Belgian women hold a Palestinian flag during a protest to show solidarity with Palestinians against a Jewish settlement in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem July 16, 2010. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS)
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Friday, July 16, 2010
Stepping towards a continuous, global movement for good:
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Give 67 minutes of your time on Mandela Day this Sunday 18th July
Mandela Day launched last year as an international day of action. It celebrates the life of Nelson Mandela and calls on us all to mark the 67 years’ Mandela spent in public service by spending at least 67 minutes on a humanitarian cause. On Mandela Day we are called to devote just 67 minutes of our time to changing the world for the better, in a small gesture of solidarity with humanity, and in a small step towards a continuous, global movement for good...read more
"It is in your hand to make a difference" Nelson Mandela
Band practice for refugees: Young palestinians gain self-esteem – and find a welcome precision – in a camp-based bagpipe band in southern Lebanon.
"There are bad things in the media outside," Mr. Aljoma says. "Sometimes, they think you are Palestinian, you are living in the camps, you are a terrorist. They think like this, and this is not true."
A henna-decorated performer from Guirab illustrates a cultural contrast that has produced harmony: Palestinians, thought to have played a version of the bagpipe much earlier, were reintroduced to it under British rule between 1920 and 1948. Newscom/File
A henna-decorated performer from Guirab illustrates a cultural contrast that has produced harmony: Palestinians, thought to have played a version of the bagpipe much earlier, were reintroduced to it under British rule between 1920 and 1948. Newscom/FileBand practice for refugees
Young palestinians gain self-esteem – and find a welcome precision – in a camp-based bagpipe band in southern Lebanon.
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Music/2010/0715/Band-practice-for-refugeesThursday, July 15, 2010
The Jordan Times: A Careless World
A careless world
With Israeli navy ships deployed to intercept another humanitarian aid mission, Israeli bulldozers demolishing houses in East Jerusalem while building others in Jewish settlements, and Israeli drones killing people in Gaza, the situation between Israelis and Palestinians is, yet again, back to square one.
Washington seems to have given up the pretence of evenhanded peacemaking.
The US is now focusing its efforts on forcing Palestinians to sit down with the very government that is killing them, blockading their livelihoods and demolishing their houses, apparently in an effort to appease an American populace for whom this is a vote winner in mid-term elections.
Indeed, this latest round of Israeli violations of human rights and anti-peace measures appears to have been sparked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s last visit to Washington, where he received a warm welcome from US President Barack Obama who practically gave Israel green light to kill a few more Palestinians, build more settlements and demolish more houses.
Israel can gradually ramp it up again, use negotiations as they were always intended, as a cover for more and more settlements, while all the time making life so unbearable that a slow, almost indiscernible but nevertheless effective, ethnic cleansing of Palestine is completed.
This is the “only” democracy in the Middle East.
So, what is left for the Palestinians? Well, luckily Hamas is arranging Koran camps for children in Gaza, and someone else is making sure that they are the only ones available. The Palestinian Authority continues its own little delusion, pouring money from donors into maintaining a peaceful occupation for Israel.
And those with choices, leave, anywhere and everywhere. Life in Palestine is not fit for human beings. But then, it is designed that way.
Israel does not want peace, Israel wants land, and it wants land without its indigenous population. Israel wants land because it is fearful and greedy and cannot stop its expansionism, and will not end its aggression until every country in the region has bowed down before it.
It is sad that the only countries in the world with the power to stop this crime either do not care or have entangled themselves so far into Israel’s web of deceit that they cannot.
15 July 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
My letter to the New York Times RE Trapped by Gaza Blockade, Locked in Despair
Palestinian Refugees in 1949RE: Trapped by Gaza Blockade, Locked in Despair
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/world/middleeast/14gaza.html?ref=world
Dear Editor,
In my opinion, with the information age connecting and empowering people everywhere, Palestinians actually had a chance to convince the world that Israel has no right to be... BUT that chance has now passed, and is gone for good thanks to Islamists.
As things stand today, The Arab Peace Initiative, endorsing a two state solution based on respecting international law and basic human rights, offers the only real escape from escalating religious tyranny and terror as The Arab Peace Initiative firmly pushes all sides towards sensible secular solutions to end the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
The Arab Peace Initiative
Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:
I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.
II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.
NOTES
Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem...
George S. Hishmeh: Netanyahu and Obama should do some reading
George S. Hishmeh
Gulf News (Opinion)
July 9, 2010 - 12:00am
Gulf News (Opinion)
July 9, 2010 - 12:00am
It was my intention while cruising the Danube River — which is disappointingly muddy and not blue as Mozart claimed — for two weeks last month aboard a comfortable Viking boat with my wife that my attention would be mainly focused on the Fifa World Cup and the beautiful countryside and its rich history.
