FRIDAY, MAY 10TH

Registration Will Be Between 5:00PM-6:00PM

Opening Plenary w/ Noura Erakat & Marc Lamont Hill

6:00PM – 8:00PM (VIOLETA PARA STAGE)

A discussion on the importance of the struggle for Palestine in 2019, and the need to commemorate the Nakba and celebrate Palestinian resistance.

Open Iftar

8:00PM – 8:30PM (VIOLETA PARA STAGE)

Join the organizers, panelists and performers for an open Iftar. Palestinian food and beverages will be served.

Concert

8:30PM – 10:30PM (VIOLETA PARA STAGE)

A concert of local artists, rappers and musicians from across the country hosted by Rosa Clemente .
Performing Artist: Tef Poe, Mazzi, Wahwahtay Benais.

SATURDAY, MAY 11TH

Registration Will Be Between 8:00 – 10:00 am

Know Your Rights – Interactions with Law Enforcement

10:00 – 11:30 (PAUL ROBESON)

CUNY Clear

This interactive know your rights presentation conducted by students in the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) project at CUNY School of Law will focus on your rights in situations where you’re interacting with law enforcement, both at your door and on the street.

Prisons in Palestine

10:00AM – 11:30AM (JOSINA MACHEL/MICHAEL RATNER)

Charolotte Kates, Khalid Barakat, Johanna Fernandez,

The struggle of Palestinian political prisoners has always been a key component in the movement for Palestine liberation. Pisoners have used their status as resisters on the frontline and turn Zionist dungeons into centers of political and cultural education.Through their active resistance in the dignity strikes and beyond, the prisoners have mobilized and won concrete victories against the Zionist state.

Palestina Atravez de Mis Ojos

10:00AM – 11:30AM (GENERAL BAKER)

Dariella Rodriguez, Maya Lazaro, Tarin Gonzalez, Alix Ann

Después de viajar a Palestina con la organización, Existence is Resistance, los panelistas relatan su experiencia bajo la Palestina ocupada.

Partners in Crime: A history of the alliances Israel has built to destabilize the Middle East

11:30AM – 1:00PM (JOSINA MACHEL/MICHAEL RATNER)

Max Ajl (IJAN) , Yamila Shannan

Israel has built open alliances with the most right-wing and oppressive regimes in the world in pursuit of maintaining its settler-colonial project and domination of the region. Repression of the Palestinian movement is tied directly to conventional and economic warfare throughout the Middle East, a long-term means by which the US has prevented sovereignty and democracy in the region. Since 1967, Israel has been a keystone of this broader project, and has carried out this role through diplomatic cover, material support, and intelligence sharing with Gulf monarchies, African dictatorships and newly resurgent reactionary demagogues in Latin America. The goal is instability in arenas of the region which do not fully support the US/Israeli project, and stability only in those areas which do. Such a pattern aids and abets the continuing settler colonial project in Palestine, which then continues to destabilize the region, divert regional resources to warfare, and prevent states in the region from reflecting the interests of their populations.

Nakba Survivor Stories

11:30AM – 1:00PM (PAUL ROBESON)

Husnieh Kiswani

The Nakba is an ongoing process of displacement and ethnic cleansing that continues to this day, but seldom are the stories told of the original victims of this campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people. Join us for the testimony of survivors of the ’48 Nakba as they share their experience and the stories of their lives.

Lunch

1:00pm-2:00pm

Uprooting STEM: Supressing Science in Palestine

2:00PM – 3:30PM (GENERAL BAKER)

Suleiman M. Baraka, Ph.D., Mohammad M. Herzallah, M.D., Ph.D., Hussain Khdour

This panel aims to discuss the experience of Palestinian students and established professionals in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) under the Israeli occupation. This may include speaking on the targeted assassinations and imprisonment of scientists, students, and technicians. Panelists may also describe the strangulation and destruction of resources, facilities, and institutes of learning and innovation by the state of Israel. In speaking about the personal experiences of Palestinian students and professionals in STEM, this panel will communicate the educational hardships that come as a result of the occupation.

Sleeping with the Enemy: The Oslo Agreements and the two state illusion

2:00PM – 3:30PM (JOSINA MACHEL/MICHAEL RATNER)

Noura Erekat, Huwaida Arraf, Ibrahim Shikaki

Since its signing, the Oslo accords have contributed to the continuation of the zionist settler project in the West Bank and provided the legal cover for the deepening of Israeli apartheid accross historic Palestine. With a new pronouncement each week that the “two-state solution is dead”, how can we analyze its historic development as a “viable” solution for Palestinians as well as discussing the relationship of the people with the P.A. and Israel.

4 Colores

2:00PM – 3:30PM (PAUL ROBESON)

Aldo Guerreri – Director Mario

Cuche- Producer

Carlos Medina Lahsen – Productor Ejecutivo y a cargo de la investigacion historica

A documentary about El Club Deportivo Los Palestinos in Chile. The club’s history, Palestinian migration to Latin America, how they remain connected to Palestine and the success story of one of the most popular soccer teams in Latin American.

