Alex Awad asks Eugene to recognize Palestine as an independent state

Presenter: The next two Saturdays, faith communities in Eugene will be calling for justice in Palestine. The Rev. Dr. Alex Awad:

The Rev. Dr. Alex Awad: On Saturday, we have a big event at First United Methodist Church, the church that sometimes is labeled ‘The Toaster Church.’ It’s called ‘A Simple Meal.’ The simple meal is actually started by the Friends Church. And this is the third time they do ‘A Simple Meal’ in Eugene.

Ibrahim Hamide, who owns the restaurant called Café Soriah, will be cooking a Palestinian meal called mujadara made of lentils and rice. And it’s a simple meal, actually. And he is going to cook for over 200 people.

 Presenter: Please make your reservations in advance for this event. You can find all the details on our website at KEPW.News.

The Rev. Dr. Alex Awad: And people can come, eat the meal, and before that, Dr. (Mark) Brauner will speak, showing his experience from being in Gaza as a physician.

I will give a small lecture, about half an hour. I will be showing a PowerPoint presentation.

I’m a Palestinian, a Christian from Jerusalem. I live in Eugene. We’ve been living in Eugene for 10 years now. And I am trying as much as I can to educate people on the things that are happening in Gaza and in the West Bank, because there’s a lot of misinformation here in America, and there is a lot of propaganda that is not correct. It’s not right.

And you know, I try to stand with the oppressed and with the people who are really suffering a lot in Gaza and in the West Bank. 

This is why I asked some people from here, from Eugene, gentlemen and women, to join me. And we formed what we call People for Justice and Peace in Palestine.

So we created this as a result of what we think of the genocide that is happening in the Holy Land, and we try to get people to understand that this is wrong. It’s not only wrong for Israel to commit a genocide against its Palestinian neighbors, but it’s wrong for the United States to be supplying the weapons and the arms to do this genocide.

So, that doesn’t make us popular with many patriotic Americans who think that America cannot do anything wrong or with some evangelical Christians who think that Israel cannot do anything wrong. So we are struggling to try to convey our message. 

But thank God for all the people in Eugene, in Oregon, and throughout the United States who are finally listening to our message and finally turning around to wanting to support peace and justice for all Palestinians and Israelis in the Holy Land.

And so it’s again, a fundraiser and an educational tool about the situation in Gaza. Basically what we want is justice—really justice for Israelis, justice for Palestinians. 

And we need to stop those demagogues that are leading us to war after war, endless wars in the Middle East. You know, the neocons and the Christian Zionists who believe that we have to have wars in order to bring Jesus back in the last days.

So, you know, we need to say, no, there is a better way. Even Christianity is about peace and justice. It’s not about endless wars.

I mean, I used to be a pastor of a church in Jerusalem. And usually I preached the love of God and peace to both Israelis and Palestinians. I’m for humanity and I’m for justice. I’ll continue that way.

Presenter: A simple meal will be served this Saturday, Oct. 3, at noon at the First Methodist Church.

On the following Saturday, Oct. 10, the Unitarian Universalist Church will host a people’s tribunal. The Rev. Dr. Alex Awad:

The Rev. Dr. Alex Awad: I think the ‘People’s Tribunal’ is trying to do what the United Nations is doing, but it’s failing to have results because when it comes to the United States and Israel, ‘Might makes right’—not, you know, not ‘Truth makes might.’

So I think the tribunal is bringing the United Nations into our town, into our cities, into our small communities and saying, okay, the United Nations failed, but at least we the people, we the people, we can also make judgment. We can also criticize ourself, criticize our government, criticize our complicity in all of that.

So that’s why I support it—because it’s not happening there in Washington or New York or in Geneva. It can happen in Eugene where we can put our heads together, look at the evidence, you know, look at what happened in Gaza, look at our complicity in that and decide: Yes, yes. Here is the sad truth. We are partners in crime when it comes to Gaza.

And we can put Donald Trump even in absentia on trial because Donald Trump took the United States to a war with Iran to please his Zionist friends and the billionaires that are giving him billions of dollars.

In the first Trump administration, they pressured him to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to recognize Israeli settlements in the West Bank as legal, to recognize Israel’s right In controlling the Golan Heights, to kick out Palestinian representatives from the United Nations and send them home and to close the Palestinian Consulate in Washington, D.C.

And lately, he will not allow (Palestinian National Authority President) Mahmoud Abbas to come to the United Nations to address the General Assembly.

He’s becoming rich at the expense of the American people and at the expense of the people in the Middle East.

And the evidence is there and he’s not ashamed of it. I mean, he gets a $400 million dollar airplane from, you know, Qatar and, you know, those despots in the Gulf states are willing to give him millions of dollars to please him in order to get favors.

And that is wrong, you know. That’s absolutely against, what this country have been founded on.

So you can see this man is actually bribed to do all of these things that are not in harmony with American foreign policy in the Middle East. U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East say those settlements are illegal.

Donald Trump says ‘No, they are legal. Why? Because, you know, Christian Zionists and Jewish Zionists have filled my pockets with money.’

You know, I mean, it’s ridiculous. It’s well known. This is documented. And he is not shameful about it. And that’s why a tribunal to point these things out are really, it’s an educational tool. It will help open the eyes of the people: ‘Okay. Here, here are the facts. Here is the reality.’

Just like a lawyer would bring about a fact on a case, we can also bring many facts on Netanyahu and his corruption and Donald Trump and his corruption.

Presenter: He hopes that the facts will inspire Eugenians to action that will make a difference in Palestine. Alex Awad:

The Rev. Dr. Alex Awad: I hope all of this activity will produce something to make a difference in the lives of the people who are really hurting in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

I envision one day that one city in the United States will be the first city to recognize Palestine as an independent state, and I hope that city would be Eugene.

So I hope that our collective efforts and education and advocacy will cause the people of Eugene to sign a document saying that we, the people of Eugene, recognize Palestinian statehood. Once this happens in Eugene, it may be duplicated in Portland, in Seattle, in Los Angeles, in Minnesota, and all over.

But it would be nice if something like this would start in this little town called Eugene. People are with us, they are, spiritually and mindfully. They are with us in their hearts and minds.

So I think it’s almost time for something like this to happen where people say, okay, it’s time for us even as a city of Eugene, if we recognize the Palestinian state, even the rumor about it, even if we try and fail, if people hear about it, it will make a difference.

Presenter: Alex Awad invites Eugenians to learn more about what is happening in Gaza, with a simple meal Oct. 3, and the People’s Tribunal Oct. 10.