Regrettably my fellow passengers hardly watched the matches — except for the two engaging Maltese couples who were eager for me to unearth the Arabic roots of their vocabulary, which has been abundantly influenced by the rise of Islam and the Ottoman empire hundreds of years ago. I was also glad that the few news channels on the boat did not have much to report on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has kept me occupied during my long career in journalism.
But on the third day of the cruise, I found that I had brought along a book, Susan Abulhawa's Mornings in Jenin, which is described on the cover as "a powerful and heartbreaking book". I could not resist the temptation to start reading it, and to my surprise it lived up to the description and much, much more. I could not put it down for the next few days, much to the chagrin of the football watchers.
Abulhawa, a Palestinian-American and a neuroscientist graduate from the University of South Carolina, was born to a family of Palestinian refugees during the drastic June War in 1967, when Israel took over all of Palestine and parts of neighbouring Arab countries. In brief, her heart-wrenching novel tracks the experiences of a Palestinian farming family under the harsh Israeli occupation after they were driven out of their ancestral home. The tear-jerking novel traces the life of their granddaughter, Amal (Arabic for hope), since infancy through mind-boggling and tragic experiences within her family and strife-ridden existence in the West Bank and Lebanon. Ultimately, Amal managed to emigrate on her own to the United States, thanks to an American charity, where she went on to pursue her higher education in fulfilment of her father's wishes.
Abulhawa's novel should be required reading for anyone who is puzzled or concerned about the continued turmoil in the Middle East, and certainly for American and Israeli leaders who are trying to find a fair solution to the decades-long conflict. Although the novel is fictitious, the author explains that "Palestine is not, nor are the historical events and figures in this story" — a point that makes the story more vivid. Through the magic of her prose, Abulhawa explains in a straightforward manner why Palestinians are so committed to the cause of regaining ownership of their usurped lands.
Her affection for occupied Jerusalem, a top issue this week at the White House meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comes across loud and clear, echoing the views of all Palestinians.
She writes: "Every inch of [occupied Jerusalem] holds the confidence of ancient civilisations, their deaths and their birthmarks, pressed deep into the city's viscera and onto the rubble of its edges. The deified and the condemned have set their footprints in its sand. It has been conquered, razed, and rebuilt so many times that its stones seem to posses life, bestowed by the audit trail of prayer and blood. Yet somehow, it exhales humility. It sparks an inherent sense of familiarity in me — that doubtless, irrefutable Palestinian certainty that I belong to this land. It possesses me, no matter who conquers it, because its soil is the keeper of my roots, of the bones of my ancestors ... Because I am the natural seed of its passionate, tempestuous past. I am a daughter of the land, and [occupied] Jerusalem reassures me of this inalienable title, far more than the yellowed property deeds, the Ottoman land registries, the iron keys to our stolen homes or UN resolutions and decrees of superpowers could ever do."
In another memorable passage, she writes: "... Israelis already know that their history is contrived from the bones and traditions of Palestinians. The Europeans who came knew neither hummus nor falafel but later proclaimed them ‘authentic Jewish cuisine'. They claimed the villages of Qatamon [a neighbourhood in Occupied Jerusalem] as ‘old Jewish homes'. They had no old photographs or ancient drawings of their ancestry living on the land, loving it, and planting it. They arrived from foreign nations and uncovered coins in Palestine's earth from the Canaanites, the Romans, the Ottomans, then sold them as their own ‘ancient Jewish artifacts'. They came to Jaffa and found oranges the size of watermelons and said, ‘Behold! The Jews are known for their oranges'. But those oranges were the culmination of centuries of Palestinian farmers perfecting the art of citrus growing."
I wish Obama and Netanyahu would put this powerful and heartbreaking book on their reading lists so that they could better understand the travails of the Palestinians.
Ziad Asali of ATFP: Peace Demands Courage
Peace Demands Courage
Too often Israeli-Palestinian relations are seen as a zero-sum conflict in which whatever is good for one party is bad for the other. In reality, both parties, for different reasons, need the same thing: a negotiated agreement that ends the occupation and the conflict once and for all.Palestinians cannot achieve their basic goal of independence and statehood without a negotiated agreement. Similarly, Israel cannot achieve peace, defined borders, regional acceptance and long-term security without a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians ....READ MORE
IBISHBLOG: Is the new “Emergency Committee” anti-Obama, anti-peace or both?
"....Peace is essential, and that peace, whether right wing Jewish supporters of the [Israeli] occupation and Armageddon-yearning ["Christian"] Bible bashers like it or not, in fact requires ending the occupation." Hussein Ibish
Is the new “Emergency Committee” anti-Obama, anti-peace or both?
