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Speaker Profiles
DR. JAMES KENNEY and GINGER KENNEY
 Jim and Ginger Kenney, from Mission, Kansas, have been to the Middle East five times, most recently in March 2004 with Fellowship of Reconciliation on a fact-finding delegation with the Interfaith Peace Builders. Jim and Ginger Kenney are active members of the Quaker faith and local representatives of the Friends Committee on National Legislation. Jim served as a Presbyterian minister for twenty years. They took their first trip to Israel in 1976. Subsequent trips worked with Palestinian and Israeli peace groups such as Christian Peacemaker Team, which promotes “standing in the way” between occupiers and occupied in hopes of reducing violence or oppression.

Topics:

  • Vision for Peace in Israel/Palestine

  • Beyond War and Terror

 

Background:

DOUG WHITMORE

Doug Whitmore is a lifelong United Methodist who, in the past few years, began learning about the issues involved in the Palestine-Israel conflict. His growing awareness eventually resulted in a two-week fact-finding trip to the Holy Land with the Rev. Richard Toll, chair of Friends of Sabeel North America. Doug first became acquainted with the Rev. Mr. Toll during the Kansas City Sabeel Conference of October 2006, held at Village Presbyterian Church (www.kcsabeelconference.org).

While on the fact-finding trip, Doug encountered Ecumenical Accompaniers as they went about their work. He returned from that trip determined to become one.

The Ecumenical Accompaniers is a program of the World Council of Churches (http://www.eappi.org/). EAs commit to living in Palestine for three months. They are sent in teams of three or four to live in towns and villages amidst the people. Their work is to bear witness to the suffering and document it for the sponsoring churches and for all who care about those under oppression, and to hope that their presence reduces the suffering and the violence.

Doug applied to the Ecumenical Accompaniers Program and was accepted. His commitment was from December 2, 2007, to March 1, 2008. He was assigned to live in the Palestinian village of Jayyous, and to monitor the notorious Qalqilya checkpoint.

His is pleased to share his experiences with churches and other groups.
JOE CARR
Joe Carr is a 23-year-old peace and anti-oppression activist from Kansas City, Missouri. He graduated with a BA from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington in 2004, having organized with direct-action movements such as Earth First, Food Not Bombs, and Arts in Activism. He spent January to April of 2003 coordinating for the International Solidarity Movement in Rafah, Palestine, and witnessed Israeli soldiers murder US peace activist Rachel Corrie, and British peace activist Tom Hurndall. He now works with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Al Khalil (Hebron), Palestine and in the US Palestinian Rights Movement. He is a performance artist, poet, and musician and uses art to help Americans identify with the Palestinian plight. Click here for more information on Joe's trip 2004-2005 work in Hebron.

Topics:

  • Peace Activism in Palestine: Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation

  • Rachel Corrie

  • Christian Peacemaking in the Holy Land

  • The Gaza Prison Camp: How Israel’s “withdrawal” is far from statehood

  • Performance Art for Palestine: Poetry, music, and story telling inspired by occupation and resistance
ANDREA WHITMORE
ANDREA WHITMORE visited Israel and Palestine in October 2004. A writer and former teacher of English as a Foreign Language at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, she has written biographies of several prominent Kansas Citians and her work has appeared in such publications as Star Magazine, The New York Times, Helicon Nine and Corporate Report.

 

Topics:

  • "The Least of These: Our Obligation in the Holy Land"

 

Background:
DR. JAMES WALKER
DR. JAMES WALKER is a retired Presbyterian minister and college president. The Reverend Dr. James Walker has visited the Holy Land seven times starting in 1967. He has lectured extensively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
BARBARA LECLERQ
 Barbara LeClerq can speak to your group or church on "The Bigger Picture--Observations of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict" -- the eroding of respect for the human rights of the Palestinian people and the consequences. Who are the Palestinians? What do they want? What can Americans do on this issue?

Barbara LeClerq was a military officer for eight years and later lived and taught in the Middle East. She lives in Overland Park, Kansas. Her most recent trip to the Middle East was in September 2003, when she visited Bethlehem and the Golan Heights.

Topics: