Veterans for Peace to Give Presentation at Ramona Library

Two members of Veterans for Peace will give a presentation at Ramona Library on May 11 based on their trip to Gaza, Jerusalem and Bethlehem in 2009. The talk is sponsored by , a progressive liberal group which holds regular meetings at the library.

Elliott Adams and Will Covert toured with 10 other delegates to visit human rights professionals, child development centers and family members, according to Ramona Forum. The trip was sponsored by Washington Physicians For Social Responsibility. Six of the delegates were physicians who offered medical consultation and provided care with their professional colleagues. One delegate, a nurse with experience in bereavement, provided classes in grief and bereavement for social workers, psychologists and nurses, according to the news release.

The group heard stories of the ongoing siege and the results of the Israeli war on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, during the winter of 2008-09, according to Ramona Forum. The delegation was hosted by Dr. Eyad El Sarraj, founder of Gaza Community Mental Health Program and a friend of Washington Physicians For Social Responsibility since 1993.

Elliott Adams was a paratrooper in the infantry serving in Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Alaska. Adams is from Sharon Spring, NY, and has served his community as president of the school board, mayor, committee chair of BSA Explorer Post 17, president of Rotary and Master of the Masonic Lodge, according to a news release.

Adams left politics to become an activist, working at many levels for United for Peace and Justice and War Resisters League, School Of Americas Watch, Peace Has No Borders, Veterans for Peace and many other organizations, at events across the country. He has conducted nonviolent training for a variety of organizations, according to Ramona Forum.

Will Covert has made five visits to Palestine, including one into Gaza, in an effort to understand the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and the role that the U.S. government plays in the conflict, according to the news release. He has attended nonviolence facilitator training conducted by a variety of organizations. Covert believes that the survival of the Palestinian people, and perhaps humans in general, is tied to bringing about the paradigm of nonviolent conflict resolution.

Covert is from San Diego but now lives in Albuquerque, NM. He is a U.S. Navy veteran and a lifetime member of Veterans for Peace and believes in the abolition of war as an instrument of national policy, according to Ramona Forum.

Adams and Covert will give their presentation at at 6 p.m. May 11.