{"id":11949,"date":"2025-07-22T16:24:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T16:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/?p=11949"},"modified":"2025-07-22T16:24:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T16:24:39","slug":"veterans-for-peace-and-allies-40-day-fast-for-gaza-a-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/22\/veterans-for-peace-and-allies-40-day-fast-for-gaza-a-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans for Peace and Allies 40-Day Fast for Gaza \u2013 A Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11950 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-230x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"230\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-230x300.jpg 230w, https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 230px) 100vw, 230px\" \/><\/a>By Susan Smith, Director of Operations and Community Engagement, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)- USA<\/em><\/p>\n<p>First, I need to begin with the disclaimer that I didn\u2019t fast all 40 days of the Veterans for Peace and Allies Fast to stop the genocide in Gaza <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fosna.org\/2025gazafast\">https:\/\/www.fosna.org\/2025gazafast<\/a>, but intermittently, 2-3 days per week anchored around Mondays and Tuesdays. Interestingly, on the days I fasted from roughly 4:00 am to 8:40 pm, allowing myself only coffee and electrolyte drinks \u2013 what a luxury compared to fasting Ramadan with no food or drink! \u2013 I found myself with hunger pangs waiting for the day to be over. But then, on days I wasn\u2019t abstaining from food, I yearned to be fasting to somehow be more in solidarity with and closer to the Palestinian people. It\u2019s kind of like when parents, after a long day with active young children, wait for them to go to sleep so that they, themselves, can rest, only to look at the slumbering cherubs and yearn to wake them up.<\/p>\n<p>On the two days that I joined Veterans for Peace and allies in front of the United States Mission to the United Nations, I was pleased to find a motley crew of angelic activists, most of whom were fasting the entire 40 days. These included veterans from Vietnam, Iraq, and other wars against brown people of other than the Christian faith. One in particular, Mike Ferner from Veterans for Peace and a former Toledo, Ohio, City Council Member, had just returned after being hospitalized with hypokalemia, a side effect of fasting caused by not enough potassium. He made folks laugh, telling them how he busted out of the hospital with tubes still in his arm, just so he could get back to the group.\u00a0 Another faster, a young college student, had just returned from the Global March to Gaza, which was foiled by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi, who decided to sic his military against the nonviolent humanitarian aid convoy to prevent it from reaching Rafah &#8212; belying the Egyptian government\u2019s pretense of being a friend of the Palestinian people. Another college student, Ray from California, is working on her Master\u2019s Degree in psychology with emphasis on starvation as a weapon of war used by Israel is Gaza, and its traumatic lifelong psychological and physical impacts. There was Jonathan Kuttab, the Palestinian international human rights lawyer and co-founder of Al-Haq and Nonviolence International, and, of course, Kathy Kelly, of World BEYOND War, who was literally melting away under the sun day after day. And of course, there were Catholic Workers, members of Jewish Voice for Peace, renowned nonviolent direct action trainer <em>par excellence<\/em> Lisa Fithian and her dog, and passersby employed by the UN and various NGOs who stopped to talk and express their solidarity.<\/p>\n<p>The fast, which began on May 22<sup>nd<\/sup>, was participated in by 792 fasters across the United States and around the world, after the UN had warned of the imminent death of 15,000 infants due to starvation. Their demands:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1) a resumption of humanitarian aid, under UN authority, to Gaza<br \/>\n2) that the U.S. stop arming Israel NOW!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the morning of June 30<sup>th<\/sup>, the 40<sup>th<\/sup> and final day of fasting, nearly 100 fasters and their allies peacefully gathered in a protest rally in front of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations. Of these 29 were arrested for putting their bodies on the line and conducting a die-in, which blocked traffic for 45 minutes. Nick Mottern of the Weaponized Drone Ban Treaty (WDBT) Campaign, and David Wildman, co-coordinator of a group of international NGOs that meet weekly to leverage their influence at the UN to halt the genocide and occupation, were among those who stood by cheering at the much-needed nonviolent breach in diplomacy. At the same time, directly across from the UN General Assembly, Mike Ferner of Veterans for Peace was arrested for throwing cow blood on the front of the US Mission to the