San Francisco Bay Area campaign reports successful first stage.

The TwoPeoplesOneFuture website created a page for us, linked from their home page by a button announcing “New Campaign—San Francisco Bay Area.” On our page we listed the two groups who joined us as sponsors, Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area and American Muslims for Palestine, and we set up a Donate button and a Contact Us link to a web page form.

Local groups involved in the struggle for a just peace in Palestine/Israel have given their enthusiastic support, and these organizations are joining us as sponsors and helping with fund raising for the next round of ads.

It’s unclear how many BART riders were drawn to the TwoPeoplesOneFuture website through our ads. We are still assessing the data that shows the number of hits on our web page and the amount in donations designated for the ad campaign. Very few readers responded using the Contact Us button, although these few were warmly supportive.

For our next phase, we hope to have a web address that takes users directly to the Bay Area campaign page, because it is likely that many who saw the BART ads and visited to the TwoPeoplesOneFuture.org home page never clicked the Bay Area Campaign button. And we will highlight our Contact Us link and also improve our donation system so that contributions to the ad campaign are not intermixed with the general funds of our fiscal agent, Friends of Sabeel-North America.

The “Be on our side” BART ads did draw an emphatic response from the Israel Lobby. Stand With Us has countered with ads in six stations. These went up on January 17, and they show a pair of eyes wrapped in a red and white keffiyeh with the words “Stop Palestinian Terrorism.” Below is a photo of children at play and the words “Teach Peace.” The ads list a website, SayYestoPeace.org, which accuses Palestinians of teaching their children to hate.

Our response is to continue with the “Be On Our Side” message. We have handed out hundreds of pocket cards, and we are starting a fundraising drive to pay for our next round of ads. We encourage everyone who supports our efforts to donate to our expanded campaign. You can use the button below. Please be sure to designate the funds for the Bay Area Ad Campaign.

Or you can mail a check made out to FOSNA (a tax exempt organization) with “Bay Area Ad Campaign” on the memo line. Send the check to NorCal Friends of Sabeel, 1700 Shattuck Ave. #314, Berkeley, CA 94709.