When the organizers of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom decided to call their upcoming Bay Area conference “From the Ground Up: Building Israeli-Palestinian Peace in Uncertain Times,” they couldn’t have known just how appropriate that title would be.
They certainly didn’t know that Hamas would sweep the Palestinian elections or that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would be in a coma.
But this is the backdrop they will face, as the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, as it calls itself in English, meets later this month — Saturday, Feb. 18 and Sunday, Feb. 19 at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel San Francisco Airport in Burlingame — for its first-ever regional conference.
Brit Tzedek was founded three years ago, positing itself as an alternative to the unconditionally pro-Israel voice heard on Capitol Hill and in the media.
The organization, which is headquartered in Chicago and has newer offices in New York and Washington, and whose national president, Marcia Freedman, lives in Berkeley, supports a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as a shared Jerusalem and a “just solution” to the Palestinian refugee issue.
The conference comes at a time of enormous growth for the organization. Since its founding, Brit Tzedek has grown to some 32,000 members, with 34 chapters around the country.
Members of the organization are frequent visitors to their representatives both in Washington and in their district offices.
“When we began, we hoped we’d begin to have some clout,” Freedman said. “Now, we feel that we do when we visit the Hill. Even those who don’t agree with us are interested in knowing who we are and what we have to say, especially the Jewish ones.
“And the national Jewish press is beginning to pay attention to us.”
The day and a half conference is expected to draw upward of 100 people, with the majority of them from the Bay Area, plus Brit Tzedek’s other West Coast chapters, which are in Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Olympia, Wash.
The conference will have a heavy focus on advocacy work and grassroots organizing, as the group is working toward raising its profile, yet there will be some purely informative sessions, too.
The keynote address, titled “The Israeli and Palestinian Elections: Negotiating National Identities” will be by Stephen P. Cohen, founder and president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development and Amjad Atallah, founder and president of the Strategic Assessments Initiative and consultant to Palestinian Peace Coalition and Palestinian political leaders.
Two panel discussions will feature Palestinians giving their perspectives on the Palestinian election results and on the prospects for peace as viewed from the Palestinian side.
“Why shouldn’t the American Jewish community be talking to Palestinians and getting to know who they are and what they’re saying for themselves?” Freedman asked.
“We have a lot of stereotypes, or non-impressions. They are a big blank, and yet we have an awful lot to say about them.”
Speaking of both the Israelis and the Palestinians, Freedman said that a new generation of leaders was emerging, “with new political actors on the scene.”
In regard to Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian elections, Freedman said Brit Tzedek supports the wait-and-see policy of the U.S. government, along with the rest of the international community.
“We hope that the effect of ascending to political power will have a moderating effect on Hamas just as it once did on the [Palestine Liberation Organization] several decades ago,” the statement said.
Brit Tzedek v’Shalom’s regional conference will begin at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 and run through 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19 at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel San Francisco Airport, 600 Airport Blvd., Burlingame. $60 general admission, $30 students, $10 Saturday only. Information: www.btvshalom.org or (312) 341-1205.