From Palestine To Mexico: All The Walls Have Got To Go

3:30PM -4:30PM (GENERAL BAKER)

Ana Robelo (IMA), Tanya (AnakBayan), Raymundo Valentin

Members of Within Our Lifetime and allied organzations from NYC attended the Fourth Assembly of International Migrant Alliance in Mexico City during the month of November. During this time Mexico City became a focal point of the global migrant phenomenon with the first group of the migrant caravan arriving at the Jesus Martinez “Palillo” football stadium as they migrated towards the United States. Members of IMA USA will do a report back on the assembly, the root causes of migation and why international solidarity is important from Palestine to Mexico.

Dabke: Uplifting Cultural and Political Resistance

3:30PM – 4:30PM (JOSINA MACHEL/MICHAEL RATNER)

Nadine Kawas, Hanine Ghazawnah, Sammy Nijem (Freedom Dabke)

The Palestinian struggle for liberation and freedom remains deeply rooted in the practice of our culture, songs, poetry, tatreez, food, and our folk dances. We see this in Palestinian youth performing Dabke on the frontlines of the Great Return March in the sites of israeli snipers, in elderly Palestinian women at protests wearing tatreez, and in Palestinian children dancing on the rubble of Al-Mishal Center for a concert organized the day after Israeli bombs destroyed it. Every time israel tries to destroy a part of Palestine — We respond by fighting to defend our land, our people and our culture with an even greater revolutionary spirit. Learn how to dabke while also learning about how it has always been part of the struggle, and the history behind this cultural heritage.

Black in the Holy Land/ Palestine through my eyes

3:30PM – 4:30PM (PAUL ROBESON)

Nancy Mansour, Professor Dumi Lewis McCoy, Dariella Rodriguez, Maya Lazaro, Christie Russell, Alex Ann, Tef Poe

Black in the Holy Land is a documentary highlighting the lives and struggles of communities of African descent within Historic Palestine. Directed by Marc Lamont Hill and produced by Existence is Resistance and 1930 Productions, the film explores how these groups navigate the challenges of citizenship, racism, and identity against the backdrop of the Israeli occupation. The film will force us to reimagine “Blackness” and better understand the role of African people in the struggle over Palestine.

Zionismo: Instrumento de Colonizacion

4:30PM – 6:00PM (GENERAL BAKER)

Natasha L. Bannan, Johanna Fernandez, Cathy Rojas

Una conversación sobre qué es el colonialismo y el sionismo, ejemplos de cómo funciona y por qué nos debe importar.

Resistance Behind Bars

4:30PM – 6:00PM (JOSINA MACHEL/MICHAEL RATNER)

Sekou Odinga, Laura Whitehorn, Eben Egbe, Susan Rosenberg, Mahmoud Hwaty

Political prisoners across the world share a common history in their struggle both for their personal freedom as well as the larger cause for which they are struggle. Discussing the lives and mobilization of political prisoners in the United States. These panelists will provide the basic internationalist framework to support the unity of political prisoners in the global resistance.

A Painting is Worth a Thousand Words – How Palestinian Art Tells the Nakba Story

4:30PM – 6:00PM (PAUL ROBESON)

Faisal Saleh

Faisal Saleh, Founder & Executive Director of the Palestine Museum US (first Palestinian Museum in the Western Hemisphere), will discuss iconic examples of how Palestinian artwork tells the Nakba story with all the anguish and human suffering it entailed.

The Role of Palestinian Art in Resistance

6:00PM – 7:30PM (VIOLETA PARA STAGE)

Ayah El-fahmawi, Remi Kanazi, Suhad Khatib, Zena Agha, Susan Abulhawa

What Israel fears most is the revolutionary, artistic expression of the Palestinian people – and for good reason. It is through art, poetry, dance and film that the masses in Palestine and those in the diaspora have been mobilized into action. This panel of world renown Palestinian artists, authors and poets will reflect on their contribution to the struggle, and the central importance of art as a tool for liberating Palestine.

SUNDAY, MAY 12TH

Registration Will Be Between 8:00 – 10:00am

The Great March of Return

10:00AM – 11:30AM (JOSINA MACHEL)

Rana Shubair, Raja Abdulhaq, Jehad Abu Salim

The Great Return March was launched on March 30, 2018. Since then over 250 Palestinians have been killed by occupation forces, and tens of thousands more have been injured as they have confronted israeli snipers and asserted their right to return to occupied 1948 Palestine. Let us uplift the martyrs and those that continue to resist and stand for justice and freedom for the people of Gaza and all of Palestine.

Know Your Rights — Travel 

10:00 – 11:30 (GENERAL BAKER)

CUNY Clear

This interactive know your rights presentation conducted by students in the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility (CLEAR) project at CUNY School of Law will focus on your rights at the border, including with respect to watch lists, questioning, searches, and electronics.

