September 09, 2010   1 Tishrei 5771
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DARFUR  
 Updated October 25, 2009
ACT TO END GENOCIDE  

The results from President Obama’s long-awaited Darfur policy review have been released – and our voices have been heard!

 

Please take action to support the U.S.'s new Sudan policy. The recently released Sudan Policy could be very effective, with its emphasis on the need for real progress, not just promises, and real pressures, if progress on the ground is not forthcoming.  Support the US leading a more urgent peace process, building an international coalition for strict implementation of the North-South peace deal, and employing real consequences for those who continue to attack civilians, block life-saving aid, undermine peace and obstruct justice. The policy is a well-balanced approach of both incentives and pressures – that if implemented correctly could help us turn the corner in Sudan.

 

What you can do:

Send this message to President Obama by calling 1-800-genocide or calling the White House directly at 1-202-456-1111.  If you can't get through send the message electronically at www.whitehouse.gov/contact

 

President Obama, you should immediately demand real progress in Sudan by applying pressure on Khartoum to achieve peace. 

 

Learn more:

To learn more about the policy and reactions to it, see:

 
Programs  

You are not required to complete the work - but neither are you free to desist from it. Woodlands invites you to join us in projects to save Darfurians from genocide. 

  • WESTCHESTER DARFUR COALITION: Woodlands is an active participant in the Westchester Darfur Coalition, a Westchester-based coalition committed to increasing awareness of the genocide in Darfur, initiating and promoting advocacy and humanitarian efforts on behalf of the refugees and others whose lives are torn by this tragedy, supporting efforts to bring peace to the region, and linking to and bringing together civic and faith-based organizations that share this commitment. Meetings are open to all Woodlands congregants and we urge you to attend. To add your name to the WDC mailing list, email WestchDarfur@aol.com.
  • DARFUR IN ISRAEL .

    • GOING TO ISRAEL? YOU CAN DO A MITZVAH

      Several months ago, Sarah Wendrow wrote an article on the back page of Woodlands’ bulletin describing the volunteer work she is doing in Tel Aviv with Darfuri refugees and a program established by a refugee to help fellow Darfuris who escaped to Israel.  Woodlands congregant Dawn Cavrell-Epstein, a teacher in the Pleasantville Middle School, shared the article with her students. Already involved in helping Darfuris, the students decided to help those in Tel Aviv.  They collected books which would be useful in learning English and sent them, book rate, to Tel Aviv.  They also collected school supplies for the refugee children. These do not qualify for the inexpensive book rate.  We are looking for several people going to Israel in the next few months who have some extra space in their suitcases to bring these supplies to Sarah. If you can help or know of someone who can, please contact Dawn at cavrellepsteind@pville.k12.ny.us.
    • Yassin Musa, a refugee from Darfur, removes his Israeli identity card from his worn leather wallet and holds it like a prize. Musa is one of more than 600 Sudanese refugees from Darfur granted temporary residency in Israel. He and his fellow Sudanese fled the genocide in Sudan and passed through Egypt on their way to the Jewish state. Read more.
    • You have heard about the large number of refugees from Darfur escaping through Egypt into Israel. Read the report presented to the Westchester Darfur Coalition about this situation and how you can help both the Darfuri refugees and Israel.
  • SOLAR COOKERS . It has been said that the battleground for the genocide against Darfuri civilians is the bodies of the Darfuri women and girls. When they leave the relative protection of the refugee camps to seek grass and wood for cooking fuel, they risk rape. Despite the horror that may await them, the women and girls continue to venture out of the camps. If they don't, then their husbands, sons, brothers and fathers will - and they will be killed. Rape seems like the lesser evil. But, the good news is that rape in one camp has gone down 65-70%. That's because the families in this camp have been provided with solar cookers, decreasing the need for women to leave the camp to hunt for firewood. Woodlands Community Temple, along with about 15 other faith communities in Westchester (Bet Am Shalom Synagogue, Bet Torah, Congregation M’vakshe Derekh, Dobbs Ferry Lutheran Church, Larchmont Temple, Pleasantville Community Synagogue [joined by Pleasantville Interfaith Clergy], Temple Beth Abraham, Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, Temple Israel of New Rochelle, Temple Israel of Northern Westchester, Temple Shaaray Tefila of Westchester, and Westchester Reform Temple) has, thus far, raised over $60,000 to provide solar cookers to families in the Iridimi Refugee Camp. Our partner, Jewish World Watch, has begun to provide the same relief to folks in the Touloum refugee camp, and we are supporting this effort. To send solar cookers to the Touloum Refugee Camp in Chad - and then for other camps after every family in Touloum has received cookers, print out a form- or pick one up from the Social Action table.
  • DARFUR FATIGUE: Enough is enough. At Woodlands, as at many other synagogues, we paid a lot of attention to Darfur. We felt that, as human beings, we could not stand by and allow the slaughter of innocent civilians. We felt that, as Jews, we had to prove that we really meant it when we said “never again.” But, it is more than 4 years already! We are tired - let’s go on to something else. READ WHY WE CAN'T .
Legislative Action  
State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, 2009
 
