Location: TAC: Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th Street, Oakland, USA
This is a very special event allowing our community a close and personal encounter with a foremost advocate of non-violent Palestinian resistance. Iyad Burnat embodies the resilience, resourcefulness, humor and humanity required to sustain community organizing in the face of ongoing persecution by an illegal occupying force.
From the West Bank village of Bil’in, Iyad will share a rare firsthand account of life under military occupation and expanding Israeli settlements. Featured in the Oscar‑nominated documentary “5 Broken Cameras,” which chronicles his village’s struggle, Iyad will describe how his community has faced systematic land theft by surrounding settlements, the destruction of farmland and olive trees, and the daily violence and harassment inflicted by Israeli forces on his family and neighbors. He will place Bil’in’s story in the broader context of accelerating settlement expansion across the West Bank and the tightening regime of checkpoints, walls, and military law imposed on Palestinian communities. Iyad will also speak about the power and limits of nonviolent resistance, and the crucial role that international solidarity can play, including campaigns such as Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) and other concrete actions people in Oakland and beyond can take.