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Monday, March 18, 2024

Palestinian Christians Suffer—and Many American Churches Don’t Care ... Why do so many Western churches ignore us?

A woman cries outside the historic Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City after an Israeli attack last October.
 

FORGOTTEN

Palestinian Christians Suffer—and Many American Churches Don’t Care

We share the beliefs and traditions of Christians everywhere. Why do so many Western churches ignore us?

I have recently returned to the United States after completing a tour in the Middle East, which involved visits to Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt, focusing primarily on leading prayer summits for peace in my beloved homeland. The tour was in large part a crucial component of my ministry’s continuous work in the region. Almost everywhere we went, during the prayer events in Bethlehem, Amman, and Alexandria, fellow Arab Christians confronted us with a persistent question: Where does the church, especially in the West, stand in response to the injustice and carnage inflicted upon the innocent Palestinian people?

I am a Palestinian American Christian, born and raised in Bethlehem, and my wife was born and raised in Gaza. We both advocate for peace, and our loving families still residing in the West Bank and Gaza share the same pro-peace stance as do millions of Palestinians.

It was challenging to face this question, knowing very well that, while various opinions exist in most American and Western churches, a significant group either remains indifferent or unconditionally supports the modern state of Israel and many of its dehumanizing policies. Adding insult to injury, certain Christian evangelical leaders have employed the Bible to justify and rationalize the war in Gaza, as if it were a conflict between biblical Israel and God’s enemies. Some leaders have gone so far as to promote political ideologies and disguise them in biblical language. Furthermore, some have even outright dismissed and discredited the voices of Christian Palestinians... READ MORE https://newrepublic.com/article/179758/palestinian-christians-suffer-american-churches-dont-care

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Sunday, March 17, 2024

BBC News "Gaza has no functioning port, so a makeshift jetty stemming from the shoreline was built by WCK's team using rubble from [Israeli] destroyed buildings."

World Central Kitchen barge loaded with food is the first maritime shipment of aid to arrive in Gaza

The first maritime humanitarian aid shipment to Gaza has been unloaded on to the shore.

Gaza: Aid reaches Gaza shore in first sea delivery

"...Saturday's shipment arrived on board Spanish charity ship Open Arms. Its cargo includes beans, carrots, canned tuna, chickpeas, canned corn, parboiled rice, flour, oil, salt and pallets of dates, which hold spiritual significance during Ramadan.

It had been checked by Israeli officials in port in Cyprus.

It marks the start of a trial to see if the sea route would be more effective than air and land deliveries.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that no method of relief is as effective as delivery by land, but they say Israeli restrictions mean a fraction of what is needed is getting in.

In a statement, WCK said: "All cargo was offloaded and is being readied for distribution in Gaza."

Teams worked through the night to get the aid on to dry land.

Gaza has no functioning port, so a makeshift jetty stemming from the shoreline was built by WCK's team using rubble from destroyed buildings...."

 READ MORE       https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68581090

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Mosab Abu Toha: After 14 hours of fasting, this is what families in Gaza are breaking their fast on. Some lemon and cooked grass.

After 14 hours of fasting, this is what families in Gaza are breaking their fast on.
Some lemon and cooked grass.


Laila El-Haddad: A Cuisine Under Siege- I couldn’t rescue my aunt in Gaza, but I can keep her recipes alive.

THE AUTHOR, Laila El-Haddad, PICTURED WITH HER AUNT UM HANI (PHOTO: MAGGIE SCHMITT)
Culture

A Cuisine Under Siege

I couldn’t rescue my aunt in Gaza, but I can keep her recipes alive. By Laila El-Haddad

https://www.saveur.com/culture/palestinian-cuisine-under-siege/

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"... Teaching the next generation of Palestinians how to make a celebratory stew may seem trivial,  inappropriate even, in light of the deliberate starvation and plausible genocide facing Gazans right now. But food is as integral to our identity and rootedness to the land as our centers of cultural knowledge, such as archives, libraries, theaters, and schools, which are also under attack. Israel’s assault is eliminating entire bloodlines, and with them, all of the memories and knowledge they possessed. 

