April 2024 Newsletter

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Community Gathering to Honor Gaza: No Eid While Gaza Has No Eid

To honor and center Gaza during Ramadan and Eid, we had a community gathering where we shared the story of Martyrs from Gaza and our children wrote messages to Gaza on stones to permanently decorate Gould Park during the Eid Holiday. It was a day of mourning, healing, and a reminder that this Eid was a different one. We also designed and printed shirts with the slogan and asked our community members to wear them during Eid. Thank you to Excellent Printing for printing the shirts for our community!

PACC’s 10 Year Anniversary

For PACC’s ten year Anniversary on April 2nd, we treated the community for a photoshoot with 2 professional photographers! The theme of the photoshoot was Palestinian heritage! We adorned our backdrop with Palestinian artifacts from our Museum and the results were stunning!

EVENTS

FOSNA Launch

PACC was joined by the newly formed New Jersey chapter of Friends of Sabeel North America, a Christian Voice for Palestine (FOSNA) to celebrate their launch tour with Executive Director Jonathon Kuttab, who joined us all the way from Palestine. We discussed the united struggle of Palestinians, how faith can be falsely weaponized by certain groups, and how FOSNA NJ will be working to fight against this narrative. Over 40 guests attended.

Monday Brunch

The theme for this month’s monday brunch was health. Dr. Naglaa Rizk spoke about women’s health and was followed by Eslam Mosleh, of FitnessForHer, who led an exercise and fitness session. There were 10 women in attendance.

Atta Khaled

We renamed our monthly “Sunday Series” to “Voices from Palestine,” with the same goal of amplifying Palestinian voices both virtual and inperson. For this event, we were joined by Atta Khaled. Atta is a Palestinian from Gaza who has been an activist for Palestine throughout his life. He discussed the experience of living in Gaza during the first two months of the current genocide and inspired us with his commitment to advocating for his people through his work. 24 people attended and heard his indepth, firsthand account of his experiences.

PROGRAMS

Spring 2024 is off to an exciting start! We’re excited to announce the launch of our new Arabic Conversation program, which will provide our community with a valuable opportunity to enhance their Arabic speaking skills and build their confidence. We are also offering a Palestine Storytime & Craft program for kids ages 3 to 6. Through reading children’s books about Palestine & doing exciting arts & craft activities that relate to the story, children can become familiar with what’s going on in Palestine in an interactive and creative way.! In these challenging times, our programs play a crucial role in connecting individuals with their culture and community, fostering a sense of belonging and Palestinian identity.

To register for any of our programs or for more information regarding our programs, please visit the programs tab on our website!

WORKSHOPS

Cooking & Art Workshops

We kicked off our weekly Saturday workshops this month with an exciting cooking workshop where 20 community members came together to make meat, cheese, and spinach Fatayer (pies). This workshop was the first of many Saturday workshops that we plan on hosting in the future. These workshops are more than just events - they’re opportunities for us to connect, learn, and make genuine connections. Check out and register for all our upcoming workshops on our website!

Tech For Palestine

PACC welcomed the recently launched coalition, Tech For Palestine, for a panel discussion on the unique challenges and positioning of advocates for Palestine working in the tech industry. The panel featured Paul Biggar, the founder of TFP, as well as local community members in tech that discussed their first hand experiences advocating for Palestine in their field. 50 were in attendance.

Calligraphy Workshop

For our last workshop of the month, we held a Calligraphy workshop! Hosted by Alaa Suleiman, daughter of our renowned Tatreez teacher Wafa Ayyad. We had 16 registrants join us as we learned how to create art through words! Check out our pictures here!

Palestine Lives Gala

Montclair State University’s Students For Justice for Palestine invited PACC to speak and table at their fundraising benefit. Our Executive Director, Rania Mustafa, was on a panel amongst other Palestinian activists where he spoke briefly about the importance of campus organizing and encouraged students and attendees to keep speaking up and centering Palestine.

Rutgers New Brunswick: A Woman’s Voice is a Revolution

At this event Rania Mustafa reflected on her role as a Muslim Palestinian woman advocating for Palestine and how it is the mandatory duty for Muslims to speak out against all injustices, including and especially Palestine.

ICPC Eid Bazaar

PACC was invited by ICPC to sell our merchandise and register people to vote at their annual Edi Bazaar! We got over 30 community members to register in time for the upcoming June 4th elections. To register to vote, click here.

Ghazaly Career Fair

Our executive director Rania Mustafa attended Ghazaly High School’s annual career fair! She discussed her career as an advocate for Palestine and how our youth can center advocacy and their future careers.

Meeting with Senator Beach

Our board president Diab Mustafa met with Senator Beach to ensure that IHRA definition is not accepted as the NJ definition for Antisemitism. To learn about what the IHRA definition being introduced into law means for Palestine advocacy, please read this article.

Asbury Park Protest

Organized by FOSNA NJ, PACC was invited to speak at their rally in Asbury Park. Our Palestine Education Director, Basma, gave a powerful speech highlighting the invasion of Rafah, how we have surpassed 200 days of the genocide, and the amazing advocacy work of university students across the United States.

Al-Shifa Hospital Massacre

News of the aftermath of the Al-Shifa Massacre resurfaced and the extent of Israel’s war crimes was on full display! The images that were shared and are still being shared are horrifying and we must continue to hold Israel accountable for their unspeakable crimes. Swipe through our post to learn more here.

Palestinian Child’s Day

In 1995, Yasser Arafat started the Palestinian Child’s Day as a way of shedding light on the injustices and struggles that Palestinian children suffer under occupation. No child should have to endure such burdens. Read more about our post here

PACC Invites You to Palestine Day on Palestine Way!

On PACC’s 10-year anniversary, we shared special news! We are returning this year to Palestine Way for a momentous gathering in solidarity with Palestine. In a year where everything has changed, one thing remains constant: our unwavering commitment to stand against the injustices inflicted upon the Palestinian people. Despite the challenges, we persist in fostering community and preserving our Palestinian identity. See details and all updates here.

Check out our video on Instagram inviting our community to Palestine Day on Palestine Way, a day for Palestinian resilience, pride and community. We hope to see you there!

On This Eid

On Eid day, we reposted a beautiful video that showcased the beauty of Gaza and that reminded us of the resilience of Palestinians as they continue to remain steadfast in their culture and traditions despite living under occupation. Check out the video here. We also launched our No Eid While Gaza Has No Eid campaign to remind our community to center Gaza in our Eid prayers and activities.

Palestinian Prisoner’s Day

On Palestinian Prisoner’s day, we shared a reel to commemorate all the political prisoners Israel unjustly detained and imprisoned systematically. Today and everyday, we remember them in our struggle as we continue to fight for a free Palestine.

Arab American Heritage Month

We highlighted the recent success of the MENA campaign that was passed by the Office of Management and Budget! Read more here!

Earth Day

This Earth Day, we are thinking of Gaza as Israel has hit it with over 65,000 tons of explosives- equal to 3 times more power than the U.S. nuclear bomb that destroyed Japan’s Hiroshima- in the past 7 months alone. While Palestinians continue to care for and cultivate the land of Palestine, Israel continues to destroy and plunder it. See our full post for more detail!

International Book Day

For International Book day, we shared a reel of all of our favorite books that center Palestine. Check it out here!