A rather predictable group of Jewish right-wing supporters of Israel including William Kristol, Rachel Abrams, and Noah Pollak, along with their strange bedfellows allies in the end-of-days evangelical Christian ultra-right, in this case led by Gary Bauer, have apparently founded an organization called the “Emergency Committee for Israel.” And what "emergency" would that be? Well, by the looks of things it's certainly the emergency of not having a Republican president or Congress, since the group's efforts seem to be entirely targeted at Democrat candidates for Congress in the upcoming November election. In other words, the “emergency” would seem to be the election and the intention would be to use bizarre scare tactics about “anti-Israel” policies of the Obama administration and other Democrats as a scare tactic to promote Republican candidates.All's fair in love and whatsit, I suppose, but who would the actual targeted voters be in such a campaign?....READ MORE
Olive Branches All Around: The Debate about Palestinian Non-Violence"
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=22341&CategoryId=13
Olive Branches All Around: The Debate about Palestinian Non-Violence"
Olive Branches All Around: The Debate about Palestinian Non-Violence"I finally saw the olive trees. I had been in Ramallah for over a week, but had been so preoccupied with adjusting to a new environment and finding my way around, I had not even noticed all the twisted trunks and the thin grey-green leaves that filled the city. Until, one day, when I was walking home, an olive fell on my head. At first I reacted with displeasure, as we often do when impersonal forces set out to cause us embarrassment. But when I looked up to find the source of this annoyance, I was suddenly struck with the beauty. Above me was a web of branches and leaves that embodied the life source of this region. And as I began to look around, to look out over the hill upon which Ramallah is set, I realized that the horizon was full of these silent compatriots, whose branches have long been a symbol of peace.
It is well known that olive trees are precious in Palestine. They signify nourishment and wealth, the silkiness of oil, the richness of harvest. Olive trees mature slowly and live for thousands of years. On the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, in the Garden of Gethsemene, there are trees said to have been there when, 2,000 years ago, a man, considered by many to be at least a prophet if not the son of God, prayed that he might be released from his task of dying for the sins of the world. Olive trees have been the quiet witnesses to some of humanity's most beautiful moments and most devastating catastrophes. They are most at home in the sun and soil between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and number among the inhabitants of this land, which has been loved and contested for as long as history has been written.
In the wonderful documentary film, Budrus, the importance of olive trees to the Palestinian cause and identity becomes palpable. This film has been making its way around the world, and showed last week both in Ramallah and in the Jerusalem Film Festival. I had seen the film in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival, in an audience that included Michael Moore, and it has gained much acclaim, winning awards in San Francisco and Berlin, and receiving special mention in New York, Madrid and Dubai. Budrus tells the story of a village of the same name in the West Bank, which organized and rose up in non-violent opposition when bulldozers began tearing out its olive trees to make way for the Separation Wall. This wall is particularly contentious in that it does not follow the line that is recognized as dividing Israel and the West Bank, but is, instead, built within Palestinian territory, often cutting farmers off from their farmland and olive groves. The film emphasizes the link between olive trees and Palestinian identity when the camera rests on an old woman who says of the trees, “They are like our children!" And as one watches the trees being ripped out of the ground, one is struck with the feeling of having one’s heart torn from one’s chest.
In the village of Budrus, Ayed Morrar helped organize protests against the building of the wall, bringing together a diverse ensemble of stakeholders, including Fatah, Hamas, Israelis and international supporters. His daughter is particularly inspiring as she makes the cause her own and helps organize the participation of the women. The film does an excellent job in showing the hopefulness of this non-violent, popular movement. It also reminds the viewers, however, that the story of Budrus is not unique. Non-violent protest is a marginal, but longtime part of the history of the conflict here. Villages all over, from Bil’in, Jeyyous, Ni’lin, and many more, have become known, at least locally, for their long-term efforts at resistance.
Around the same time I noticed the olive trees, I learned about the concept of "Sumud". In Arabic, this is a word that implies steadfastness. Sumud has been a motto of the Palestinian struggle since 1967. It has represented the quiet willingness to persevere, to not be moved, when all the pressures of the world are trying to force you out of your home and off your land. The concept of Sumud has been interwoven with the symbol of the olive tree, to express the courage to hold one’s ground, and stay strong and rooted. Sumud has also been represented by the image of a peasant mother and child - a mother whose love will not subside, even in the face of hardship and frustration.
Sumud has been a pillar of Palestinian resistance for decades. The first intifada saw many efforts at such non-violent actions, including marches, hunger strikes and civil disobedience. Given this history, it is frustrating when the media characterizes these struggles as nascent and experimental. Nick Kristof’s recent article in the NY Times is particularly disappointing on this point (July 9, 2010). While seemingly supportive of Palestinian grassroots efforts, he reiterates a mischaracterization of the situation by claiming that the root of the failure of these efforts lies on the side of the Palestinians who often begin the stone-throwing, thus compromising their claim to non-violence. Many participants in protests here, however, attest to the fact that tear gas canisters are launched into the crowds of demonstrators without provocation, and the display of force between the Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers is regularly disproportionate. To chide David for flinging a hopeless stone at Goliath seems to misplace the critique.