I live in the United States now, and I’ve cooked sumagiyya more times than I can count—even if it never tastes quite like Um Hani’s. One occasion stands out. It was May 2021, and Gaza City was being pummeled in what was the fourth major assault by Israel on Gaza in 14 years. The attack coincided with Eid, and as I watched on my screen in Clarksville, Maryland horrific images of air raids and grief-stricken mothers, I suddenly felt the urge to make a pot of sumagiyya. Serving it to my family and friends that night, despite the unfolding tragedy, was unexpectedly liberating and affirming.  

Last month, I again found myself in tears chopping onions and chard for sumagiyya, but this time I was making it to honor Um Hani’s memory. Like in 2021, I couldn’t look away from the news: The park where I used to take my son for evening strolls, the beach promenade where I drank sage tea with my mother, the university where I gave guest lectures—they were all unrecognizable piles of overturned dirt and warped wire..."   READ MORE https://www.saveur.com/culture/palestinian-cuisine-under-siege/

In Gaza, sumagiyya is synonymous with weddings, family gatherings, and Eid Al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and its 30-day fast. Photo by Laila El-Haddad

Saturday, March 16, 2024

A Poem for Gaza at the Academy Awards by Chris Hedges 2024

Birthday under bombardment by Fares Abulebda [in Gaza]

 

Fares Abulebda

Birthday under bombardment 

My dear friends, today is my birthday. I don’t even know what to say, honestly. Birthdays are normally happy days and events for most of people around the world.
 
But how does it feel birthday in Gaza? Can you guess? 
 
Birthday under bombardment. A day when I was born, what does my mother feel today, reminiscing day she gave me life? Even though she doesn’t show it, her heart is full of sorrow. Every mother wants the best for her child. And mine, how does she feel not knowing if this day might be my last one???
 
How do I feel? I feel like every day that I am alive is special grace from Allah. The uncertainty and looking death in the eye is our daily life.
 
Oh how I wish I could write a happy post, put pictures of nice food and my loved ones around me…but I live in a plastic tent as refugee with my family, a refugee in my own land. All I see around me is death, destruction, starvation, misery of my people.
 
There is nothing nice I could write about.
 
I have millions of emotions inside me, which I can’t even express.
 
All I want for my birthday are your prayers, my dear friends.
 
And I wish for myself a miracle of peace and happiness.
 
I love you all, my dear friends, and am hugging you from Gaza with my broken heart.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Over 200 european organisations urge immediate suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement amidst Gaza crisis

The Transnational Institute is an international research and advocacy institute committed to building a just, democratic and sustainable planet.
 14 March 2024

Dublin, 14/03/2024: Today, a coalition of 206 European civil society groups, 20 of which were based in Ireland, submitted a letter to the EU Commission, the EU Council, and the European Parliament, calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of the violation of Human Rights by the State of Israel.

In January, in view of South Africa’s case alleging genocide against the Israeli government, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that some of the accusations indicate that genocide could be plausible in specific instances. The ICJ ordered the Israeli Government to take all measures within its power to prevent acts within the scope of Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Coalition believes that the fact that the ICJ considered South Africa’s claims as ‘plausible’ and has issued provisional measures against the Israeli Government, then this should raise serious alarm bells in the EU. However, Israel’s economy continues to enjoy privileged access to the EU market through the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

The Coalition believes that civil society should stand united in calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel Agreement, and that it’s time for the EU to uphold its commitment to human rights and democratic principles and take concrete action to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The coalition’s letter to the EU stresses that prior to the current hostilities, Palestinians have faced systematic rights violations, including land expropriation, forced evictions, property demolition and restrictions on movement, persisting since 1948.... READ MORE  https://www.bilaterals.org/?suspend-the-eu-israel-association-50079

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What Israeli soldiers' display of Palestinian women's lingerie reveals about the Zionist psyche

"... Amnesty International's 2022 report on the Israeli system of apartheid found that Israeli authorities have abused and sexually harassed Palestinians in detention for decades. More recently, the UN disclosed reports of Palestinian women and girls being "subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault", including rape, at the hands of Israeli prison guards.

