm in the basement of the Vets Hall, 846 Front Street, main program at 7:30 pm upstairs in the meetng room of the Vets Hall.

Combatants for Peace was founded by former Israeli and Palestinian fighters who no longer see each other as enemies. They forswear violence and advocate an end to the Israeli Occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip. Bassam Aramin, formerly a Fatah fighter who spent 7 years in an Israeli prison, now heads the Al Quds Association for Democracy and Dialogue. Bassam received the Bremen Peace Award for reconciliation work and the Eliav-Sartawi Award for Middle Eastern Journalism. Elik Elhanan, served as a soldier in an Israeli Defense Forces combat unit from 1995-98 and is now a military refuser. In 1997 a Palestinian suicide bomber killed his sister in Jerusalem.

In January, 2007, Palestinian girls were walking home from school in East Jerusalem. Israeli Border Police firing rubber bullets wounded and killed 10-year old Abir Aramin, Bassam’s daughter. Combatants for Peace has joined other Palestinian, Israeli and International peace and human rights organizations in an effort to memorialize Abir to build ABIR’S GARDEN on the grounds of her school for her classmates to gather, play, and heal.

Elhanan and Aramin are part of a national speaking tour, one year after Abir was fatally wounded. Bassam’s wife Salwa and daughter Areen will be present. Suggested donation $5-$10 sliding-scale (no one turned away for lack of funds). Proceeds benefit Abir’s Garden & Combatants for Peace.

Combatants for Peace is hosted in Santa Cruz by the Middle East Program of the Resource Center for Nonviolence . The Combatants for Peace national tour is organized by The Rebuilding Alliance and Women of a Certain Age. For more information and to and support the Abir’s Garden Project go to www.rebuildingalliance.org/

Check out Bassam’s appearance on Democracy Now recently.

Four young men speak out out against war in Watsonville.

They spoke in Watsonville on May 14 at the First Presbyterian Church on Beach Street. Please see the Indybay article for more information. For more information about war resisters and support networks for them, please check out Courage to Resist. Photo Credit Jeff Paterson

Iraq combat veterans, Agustin Aguayo and Camilo Mejia, were joined by fellow war resisters Pablo Paredes and Robert Zabala at a series of Northern California events May 9-18. One of the stops included Watsonville where the 4 men spoke in local high school class rooms and on local station KUSP 88.9 FM in the morning and at the First Presbyterian Church that evening. Check out this link and click on the May 14th program to hear the show streamed.

Just weeks after being released from a military stockade in Germany for refusing redeployment to Iraq, Agustin Aguayo was joined by fellow war resisters on a greater San Francisco Bay Area speaking tour. Agustin served almost eight months in prison after fighting for nearly three years to be recognized as a conscientious objector. Agustin has explained for the first time why he chose jail instead of redeploying to Iraq.

Camilo Mejia was one of the first Iraq combat veterans to refuse to return to Iraq and served almost nine months in prison for his stand against war. In his upcoming book, “Road from ar Ramadi; The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía,” Camilo gives an inside view of what it felt like to be a soldier on the ground in Iraq. Camilo’s book will be available at his events and is now available on amazon.com and soon in your local independent bookstore.

Pablo Paredes refused to ship out in support of the Iraq War at the San Diego Naval Station in 2005. He is now a GI rights counselor and counter-recruitment activist.

Robert Zabala is a Marine recently ordered discharged as a Conscientious Objector (CO) by a federal judge after fighting for nearly four years to be recognized as a CO.

The RCNV GI Rights Hotline & Draft Alternatives Program provides information and counseling for enlisted military seeking legal discharge, and for young people and families concerned about Selective Service registration, a potential draft and comprehensive information about military enlistment. For information contact the program’s 7-day-a-week hotline at (831) 359 0202

Click here to download the audio MP3 direct or click here to visit the Indybay article with more info on the men and their cases.