Palestine Freedom Project (PFP)

Palestine Freedom Project (PFP)

Overview


Founded in 2005, the Palestine Freedom Project (PFP) is dedicated to providing “resources and logistical support” to grassroots, pro-Palestinian solidarity activists all over the world, in an effort to “enhance communication and coordination across the movement.” Central to PFP’s message is the claim that Israel is an egregious human-rights abuser and an “apartheid” state guilty of: inflicting “massive humanitarian catastrophe” on the people of Gaza; stealing and “occupying” their land; depriving them of basic survival-related necessities; indiscriminately murdering innocent Palestinians in a relentless campaign of state terrorism; and imposing a host of onerous, unjustified restrictions on Palestinian trade and travel. To help Palestinian activists spread these false charges as widely as possible, the PFP website features an extensive database of incendiary protest chants that can be used in anti-Israel demonstrations. Some examples:

  • “One, two, three, four, Occupation no more … Five, six, seven, eight, Israel is an apartheid state.”
  • “You’re glitz, you’re glam; You’re stealing Palestinian land!”
  • “Justice won’t wait; One person, one vote, one state!”
  • “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Israeli apartheid has to fall!”
  • “Collaboration is a crime; Stop blockading Palestine!”
  • “From Iraq to Palestine, occupation is a crime!”
  • “Gaza must have food and water; Israel, Israel, stop the slaughter!”
  • “Hey, hey, ho, ho! Occupation has got to go!”
  • “All your diamonds cannot hide your support for apartheid!”

Also on its website, PFP provides a list of “Companies Profiting from the Occupation” by producing goods in the the disputed West Bank “settlements,” or by engaging in commercial enterprises that somehow promote “economic exploitation” of, or “control over,” the Palestinian people. PFP urges consumers everywhere to boycott these businesses.

In 2013, PFP organized a U.S. speaking tour for Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Additional key speakers who disseminate PFP’s message to audiences in the U.S. and abroad include: Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abunimah; International Solidarity Movement (ISM) co-founder Huwaida Arraf; ISM activist Brian Avery; the Arab American Institute‘s new-media coordinator, Omar Baddar; activist and author Anna Baltzer; British Committee for the Universities of Palestine member Susan Blackwell; author and independent journalist Max Blumenthal; former PLO Negotiations Support Unit member Diana Buttu; U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel organizer Nada Elia; Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, & Sanctions activist Noura Erakat; the United Nations‘ Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights, Richard Falk; Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions founder Jeff Halper; Palestinian-American poet and actor Remi Kanazi; Palestinian physician and author Ghada Karmi; U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (USCEIO) activist Mark Lance; human rights activist Paul Larudee; the Palestinian-American hip-hop group The Philistines; Al-Awda co-founder Mazin Qumsiyeh, USCEIO activist Josh Ruebner; former Palestinian ambassador to the U.S., Afif Safieh; pro-Palestinian activist Ora Wise; and Palestine Solidarity Project co-founder Bekah Wolf.

One of PFP’s foremost operational priorities is to develop and distribute “high-quality resources of every kind to make Palestine solidarity activism more efficient and effective than ever.” Toward that end, the Project is developing a Palestine activism handbook series, where each module is devoted to a particular theme of import. The first installment of the series, titled Putting Technology to Work for Palestine Activism, was released in August 2008. The second volume, Organizing Actions and Events, is devoted to planning and executing activities and programs related to the Palestinian cause. It suggests, among other things, that activists engage in street-theater displays such as setting up “mock checkpoints” and acting out “torture tactic demonstrations” in order to “raise awareness” of the brutality allegedly “employed by the Israeli military against Palestinians.”

In conjunction with the Wheels of Justice Bus Tour, PFP has also produced a handout providing a concise introduction to the basics of establishing local campaigns in support of “Palestinian human rights.” And to further disseminate its anti-Israel themes, the Project is currently developing an online resource directory.

To cultivate future leaders for the Palestine solidarity movement, PFP offers workshops to train activists in a variety of vital organizing skills. Among these workshops are: “Media Skills for Palestine Activists”; “Organizing a Campus Divestment Campaign ”; “Putting Technology to Work for Palestine Activism”; and “Understanding the Opposition: Anatomy of the Organized Zionist Community in the United States.”

PFP’s funding derives entirely from private donations. One of the organization’s more noteworthy advisors has been Mazin Qumsiyeh.

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