Observations from Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, a report back by Jeff Klein

JEFF KLEIN will report back on his recent trip to Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.  He is a retired machinist and local trade-union president active with the anti-war group Dorchester People for Peace. He is a board member of Massachusetts Peace Action and a member of its Palestine-Israel Working Group. Since 2004 Jeff has traveled almost every year to Palestine/Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East, most recently including Syria in 2016 and 2018.

As with previous trips, Jeff plans to share what he learned in a report back for MAPA and the wider peace community. Below are just a few of his observations. To hear more and ask your own questions, register here!

On Israel and Palestine he said in his latest article Fascism on the March: “Flag Day” in Jerusalem, “The boisterous Zionist crowd was overwhelmingly young and male, typically in groups from Jewish religious nationalist schools. They mostly wore white shirts as a kind of collective uniform and waved Israeli flags attached to hefty broom sticks – and some, menacingly with sticks alone – to intimidate the Palestinian population.”

On Syria he said, “I can say unreservedly that I love Syria and its people. Syrians are hard-working and invariably kind and welcoming – even to a visiting American from an enemy country. It with sorrow and shame that I recognize the efforts or my own government to destroy everything that is good here. Certainly the Syrians deserve a better government than the one they have, but it is a lie that the US is promoting democracy in Syria. Instead, the attacks and siege by the US and its allies are, if anything, hindering the reforms that are sorely needed.”