Earlier this week, Unrwa announced an upcoming report detailing Israeli forces' torture and abuse of more than 1,000 Palestinians of all genders in Gaza. After watching several videos of soldiers gleefully digging through Palestinian women's underwear, one cannot help but agonise over the violations taking place behind the scenes. This agony looms over the disturbing photo posted by 25-year-old Israeli solider Benjamin, a French citizen, to his dating profile. Legs spread wide, gun in hand, he smirks at a range of Palestinian women's lingerie hanging on a wall.

This exhibition of genocidal spoils curated by the occupiers raises a host of haunting questions: where are the people who once wore those garments now? Did Israeli soldiers force them from their homes at gunpoint or even kill them before posing for their photoshoots? Did any of them tear the lingerie from women's bodies, and if so, what horrors could these Palestinians have been subjected to?

To what end does the Zionist soldier in pursuit of a romantic partner openly mock Palestinians' capacity for profoundly loving, sexual relationships? Why does the Zionist soldier offer his own partner necklaces and shoes looted from dead and displaced Palestinians, and what do such gestures reveal about settler-colonialism's mutilation of romance?"

READ MORE  https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/what-israeli-soldiers-display-palestinian-women-lingerie-zionist-psyche

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Israel's no-state solution... Palestinian sovereignty has always been out of the question for Israel, as have equal rights under one binational state.

 

"... In sum, Israel as an occupying power has consistently pursued not two states, operationalised through withdrawal and land-for-peace, but no state (for Palestinians), operationalised through settlement expansion and “peace-for-peace”.

In the latter - despite its innocuous name - Palestinians are offered neither withdrawal nor equal rights in exchange for Israel’s peace, but rather a “peace” in which they are spared from massive Israeli bombing (and, now, starvation) campaigns.

This threat of hugely asymmetric attacks on civilian populations is used to guarantee Israel’s security as it maintains its occupation and system of preferential rights, and as it enacts the “lower intensity” everyday violence of occupation and segregation on the Palestinians."

"The Achilles heel of the peace process was assuming that Israel views Palestinian statehood as necessary to its security, so that the benefits of withdrawal would outweigh Israel's interest in expansionism"

An untenable strategy

 Read More ... https://www.newarab.com/analysis/israels-no-state-solution-and-endurance-palestine

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The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell has accused Israel of using the starvation of the people of Gaza as a means of warfare.

EU's Borrell says Israel using starvation as 'weapon of war' in Gaz
The New Arab Staff

13 March, 2024
 
European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that Israel is deliberately using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Addressing the UN Security Council in New York, Borrell stated that the lack of aid entering the Palestinian enclave is "manmade".

"This humanitarian crisis... is not a natural disaster, is not a flood, is not an earthquake, it is manmade," the EU diplomat said.

This comes as aid agencies warned that land routes are the quickest and most effective method of getting aid into the starving territory, yet Israeli restrictions on such routes mean that only a fraction of the necessary aid is getting in.

This has seen aid efforts shift away from land routes to other methods, such as by air and, most recently, sea.

A Spanish vessel loaded with critically needed food supplies departed from Cyprus towards Gaza on Tuesday, although the UN has stated that this, as well as airdrops, do not substitute for land-based aid delivery.

In a preliminary ruling in January that stated Israel was plausibly committing genocide in Gaza, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) also ordered Tel Aviv to “facilitate immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza”.

However, human rights agencies and the UN have both noted that Israel has failed to live up to this demand, with famine now looming in the Strip, conditions Borrell says are being deliberately created by Tel Aviv.

“[The humanitarian crisis is] manmade and when we look for ....

