December
Palestinian American Community Center
December Newsletter #SupportTheMission
2023
December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
If you like anything we are doing, please donate at paccusa.org/donate Every dollar helps keep us going!
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December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
PACC continues to offer its normal programming while taking on several other initiatives to continuously respond to what’s happening on the ground in Palestine. We are doing everything we can to help our community. Thank you to all who donated to our end-of-year fundraising campaign! Thanks to you we were able to fundraise $260,815. With your support, we can continue the work. If you have not donated yet, we ask that you donate at www.paccusa.org This is your legacy. This is your community. This is your Palestinian American Community Center.
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December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
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EVENTS
Children’s Press Conference
On December 1st, children were centered during this press conference at PACC. From ages as young as 6 years old to age 17, we were able to hear speeches and poems from our community’s children about the situation on the ground in Palestine. Some children shared their experiences of being targeted at school while being openly Palestinian. Check out sound bites of their narrative here!
Teach-in on Palestinian History We partnered with the Palestinian Youth Movement for a teach-in at PACC! They delved into the rich history of Palestinian resistance and shared some knowledge of our cause. We hoped people would take this knowledge and advocate for a free Palestine in the streets, their schools and in their workplace! Around 55 people were in attendance.
Community Healing Support Group With everything that has been going on, our community members had the strong need to find a space where they could come together with other community members to heal and emotionally support each other. For this reason, PACC partnered with Wafa House and local therapists to offer our community free Palestine support groups. The goal of these support groups is to offer our community the support, validation, and safety they need to get through these difficult times. Our Palestine support groups happen every Monday night at 6:30 pm and are open to anyone who needs it.
December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
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Tatreez Workshops PACC hosted a community workshop dedicated to the intergenerational art of Palestinian Tatreez. Our Tatreez instructor, Wafa Ayyad taught our diverse audience the history of Tatreez before teaching them how to stitch the Tree of Life pattern (Gaza’s Cyprus Tree). We had 35 people in attendance. PACC plans on hosting these workshops monthly so that the community can continue learning about this beautiful form of Palestinian culture, art and resistance. You can book your Tatreez workshop here. For our Monday Brunch this month, we wanted to engage and connect our women to Palestinian culture so we had another Tatreez workshop with our instructor Wafa Ayyad. She told stories of different Tatreez patterns while teaching us how to create the beautiful cross-stitch on an embroidery fabric. The 13 women who attended were eager for our next workshop!
Young Professionals Networking Event To mobilize our Young Adult population in response to what is happening in Palestine, we hosted a Young Professionals Networking event and officially launched our working groups! We also fundraised and held a silent auction where we raised $2,500 50% went to our and 50% to Gaza. We shared ideas and designated roles for our attendees to take action for Palestine. We had 100 people in attendance.
December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
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ICPC Friday Forum: Ask Me Anything Our executive director, Rania Mustafa, was invited for another ICPC Friday Forum. This time, she provided an in-depth history of Palestine from 1917 leading up to presentday context. Check out the livestream here!
Palestine & Social Media Activism During this informative virtual workshop, LialieMustafa gave 43 attendees information and tips on how to best approach their online activism, specifically while on social media.
Book Club During this month’s Book Club, the group read Hala Alyan’s “The Arsonists’ City.” Although set in Lebanon, the author is Palestinian American. Guests were able to discuss themes of culture, living in diaspora and having a sense of community in gathering.
Samidoun Teach-in This in-person teach-in by the Samidoun network, an international group dedicated to raising awareness and advocating for Palestinian political prisoners taught 28 people about the history of political prisoners.
Born in Gaza Documentary We screened the documentary “Born in Gaza” and followed it with meaningful discussion lead by community member Lana Mustafa on what it means to be Palestinian and an ally to the movement. The 66 attendees brought an assortment of cultural dishes from empanadas to mansaf to Japanese onigir showcasing Palestinians and our allies!
December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
Family Teach-in Thuraya Zeidan of “Decolonize the Classroom” joined PACC for a Family and Community Teach-In centered on Palestinian liberation and solidarity for the 35 people in attendance.
Pop-up Children’s Series PACC hosted 4pop-up children’s literature and identity class for 80 kids with Jersey City based author and literacy coach Nawal Qarooni! Nawal told stories to the children that validated Arab, Diaspora, and Palestinian culture and history before doing hands-on activities with them that, not only, developed a love of the stories they read, but an affirming care for themselves, their Community and their Culture.
Palestine Response To share how PACC has responded to the recent and ongoing crisis in Palestine, we put together a Palestine Response booklet that can be accessed here! See the impact PACC has made thanks to the generosity of our community. Help us continue to create change by donating to our end-of-the-year campaign here.
Take Action: Call and Email Congress We continue to urge our social media following and network to call and email their representatives every day. To demonstrate how to make these calls, we went on Instagram Live throughout the whole month. We urge everyone to take this action, the bare minimum in helping Gaza, and call Congress every day using this tool.