UN, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s about time that the US Government show on its hands some of the blood that it is shedding all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I pray that the governments of the world take heed and immediately operationalize UN General Assembly \u201cUniting for Peace\u201d Resolution 377A (1950) to invoke Chapter VII of the UN Charter to operationalize accountability measures to uphold international law for Israel and third states to end the unlawful occupation, stop the genocide, and immediately reverse the imminent starvation to death of 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Since 1948, UN Peace-keeping Operations have been dispatched throughout the world 72 times, and it is of utmost urgency that they be sent to the Gaza Strip to ensure that humanitarian aid corridors are fully open and operational. The time is now, particularly as Israel must, according to UNGA Res. ES-10\/24 of September 17<sup>th<\/sup>, 2024, as informed by the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion of July 2024, end its unlawful occupation and be out of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem by September 2025. May the Veterans for Peace and allies\u2019 40-day solidarity fast be a reminder.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ayuno de 40 d\u00edas de Veteranos por la Paz y sus Aliados por Gaza \u2013 Una reflexi\u00f3n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Por Susan Smith, Directora de Operaciones y Participaci\u00f3n Comunitaria, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)- EE. UU.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Antes que nada, debo aclarar que no ayun\u00e9 los 40 d\u00edas del Ayuno de Veteranos por la Paz y sus Aliados para detener el genocidio en Gaza (https:\/\/www.fosna.org\/2025gazafast), sino de forma intermitente, de 2 a 3 d\u00edas a la semana, centrados en los lunes y martes. Curiosamente, los d\u00edas que ayun\u00e9, desde aproximadamente las 4:00 am hasta las 8:40 pm, permiti\u00e9ndome solo caf\u00e9 y bebidas con electrolitos (\u00a1qu\u00e9 lujo comparado con ayunar en Ramad\u00e1n sin comer ni beber!), me encontraba con un hambre terrible esperando que terminara el d\u00eda. Pero luego, los d\u00edas que no me absten\u00eda de comer, anhelaba ayunar para, de alguna manera, ser m\u00e1s solidaria y estar m\u00e1s cerca del pueblo palestino. Es como cuando los padres, despu\u00e9s de un largo d\u00eda con ni\u00f1os peque\u00f1os activos, esperan a que se duerman para poder descansar, solo para mirar a los angelitos dormidos y anhelar despertarlos.<\/p>\n<p>Los dos d\u00edas que me un\u00ed a Veteranos por la Paz y sus aliados frente a la Misi\u00f3n de los Estados Unidos ante las Naciones Unidas, me complaci\u00f3 encontrar un grupo variopinto de activistas angelicales, la mayor\u00eda de los cuales ayunaron los 40 d\u00edas completos. Entre ellos se encontraban veteranos de Vietnam, Irak y otras guerras contra personas de color que no profesaban la fe cristiana. Uno en particular, Mike Ferner, de Veteranos por la Paz y exconcejal de la ciudad de Toledo, Ohio, acababa de regresar tras ser hospitalizado con hipopotasemia, un efecto secundario del ayuno causado por la falta de potasio. Hizo re\u00edr a la gente cont\u00e1ndoles c\u00f3mo hab\u00eda salido del hospital con los tubos todav\u00eda en el brazo, solo para poder volver al grupo. Otro estudiante universitario, que participaba en la Marcha Global a Gaza, frustrada por el presidente egipcio Abdel Fatah El-Sisi, decidi\u00f3 enviar a sus militares contra el convoy de ayuda humanitaria no violenta para impedir que llegara a Rafah, desmintiendo la pretensi\u00f3n del gobierno egipcio de ser amigo del pueblo palestino. Otra estudiante universitaria, Ray, de California, cursa su maestr\u00eda en psicolog\u00eda, con \u00e9nfasis en la hambruna como arma de guerra utilizada por Israel en Gaza y sus traum\u00e1ticos impactos psicol\u00f3gicos y f\u00edsicos para toda la vida. Estaban presentes Jonathan Kuttab, abogado internacional palestino de derechos humanos y cofundador de Al-Haq y Nonviolence International, y, por supuesto, Kathy Kelly, de World BEYOND War, que literalmente se derret\u00eda bajo el sol d\u00eda tras d\u00eda. Y, por supuesto, estaban los Trabajadores Cat\u00f3licos, miembros de Jewish Voice for Peace, la reconocida entrenadora de acci\u00f3n directa no violenta por excelencia, Lisa Fithian, y su perro, y transe\u00fantes empleados por la ONU y diversas ONG que se detuvieron a conversar y expresar su solidaridad.<\/p>\n<p>El ayuno, que comenz\u00f3 el 22 de mayo, cont\u00f3 con la participaci\u00f3n de 792 personas en Estados Unidos y el resto del mundo, despu\u00e9s de que la ONU advirtiera de la inminente muerte de 15,000 beb\u00e9s por inanici\u00f3n. Sus demandas:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>1) La reanudaci\u00f3n de la ayuda humanitaria a Gaza, bajo la autoridad de la ONU.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2) \u00a1Que EE. UU. deje de armar a Israel YA!