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Saturday, February 25, 2012



Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

photo credits Red Cross ICRC & UNWRA historic archives
A rainbow rises above a section of the controversial Israeli barrier running along part of Shuafat refugee camp, as seen from Jerusalem February 24, 2012. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS ENVIRONMENT)

Israel nixes solar energy for Palestinians

In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012, a Palestinian woman and children walk in front of solar panels in the Al-Thala community, north of the West Bank city of Hebron. Electricity from solar panels and wind turbines has revolutionized life in Palestinian herding communities that Israel won't connect to the grid: machines instead of sticks churn goat milk into butter, refrigerators store food that used to spoil and children no longer have to hurry to get their homework done before dark. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
\http://news.yahoo.com/israel-nixes-solar-energy-palestinians-063945036.html

AL-THALA, West Bank (AP) — Electricity from solar panels and wind turbines has revolutionized life in rural Palestinian herding communities: Machines, instead of hands, churn goat milk into butter, refrigerators store food that used to spoil and children no longer have to hurry to get their homework done before dark.

But the German-funded project, initiated by Israeli volunteers, is now in danger. Israeli authorities are threatening to demolish the installations in six of the 16 remote West Bank communities being illuminated by alternative energy, arguing the panels and turbines were installed without permits.

The German government has expressed concern and asked for clarifications — a rare show of displeasure from Israel's staunchest defender in Europe.

The dispute is more than just a diplomatic row. It goes to the core of mounting international criticism of Israel's policies in the 62 percent of the West Bank that remain under full Israeli control two decades after Palestinians were granted self-rule in a patchwork of territorial islands in the rest of the land.

The division of jurisdictions was meant to be temporary, but has been frozen in place as repeated peace talks deadlocked. The Palestinians claim all the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, for a state.

International monitors have warned that Israel is suppressing Palestinian development in the West Bank sector under its full control, known as "Area C," while giving preferential treatment to Israeli settlements. Most of the international community considers Israel's settlements in the West Bank illegal.

Israel's more than 300,000 settlers are already double the number of Palestinians in Area C, which would form the heart of any Palestinian state....READ MORE

Friday, February 24, 2012

UN Palestinian rights committee speaks out against Israeli settlement construction

24 February 2012 – A United Nations committee on Palestinian rights today voiced alarm at the recent decision of Israeli authorities to build more than 500 new homes in a settlement inside the occupied Palestinian territory.

The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People issued a statement criticizing the decision to construct the homes in the Shilo settlement on the West Bank and a separate attempt to retroactively “legalize” some 200 settlement units built earlier without permit.

“The committee notes with concern that the move is described by the Israeli settlement watchdog organization Peace Now as the ‘biggest construction plan to date’ under the current Israeli Government,” the statement said.

“By this decision, Israel continues to ignore calls by the international community for halting its illegal settlement activity, further diminishing already fading prospects for resuming Israeli-Palestinian talks and for realizing the two-State solution.

Today’s statement echoes the concerns expressed on Wednesday by Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, who called the Shilo announcement “deplorable.”

The statement also said that “the retroactive ‘legalization’ of settler units is being carried out at the same time as Israel accelerates the pace of the demolition of Palestinian homes allegedly built without permits in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

“The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, in 2011, some 622 homes and livelihood structures belonging to Palestinian families were destroyed, forcibly displacing almost 1,100 people, over half of them children.

“This constitutes yet another breach by Israel of its obligation as the occupying power to protect the civilian population under its control in addition to violating the right to property, to adequate housing and to livelihoods of the Palestinian families affected by such illegal policies.”

The committee stressed that settlement activity is illegal under international law, as well as an impediment to peace in the region.

The committee reiterated earlier calls on Israel to immediately cease all settlement activity, and “to refrain from any acts that undermine international efforts to bring Israeli-Palestinian talks back on track.”

My letter to the Washington Post RE "Abbas punts on the Mideast peace process, again" By Jackson Diehl

RE Abbas punts on the Mideast peace process, again By Jackson Diehl
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/abbas-punts-on-the-mideast-peace-process-again/2012/02/23/gIQAc6rAWR_blog.html

Dear Editor,

I have to agree that Abbas insisting that "there can be no peace negotiations unless Israel first freezes all Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and Jerusalem" has not been helpful, for obviously a fair and just negotiated settlement to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict would end the Israeli practice of usurping Palestinian land, rights and peace.

