Here’s what Margaret Brown, from Sabeel-Hawaii, had to say:

These young women, more than any of the numerous speakers Sabeel has co-hosted, really seemed to speak to the Jews of various persuasions in the audience.  I saw Jewish acquaintances in the audience who have never come to anything we have offered on Palestine/Israel, including talks by Jewish or Israeli speakers.  There’s something very non-threatening about being lectured to by a couple of brilliant and sincere 19 yr olds who have risked so much. George Hudes, the founder of our local tiny JVP chapter, said that even one of his acquaintances who is on the AIPAC board had said he was impressed with Maya and Netta’s presentation.

All and all, it was a very well received event that brought some significant new blood into the movement for justice and peace in Palestine/Israel, and brought back some folks who had been very frustrated, burned out, or lone-rangering.  I’m feeling hopeful that this will carry over to the Hawaii Sabeel Conference in Feb, 2010.

Maya and Netta spent about an hour with a small group of Native Hawaiian charter school high school students,  and their teacher Laulani Teale,  some social work grad students from the university, and Darlene Rodrigues from AFSC, part of a group that had been touring UH for Peace Day.  It was what old timers here call an “aloha bath”.  The Shministim were greeted warmly, local style, with kisses and lei that the students had twisted out of ti leaves.  We all sat in a circle on a platform (no chairs) in the Sustainability Courtyard.  At first the students were a little shy, but soon they were talking about Hawaiian History, the Occupation in Hawaii, the Sovereignty Movement and ho’oponopono, a traditional Hawaiian process of reconciliation. Maya and Netta shared about what it was like to take a stand that so unacceptable in Israeli society, and a little about what it was like in prison.  I could see that everybody was learning from each other in this exchange. At the end, the students lined up and chanted a traditional Hawaiian chant of thanks to Maya and Netta and finished with group pictures and more hugs.