FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cindy Corrie
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
(360) 754-3998

Palestinian Nonviolent Leaders to Speak in Lacey Tuesday, March 6th, 7 PM, at St. Martin’s University, Worthington Center, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE

Feryal Abu Haikal and Mohammed Khatib, two leaders of the Palestinian nonviolent resistance movement whose struggles have received worldwide attention, will speak Tuesday, March 6th, 7 PM, at St. Martin’s University. Their free talk, Grassroots, Nonviolent Resistance to Israeli Apartheid in Palestine, will be presented at the Worthington Conference Center at 5300 Pacific Avenue, SE, in Lacey. Abu Haikal and Khatib, currently on a nationwide speaking tour, both live in West Bank communities that are immediately threatened with destruction and expulsion by the Israeli military and settlers. They will share their personal experiences mobilizing their communities to nonviolently resist occupation and discrimination.

Feryal Abu Haikal, an educator and 60 year-old mother of eleven children, recently retired after over a decade as headmistress at the Qurtuba School in Hebron's old city. The school serves 100 Palestinian children. Some of the most extreme Israeli settlers have taken up residence in Hebron's old city and regularly attack Palestinian residents in order to drive them from their homes and communities. Qurtuba School serves as a model of nonviolent resistance to Israeli military occupation.

Mohammed Khatib is a leading member of the town of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall. He has been a principal organizer of Bil'in's creative, two-year, nonviolent struggle to prevent both the construction of Israel's apartheid wall on village land and the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements. The community of Bil'in has worked closely with Israeli activists in a joint, popular struggle.

The March 6th Lacey event is organized by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice in cooperation with St. Martin’s University and is endorsed by Veterans for Peace Chapter 109 (the Rachel Corrie Brigade) and the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project.

Abu Haikal and Khatib are to speak in 23 cities from New England to the West Coast. They will, also, appear Monday, March 5th, 7 PM, at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), in Tacoma, Room 201 Xavier Hall.