However I do not think Abbas has punted on the Mideast peace process. I think his advisers gave him some bad advice on how best to respond to Israel's ongoing violations of international law and the Palestinians basic human rights.

I think it is obvious that Abbas, recognizing the importance of peace for everyone's sake, has stayed true to the basics, and to the Arab Peace Initiative.

The same cannot be said for Islamists and their misguided apologists, as well as the many Zionist ideologues who seek to sabotage negotiations and secular resistance to pernicious Israeli bigotry and injustice. Islamists worldwide like to say they support Palestine but fact is they choose to empower religious tyranny exasperating sectarian squabbling and terrorism rather than promoting the rule of fair and just laws,
real justice, diplomacy, peace and progress for both Israel and Palestine. There really is a huge difference between being an honorable and noble Muslim individual who believes in Palestine and being an Islamist who believes that Islam should be armed and funded with tax payer's money.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American homemaker & poet
NOTES
MOST RECENT POLL: A majority of Palestinian youth express their support for a two-state solution (Israel and Palestine within the 1967 boarders).

Setting Our Moral Compass Straight by Joharah Baker for MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy


"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt


Break Away from the Echo Chamber....

"Religious conservatism invariably focuses on social and sexual control. Women are the most immediate targets and primary focus of the authoritarianism of the religious right, wherever they may be. As Islamists seem to be finally getting their chance at gaining a share of power in the Arab world, the greatest and most immediate danger they pose is to women’s rights. That is why it is up to everyone else, including both secularists and religious moderates, to insist on the introduction of inviolable constitutional principles protecting the rights of individuals, women and minorities." Hussein Ibish: Islamism and misogyny

Islamic Jihad and the international campaign to sabotage support for a secular two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict

Hamza Kashgari is a test... in jail and possibly facing a death sentence for a tweet

Arab American Institute's Omar Baddar: In Defense of Hamza Kashgari

Muslims must speak up against the Kashgari scandal

Hamas & The Arab Spring


RSA Animate - 21st century enlightenment

PEEKS... The cool new Palestinians: geeks...
The West Bank and Gaza Strip is home to hundreds of tech companies, creating everything from websites to smart phone apps.

Over 40 years after his first exhibition, artist Mahmoud Taha’s work continues to be driven and inspired by the Palestinian people’s quest for freedom

Jordan's king blames Israel for deadlocked peace

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

To Rise to the Challenge

My letter to the NYTimes RE "What Israel Seeks From the Palestinians"


RE: What Israel Seeks From the Palestinians: ‘Yes’ SHAHAR AZANI, Spokesman Consulate General of Israel
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/opinion/what-israel-seeks-from-the-palestinians-yes.html?_r=1&ref=global

Dear Editor,

Clever of Shahar Azani, Spokesman Consulate General of Israel, to do what he can to make it appear as if Israel has been eager to make peace but the Palestinians have been saying no. Azani might actually believe that- but I don't.

I think it is crystal clear that Palestinians and their most loyal supporters seriously seek a just and lasting peace based firmly on international law and full respect for basic human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees' very real right to return to original homes and lands, thereby creating a fully secular two state solution with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
MOST RECENT POLL: A majority of Palestinian youth express their support for a two-state solution (Israel and Palestine within the 1967 boarders).

Setting Our Moral Compass Straight by Joharah Baker for MIFTAH, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy


"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt


Break Away from the Echo Chamber....

"Religious conservatism invariably focuses on social and sexual control. Women are the most immediate targets and primary focus of the authoritarianism of the religious right, wherever they may be. As Islamists seem to be finally getting their chance at gaining a share of power in the Arab world, the greatest and most immediate danger they pose is to women’s rights. That is why it is up to everyone else, including both secularists and religious moderates, to insist on the introduction of inviolable constitutional principles protecting the rights of individuals, women and minorities." Hussein Ibish: Islamism and misogyny

Islamic Jihad and the international campaign to sabotage support for a secular two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict

Hamza Kashgari is a test... in jail and possibly facing a death sentence for a tweet

Arab American Institute's Omar Baddar: In Defense of Hamza Kashgari

Muslims must speak up against the Kashgari scandal

Hamas & The Arab Spring


RSA Animate - 21st century enlightenment

PEEKS... The cool new Palestinians: geeks...
The West Bank and Gaza Strip is home to hundreds of tech companies, creating everything from websites to smart phone apps.

