Learn about life in occupied Palestine -- including settlements, home demolitions, the Wall, checkpoints, refugees, and Palestinian popular resistance and what you can do to support a just peace in Israel/Palestine -- from award-winning presenter Anna Baltzer.

The workshop will review the origins of the most common form of Christian Zionism, the fundamentalist Protestant type that is growing in certain strains of the Evangelical movement and the Republican Party in the United States, as well as a second form of Christian Zionism, the liberal and mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic form that argues for a type of "Israeli exceptionalism" and consistently gives Israel a "pass" regarding the injustices it continues to inflict on the Palestinian people. Both forms of Christian Zionism will be challenged on theological, Biblical, and political grounds and alternative approaches will be offered.

The workshop will show the various ways that the media filters and slants its coverage of the Middle East, the causes for its bias and consequences for the media consumer and America's foreign policy.

Palestinian economy 101. What is the basic character of the economy of the West Bank and Gaza? Using the latest data and information, the workshop presents an overview of what Palestinians produce, how they produce and how much income they generate by producing. Secondly, information on the Palestinian labor market is briefly presented including trends in the labour force, employment, unemployment and wages. Finally, trends in the poverty among Palestinians are presented.

International humanitarian law governs the administration of territory under military occupation. In this workshop, we will consider its implications with respect to three issues: Israel's settlement policies in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; Israel's use of water derived from sources in (or shared with) the West Bank and Gaza Strip; and Israel's responsibilities to the residents of the Gaza Strip. We will explore what obligations the laws of occupation impose, what rights it confers, and what can be done to address violations.

At least 70% of all Palestinians are displaced. The vast majority are refugees, of whom many remain stateless 63 years after their exile. This workshop will explore the conditions of Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons, their rights under international law, and the political dispute giving rise to their protracted displacement. The discussion will also review the unique international system established for Palestinian refugees – the world’s oldest and largest refugee population.

We often think of the blockade on Gaza as a recent phenomenon, one that was imposed in the wake of Hamas’s surprise election victory of 2006. In fact, Gaza has been under some form of blockade for nearly two decades, a process that came full circle after the Disengagement of 2005, and has only intensified since. This policy deserves careful attention because it is considered Israel’s model solution for the West Bank, and eventually, Jerusalem. This workshop will explain the basic facts about the ongoing blockade of Gaza and its implications not only on the people but on a future Palestine.

The workshop will examine the various institutions within the Israel Lobby, its history, and how it has worked to shape U.S. policies in the Middle East, to the detriment of the peoples in the region and of Americans at home. Workshop leader Alison Weir will draw on her decade of research into US-Israel relations and her upcoming book on the topic.

How Israel tries to clean up its image as a violator of Palestinian human rights through misleading LGBT, environmental and Jewish identity PR campaigns.

This workshop will provide a short background of the economy of the occupation, focusing on specific corporations around us that have a financial stake in its continuation. We will discuss different ways for community and campus organizers to hold these corporations accountable and to encourage them to change their policies.

Questions to be discussed in this workshop include: Why do some people consider Israeli policies toward Palestinians apartheid? How does Israel discriminate against its non-Jewish citizens? What are the differences between South African apartheid and Israel's policies toward its Palestinian citizens and Palestinians in the Occupied Territories?

This workshop will take you into the Palestinian popular resistance, briefly discussing organization and challenges on the ground, as well as ways that people can get involved.

This workshop will continue an exploration of the prophetic voice in our time and how that might be applied to the Israel/Palestine situation. Special attention will be paid to those who have experiencied censorship and breakthroughs in speaking/embodying the prophetic. Can we then discern a way forward?

This workshop will sketch out the strategies used by the organized opposition to attack peace and human rights groups and will draw on case studies to explore how you can turn these attacks to your advantage using various types of social media -- such as websites, email, blogs, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

In this interactive session Cary McQueen Morrow, executive director of Art With Impact, will discuss the role of film and media in creating social change, provide concrete case studies of how this has been done effectively, and facilitate a brainstorming session for ways all of us can more effectively use the emotional power of film to create positive social change.

How does the Israeli occupation affected the Palestinian economy over time? Is economic development possible under a military occupation? How can Palestinians avoid the "economic peace?"

In September 2011, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an application for full state membership to United Nations. Why did Abbas take this step? What were the US and Israeli responses? As the application is pending in the Security Council, what are the PA’s next moves? What would full admission to the UN mean for the PLO, the representative body of all Palestinians? Would Palestinian admission to the UN change the status quo? This workshop will highlight the legal and political implications of state membership in the UN and discuss their relationship to the broader effort for Palestinian self-determination.