Purpose: This legislation will establish funding levels for foreign assistance programs, including Darfur-related programs, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009. To ensure the safty of the people of Darfur, urge your members of Congress to request the following funding be provided:
 
·         $414 million for the U.S. Contribution to the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). This amount, which matches the Administration's request, is needed to support the UN-AU peacekeepers currently deployed in Darfur, and speed the deployment of additional forces.
 
·         $16 million in Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) funding for the continued training of troops for each of 16 battalions that the US will have bilaterally trained and equipped for deployment as a part of UNAMID. These funds will go train replacement troops for those rotating out of Darfur.
 
·         $800 million in International Disaster Assistance (IDA) to respond to complex humanitarian emergencies worldwide, including in Darfur and the rest of Sudan. These funds are also necessary to mitigate and respond to the immediate effects of the global food crisis.
 
Status: Approved by the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations on July 16. Approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on July 17. Further action on these bills before Congress adjourns is unlikely.
 
Action: Call or write your Representative and Senators urging them to support these critical programs for Darfur at the funding levels listed above. 
Developments  

 

Rabbi David Saperstein Arrested with Members of Congress to Protest Suffering in Darfur

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 27, 2009 - Today Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, was arrested on the steps of the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC along with Representatives John Lewis (D-GA), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Donna Edwards (D-MD) and Jim McGovern (D-MA), as well as Jerry Fowler, Executive Director of Save Darfur and John Prendergast, Co-founder of the Enough Project.

The act of civil disobedience was in protest of the ongoing suffering in Darfur, exacerbated by Sudanese President Bashir's recent expulsion of more than a dozen aid agencies from the region. (Save Darfur's press release can be found below, and a March 2009 statement from Rabbi Saperstein regarding the expulsion of aid agencies can be found online .)


DC
Excerpts from Rabbi Saperstein's remarks follow:

Dr. King described the most tragic political sin good people can make - that we will be "too late." As he said, "We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now." Later, there will be time for regret for past failures; now is the time for action. For make no mistake - our legacies will be measured not by our sentiments or even our efforts - but by whether in the end we stop or fail to stop this genocide, by whether we save the children or they perish on our watch.

A few years ago when I visited the camps, courageous mothers and grandmothers and dedicated relief staff were making unbelievable strides in saving the children. But no longer. This past year, the situation has deteriorated with increasing rapidity.

I have a nightmare that years from now, there will be a Museum of the Darfurian Genocide that will be part of the genocide trail. And tourists will go from Cambodia to Rwanda, from Auschwitz and Treblinka to Darfur, to learn of the pillage, rape, murder and starvation. And they will gasp and they will sob, and many among them will doubtless wonder: Where were our parents? Where were our President and Congress? Did they not know? Did they not care? We cannot let that happen.

 
Activists Make NBC Take Notice. Woodlands was well represented early in the morning on July 23rd. Jeanne and Murray Bodin, Ellen Dreskin, Dayle Fligel and Roberta Roos were among the over 100 folks who marched to the NBC studios and disrupted the outdoor taping of the Today Show, calling on NBC to increase its coverage of the China-Sudan connection. The action was organized by the American Jewish World Service. You can see the video of the event made by AJWS at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiLH99n_odY. You can also read the NBC findings brief which includes an overview of AJWS' research on media coverage of Darfur and a slideshow of photographs from the rally.

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