Over 40 years after his first exhibition, artist Mahmoud Taha’s work continues to be driven and inspired by the Palestinian people’s quest for freedom

Jordan's king blames Israel for deadlocked peace


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Break Away from the Echo Chamber....

Guzet-hysar and the plain of the Meander
19th century engravings

Courtesy of American Task Force on Palestine's website ATFP
& Fen Gallery Washington DC USA

ATFP is strictly opposed to all acts of violence against civilians no matter the cause and no matter who the victims or perpetrators may be. The Task Force advocates the development of a Palestinian state that is democratic, pluralistic, non-militarized and neutral in armed conflicts.

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and/or follow Senior Research Fellow Hussein Ibish on TWITTER & FACEBOOK

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and/or support ATFP

Help support the American Task Force on Palestine in its mission to create a viable Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in Peace and Security

The Sands of Sorrow ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

The Sands of Sorrow*

Picture the
a clock,
we know it ticks
time passes...

At the top of the hour
is America totally pro-Israel

At three o-clock
three people smiling valiantly
holding three cheerful signs:
pro-Israel
pro-Palestine
pro-America

At six o'clock
the crowd has doubled-
and is now scowling and hostile.
The signs and the people
are ugly angry anti-Israel
and angry anti-Palestine
and angry anti-America.

Jagged cracks and lines
come between the people.

At nine o'clock
those jagged cracks and lines
have formed into tidy boxes
containing and separating
eight nicely dressed newscasters reading news.
Four are pro-America pro-Israel
Four are anti-Israel anti-America
and the one remaining outside all boxes
is Handala in his rags- his clasped hands
clutching a tattered sign upside down
dragging on the ground...
in very small, very hard to read
inverted print:
the hand lettered word
"Palestine"

The ink is fading.

The top of the hour
once again
is America ticking right back
into totally pro-Israel.








4 poems for Palestine... by Anne Selden Annab

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof", thus building a wall of separation between Church & State" President Thomas Jefferson in a 1802 letter to to Baptists from Danbury, Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper soon thereafter.

Palestine on the cross (1958 oil painting)
by Ismail Shammout who was born on 2.3.1930 in the town of Lydda in Palestine


**********************


Beware My Friend, Beware

So easy to get lost
to hear a clarion call
and see a bright beacon
in the vast darkness
to think it is light, a way out
when it is only the entrance
to tunnel vision
and the final destruction
of Palestine.... Beware
my friend, beware

For everywhere cartoonists
and Islamist Collaborators
are befriending Zionist Collaborators
Escalating & exasperating
The Israel-Palestine Conflict

They deftly shift secular resistance
& righteous indignation
into a religious war...

Beware my friend, beware:

They hide half truths within Calls
for Justice
& they camouflage tyranny
within rally cries for Freedom

They studiously nurture anger
and nourish hate
on all sides

They are extremism dressed up
to look normal and nice and reasonable BUT

They stifle free speech with cynicism
and character assassinations
and bully tactics
and boycotts
Erasing Palestine
with every step away from
a fair and just two state solution
to once and for all free Palestine-
and Palestinians.


Separating Church from State

MLK wrote from jail
gave us words
and solid ground
to walk on

MLK knew how
to take important things
and important people seriously
Knew how to empower
real freedom and justice
Knew to walk that line
separating church from state
Knew to be honest with his words
making democracy more real
Knew how to wear a suit
how to fit in
how to judiciously deploy
righteous indignation
knew when to pray
and when to think...
and how to speak
how to gain respect
and understanding

Knew who and what
to veer away from
rejecting violence
and cynicism
and self- defeat

MLK knew
that collective insanity
is contagious- and dangerous

Some popular heroes now forgotten
never were worthy role models

MLK was and is

MLK knew to confer
knew how to listen closely
how to see
what outsiders might see
MLK knew how to pull the conversation
into the mainstream.. . He knew
to find nourishment
to fight a just cause
so that starving children
could escape from hunger
and rampant discrimination
and the insidious tyranny
of institutionalized bigotry
& injustice

He knew to inspire
with thought word and deed

Setting an example
with dignity
and honor
.... and diplomatic honesty.

MLK know how
to be taken seriously
How to gain real power
How to help shape
a lasting legacy
for all people...
How to be a real hero
at a time and in a place
where that was impossible.