Samah Sabawi, on the other hand, writes a beautiful article in the Palestinian Chronicle, where she notes that while people toss around the question of why there is no Palestinian Gandhi, they overlook the extensive tradition of Sumud, non-violence, and the thousands of Palestinian activists and civilians held in Israeli jails and living in refugee camps (http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15969). Both individually and collectively, Palestinians have long responded to the occupation through non-violent measures. Protests against the wall, actions against the fences erected between farmers and their land, graffiti, music and marches, have all been among the many attempts to expose and reject the injustices imposed by Israel. Currently, every Friday, Palestinians, Israelis and internationals protest in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah where Palestinian families who have been evicted by Jewish settlers have set up tents in front of their homes, insisting that they will not be moved. The BDS movement, to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, which arose out of Palestinian civil society, is also a crucially important force, which has great potential and deserves international attention.
The most poignant moment in Budrus is when Ayad’s daughter jumps in front of a bulldozer as it is uprooting an olive tree. This incredible act of courage fortunately halts the progress of the bulldozer. But this act reminds us that non-violence requires great risk and unfathomable perseverance. As Sabawi writes, one of the key ingredients for non-violent resistance to work is the attention and support of the international community. Non-violence can only be successful through the external solidarity it garners. In as much as the media feeds on stories and blood and violence, it fails the many who are spending their lives in this steadfast perseverance. Because non-violence rests on the concept of making oneself vulnerable, giving up defenses to expose the violence being threatened by the opposition, it requires the willingness of outside actors to step in and demand accountability from the dominating power. It seems, then, that instead of critiquing the methods of the local organizers or the boys who throw stones, or waiting around for the emergence of a Palestinian Gandhi, the better question may be: What role are you playing in contributing to the peace efforts in this region?
Leah Hunt-Hendrix is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Pink Floyd reunites for Palestinian benefit concert
Washington – For the first time in half a decade, rock legends Pink Floyd reunited for a benefit concert in England to raise money for young Palestinian refugees, MSNBC reported Tuesday.
Roger Waters and David Gilmour, joined by a full stage of keyboardists and drummers, both picked up the guitar to play for the more than 200 fans gathered to see the Oxfordshire concert. The reunion was unpublicized prior to the curtain's rise.
The proceeds from the benefit concert went to the Hoping Foundation, an organization that focuses on the “next generation” of young Palestinians, mostly refugees. Their projects include a film workshop, a scouting group in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, and a UN Relief and Works Agency yearbook. The event raised over half a million dollars to benefit the group.
The Pink Floyd duo played a number of classic and fan favorites, including “Wish You Were Here” and “Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two).”
Waters has been involved in pro-Palestinian activism for years. In 2006 he spray painted "tear down the wall" on Israel's West Bank separation wall in the city of Bethlehem. He also worked with the United Nations to produce a short film about the wall's impact on life in the West Bank.
A slew of musicians, including Elvis Costello and The Pixes recently cancelled concerts in Israel in protest of Israel's Israel's policies toward the Palestinians and the deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31st.
Inside Gilmour and Waters' Surprise Pink Floyd Reunion | Rolling Stone Music
"Gilmour and Waters were originally planning to play three songs. But one attendee, British financier Arpad Busson, was so taken with the performance, he donated £50,000 to get them to play "Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2." "
Inside Gilmour and Waters' Surprise Pink Floyd Reunion | Rolling Stone Music
Inside Gilmour and Waters' Surprise Pink Floyd Reunion | Rolling Stone Music
Monday, July 12, 2010
Daoud Kuttab: 'Peace process' foreign term in Jerusalem, Gaza
President Barack Obama, center, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York today. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders shook hands at the start of their first face-to-face meeting. Photo by Omar Al-Rashidi / AP'Peace process' foreign term in Jerusalem, Gaza - Daoud Kuttab
I thought of this statement a few hours later. After enjoying the world cup semi final game at the renovated Orthodox Club in Beit Jala, I drove to my apartment in east Jerusalem, using the Rachel’s Tomb checkpoint. Upon reaching the checkpoint I noticed that the large metal gate that is part of the checkpoint was partially closed. A few cars were ahead of me and so I waited to see what the problem was. For some time they didn’t move and finally when the person in the first car inquired he was told that the checkpoint was closed. No explanation was given. The only thing left was turn back into Bethlehem. Somehow the visa we had, namely our Jerusalem ID cards would not even work this night.
