Activists to educate US citizens on AIPAC policy

Activist groups from across the United States have galvanized their efforts to raise public awareness about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC in the country.

"We'll be meeting to educate people about what is AIPAC, how it works, why it's become so strong, what is the negative influence it has on U.S. policy and how we can change that," Medea Benjamin, cofounder of CODEPINK told Press TV's U.S. Desk on Friday.

Benjamin continued that "Our goals are to promote a policy in the U.S. that is even-handed and promotes the rights of everybody in the region. We would like to stop giving 3 billion dollars of our tax dollars every year to Israel to continue its militaristic policies. We want to promote a justice for Palestinians [and] lift the siege of Gaza and so during our gathering we'll be looking at ways of doing that as well as going to the site of the AIPAC convention to protest AIPAC and its policies."

Women for Peace (Code Pink), Global Exchange and the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation together with over 50 peace and justice groups, are organizing a gathering in Washington DC from May 21-24, 2011, called "Move Over AIPAC: Building a New U.S. Middle East Policy."

The gathering will coincide with AIPAC's annual meeting in Washington.