The Internet Activist Disconnection Squad

He knows how to use hash tags
and catch phrases
and Nazi tactics

He knows how to harass
and harangue

He knows how to tumble and twitter

He knows the entertainment value
of cartoons
the intellectual value
of long convoluted theories
the emotional value
of women and children suffering

He knows how to invest in
negative stereotypes

He knows how to forward
misinformation campaigns

He knows how to inspire hate

How to negate negotiations
How to disenfranchise
with distractions

He knows how to tell
half a story as if it is whole
how to edit out crucial elements
how to shift the blame
how to hid behind idealism
and human rights

He lives and breathes Palestine dying

His own ego inflating
as Palestine's identity is lost

His kleptoparasitism flourishing
as Palestine grows weak

He is the feeble academic,
the freedom fighter trapped-
the free thinking rebel played
by religious tyrants
and the criminally insane.



Islamists & Leftists

Al-Arian already
did so much harm
charmed many innocents
into becoming components
of the Islamist campaign
methodically conquering
and destroying
Palestine.

The clean shaved face
for the West to see
The educated woman
for the West to hear
The non-violent activist
for the West to know

The students sidetracked-

The many useful idiots either
unwilling or unable
to perceive Islamist games...
Some ruining their own lives
their own reputations
for Islamist lies

Some simply drained
and exhausted
by self defeating tactics.

Passion sweeps a person up
you go along propelled by half truths
questions and doubts are pushed aside
as human connection solidifies commitment
to a "cause" ... Men have played women like this
for centuries. Made promises they know
they will never keep.
Seduced the naive and the beautiful
Used whatever words work

How much vital support and sympathy
was severed then never to be regained

Now another rises up
as if a great hero
a martyr- Islamic Jihad
gains strength power prestige
in an echo chamber
while the wider world drifts
farther and farther away
from wanting to even know
or care
about Palestine




Wednesday, February 22, 2012

To Rise to the Challenge ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

Growing Gardens for Palestine

To Rise to the Challenge

Easy though it is
to idolize the unknown
and unknowable

Easy though it is
to get totally swept up
by clever hype and spin

Easy though it is
to follow a crowd rallied

I'd rather carefully choose
my own heroes...
preferring to pause to admire
men and women of words
and acts
that stand the test of time
& meritocracy...

Role models working hard
examining actual evidence
Listening learning thinkers
who make clear points
sharpening
my own thoughts

Story tellers who step away
from stereotypes...

Honest people
honorable people
real people
who rise to the challenge
of every day
being a little bit different
newly nuanced...

Golden Rule people
who practice what they preach



poem & photo copyright ©2012 Anne Selden Annab

James J. Zogby: Anthony Shadid — ‘a man for others’

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & REVEALING OP-EDs IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
http://jordantimes.com/anthony-shadid----a-man-for-others

Anthony Shadid — ‘a man for others’

by James J. Zogby | Feb 20,2012 | 22:31

New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid died unexpectedly this week. With his passing away we lose America’s finest reporter on Arab world issues — at a time when Americans need his work more than ever.

The importance of Shadid’s writings to Americans and Arabs cannot be overstated. His reporting was unique, reflecting both his understanding of the history and culture of the Arab world and his concern for its people.

Unlike so many of his contemporaries, Shadid appreciated the fact that the story of the region didn’t begin the day he got the assignment. His reporting reflected a historian’s appreciation for context. He understood contemporary Arab realities because he knew whence they had come. And for this reason, he also had a better sense of where Arabs were going than most of the pundits and commentators who fill our airwaves with their endless and often wrongheaded chatter.

More than that, Shadid’s work was distinguished by a poet’s sense of texture. He wrote not with an ego, but with an eye for detail and an ear for the voices he heard. Where others were “embedded” with troops, he walked the streets of war-torn Arab countries “embedded” with people, bringing to life, for the rest of us, what ordinary Iraqis, Lebanese, Syrians, etc., were seeing and saying and feeling.

He cared about the Arab people. To him, they were not faceless objects or the “other side” of a conflict. They were real people with hopes and fears, with stories worth telling.

What he brought home to his readers were the voices of his subjects and their stories as they were unfolding through their eyes. When you read a Shadid dispatch from Baghdad, Beirut or Tripoli, it was as if you had been transported to that place. The sounds and smells of the streets where he walked, the warmth of the homes he visited and the emotions, and concerns, of the people he met, all came through in full force.

