First, thanks again to Shobi and Siva for helping with hosting last Saturday. 

Second, UPA asks for quotes from Iqraa runners: Why do you run for Iqraa? Guidelines:

  •  A few sentences in length, no more than a paragraph
  • Please indicate whether your name can be used: first name only, first and last, or no name.

Third, a reminder: Cathy is participating in the reading of We Are Not Numbers (by Ahmed Alnaouq and Pam Bailey, 2025) at Busboys and Poets on Sept 4th at 6 pm.

And today’s focus is on Fundraising, which we all need to launch into. Here’s my message from this week—Iqraa Calling—as one example.

  • My style may be too political for some–around what’s happening in Gaza and the role of education in that context. But what’s important in outreach is to understand the cause and speak your truth, so take your message where you want to go.
  • One reminder: in the 21st Century, you need a page to fundraise. Click here to start.   

Dear Iqraa friends,

Two years ago—the last time I competed in a race before my hamstring injury—I was driving to Lake Anna on October 7 at 0530 as reports came across the radio of a massive Hamas attack across the heavily militarized Gaza-Israel border. By that afternoon, the extent of the surprise attack was becoming clear as was expectation that Israel would launch a disproportionately vengeful response.

Even with this foreboding, who could have imagined the ongoing genocide—for almost two years, despite the ICJ’s warning of genocide 20 months ago—in which even from space Gaza is a different color. And in recent days—emboldened by the absence of a moral or political counterweight–Israel and the United States have developed a plan to expel Palestinians to make way for a “Gaza Riviera.”  

The humanitarian needs are so overwhelming. Many Iqraa friends ask or have been asked, why do we still focus on education?

Simply put, this humanitarian disaster exists, drowning us in unending lists of needs because the injustices behind it—including the 1948 Nakba and displacement, the 1967 occupation, decades of oppression, and now the genocide of Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank—have not been challenged with authority.

Education is the key to any civil society’s ability to challenge injustice and oppression. First, education is necessary for self-transformation. We must free our own minds of the binding emplaced by the Western Establishment’s embrace of the Zionist narrative, which privileges the lives of Israeli Jews over all others.  

Then, when we are educated, we can educate others.

But truly, for Palestinians as for all, including Americans, education is the foundation for all achievement. Education provides a livelihood and the wherewithal for self-sustainment and resilience.

Beyond this, it enables achievement and, collectively, the development of a civil society that is aware and creative, able to choose leaders, initiate reforms, and challenge oppression.  

An illustrative passage in Brian Barber’s No Way But Forward: Life Stories of Three Families in the Gaza Strip, tells of Hussam—who grew up to be an educator—after he turned sixteen (in 1989, during the 2nd Intifada). Hussam’s father, Fares, gives him a coming-of-age talk (p. 147):  

  • You must not let your political activity interfere with your studies. Above all else, your education will equip you to serve your people, your cause, our cause. Our struggle will likely go on for a long time in the future, so you need to strengthen yourself with the knowledge and skill that education will provide.

The Palestinian struggle for freedom has been long, and the resolution is not yet in sight. However, the evolution of Zionism under the racist burden of 6 decades of occupation has exposed the injustice of the Israeli state’s founding ideology.

It is in this environment, with the faintest whiff of change, that I ask for your support so Palestinians can earn the education that will serve them individually and as a community, enabling them to participate on more equal footing in determining their own future.

Our partner in this is United Palestinian Appeal, a 501(c)3 charitable organization with the maximum 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. To help, you can contribute at my page, Iqraa: Scholarships, or by writing a check payable to United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) with Iqraa/Kirk in the Memo line and sending it to me or UPA.

Our slogan—on every Iqraa jersey–is Running for a brighter Palestine. I thank you for everything you do to make the world and Palestine a brighter place, and thanks again to those who’ve already contributed

—End Message—

Last week/this week. Last Saturday at Candy Cane City, Cathy, Basel, Bill, Peter, and me—(and Shobi and Mazen, not pictured)–ran or walked. On Saturday, the team’ll be at Lock 6 on the C&O towpath, with marathoners and half-marathoners running 12 miles—almost as rare as a double eclipse! Shobi and I will be away, visiting her cousins in Cali, but back on Sept 13.

It’s Iqraa calling to the faraway towns…

Kirk