I am sending you an announcement about the Walk from Chicago to Peoria that Michael Goode spoke to us about at our last Potluck, June 28. The Walk/Vigil will be coming to Naperville Sunday, July 7. We have agreed to host a special potluck at 7:00 p.m. at Wesley United Methodist Church, 21 E. Franklin. Michael has invited Church of the Brethren congregations to join us and I would encourage you to invite friends to share the evening with us.
We are planning a potluck similar to the ones we usually hold. Please bring a generous dish to share and your own table service. Drinks will be furnished.
Rev. Duane Mevis
During the current upheaval in Israel and Palestine, CPT's Hebron team has witnessed the Israeli government's Boeing-made Apache attack helicopters used as a weapon against Palestinian civilians, including children. For several decades, the Israeli military has used Caterpillar bulldozers to destroy Palestinian homes and dispossess thousands of families.
In response to the ongoing devastation, CPT will hold the Saturday July 6 vigil at Boeing to launch an eight day, 170-mile faith walk to the Caterpillar plant in Peoria, IL. The walk will be led by CPTers Michael Goode , who was denied entry into Israel and Palestine by Israeli authorities on June 24 and Cliff Kindy, who was denied entry in 2000. They will visit churches along the route and urge Boeing and Caterpillar to place the lives of Palestinian and Israeli children ahead of profits.
The current fleet of Israeli Apaches has already proven far too lethal to Palestinian children. Nonetheless, the government of Israel has announced its intention to upgrade its current fleet of helicopters with Boeing's AH-64D Apache Longbow, a helicopter Boeing claims is the world's deadliest -- 400% more lethal than previous Apache models. CPT believes that selling more and deadlier weapons of destruction to the government of Israel will escalate the conflict, adding still more to the number of dead and injured Israeli and Palestinian children and their families.
Caterpillar manufactures the bulldozers the Israeli military has used to destroy systematically thousands of Palestinian homes in the past two decades. CPT has documented over one hundred such demolitions in the Hebron district over the past seven years. Thousands more Palestinian children are at risk of being left homeless and hopeless by impending demolitions.
Kindy and Goode will begin their walk heading south and west on Ogden Avenue. They will spend the first night in Bridgeview, IL, visiting with the local Arab-American community and a local mosque. The walk will end Sunday, July 14, at the Caterpillar plant in Peoria.
CPT invites its constituency to participate in the vigil or join Goode and Kindy for any part of their journey. For more information, please call 1-312-455-1199. During their walk, Goode and Kindy can be reached at 1-312-933-8986.
People not in the vicinity who wish to support the walkers are encouraged to ask their congregations to observe a moment of silence on Sunday, July 7 to pray for the children of Israel and Palestine. Familes are encouraged to observe this moment of silence in their homes as well with parents explaining to their children why they are doing so beforehand.