He often put himself in harm’s way to bring us stories we needed to read. He was shot and wounded by the Israeli military in 2003, covering West Bank violence; he was at risk in Iraq, staying with families whose lives were impacted by war and terror; he was kidnapped, held hostage and abused in Libya, telling the story of the early stages of that country’s revolt; and he died of a freakish asthma attack while researching a story inside Syria that no one else could or would cover in quite the same way.

The last time I spoke with him was after his release from captivity in Libya. He didn’t dwell on what had happened to him, he was on to the next story to tell. In a way, he was relentless in his passion for his craft. It was more than a job, it was his mission.

For his work, he won two Pulitzer prizes. But for the contributions he made to our understanding of a region we need to know, but do not, we owe Anthony Shadid so much more.

If not for him, the voices of everyday folks across the Arab world would not have had an outlet to be heard. We would not have known of the dilemma faced by ordinary Iraqis as they struggled with the life and death issues of war and occupation; we would not have seen up close the impact of Israel’s horrific bombing of Lebanon; we would have not experienced the Arab Spring, with all its exultation and frustration from Egypt to Syria.

The Arab American Institute recognised Shadid’s work in 2007. Following a moving tribute by Hollywood actor Tony Shalhoub, Shadid took the stage. What impressed everyone most was his quietness. He was a gentle and humble soul. His greatness lay not in his projection of “self” but in his ability to serve as a conduit for others — he told us their stories, not his own; he brought them to life and made us all aware of their reality.

Shadid was a man for others, for Arabs and Americans. He was our bridge to a world we have a profound impact on, but whose reality we do not know. And now he is gone.

I grieve for him and for his family. And I grieve, as well, for the countless souls in a troubled region who told their stories to Shadid so he could relay them to the rest of us.

He was a man for others. This was his greatness and this is why we must lament his death.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Jordan's king blames Israel for deadlocked peace

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
http://news.yahoo.com/jordans-king-blames-israel-deadlocked-peace-165840816.html

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — King Abdullah II on Tuesday blamed Israel for deadlocked Mideast peacemaking in a meeting with U.S. Jewish leaders, the official Petra News Agency said.

But the king's guests offered a more optimistic version of events, saying Abdullah had also been complimentary of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position in recent peace talks.

Jordan last month played host to talks that have subsequently been broken off. Palestinian and Israeli negotiators have blamed the other for the cut-off.

Petra said Abdullah was specifically concerned over Israel's "unilateral policies." It said that included changing the identity of the traditionally Arab sector in East Jerusalem and tampering with Muslim holy shrines there.

It said Abdullah's remarks came in a meeting Tuesday with representatives of the New York-based Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations — a central coordinating body for American Jewry, representing 52 national Jewish agencies.

Delegation leader Malcolm Hoenlein, speaking after the meeting, acknowledged the king's concerns about unilateral Israeli action, particularly in east Jerusalem.

But he also said Abdullah had in fact been complimentary of Netanyahu's peace efforts and had even asked him to convey a message of thanks for Israel's proposals in the latest round of peace talks.

"He praised Netanyahu and asked me specifically at the end to please give a message to 'my friend' that I appreciate his taking risks by putting forth the package that he did ... a package that he knew was difficult to do, but he created a climate to enable the process to move forward and for negotiations to take place," Hoenlein said.... READ MORE

Islamic Jihad and the international campaign to sabotage support for a secular two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict


Dear ADC

My inbox has been inundated with various forwards by a wide spectrum of various activists, some with good intentions, some not, all doing what they can to help make Khader Adnan the symbol of Palestine. I was shocked and stunned to see ADC's alert joining the misguided throng.

Why do you want your supporters to help empower Islamic Jihad and the international campaign to sabotage support for a secular two state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict?

And why all this energy to goad Arab Americans and their supporters to rally around Palestinian Sheikh Khader Adnan who can eat if he wants to, but no alert to let people know about Saudi columnist Hamza Kashgari who is facing death by execution because of a tweet... a very reasonable tweet might I add, as I see nothing wrong with advocating the idea of equality.

Can any one really call America's mainstream media biased against Arabs and Muslims when even The Washington Post steps up with an op-ed to hopefully help save Hamza Kashgari's life- as well as to help empower free speech and full disclosure, while the ADC doesn't?

