Source: Washington Post
On June 3, 2003 the Washington Post reported that "On the same day that President Bush holds a summit with Arab leaders in Cairo, about 500 activists will visit 160 Capitol Hill offices today with the message that some supporters of Israel believe its security depends on creating a viable Palestinian state. Participants in the 'Teach-in to Congress,' many of them Jewish, have been meeting in Washington since Sunday to discuss, among other things, how to counter the influence of the American Israeli Political Affairs Committee. Organizers of the conference said that offsetting AIPAC's lobbying efforts would help bring about a more even-handed U.S. approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict... The conference... was organized by the Tikkun Community, an organization launched a year ago with the goal of rethinking foreign policy in light of spiritual values and principles... The new group, which claims to have 5,000 members, is co-chaired by Lerner; Susannah Heschel, who chairs Dartmouth University's Jewish studies program; and Princeton religion professor and author Cornel West, who addressed the conference Sunday. Other speakers included authors Jonathan Schell, Marianne Williamson and Deepak Chopra."