Sterilizing our women: Enforced birth control from Puerto Rico to the Naqab

10:00AM – 11:30AM (MICHAEL RATNER)

Lorraine Torres Colon, Susan Abulhawa, Yamila Shannan

Israel and the US have both engaged in population control drives in order to control the birth rate of non settler communities. This panel will look at how the US engineered population management startegies in Puerto Rico to empy the island and create a reservoir of cheap labor for US capitalism, and the birth control drives conducted against Falasha Jews and Palestinian Bedouin women in order to preserve the white settler charachter of both these colonial states.

The Rabbis Intifada: Judaism not Zionism

10:00AM – 11:30AM (PAUL ROBESON)

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, David Feldman, Heather Tenzer

Neturei Karta are Yiddish-speaking, socially conservative rabbis speaking out in support of Palestinian liberation. They oppose Jewish nationalism and the State of Israel. But why at a time when most American rabbis unconditionally support Israel are these rabbis engaged in an intifada (Arabic, meaning ‘uprising’) against Israel? THE RABBIS’ INTIFADA is a documentary that tells the story of my journey into the Neturei Karta community, which is usually closed to outside observers and not typically “American.” There, I encounter a Judaism that most yeshivas don’t teach.

Bengali Fedayeeen in Palestine

11:30AM – 1:00PM (GENERAL BAKER)

Rokeya, Begum, American South Asian Community Services

The Bangladeshi government reported in 1987 that – 8,000 Bangladeshi youths had volunteered to fight for the Palestine Liberation Organization. We will be exploring the relationship between Bangladesh and Palestine, which can be traced as far back fight for liberation in 1971. Bangladesh has a complete ban on trade with Israel as Bangladesh does not have any diplomatic relations with Israel still today.

The New McCarthyism and repression of Palestine activism at CUNY

11:30PM – 1:00PM (JOSINA MACHEL)

Meera Shah, Hebh Jamal, Sammy Nijem, Dan Cione

In 2016, Andrew Cuomo threatend to cut $500 million from CUNY’s budget because of the threat posed to the establishment by CUNY SJP chapters. Drawing on the rich history of struggle at the City University of New York, we will discuss the role of the student movement at CUNY in the larger movement for Palestinian liberation and the ways on and off-campus organizations and groups can complement and build the struggle together.

Palestine As An Anchor in Internationalism

11:30AM – 1:00PM (MICHAEL RATNER)

Na’eem Jeenah, Raphael Agosto Miranda (Boricua Resistance), Mike Legaspi (BAYAN),

Palestine has historically been a center in the revolutionary imagination across the world in people’s struggles for liberation. What happens in Palestine has ripple effects from South Africa to Philippines and movements against colonialism and imperialism have looked to Palestine for its consistent resistance for over 70 years.

$$$ 4 LAND: A preview of the Kushner Peace Plan

11:30AM -1:00PM (PAUL ROBESON)

Norman Finklestein

Finkelstein will discuss the Trump Administration’s “Deal of the Century” and its prospect for success.

Lunch

1:00pm-2:00pm

Resistencia Latina Americana

2:00PM- 3:30PM (GENERAL BAKER)

Natasha L. Bannan, Dr. Yamila Shannan

Los panelista hablarán sobre algunos movimientos de resistencia en América Latina y ofrecerán formas de cómo podemos organizarnos dentro de nuestras propias comunidades aquí en los Estados Unidos.

Mobilizing in the belly of the beast: The history of Palestinian Mobilization in the US

2:00PM – 3:30PM (JOSINA MACHEL)

Raja Abdulhaq, Bill Dores, Suzanne Adely, Nerdeen Kiswani

For those organizing for Palestine in the US, the historic sponsor of Israel, challenges range from charges of defamation, to imprisonment and financial ruin. Despite these real threats, the movement has grown from strength to strength, building upon the examples set by other liberation movements accross the country, and drawing inspiration from those fighting in Historic Palestine

The Stolen Generations: Infant theft In the US and The Middle East

2:00PM – 3:30 (MICHAEL RATNER)

Wahwahtay Benais, Rami Ibrahim

First peoples, Wahwahtay Benais of Leech Lake Reservation, Minnesota discusses the history of the forced seperation of indigenous children from their families in the US alongside Maui Thai International and World Champion Rami Ibrahim who will recount his own abduction as a child in Kuwait and the ongoing kidnapping of Palestinian children in that region.

Between two crossings (Doc and panel)

2:00PM – 3:30 (PAUL ROBESON)

Between Two Crossings is a documentary film that follows the journey of a Palestinian student from Gaza, Nour, who had a scholarship to enroll in Portland State University in the United States. In order to be there, Nour struggled to find a way to travel through the only two gates separating the Gaza Strip from the rest of the world: Erez Checkpoint, controlled by Israel; and Rafah Crossing, controlled by Egypt.

This documentary was directed by Palestinian journalist and filmmaker from Gaza, Yasser Murtaja, who was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper while covering the protest of Great March of Return on April 6, 2018.

CLOSING PLENARY

3:30PM – 5:00PM (VIOLETA PARA STAGE)

Abby Martin, Ahmed Abuznaid, & Dequi Kioni-Sadiki