From someone else's supposedly pro-Palestine alert I see this quote: " "I starve myself for you to remain. I die for you to live. Stay with the revolution." ~Sheikh Khader Adnan on hunger strike for 65 days & counting to protest his illegal detention and the ongoing Zionist colonization of Palestine "

And my heart breaks for this is not for Palestine as in secular resistance to rampant Israeli bigotry and injustice... this is the turning point where the Israel-Palestine conflict becomes a religious war and the fulfillment of all the most nasty Zionist propaganda.

Khader Adnan starves himself so that he and his fellow Islamists can con pro-Palestine activists into thinking that he is a heroic symbol of Palestine and that Islamic Jihad is admirable and noble.

He starves himself so that the people of Palestine will vote Islamist rather than elect to invest in secular freedom and a fair and just negotiated settlement to end the conflict.

He starves himself so that the echo chamber of the internet can roar with bravado while out in the real world Palestine becomes a feeble whisper, for most reasonable people really do not want to have anything to do with people who chose to promote Islamic Jihad.

Khader Adnan starves himself to so that Arab Americans (misled by very manipulative and essentially deceitful alerts sent out by supposedly reasonable people and orgs) will help convince America's mainstream media and America's Congress that Zionist propaganda is true... and that the only sane thing to do is to stop funding Palestine in order to prevent Islamist collaborators from continuing on with their demented quest to get as many people as possible to believe that "Israel can't be reformed, corrected and made more just. It will have to be obliterated and replaced by a just and morally-guided regime."

Are you really so totally submerged in the echo chamber that you can not see how Islamists and their collaborators should not be trusted- or applauded. Can you not see that there is a huge difference between being an honorable and noble Muslim individual who believes in Palestine and being an Islamist who believes that Islam should be armed and funded with tax payer's money.

A fully secular two state solution remains the last best hope for peace and the people of Palestine... and Palestine (as well as UNWRA) desperately needs fiscal aid and effective, intelligent grass roots lobby efforts. Why help undermine that?

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Hamza Kashgari is a test... in jail and possibly facing a death sentence for a tweet

Richard Cohen: "... It’s hard to attract — or keep — first-class talent in what, after all, is a very weird place. Women are not permitted to drive, and the chance remark, if it is deemed heretical, can result in draconian punishment.

Frankly, the economic progress of Saudi Arabia does not concern me today — and neither do the complicated role and obligations of the king. My cultural relativism takes me only so far. It stops way short of condoning the execution of anyone for an errant, if silly, tweet.

A life is on the line. I asked the Saudi embassy in Washington the status and the whereabouts of Kashgari and was told to put my request in writing — an e-mail. That was late last week, and I have heard nothing. So keep your eye on Hamza Kashgari — in some ways the future of Saudi Arabia, in all ways merely a terrified human being."

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES & REVEALING OP-EDs IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hamza-kashgari-is-a-test-for-saudi-arabia/2012/02/20/gIQAuNL8PR_story.html

Keep your eye on Hamza Kashgari. He’s the 23-year-old former columnist for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Bilad newspaper who had the extremely bad judgment to tweet an imaginary conversation he was having with the prophet Muhammad. In almost no time, he was running for his life, hopping a plane in Jeddah and hoping to reach New Zealand. In Malaysia, where he apparently had to change planes, he was held incommunicado until a private plane arrived from Saudi Arabia. He’s now back home, in jail and possibly facing a death sentence....READ MORE

Monday, February 20, 2012

RSA Animate - 21st century enlightenment

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead


Matthew Taylor explores the meaning of 21st century enlightenment, how the idea might help us meet the challenges we face today, and the role that can be played by organisations such as the RSA.

My Letter to Philadelphia Inquirer RE Trudy Rubin's tribute to the talented Arab American reporter Anthony Shadid: Journalist's risks benefited us all

Anthony Shadid died Thursday while on assignment in Syria (Associated Press Photo)

RE: Trudy Rubin Worldview: Journalist's risks benefited us all http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/trudy_rubin/20120219_Worldview__Journalist_s_risks_benefited_us_all.html

Dear Editor,

I very much appreciated Trudy Rubin's thoughtful tribute to the talented Arab American reporter Anthony Shadid who tragically died this past week of an asthma attack, in the prime of his life in the middle of a very admirable career. In particular I like how Ms Rubin presented the big picture of how important it is to have trustworthy, professional, competent and compassionate foreign correspondents on the ground so that American citizens (and U.S. officials) might better understand what really is going on.