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December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
Global Strike for Palestine & Press Conference On December 11th, the International community participated in a global strike for Palestine. Shops were closed, streets were empty, and many called out of work. In South Paterson and Clifton, small businesses shut down in solidarity with the people in Palestine. Paterson was described by many as a “ghost town.” It was beautiful to see Palestinians, non-Palestinians, Arabs, non-Arabs, Muslims and Christians stand in solidarity with Palestine. See footage of the strike here! We also held a small businesses press conference to platform our local business owners who shut down their businesses for the strike. Some, who had family members killed in Gaza, shared powerful words and sentiments of their grief. Watch the livestream on Instagram!
ADVOCACY AND OUTREACH Meeting with Speaker Coughlin Inside the statehouse, PACC with several of our partners met with Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly Craig Coughlin. We let him know of our demands for an immediate ceasefire along with the protection of our community from anti-Palestinian/Arab hate and Islamophobia. He assured us that a statement addressing our concerns would be released soon.
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December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
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Meeting with Congressman Andy Kim Our Executive Director Rania Mustafa met with Congressman Andy Kim along with our partners to discuss and voice our concerns for what is happening in Palestine. On November 22nd, Andy Kim voiced his support for a ceasefire and our community leaders met with him to follow up with additional demands to support Palestinians in Palestine and those living in our communities.
Meeting with the President of Montclair Jonathan Koppell We hosted president of Montclair Jonathan Koppell at PACC where we sat down to discuss our work and efforts to call for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation. It was a great meeting and we hope Montclair University can become a safe space for students to advocate and showcase their love for Palestine without any opposition.
Join Us! Voice For Change Hosted by Joumana Kaddour and Hafsa Habbeh, we shared our urgent need for our community to contact their representatives every day to demand a ceasefire and an end to the occupation. Calling our representatives is the bare minimum and organizers have made it easy for us to make these calls. If you haven’t already started calling, use this tool here and make your voice heard!
RALLIES & PROTESTS
SJP Protest at Rutgers New Brunswick Unfairly suspended at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, SJP hosted a march on campus demanding the university administration to reinstate them immediately. In support, PACC shared a speech and marched along the students chanting and disrupting university life. Earlier that week, we released a statement in support of all SJPs that have been heavily censored for their activism. Read our statement here.
December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
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Workers Demand Peace and Justice For Palestine Protest In Bryant Park, NY we voiced our demands as workers in this country for the government to stop using our tax dollars to fund the genocide in Palestine. Our Programs & Events Coordinator Fedah Mohammed gave a powerful speech on behalf of PACC and led some of the chanting. The action disrupted one of the busiest times of the year in NYC in one of the most crowded sections of the city, the Bryant Park Winter Market! Our message remains loud and clear, that there will be no business as usual while our government is dropping bombs on our people!
Target Protest to #ReinstateAyah
We protested alongside community members in solidarity with Ayah, a Target store manager who was wrongfully terminated for supporting Palestine. The protest was outside the Target in Edgewater, where PACC shared a few words in support. Check out the live video here.
Advocacy and Protest at the Statehouse One of several actions in Trenton that same day, we spoke at a rally organized by several of our partners at the statehouse. We were loud and clear of our demands for a ceasefire in the building’s courtyard as our voices echoed off of the old brick building. Several statehouse staffers approached our demonstration to ask about the Palestinian struggle and how they can support our cause. All in all it was an impactful action that served its purpose to disrupt business as usual.
December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
MARKETING
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Christmas is Canceled in Palestine This Year!
We wanted to highlight the decisions the heads of Jerusalem’s churches made which was to unanimously agree to skip all Christmas celebrations across occupied Palestine! Check out the post here!
Palestinian Teachers’ Day
December 14th marks Palestinian teachers’ day. We took the opportunity to commemorate the Palestinian teachers who have been unjustly taken from us by the Israeli occupation forces. We honor the Palestinian educators who have lost their lives or have had to witness their students martyred by the brutal occupation. Flip through the post here.
Live With Amar Halak Amar Halak went live with us to share her narrative as a Teaneck high school student advocating for Palestine. Check out the video here!
Remembering the First Intifada December 8th marks the 36th anniversary of the First Intifada. We honored the memory of all those who resisted before us in 1987. Read about it here!
December 2023
Palestinian American Community Center
PROGRAMS
Winter 2024 Programs & 18-week Programming Our Fall session has officially ended! We look forward to seeing everyone after our winter break. Registration for our Winter 2024 session, which begins on Saturday, January 6, is now open on our website for anyone interested. We are offering our usual programming but have also added a few new programs– will be offering computer classes, advanced-level Arabic, private adult Dabka classes, and more!
Launched Noble Palestine Elective For this trimester, we are working with Noble Leadership Academy to offer an elective about Palestine. Our Palestine Education Director, Basma Bsharat, has been instructing this elective that means twice a week in the school. The elective was very well-received and popular that registration closed almost immediately. We are exploring the option of expanding the elective to a 3-course mandatory series that all students must enroll in. We commend Noble Leadership Academy and ask that others follow in their suit.
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December
Palestinian American Community Center
paccusa
2023