As I was driving back from the checkpoint, the BBC was broadcasting a sound clip from US President Barack Obama. The US president, who was hosting the Israeli leader in front of clicking cameras and videos claimed that the easing of the Gaza blockade was the result of the peace process. What rubbish, I said to myself. The easing of the blockade was a demand for years by the moderate Ramallah based leadership with no result. Only when the Turkish led multi-ship flotilla had challenged the blockade and embarrassed the Israelis who were blocking jam and coriander (among other things) did the blockade ease on food items, and not on any other materials needed for the conduct of a normal life.
The current peace process as detailed in the road map included various obligations on Israelis and Palestinians. The Israelis were asked to return things to the pre-October 2000 statue (removing all checkpoints since then, allowing the return of Palestinian police on the Allenby Bridge) and suspended all settlement activities including natural growth. The obligations on the Palestinian side were focused on security and democratic processes. The security situation has greatly improved and the democratization that was asked of Palestinians back then has been a source of trouble since then. One of these results was the victory of the pro Hamas reform and change parliamentary list. Among those who won parliamentary seats were four Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. By running in the elections, they broke no Israeli law, but by winning a free and fair elections that was supervised by respected international observers such as former US president Jimmy Carter, they seem to have broken an unwritten law. This mysterious undeclared law seems to say that by winning the Jerusalem seats, because they had an Islamists persuasion these elected Islamists are doomed for life.
For a while after the elections they were left alone, one of them Khaled Abu Arafeh was even made minister in the Palestinian Authority for the affairs of Jerusalem. But the moment that an invading Israeli soldier was captured in Gaza, these legislatures and others in the West Bank were rounded up and put in jail. Recently and after being released, they are about to loose their rights to reside in Jerusalem. Not only is this double jeopardy (you can’t be punished for any crime - even a trumped up charge - twice) but they are being banished from their birthplace for agreeing to run (and more importantly to win) in an internationally sponsored, Israeli approved legislative elections.
Israel has conceded in various binding agreements with the PLO that the status of East Jerusalem and obviously its residents, is to be resolved in negotiations. The status of Jerusalem is perhaps one of the few remaining unresolved issues in the current political stalemate. The four legislatures including the former Palestinian Authority cabinet minister have begun since a week a protest at the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jerusalem. The ICRC is the organization entrusted by the international committee to uphold the Geneva Conventions, the fourth of which states clearly and unambiguously that occupying powers are not allowed to deport subjects under their occupation. The International Court of Justice at the Hague ruled six years ago this week that the entire territories including East Jerusalem captured by Israeli in the June 1967 war are occupied territories for which the Geneva Convention applies.
Since the beginning of the proximity talks eight weeks ago the Israel behavior has not reflected a country interested in peace. Six Palestinians have been killed including a 16 year old, 121 have been injured, settlement activities, especially in Jerusalem have continued uninterrupted and plans are being made for 2,700 more West Bank units once the unilaterally imposed settlement slow down was declared by the Netanyahu administration. House demolitions, evictions, travel restrictions and incitement against the peace process by cabinet ministers (including the foreign minister) have continued unabated.
If US president Barack Obama feels that the peace process fully embraced by the Palestinian Authority and leadership does produce results, many Jerusalemites are asking whether Israel’s strongest ally, the US, can at least guarantee that Palestinians residing in Jerusalem can continue to live in the holy city and can have regular access with their families in friends in the surrounding Palestinian cities and communities.
Daoud Kuttab is a former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University, an award winning journalist and TV producer who is currently the General Manager for the Community Media Network in Jordan
OPT: Thousands missing out on education in Gaza
Nuha Abed Rabbo, 9, on her way to an UNRWA elementary school in eastern Gaza Photo: Suhair Karam/IRIN 
About 39,000 child refugees in Gaza will not attend UNRWA schools this year, since the agency is unable to build or re-build schools due to the Israeli blockade, damage sustained during the 23-day Israeli offensive (27 December 2008 - 18 January 2009) and population growth, UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness said in Jerusalem.
“My sons have trouble learning due to the large number of children, usually over 40 per class,” said Noa Ashi. Her sons Tareq, aged 9, and Mohammed, 7, attend New Gaza Elementary School (A) run by UNRWA in Gaza City. “The classrooms are small and three children share each desk,” she said, adding that Tareq and Mohammed attend school only four hours a day.
Israel imposed an economic embargo on the Gaza Strip after a Hamas takeover in June 2007 and in retaliation for the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization and says its import restrictions on items such as cement, steel and most building materials are to prevent Hamas developing weapons or fortifications.
allowed into the Strip every day. The UN has said this is far from sufficient.
The Israeli blockade affects every aspect of human existence and remains the biggest challenge to UNRWA in Gaza, the director of UNRWA operations in Gaza, John Ging, told IRIN. The blockade has destroyed the economy, making 80 percent of the population dependent on UN handouts, he said.
Infrastructure is also in a state of collapse: 80 million cubic litres of untreated sewage is pumped into the Mediterranean Sea each day, and 90 percent of the water is undrinkable by World Health Organization (WHO) standards, according to Ging.
