Mark Braverman speaks on “Bringing a Just Peace to Israel/Palestine: A Jewish American’s Journey”
WED. NOV. 1, 7:30 PM
At: RESOURCE CENTER FOR NONVIOLENCE
612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, CA
Raised in the Jewish tradition, Mark was transformed in 2006 after visiting Israel and Palestine with the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He currently serves as Executive Director of KAIROS USA, which responds to the Palestinian call for justice. Mark will talk about his personal journey and about the growing global grassroots movement for Palestinian liberation, relating it to other struggles in the world today and to the larger questions of racism, income inequality, neocolonialism, and globalization.
Cosponsored by: Palestine Justice Coalition, the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Peace United , St. Stephen’s Lutheran, the S.J. Presbyterian Task Force for Peace and Justice, the Progressive Christian Forum, WILPF, and the SC Jewish Voice for Peace
ABOUT MARK BRAVERMAN
Mark Braverman was raised in the Jewish tradition, which included a strong commitment to Israel as a Jewish state. Following a career as a clinical psychologist, he currently serves as the Executive Director of KAIROS USA, the American support group for the Palestinian Christian movement for justice for Palestinians. Mark has published numerous articles and two books: Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land, and A Wall I Jerusalem.
Mark “fell in love” with Israel when he first visited Israeli relatives at age 17. “But though those relatives warmly embraced me,” he writes, “I noticed the fear and sense of superiority in the way they talked about ‘the Arabs.’ It was the way white people talked about black people in the pre-civil rights era in which I had grown up. It was then that I saw that there was a fundamental flaw in the Zionist project.”
When he went to the West Bank in 2006, Mark’s view of Israel changed entirely. He “saw the hillsides denuded of trees to build concrete Jewish settlement cities” and “saw Arab houses leveled and gardens taken to make way for a 30 foot-high concrete wall cutting through Palestinian cities and fields and taking Palestinian land in violation of international law…I saw that the role of occupier was leading Israel down a road of political disaster, and the Jewish people down a road of spiritual peril.”
On Thursday morning, Nov. 2 at 8 a.m. Church Pastors and
Leaders are invited to a breakfast at St. Andrews Presbyterian
Church in Aptos where Braverman will speak about “The Role of
Faith Communities in Achieving a Just Peace in the Holy Land”.
For reservations and directions RSVP at 831 600 7088.
Both events are free and open to the public but donations will
be graciously accepted. Mark’s books will be on sale at both events.
More information: 831-423-1626