BIRMINGHAM — Friends of Sabeel International, a Christian grassroots organization that fights for peace and liberty in Palestine, is holding a major conference September 25-27 at First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.

The first day featured Anna Baltzer, Jewish American author of “Witness in Palestine,” who gave a slide presentation of the daily sufferings of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

A second speaker was Susan Nathan, Jewish British author of “The other side of Israel,” who described her experience living in Tamra, a Palestinian village in Israel, and the daily discrimination and injustice inflicted on Palestinians, who are forbidden from driving on “Jewish only” freeways.

Jean Zaru, a Palestinian from Ramallah, spoke about the daily sufferings, asking repeatedly “God why did you forsake us?”

The featured speaker for the first day was Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, author of “Ethnic Cleansing  of Palestine” and professor at Exeter University, who gave the history of the Zionist movement in creating Israel and described the current Palestinian territories as an open prison governed by inmates who get rewarded for treason, describing the Palestinian authority.

A group of demonstrators from Zionist Organization of America appeared in front of the church carrying signs denouncing the Sabeel organization.  Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, Director of Sabeel-Jerusalem, was in attendance and is scheduled to be the keynote speaker on Friday at 6pm at St. George Orthodox Church in Troy.

The conference, cosponsored by the group Jewish Voice for Peace,  will continue through Saturday. On  Friday, September 26 at 8:15, a panel comprised of Imam Mardini, Joel Kovel and Rev. Don Wagner will discuss the “Mandate for Justice” in the three major monotheistic religions. Other speaker include Phyllis Bennis who will discuss U.S. interests and role in the conflict and Chris Hedges with a presentation on the “Blinders in the Communication Process.”

Saturday will end the conference with an appearance by Professor John Quigley and closing remarks by Canon Ateek and Rev. Richard Toll, Chair of Friends of Sabeel-North America, titled “What can we do?” The opening day witnessed around 300 attendants. For more information on the conference, visit www.fosna.org.