To make matters worse, UNRWA is 25 percent underfunded, lacking US$100 million out of its $500 million budget, he added. The agency is only able to provide 40 percent of daily caloric needs to food aid dependent refugees, while the international standard in 76 percent.
Overcrowding
UNRWA schools run double shifts in Gaza due to overcrowding. “We are also unable to recruit new teachers due to our budget constraints,” said UNRWA’s Gunness.
“There are too many students in our school and we lack the materials to build rooms,” said Sufian Ghanem, a mathematics teacher from Jabaliyah Elementary School for Girls (B) in Gaza City run by UNRWA.
“The children are impoverished, often lacking shoes. The school lacks a library and place for outdoor activities,” said Ghanem.
 The children are impoverished, often lacking shoes. The school lacks a library and place for outdoor activities. |
Karni, the only major commercial crossing along the Gaza-Israel border, is controlled by Israel and mostly closed, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The Gaza government aims to re-build, but has been unable to import necessary construction material, Ahmed Yousef of the Hamas-led government in Gaza told IRIN. Eighteen months after the offensive three quarters of the resulting damage remains unrepaired.
There are 750,000 children living in Gaza. "On this road and under these conditions - lack of access, physical deterioration and its psychological effect - the situation will get worse," said Ging.
More than half of UNRWA’s budget goes on education, with over 20,000 teachers educating half a million Palestinian children in the Levant countries each day; 222,000 Gazan children are enrolled in UNRWA schools. UNRWA is responsible for providing healthcare and other services to about one million refugees in Gaza, 800,000 of whom receive food assistance; 70 percent of Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants are registered refugees.
Israel, The Master of Exploitation By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
History and religion can be powerful tools in justifying the present. And nobody does this better than Israel. The problem is that Israel, its leaders and by proxy, its people, expect that they can exploit and twist history and religion without ever feeling the sting from the backlash of such exploitation from others.
The starkest, and by far, the most hackneyed example of this is the Holocaust. At every opportunity, Israeli politicians drag up the Holocaust as a way of foremost, invoking pity for the Jewish people and thereby justifying its actions towards the Palestinians. It is appalling how the suffering and death of so many people – Jewish and non-Jewish for that matter – is cheapened and reduced to a mere political playing card. During his speech before the United Nations in September, 2009 following the horrific events of the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid the Holocaust guilt trip on thick. He held up a map of Auschwitz and a copy of what he said were "precise German instructions on how to carry out the extermination of the Jews." He focused on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenejad and berated anyone who listened to him. "To those who gave this Holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?"
Let us not forget that the UN assembly had gathered on account of Israel's killing of over 1,400 Palestinians during its 22-day invasion of Gaza. In the face of international condemnation and reports of the use of white phosphorous bombs, orphaned children and the annihilation of entire families, Israel did what it always does to cover its dirty tracks: exploit the suffering of the Jews to justify its atrocities against the Palestinians. The premise of Israel's argument is often based on the premise that because the Jews suffered so much in history – namely during the Holocaust – they are immune to criticism and are entitled to all "defensive" measures that justify their so-called security. Israel's Machiavellianism would put The Prince himself to shame.
The role of victim is getting old, however, not just with the Palestinians, who reject and frankly resent Israel's assumption that the Jews have some sort of monopoly over suffering, but also to a good many others. One of the most famed of this group is a Jew himself, which means the exploitation of his own people's history hurts even more. Dr. Normal Finkelstein, author of "the Holocaust Industry", whose parents were Holocaust survivors, is the first to admit that Israel exploits its people's own history. In reference to the suffering of so many people such as African-Americans, the Vietnamese and the Palestinians, Finkelstein succinctly writes, "We are all holocaust victims."
The concept of anti-Semitism is also problematic in the sense that Israel exploits the term to its benefit at every turn while disregarding its own racist tendencies. Unfortunately, any criticism of Israel has become synonymous with anti-Semitism, a wily design by Israel to ward off any real scrutiny of its behavior. True, there are those who blur the lines between what is Israeli and Zionist and what is Jewish, which most will say is where the line is drawn for anti-Semitism. However, this is partly because Israel so often blurs that very same line to its own benefit. Israel is a land for the Jews, its leaders say, a people who have suffered persecution and racism and who have an historical right to this Promised Land.
When the conflict is put in such a framework, it is only natural that opposition to Israel and its policies will be interpreted as anti-Jewish, simply because this is how Israel defines itself. Of course, there is always the high road – seeking the path that not even Israel takes, which is completely separating faith from state politics and directing opposition to Israel for its political and military actions against Palestinians, embodied in its oppressive and years-long occupation. That, no doubt, is the conscionable way to go, even if Israel constantly shoves its Jewish-character and the history of its people in the world's face as a blanket justification for its persecution of the Palestinians.