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>En la ma\u00f1ana del 30 de junio, el 40th y \u00faltimo d\u00eda de ayuno, casi 100 ayunantes y sus aliados se congregaron pac\u00edficamente en una manifestaci\u00f3n de protesta frente a la Misi\u00f3n Permanente de Israel ante las Naciones Unidas. De ellos, 29 fueron arrestados por arriesgar sus vidas y realizar un simulacro de muerte, que bloque\u00f3 el tr\u00e1fico durante 45 minutos. Nick Mottern, de la Campa\u00f1a del Tratado para la Prohibici\u00f3n de Drones Armados (WDBT), y David Wildman, coordinador de un grupo de ONG internacionales que se re\u00fanen semanalmente para ejercer su influencia en la ONU y detener el genocidio y la ocupaci\u00f3n, se encontraban entre quienes se mantuvieron presentes, celebrando la tan necesaria ruptura no violenta en la diplomacia. Al mismo tiempo, justo frente a la Asamblea General de la ONU, Mike Ferner, de Veteranos por la Paz, fue arrestado por arrojar sangre de vaca al frente de la Misi\u00f3n de Estados Unidos ante la ONU. Ferner declar\u00f3: &#8220;Ya es hora de que el gobierno de Estados Unidos muestre en sus manos parte de la sangre que est\u00e1 derramando en todo el mundo.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ruego para que los gobiernos del mundo presten atenci\u00f3n y apliquen de inmediato la Resoluci\u00f3n 377A (1950) de la Asamblea General de la ONU &#8220;Unidos por la Paz,&#8221; invocando el Cap\u00edtulo VII de la Carta de la ONU para implementar medidas de rendici\u00f3n de cuentas que respeten el derecho internacional para que Israel y terceros Estados pongan fin a la ocupaci\u00f3n ilegal, detengan el genocidio y reviertan de inmediato la inminente muerte por inanici\u00f3n de 2.1 millones de palestinos en la Franja de Gaza. Desde 1948, se han enviado Operaciones de Mantenimiento de la Paz de la ONU a todo el mundo 72 veces, y es de suma urgencia que se env\u00eden a la Franja de Gaza para garantizar que los corredores de ayuda humanitaria est\u00e9n completamente abiertos y operativos. Ha llegado el momento, especialmente porque Israel debe hacerlo, seg\u00fan la Resoluci\u00f3n 377A (1950) de la Asamblea General de la ONU. ES-10\/24 del 17 de septiembre de 2024, seg\u00fan lo informado por la Opini\u00f3n Consultiva de la Corte Internacional de Justicia de julio de 2024, poner fin a su ocupaci\u00f3n ilegal y salir de la Franja de Gaza, Cisjordania y Jerusal\u00e9n Oriental para septiembre de 2025. Que el ayuno solidario de 40 d\u00edas de Veteranos por la Paz y sus aliados sirva de recordatorio.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan Smith, Director of Operations and Community Engagement, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)- USA First, I need to begin with the disclaimer that I didn\u2019t fast all 40 days of the Veterans for Peace and Allies Fast to stop the genocide in Gaza https:\/\/www.fosna.org\/2025gazafast, but intermittently, 2-3 days per week anchored around Mondays and Tuesdays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11950,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[267],"class_list":["post-11949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5.jpg",700,912,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5.jpg",700,912,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5.jpg",700,912,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-230x300.jpg",230,300,true],"large":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5.jpg",640,834,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5.jpg",700,912,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5.jpg",700,912,false],"rtcl-gallery":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-700x462.jpg",700,462,true],"rtcl-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-320x240.jpg",320,240,true],"rtcl-gallery-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-150x105.jpg",150,105,true],"psacp-medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-500x500.jpg",500,500,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Reflections-on-Veterans-for-Peace-Fast-for-Gaza-Susan-Smith-FOR-5-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"LaPrensa Newspaper","author_link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/author\/laprensa\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/category\/articles\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Articles<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Susan Smith, Director of Operations and Community Engagement, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR)- USA First, I need to begin with the disclaimer that I didn\u2019t fast all 40 days of the Veterans for Peace and Allies Fast to stop the genocide in Gaza https:\/\/www.fosna.org\/2025gazafast, but intermittently, 2-3 days per week anchored around Mondays and Tuesdays.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11951,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949\/revisions\/11951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11949"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=11949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}