7/28/2019 AMP Quarterly Newsletter

1/4

A signature program or 2013, AMPs Israeli apart-heid outdoor advertising campaign not only has

AMPs MissionThe mission o the Ameri-can Muslims or Palestineis to educate the public andmedia about Palestine andits rich cultural and histori-cal heritage.

Contact usI youd like AMP to comeconduct a workshop orlecture at your event,or i youd like to obtainmaterials and ree in-

ormation, contact us atin o@ampalestine.org or708.598.4167.

10101 S. Roberts Road,Palos Hills, IL 60465708.598.4267www.ampalestine.orgin o@ampalestine.org

AMPs Israeli apartheid ad campaign sparks debatein media about occupation

EMPOWERMENT through EDUCATION and ACTION

AMERICAN MUSLIMS FOR PALESTINE

Quarterly Newsletter I July

A Blessed LandA Noble CauseNov. 28-30Crowne Plaza OHare

The con erence orPalestine in the US

SAVE THE DATE

New York City press conference

San Francisco bus ad

NYC transit ad

raised awareness among the American public, it has raised the issue o Israeli occupation and Palestiniahuman rights in numerous mainstream media reports.From network a liates ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX News to the New York Times, San Francisco Examiand others, AMPs ad has helped bring the Palestinian narrative into mainstream news coverage.

We are extremely happy with the outcome o ourad thus ar, said Kristin Szremski, director o mediaand communications. The media and public haveresponded quite positively to the ad because its message resonates with the American people.

Zionist organizations have hit back hard in their e -orts to stife the discussion about Israel and its violations o human rights and international law, said DrHatem Bazian, AMP chairman.But theyre losing public support and AMPs messahas prevailed.The ad rst appeared in New York City on the MetroNorth rail line in March and later appeared on busesin San Francisco in May. The ad may next appear inWashington DC, Cincinnati, Detroit and Minnesota, name a ew.

7/28/2019 AMP Quarterly Newsletter

2/4

AMP OPENS NEW CHAPTER INDENVER, CO

The American Muslims orPalestine opened its newest

chapter in Denver, CO, in akick-o event that eaturedDr. Osama Abu Irshaid, AMPboard member, and KristinSzremski, director o mediaand communications onJune 15. The event was thelast in a series o Nakba

commemoration events across the country. Nearly 200 people attended the inaugural dinner, while about 20 activists andcommunity members attended an activist training conducted by Ms. Szremski earlier in the day.

While AMP devotes itsel to educating the public and media about Palestine and its rich cultural heritage, it also takes times to com-memorate signi cant events in Palestinian history. One o its major national campaigns in the second quarter was its 6th annualNakba Commemoration Campaign: Palestine: Our Identity, Our Dream, Our Future, which took place in cities across the country. New

York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Denver, Sacramento and Los Angeles were just a ew o the places where AMPs lectures,workshops and outdoor heritage events took place.

In Chicago, a daylong outdoor event welcomes atleast 1,500 attendees, who enjoyed reshly bakedbread on taboons, dabka and talks by Tariq Abuham-dia, the son o the martyr Masaya Abuhamdia, whodied in Israeli custody; Sahar Francis, director o

Addameer; Sheikh Jamal Said o the Mosque Founda-tion, and others. In Cali ornia, Palestinian member othe Knesset Dr. Jamal Zahalqa, AMP board member

Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid and Dr. Hatem Bazian addressed audiences throughout the state.We eel these events are important because we need to keep our heritage alive, especially among our youth, said Dr. Osama Abu

Irshaid, AMP board member.Dr. Abu Irshaid also has stressed that it is time or everyone who cares about Palestine to take ownership o the Palestinian and Islamicnarrative to combat the misin ormation spread about Palestines history by Zionists.

Palestine supporters commemorate65 years of Al Nakba

7/28/2019 AMP Quarterly Newsletter

3/4

AMPtakes on Department of EducationThe American Muslims or Palestine, in collaboration with other socia justice organizations, contacted the US Department o Education toask the ederal agency to re rain rom mounting superfuous andunnecessary investigations o Palestine solidarity work on collegecampuses. Since the Education Department reinterpreted Title VI othe Civil Rights Act o 1964, Zionist organizations have exploited it t

launch complaints against Students or Justice in Palestine chap-ters and also o pro essors who present the Palestinian narrative intheir lectures.Title VI now prohibits schools that receive ederal nancial assis-tance rom discriminating against students because o their race,color, or national origin, and rom allowing universities to oster adiscriminatory environment on campus. While that is a laudablegoal, Zionist organizations are exploiting this clause by equatingPalestine solidarity work with hate speech and by saying it cre-ates a hostile environment or Jewish students.

It is time or the Department o Education to stop bending tooutside pressure to investigate politically motivated complaintsby groups intent on stifing Palestine solidarity activism, said Dr.

AMP-Chicago began its youth summer camp, which aimsto help Palestinian American children connect with theirheritage and their history. The camp is a pilot program thateventually may be rolled out to other chapters.

AMP -CHICAGO BEGINSSUMMER CAMP FOR YOUTH

Hatem Bazian, AMP chairman. In e ect, these baseless complaints and allegations are creating an unsa e and hostile environmentor Arab and Muslim students, which is anathema to the intent o Title VI.

The coalition is asking the education department to clari y its policies and procedures, which have le t the door open to actually andlegally baseless complaints against students and universities.

AMP led the letter in conjunction with the Center or Constitutional Rights, the Asian Law Caucus, the National Lawyers Guild, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Arab-American Institute, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Cali orniaand Jewish Voice or Peace.

E X C E

R P T

7/28/2019 AMP Quarterly Newsletter

4/4

In response to AMPs Israeli apartheid ad in San Francisco, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Anti-De amation League and American Jewish Committee tried, but ailed, to shut down public criticism o Israeli policies that violate international law and Palestinhuman rights.

The group tried to equate AMPs ad with the same hate speech that appeared on notedIslamophobe Pamela Gellers ads that called Palestinians and Muslims savages. Theycalled on the San Francisco Board o Supervisors to pass a resolution to sanction AMPand its ad; they called on the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority to banpolitical speech ads and to donate the proceeds rom AMPs ad to the Human RightsCommission in the same way the transportation authority donated the proceeds romGellers Islamophobic ad to und a study on the health impact o Islamophobia on Arabsand Muslims.In each case, the Zionist organizations did not prevail in their silencing tactics and adiverse coalition, including Jewish Voice or Peace, the Asian Law Caucus and CAIR-SFBay Area, rallied around AMP to success ully ght back.

Zionists lose out in San Francisco

Over the years, due to the colonialism and other actors, the Islamic heritage and connec-tion to the Holy Land has been erased.

AMP eels it is just as important to help our Muslim youth to rediscover their right ul hertage in Palestine as well as learn about current events there today as it is to educate thegeneral public about Palestine.

AMP is in the rst phase o developing a Palestinian curriculum with a group o curriculumdevelopment experts, teachers and researchers in order to provide high quality educationmaterials to Muslim and non-Muslim students alike.

Developing a Palestine school curriculum

We originally presented the idea at the ISNA Education Forum in 2012. This year, we presented our work so ar, which included anoutline o the strands and themes or each grade as well as desired outcomes. AMP hopes to have the rst textbooks available or the2014/15 school year, inshaAllah.

BOYCOTT THESE BRANDS!Jordan River, Jordan River Bio-Tops, KingSolomon. All Hadiklaim products.

For more in ormation go to

www.ampalestine.org/ramadandates

THIS RAMADAN,MAKE A DATE WITH JUSTICEChoose Occupation -Free Date