Take the argument over Al Aqsa Mosque. During a political briefing with a group of American and European students in Jerusalem, the question came up of whether the Muslims are justified in denying Jews the right to enter the "Temple Mount" to pray and if that could ever be an option to the Palestinians. This is a perfect example of Israel exploiting its own religion for political purposes.
It is not the question of whether Muslims would allow Jews into Al Aqsa per se. It is about the political claims that are attached to this so-called religious reverence to the site. For one, Jews believe Al Aqsa's compound is the site of the destroyed Second Temple, hence Al Aqsa's significance to Muslims is automatically sidelined. Secondly, Al Aqsa is in the heart of Jerusalem, which Israel insists is its capital (even though the international community holds a different point of view). Hence, the entry of Jews (extremists mostly) into Al Aqsa is first and foremost a political show of force, to prove who has the ultimate power in the city. Religion is merely a guise, an excuse to further Israel's political goals.
For those Jews who have realized that their faith has fallen hostage to Israel's political ploys, this must feel extremely unfortunate. A loose comparison can be made to Muslim extremists who exploit Islam for unholy objectives. True Muslims who hold the utmost reverence for their religion, can only feel disdain towards those who dare to take advantage of it and carry out crimes in its name. Let us hope however, that Muslims such as these will remain a shunned minority in a sea of rationalism. For Israel, which was born from this unhealthy link between religion and the existence of the state, it is probably too late.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
My letter to the Boston Globe RE Turning history into Hope: Part one of six | James Carroll
RE: Turning history into Hope: Part one of six | James Carroll ...In this corner: Anti-Semitism and colonialism have trapped Israelis and Palestinianshttp://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/07/12/in_this_corner/
Dear Editor,
I don't see much turning history into hope so far in the first part of James Carroll's "Turning history into Hope: Part one of six- In this corner: Anti-Semitism and colonialism have trapped Israelis and Palestinians": Instead I see a cherry picked history 'lesson' shaped to shift most all the blame to the West rather than expecting full accountability from all the many players currently involved in prolonging the Israel/Palestine conflict.
FYI: "Since the beginning of the proximity talks eight weeks ago the Israel behavior has not reflected a country interested in peace. Six Palestinians have been killed including a 16 year old, 121 have been injured, settlement activities, especially in Jerusalem have continued uninterrupted and plans are being made for 2,700 more West Bank units once the unilaterally imposed settlement slow down was declared by the Netanyahu administration. House demolitions, evictions, travel restrictions and incitement against the peace process by cabinet ministers (including the foreign minister) have continued unabated." Daoud Kuttab 'Peace process' foreign term in Jerusalem, Gaza -
Resilient children come from hellish childhoods and go on to live productive and rewarding lives despite the odds against them doing exactly that. No one knows why some children can overcome their past, and others can't. However one large clue is that resilient children do not wallow in self pity and excuses.
Today, regardless of who started it and what world views and/or conspiracy theories best explain it the 'Palestinian-Israeli situation could lead to a holy war if not resolved soon': "It is important to remember that the status quo is a downhill slope and if we do not arrive at a resolution that ends the occupation and the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel there will be a larger conflict closer to a holy war and much wider in its scope across the region and beyond." Ziad Asali
The Arab Peace Initiative is here and now- it offers the best hope for peace, a just and lasting peace for everyone's sake.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:
I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.
II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Palestinians in Syria have to be taught about 'home' - The National Newspaper
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100712/FOREIGN/707119894/1002
The Palestinian refugee, Khazna Ali Yusif, was 14 years old in 1948 when she fled her homeland. She has not returned since. Phil Sands / The National
The Palestinian refugee, Khazna Ali Yusif, was 14 years old in 1948 when she fled her homeland. She has not returned since. Phil Sands / The NationalDANNOUN, SYRIA // A year before Srur Ali’s father died, he gave his son a bundle of papers, wrapped in a pillowcase and a plastic bag, with instructions that they were a priceless inheritance and must never be lost.
Aged 15 at the time, Srur, a Palestinian refugee living in Syria, gave little thought to the contents but promised to protect them. For the next half-century the documents were hidden away.
Yesterday, Srur Ali, now 65, and with sons of his own, allowed them to be shown publicly for the first time. The fragile, yellowing papers are title deeds to hundreds of acres of farmland in Palestine, issued to his father by British mandate authorities before 1948. Since then, the land near the city of Safad, has been part of Israel.
“My father always believed that if he kept the paperwork he would one day be able to return to his property,” Mr Ali said. “He had faith in the papers, even when he knew he would not go home, he gave them to me believing that I would be able to use them.
“Now I’m old and I’ve not been able to do anything except pass them to my son, with the same instructions my father gave to me and the same hope they will be useful to him, or to my grandsons, one day in the future.”
