Speaking Non-Violence: An Evening with Israeli Human Rights Attorney Yael Berda

Israeli human rights attorney, Yael Berda, will speak on the current struggle to defend political dissent in both Israel and occupied Palestine. Drawing on her experience as both a community organizer and a defense attorney for various political prisoners and activists, Yael will give an overview of the state of dissent within Israel and the rising voices to bring an end to social, economic, and cultural oppression and occupation. She will address how people both inside Israel and in the United States can act as solidarity allies to Israelis and Palestinians in building solutions through a non-violent struggle.

Born in New York City and raised in West Jerusalem, Yael Berda is a practicing human rights lawyer representing political activists and free speech cases in Israel. In 1997 she founded “Mahapach - education housing and livelihood,” today Israel's largest grassroots student movement working to enable disempowered Jewish and Palestinian communities to form community strength and lead direct action campaigns in the areas of social and environmental rights. Formerly a columnist for Jerusalem's newspaper Haaretz on issues of politics and culture, she is currently a political commentator on Channel 10's weekly program "Politics Plus". She has represented free speech and censorship cases in Israel's Supreme Court. She teaches public campaigning at the human rights department of the Ramat Gan College of law, seminars on nonviolence and direct action and writes for various publications. Her first book of poems "Planet Israel" will be published in summer 2005.