Activist to talk on Obama's approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict

KALAMAZOO—An activist and author will speak at Western Michigan University this month to explain why he thinks President Obama's approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict has failed to bring peace.

Josh Ruebner, national advocacy director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, will speak at 7 p.m. Saturday Nov. 23, in 211 Bernhard Center. He will speak about his new book, "Shattered Hopes: Obama's Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace." The event is free and open to the public.

Josh Ruebner

Ruebner has been a consistent and dedicated activist for peace and reconciliation in this part of the world. He will bring to his speech not only intellectual clarity, but also a passion for justice. He is the co-founder and former executive director of Jews for Peace in Palestine and Israel, an organization that merged with Jewish Voice for Peace.

"With the passion of a longtime activist and the rigor of a trained researcher, Ruebner dissects a wide range of sources, including WikiLeaks and the parallel Palestine Papers, to provide a tour de force analysis of Obama's failed Middle East policy," says Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project, Institute for Policy Studies.

The event is sponsored by Kalamazoo Non-Violent Opponents of War, the Kalamazoo Peace Center and the Kalamazoo Interfaith Coalition for Peace and Justice. It will be one of several talks that Ruebner is giving throughout Michigan.