Alongside old cooking pots and traditional Palestinian farmers’ clothing, the papers formed part of a small cultural display in a makeshift tent in Dannoun Camp, 25km south of Damascus, one of the first areas in Syria settled by Palestinians who fled their homes during the Nakba, or “catastrophe” ...READ MORE
'Palestinian-Israeli situation could lead to a holy war if not resolved soon'
'Palestinian-Israeli situation could lead to a holy war if not resolved soon'
Published: Jul 10, 2010 21:45 Updated: Jul 10, 2010 21:46
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama assured Mahmoud Abbas by telephone on Friday of his commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The call followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's White House meeting with Obama on Tuesday, in which the two leaders discussed a number of issues including Israel's stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.
Dr. Ziad Asali, the president and founder of the Washington-based American Task Force on Palestine, said it is important to keep focused on the efforts the president is making in outreach to both Palestinians and Israelis.
"Some people are critical of this week's meeting between the two leaders; but what we see, as we always must, are opportunities to move the ball forward to push for creation of a genuine two state solution," said Asali.
He said the president has been trying to move quickly from the current proximity talks to face-to-face negotiations.
"The news from the White House underscores the kind of commitment that the US and the president are making to encourage president Abbas to join in with direct negotiations in order to resume serious negotiations about final status issues," Asali told Arab News.
But first, Obama had to mend his relations with Netanyahu, which have been tense for the several months.
"There were two purposes for Netanyahu's visit, one was the public relations aspect and the other was substance," said Asali.
" The public relations aspect was well planned and executed - and a clear signal was sent that Israel and the US are strategic and solid friends and also that the president of the United States and prime minister of Israel are very good friends who trust each other and can very easily work together. They simply ignored or even denied that there was a problem in the past," said the president of the American Task Force for Palestine.
"A warm welcome was extended to Netanyahu by inviting him to stay at the Blair House, by having a working lunch at the White House and allowing extensive photo opportunities and exposure to the media.
"The PR strategy worked very well and the message was well delivered to the world."
As for the naysayers, he insisted that "it is a mistake to call the Obama-Netanyahu meeting a charade by only emphasizing the public relations aspect of it, because the US and Israel are strategic allies and the US is the only country that has leverage on Israel to deliver a negotiated settlement and it is important for the US to continue being engaged."
The second item, substance, was more difficult, said Asali, "Because the basic problems did not go away."
Asali, who twice has served as a member of the US Presidential delegation to the Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem, said several diplomatic decisions were made ahead of the meeting, specifically regarding Gaza, which included decreasing the impact of the siege.
"This decision was wisely chosen to be delivered before the meeting - so it would not look like Obama had prevailed upon Netanyahu to do these things," said Asali.
Beyond that, there is the issue of Palestinians and Israelis moving from indirect to direct negotiations, which the president has begun earlier pushing through his conversation with Abbas, and by hosting Saudi King Abdullah to the White House last week and in his meeting with Netanyahu.
It was clear that there was some discussion about the steps that needed to be taken before the Palestinians return to negotiations, said Asali, "But there was no date, only the implications that 'things will happen' within the next few weeks. All these steps deal with security, quality of life and economics.
Asali, who has testified before the House and Senate on a variety of Palestinian issues and regularly meets with White House officials, believes that "more engaged and meaningful exchanges between the three parties" will soon start up. "We expect that the tradeoff between direct negotiations and freezing settlements is likely to occur before the September settlement deadline."
He emphasized the need for things to get moving quickly, "considering the politics of the timing by September in Israel and Palestine."
Asali is anxious about the future: "It is important to remember that the status quo is a downhill slope and if we do not arrive at a resolution that ends the occupation and the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel there will be a larger conflict closer to a holy war and much wider in its scope across the region and beyond."
"For those who want to throw up their hands in despair and not do anything - they need to be reminded that there's much work that needs to be done in order to prevent the situation from becoming much worse," said Asali, who is also member of the bipartisan and interfaith Leadership Group on US-Muslim Engagement.
Documents detailing the state and institution building program of the 13th Palestinian Government, including the overall plan and priority interventions for 2010.
My letter to the New York Times RE Waiting for Gandhi By Nicholas Kristof
RE: Waiting for Gandhi By Nicholas Kristofhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/opinion/11kristof.html?ref=opinion
Dear Editor,
I agree with Kristof that throwing stones make a non-violent protest violent. I also agree that rays of hope for less violence and more change are indeed a very good thing: I am very much impressed- awed really- by the heroic courage of Mr. Morrar’s "quite amazing "15 year old daughter, Iltezam Morrar.
Kristof's own willingness to notice and think about Palestinian protest- his willingness to speak of Palestinian dignity and the New York Times willingness to publish his reflections and musing including specifically Kristof's praise of Palestinian Iltezam Morrar are a huge sign of positive change already happening.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
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