March 2024 Newsletter

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Day 1: Holding onto Palestinian heritage and culture is a form of active resistance in the face of erasure. We opened our 6th annual Conference by celebrating the contributions of local artists and creatives for a night of engaging and thoughtful expression of Palestinian identity. This included an art exhibit by local talent, tatreez and dabka workshops, and an engaging night of performances that included poetry, music, and spoken word. Check out highlights from day 1 here 100 people attended.

Day 2: The second day of our conference was centered around activism and community involvement as we hosted a series of workshops for participants! We heard from leading Palestinian American activists including Omar Baddar, Linda Sarsour, Laila ElHaddad, and Sami Shaban. We also featured a bazaar that aimed to support local businesses from the community! Our speakers empowered our audience to take action every day for Palestine in every space that they occupy, whether its at school, the workplace or in their own homes. Check out some of Linda Sarsour’s powerful words on instagram. We had 85 people in attendance.

EVENTS

Day 3: Our final day of the conference was fully virtual and centered on leading global Palestinian scholars and advocates discussing, “The Future is Palestine”. We covered multiple topics including the experiences of 1948 Palestinians, Palestinians advocating in the diaspora, the current context in Gaza, and how we take action moving forward. 70 were in attendance on Zoom!

Book Club

This month’s book club was an intimate and engaging discussion on Adania Shibli’s “Minor Detail.” The group discussed the context of the book, which centers on the abuse of one Palestinian woman during the Nakba, as well as a more general discussion of how it relates to Palestine today. 3 members were in attendance.

Palestine Monday with Thuraya Zeidan

Thuraya Zeidan joined us for a call to discuss the heightened struggle of Palestinians during the Holy Month of Ramadan. We had 40 people join virtually. Watch the full conversation here.

EVENTS

PACC Fundraiser

For our Annual Fundraiser, we invited our community for an Iftar to start our Ramadan Fundraiser to raise funds for PACC. It was a wonderful night that highlighted our impact along with PACC’s future plans! Throughout Ramadan,we raised close to $127,000 all thanks to the generosity of our community! To donate to PACC, visit our website here. Thank you to all who donated!

Young Adults Iftar

In collaboration with Islamic Relief USA, we raised around $13,000 for on the ground relief efforts in Gaza! This Iftar allowed us to empower our young adult population to do all that they can for a free Palestine beyond watching the news on their phones. We hoped to re-energize their passion towards calling for a ceasefire and a liberated Palestine. We had 100 people in attendance. Check out highlights from the event here!

Raw Conversations

Our executive director Rania Mustafa, joined Uproar as a guest on their series Raw Conversations! It was a meaningful conversation that delved into leadership, life and advocacy, watch the livestream here.

OUTREACH MARKETING

NJPRAC Annual Summit at St. Joseph’s

PACC was invited to table at St. Joseph’s for their Annual Summit at St. Joseph’s! We met attendees and introduced them to our organization and the work we do for Palestine!

IRUSA Grand Iftar

PACC was honored with a Community Service Award at IRUSA’s Grand Iftar. Thank you to Islamic Relief USA for recognizing the work PACC has been doing for our community! See pictures of the event on facebook.

Change to: A temporary Ceasefire is not enough!

After hearing news that Kamala Harris announced that the administration is calling for a “six-week ceasefire” we wanted to make it clear that a temporary ceasefire is UNACCEPTABLE! Read our post here.

Billboard Campaign

Through your help and support, we put up 5 more billboards in collaboration with Voices for Humanity. Check out the latest billboard on instagram.

Israeli Real Estate Sales

This month, zionists organized real estate events to sell illegal land that was stolen from Palestinians Teaneck and Englewood. PACC Co-sponsored the rally and our communities showed up in opposition! Read more about the sale here.

International Women’s Day

March 8 marked International Women’s Day. We dedicate that day and the entire month to the women of Palestine. See the post here.

We also amplified Palestinian Women who, despite facing Israeli occupation and genocide, continue to resist and fight for justice in Palestine. See our post for more.

Mother’s Day in the Arab world

On Instagram, we posted a tribute to the Arab mothers in all of Palestine who deserve to live safely with dignity, freedom, and happiness. Read our full tribute

Hands off Rafah

Despite international pressure against it, Israel began its ground invasion of Rafah. We launched a social media campaign to raise awareness about what’s happening on the ground in Gaza. Read more here

There are No Hospitals left in Gaza

Al-Shifa hospital of Gaza city was ONCE AGAIN bombed and raided. 30,000 displaced and injured civilians were forced to evacuate on foot in the middle of the night as Israeli military fired at them. The siege on Al-Shifa Hospital lasted more than 2 weeks and the aftermath was horrifying leaving the hospital destroyed. See our post here.

Israel is committing the most HEINOUS and ILLEGAL war crimes! End the siege NOW! End the occupation NOW!

Ramadan

To commemorate the start of the Holy Month of Ramadan, we wanted to emphasize that this Ramadan is different. Not only are we witnessing the typical Israeli aggressions during Ramadan, but a mass genocide against the people of Gaza.

We also launched our Ramadan 2024 Palestine Advocacy Guide! The purpose of our guide was to help our community set their intentions toward advocating for Palestine through hadiths, duaas, and daily actions! We partnered with the NJ Muslim Coalition to give our guide the widest reach. You can access the full guide here

Easter

As the world celebrates Easter this month, Palestinians are once again sidelined. The Israeli occupation forces continue to dehumanize Palestinians despite whatever faith they celebrate, we think of our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and of course, Gaza. See the full post on Instagram

Land Day

March 30 marks the commemoration of Land Day. From 1967 to 2024, today, Palestinians continue to resist occupation by keeping our rooted ties to the homeland. Just this month, our community has witnessed multiple attempts at attempted Palestinian land theft right here in NJ!

PROGRAMS

Registration for our Spring 2024 session is now open on our website and we have expanded our current programming to include more activities for our community to enjoy! We will be offering a variety of new programs, including Arabic Conversation for strengthening Arabic language skills and weekly Palestine support groups for ages 12 to 16! We are also adding new timings for our Computer, Citizenship, and English classes to better accommodate our community’s needs. Registration for our spring programs will close on Sunday, April 21 so make sure to register as soon as possible! Spots are filling up fast!

PACC is also excited to announce our new weekly Saturday Community workshops, which we will be launching after Ramadan in April! We will be hosting a Tatreez workshop on the first Saturday, a Cooking workshop on the second Saturday, an Arabic Storytime workshop on the third Saturday, and an Art workshop on the fourth Saturday of every month! For more information or to register, visit our website!