Two peace activists, Will Thomas and Sandra Yarne, who have visited Palestine and Israel will discuss how the United States supports the oppression of Palestinians by aligning itself with the Israeli settlement-colonization project which is usually referred to as the "conflict". Topics covered will include: occupation; settlements; the wall and checkpoints; demolition of houses, theft of water, destruction of olive trees, and the arresting of children. These topics are not adequately reported in the mainstream US press leaving most US citizens unaware of the scale of the crisis and our county's complicity in the crisis.

Sandra Yarne, Ph. D. is a practicing psychologist specializing in the treatment of trauma, depression, and anxiety. She is a founding member of the Palestine Education Network and the New England Network for Justice for Palestine. She currently serves as a Board member of New Hampshire Peace Action, PEN, and Seacoast Peace Response. She also is actively involved in the Physicians for Social Responsibilities national planning committee to abolish nuclear weapons. She was a member of a peace delegation to Vietnam and Cambodia sponsored by the American Psychological Association.

Will Thomas is a retired educator who taught history/herstory and civics for 32 years at Central High

School in Manchester, NH. He is a U.S. Navy veteran who was a member of the OI (Operations Intelligence) Division on board the USS Okinawa (LPH-3) which participated in the blockade of Cuba during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. A graduate of Keene State College with a B.Ed, he then went to UNH in Durham where he earned a M.A. in History. He is a member of Veterans for Peace, NH Palestine Education Network, NH Peace Action and the Martin Luther King Coalition. He has visited Palestine and Israel five times since 2009 and considers himself a Human Rights Defender.

About NHPA’s bi-weekly Zoom Peace & Justice Conversation Series: 2020's upheavals brought us to a new moment of reckoning and possibility. How do we want to live in the world? What do we value? How can we make the changes we’ve been yearning for? NH Peace Action has been engaged in working for change for decades. We’d like to bring you into these conversations about issues and options for the future. Join us!