Eyewitness Palestine (formerly Interfaith Peace-Builders - IFPB)

Profile

Country/TerritoryUnited States
Websitehttps://www.eyewitnesspalestine.org/
Founded2001, with main office in Washington, D.C., and a West Coast office located in San Francisco
In their own wordsAn apolitical and non-governmental organization that fosters “a network of informed and active individuals who understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United States’ political, military, and economic role in it” by “lead[ing] diverse delegations to Israel/Palestine.”

Funding

  • In 2019, total income was $617,491; total expenses were $640,140.
  • According to its website, “Eyewitness Palestine is mainly supported financially by small individual donations,” but has also “attracted the support of several foundations. We continue to approach additional foundations for fiscal support.” (See below for list of partners.)
    • These foundations are not named in the organization’s Guidestar entry or IRS 990 forms.

Activities

BDS Activities

  • Interfaith Peace-builders, together with COPEPINK and other groups promoting economic warfare, launched a campaign to “End US Military Aid to Israel.”
  • In October 2021, Eyewitness Palestine participated in a campaign titled “No Tech for Apartheid,” calling on Google and Amazon to “end all ties with Israeli apartheid and cut the Project Nimbus contract.” According to the campaign, “Technology should be used to bring people together, not enable apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and settler-colonialism.”
  • In May 2021, Education and Advocacy Coordinator Omar Zahzah published an article calling to “support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, until Israel agrees to cease its colonial and apartheid practices for good.”
  • In October 2020, Managing Director Nada El-Eryan was a signatory on a letter to Congress calling for the U.S. to “stop funding Israel’s military, which regularly engages in violations of human rights and international law without accountability.”
  • In June 2020, during Black Lives Matter protests, Eyewitness Palestine signed a letter to congress calling to “divest from militarism and policing, from the US to Palestine.” According to the letter, “Just as we join in the demand for our tax dollars to be divested from brutal police violence and a repressive military response to protesters asserting that #BlackLivesMatter, we call for an end to U.S.-funded violence abroad.”
  • In April 2017, Eyewitness Palestine sponsored an event titled “A Call to Action: Black and Palestinian Liberation,” which featured workshops titled “BDS: the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement” and “Nonviolent Direct Action as a tool for social change.”
  • In July 2014, Eyewitness Palestine hosted a delegation to Israel and the West Bank in conjunction with AFSC, aimed at exposing participants to “the multi-faceted ways and places in which Palestinians resist occupation- including… Israeli refusers, Boycott Divestment & Sanctions (& many more!)”
  • On January 29, 2014, Eyewitness Palestine held an on-line training called “Mobilizing the Grassroots: The BDS Campaign and You.”
  • In December 2013, Interfaith Peace-Builders signed on a call to thank “the National Council of the American Studies Association (ASA)… decision to endorse the Palestinian call for the academic boycott of Israel.”
  • In 2011, members of the Interfaith Peace Builders’ first African Heritage Delegation to Israel/Palestine issued a call on African Americans to support the struggle for Palestinian rights, and have declared their support for the Palestinian-led campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel.

Board Members

Board members include: Ilise Benshushan Cohen, co-founder of the Atlanta chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace; Adam Horowitz, co-editor of the anti-Israel news portal Mondoweiss; Katie Huerter, founder of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Chapter and the former American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Middle East Peace Building Associate; Lisa Nessan, member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM); and Sarah Scruggs, former civilian accompanier with Christian Peacemaker Teams and former fundraiser for Save the Children.

Partners

All Articles about Eyewitness Palestine (formerly Interfaith Peace-Builders - IFPB)