Read More:  https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-using-starvation-weapon-war-gaza-borrell

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Thursday, March 14, 2024

TikTok... Freedom, justice and equality are not empty words.

Lessons not learned
 

Dear Elected Leaders,

So all this fuss and bother about TiKToK because TiKToK was created by the very foreign country called China... but our Congress has no condemnation for another very foreign country called Israel while Israel has spent decades interfering with our elections using AIPAC $$$ and pressure, plus many a propaganda campaign to pollute and undermine our Fourth Estate, and the very essence of our democratic ideals. 

There is a very good reason why American tax payers' money should not be funding religion here or there. There being Israel, a very foreign country that wants our money and weaponry so it can continue to persecute, impoverish and displace the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine.

Freedom, justice and equality are not empty words. These ideals helped end slavery and Jim Crow laws. These ideals helped build a more real democracy and helped give women the right to vote.  These ideals helped shape international law after the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. But freedom, justice and equality have not shaped Israel's "democracy" or its political and religious leaders' choices.

Israel is actually using starvation as a weapon of war right this minute.  And America's Congress is empowering Israel's cruel starvation and intentional torture of the native non-Jewish Palestinians trapped in Gaza by Israel's Apartheid laws and walls.

Defunding UNWRA is a horrible idea, and so is saying that Israel is our friend. As many a mother has said through the years: "With friends like that you don't need enemies."

TicToc the clock is ticking on American hypocrisy and racist Israeli crimes.

Say yes to compassion and decency... Say yes to Palestine... and say NO to Israel. 

As for TiKToK, fix the Israel problem first.  Pegasus is not just a pretty horse.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

"Think of Others" Mahmoud Darwish of Palestine

Palestinian Poet Marwan Makhoul: "In order to write poetry that isn't politcal, I must listen to the birds; and in order to listen to the birds, the warplanes must be silent."

Susan Sarandon: "You don't have to be Palestinian to care about what's happening in Gaza. I stand with Palestine. No one is free until everyone is free."

Bloody Extremists

What Was Palestine Before the Nakba?

We must regard all people as we regard ourselves | Patriot News PennLive letters Mar. 10, 2024

Pamela Olson's "Fast Times in Palestine" is a primer on the realities in Palestine for newbies... & It's free to download from her website

Huwaida Arraf: "May this holy month of Ramadan bring comfort to those in need; sanity and compassion to those lacking it, particularly world leaders; and may it strengthen our determination and resolve to keep fighting for true liberation, justice and peace. Ramadan Mubarak."

A Glimpse of Palestine's Beauty shared by Mazin Qumsiyeh of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability

Rima Isam Anabtawi: "Ramadan Kareem, to those who observe. May it be as serene and peaceful as "this very old Anatolian prayer rug, and may the beauty of your month endure as long."

"We may not be born in Palestine but our hearts are" Hibah Musthafa

Susan Muaddi Darraj explains a crucial point about Israel, Palestine, & America... #LandTheft

150 Days- Gaza Municipality Damages thanks to Israel's War on Palestine

UNWRA: 17,000 children orphaned in Gaza

October 7 - March 6 Human Beings killed & injured by Israel's War On Gaza

Displaced Palestinian families prepare for Ramadan in Rafah, Gaza.❤ photo by Fares Abulebda

Israeli Restrictions on Palestinian Food Sovereignty

WARNING: “Children in the Gaza Strip are dying slowly [of starvation] before the eyes of the world.”

America The Absurd

In 1948 Israel could have chosen to include all indigenous Arabs- Christian and Muslim- as part of the process to make a real democracy for all human beings, but Zionists did the opposite by creating a huge refugee crisis.

Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

The UN Mediator for Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte, believed that the Palestinians displaced had a right to return to their homes and wrote several UN reports to that effect.

"It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries."

Bernadotte was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the group Lehi, a Zionist terrorist organization, commonly known in the West as the Stern Gang

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world


"Think of Others" Mahmoud Darwish of Palestine