Lecture on Gaza sponsored by WVC at Omak Associated Students Feb. 9, 2009  

The Wenatchee Valley College at Omak Associated Students will present a lecture on Gaza by Dr. Bill Dienst on Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, at 5 p.m. at The Courtyard Downtown in Omak. The event is free and open to the public. 

Dienst is a family and emergency room physician who as practiced in the Okanogan Valley for 12 years. He has also been a human rights activist in the Middle East for more than 23 years. 

In his presentation, "The Free Gaza Movement and Efforts Toward Ending the Israeli Siege and Massacre in Gaza," Dienst will provide a historical content and perspective of Palestine, including a slide presentation of the Free Gaza movement maritime voyage into Gaza in August 2008. 

After an intensive summer course in Arabic, Dienst spent a half-year in Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza, volunteering with various Palestinian health-care organizations, initially with the Palestine Red Crescent Society.  He has been to Palestine five times on trips sponsored by the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, by Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and with the Palestine Medical Relief Society. 

This past summer, Dienst served as the medical officer for the maiden voyage of the Free Gaza Movement, which sent two boats from Cyprus, breaching a 41-year-old Israeli blockade from the sea.