#Palestine conference canceled by #USM over speaker’s sanctions has new location

The academic discussion called the ‘#ConsequenceOfPalestine’ will take place at #FirstParishCongregationalChurch in #GorhamME

by Riley Board, February 26, 2026

"A conference on Palestine scheduled for Saturday has found a new venue after the University of Southern Maine said it would no longer sponsor the event because one of the planned speakers is subject to sanctions by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

"The 'Consequence of Palestine' event will now be hosted at the First Parish Congregational Church in Gorham, and is scheduled to proceed on the same date, organizers with the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine and #MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights announced Thursday.

"University officials told organizers late last week they could no longer use Hannaford Hall on the USM’s Portland campus for the event after learning that speaker #FrancescaAlbanese is on the Office of Foreign Assets Controls’ #SanctionsLlist.

"#Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on #HumanRights in the #OccupiedPalestinianTerritories, was slapped with sanctions in July after she wrote letters to several major American businesses, telling them she planned to name them in a U.N. report for contributing to human rights violations by #Israel; the #StateDepartment called the letters campaigns of political and #EconomicWarfare. U.S. businesses and entities are prohibited from doing business with Albanese.

"Albanese was scheduled to speak at the conference remotely, and organizers said they received guidance that her participation was permitted so long as they did not engage in any financial transaction with her or offer an honorarium for her participation.

"Organizers also say they offered to remove Albanese from the schedule, but the university said it still could not host the event because it needed, 'time to assess the risk and put in place measures to ensure compliance with all federal and state laws and university policies.'

"More than 300 people had registered for the event as of Tuesday.

"Albanese is still slated to speak at the conference, an organizer confirmed. The USM Department of Criminology and Sociology, previously a co-sponsor of the event, is no longer involved."

Read more:
https://www.pressherald.com/2026/02/26/palestine-conference-cancelled-by-usm-over-speakers-sanctions-has-new-location/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/8VwxN

#MainePol #Capitulation #USPol #Fascism #Authoritarianism #IsraeliWarCrimes #USWarCrimes #FreeGaza #Gaza #GazaGenocide #LandTheft #Colonialism #FreePalestine #BibiIsAWarCriminal #MaineVoicesForPeace

#SpeakingOutOfPlace welcomes former UN Special Rapporteurs on the #OccupiedPalestinianTerritories John Dugard, Richard Falk, and Michael Lynk to talk about what US sanctions against the current Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, signify.

https://speakingoutofplace.com/2025/08/14/on-the-significance-of-us-sanctions-on-the-un-special-rapporteur-on-the-occupied-palestinian-territories-francesca-albanese-three-former-un-special-rapporteurs-weigh-in/

#oPt #Palestine #UnitedNations #UN #USpol #USforeignPolicy #USMiddleEastPolicy #HumanRights #FrancescaAlbanese #Gaza #WarOnGaza @palestine @israel

"Basel Adra, the Palestinian director of #NoOtherLand shared a photo of himself with Hathleen on X, writing, "My dear friend Awdah was slaughtered this evening. He was standing in front of the community center in his village when a settler fired a bullet that pierced his chest and took his life. ‎This is how #Israel erases us - one life at a time.”

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-activist-who-worked-oscar-winning-no-other-land-killed-occcupied-west-bank?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Social_Traffic&utm_content=ap_xni9chnh4g

#MasaferYatta #WestBank #EU #EC #OccupiedPalestinianTerritories

#Spanish Minister of Consumer Affairs and Social Rights announced yesterday that several Spanish companies have ceased their activity in the #OccupiedPalestinianTerritories a year after the minister sent a letter asking them not to contribute to Israel's human rights violations in #Palestine.

He said it was necessary to break "all commercial, diplomatic or economic ties" with Israel and to increase pressure "to end the genocide in #Gaza”.

https://www.msn.com/es-es/pol%C3%ADtica/gobierno/el-ministro-de-consumo-asegura-que-varias-empresas-espa%C3%B1olas-se-han-retirado-de-los-territorios-ocupados-por-israel/ar-AA1GA0kR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GvkFwpzDhI

#AlJazeera #FeaturedDocumentary

#ThePalestineLaboratoryE1

Uncovering how #ApartheidIsraeli profits from #surveillancetechnologies using #OccupiedPalestinianTerritories as a testing ground.

A #MustWatchVideo

#FreePalestineNOW 🇵🇸

This Is #Palestine | Will the #ICC Arrest Warrants for #Netanyahu and #Gallant Lead to Justice?

#DianaButtu speaks w/ jurist #NimerSultany about the cases before the #InternationalCriminalCourt and the #InternationalCourtOfJustice wrt to #Israel, #Gaza and the other #OccupiedPalestinianTerritories

https://this-is-palestine.simplecast.com/episodes/will-the-icc-arrest-warrants-for-netanyahu-and-gallant-lead-to-justice

#oPt #ICJ #InternationalJustice #InternationalCriminalLaw #WarCrimes #CrimesAgainstHumanity #GazaGenocide #UNGenocideConvention @palestine @israel

Source: World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/news/item/23-09-2024-statement-by-principals-of-the–inter-agency-standing-committee-on-the-situation-in-the–occupied-palestinian-territory

”Humanitarians must have safe and unimpeded access to those in need.

”We cannot do our jobs in the face of overwhelming need and ongoing violence. More than 41 000 Palestinians in Gaza – the majority of them civilians, including women, children, older persons and at times entire families – have reportedly been killed, and more than 95 500 have been injured, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. It is estimated that a quarter of the injured in Gaza, or around 22 500 people, will require lifelong specialized rehabilitation and assistive care including individuals with severe limb injuries, amputations, spinal cord damage, traumatic brain injuries, and major burns.

”More than 2 million Palestinians are without protection, food, water, sanitation, shelter, health care, education, electricity and fuel – the basic necessities to survive. Families have been forcibly displaced, time and time again, from one unsafe place to the next, with no way out.

(…)

____

https://etidioh.wordpress.com/2024/09/23/statement-by-principals-of-the-inter-agency-standing-committee-on-the-situation-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-these-atrocities-must-end-who-excerpts/

#humanRights #occupiedPalestinianTerritories #society #wars #WHO

"[A] conversation between #Jadaliyya co-editor #MouinRabbani and #DianaGreenwald about #Israel’s search for a native pillar to mediate its rule in the occupied #WestBank. This episode of Connections will examine the role of local government and the #PalestinianAuthority in Israel’s strategy of domination."

https://youtu.be/XYNVOL43Sp0

#MayorsInTheMiddle: Indirect Rule and Local Government in Occupied #Palestine

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/mayors-in-the-middle/9780231213158
#OccupiedPalestinianTerritories #oPt #PA #books @palestine