Citizen journalists and freelancers can indeed help convey bits and pieces of important stories, but they simply do not have the breadth of experience or the professional expertise to do full justice to important stories. Some might eventually become respected reporters employed by mainstream American newspapers because they have proved their worth- their competence and integrity. However there are many amateurs and novices who either inadvertently or intentionally leave out important facts and trends, crafting their stories with more slant than solid ground. The internet is filled with titillating posts and forwards by such novices, but wiser readers know to be wary.

Mainstream American newspapers are not perfect, but they do have fact checkers, a sense of accountability, and the test of time on their side. Meritocracy tends to guide a mainstream American newspaper's choice of who to hire and who to promote. Sadly the same can not be said for many newspapers in the Middle East, where anti-America "experts" and slick apologists for Islamists tend to push potential future journalists (here and there) away from really seeing and more fully understanding the bigger picture.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American Homemaker & Poet
NOTES

Arab American Institute's Omar Baddar: In Defense of Hamza Kashgari

On the anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s birth, Saudi columnist Hamza Kashgari did something a bit unusual on Twitter: he said that the prophet was someone about whom he had likes and dislikes, and that if he ever met him, he would afford him no more respect than he would afford a friend and an equal. Will most devout people like Kashgari’s attitude? Of course not. But are his comments so bad as to cause a major uproar and calls for his head? Apparently, the unfortunate answer to that is “yes.”

The New York Times's new Jerusalem correspondent has faced criticism for sending tweets to 'the wrong people'.`

Attacks on the New York Times's new Jerusalem correspondent undermine the credibility of Israel's rightwing defenders

Why Aren’t More Arab Americans Working in Mainstream Journalism?

Following the Arab spring and with the partial opening of press systems in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere, it is possible that more Arab Americans will be encouraged to serve the public in journalism or politics, and I hope they do. America’s approach to world affairs would be better for it. For now, though, many Arabs don’t view journalism as one of the keys to a better life, and I can’t blame them.

At Ben Gurion, Learn to Fight the Fear

It is only when I venture outside of my comfortable Ramallah bubble that I comprehend how living under occupation affects a person. I feel my body getting tenser while driving inside the West Bank, or taking the bus to Jerusalem, which often gives me a headache.

Congressman Keith Ellison Discusses Defunding Palestinian Sesame Street

This Congress approved funding for Sesame Street in Palestine last year. But one member is holding up the money. That means there's no Elmo...Only Farfour teaching extremism. Uploaded by RepKeithEllison on Jan 24, 2012

Storm Over Hebron...

As you all know, I have been living and working in Hebron/Al Khalil as an Ecumenical Accompanier for the past three months. I find this to be an interesting article and good analysis of the ancient religious history and applaud their efforts for acknowledging that the children on both sides need to learn about the other. However, I have to point out some discrepancies regarding the facts and information that is missing from this article.

Hamas & The Arab Spring

Hussein Ibish: "Whether the agreement with Abbas is implemented or not, Hamas will only go as far as it absolutely must to adjust to new realities. But relying on states like Qatar, Egypt and Jordan will necessitate very different behavior than being a client of Syria and Iran. And Hamas leaders counting on the Arab Spring turning into an “Islamic Awakening” that fulfills their ideological fantasies are spending more time reading coffee grounds than the emerging regional order." Hamas of contradictions

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

PEEKS... The cool new Palestinians: geeks... The West Bank and Gaza Strip is home to hundreds of tech companies,

"It doesn't matter where you are and what you do, you can go anywhere on the Internet – the opposite of what's here in Palestine, with checkpoints and [the] political situation and everything." Rasha Rasem Hussein, a computer systems engineering student in her last year at Birzeit University in Ramallah.

There can be a path to true peace in the Middle East by Jordan's Prince El Hassan bin Talal

If we wish to change the enmity in our region to friendship, or at least to recognition of shared interests, equal sovereignty and a shared humanity, we need a new vision, a new concept. For the displaced, for the internally displaced, for the stateless, for the refugees, is it not time, whether our color is black, white or brown, that we started to look at our joint future? It is my firm belief that a most solid cornerstone for peace in our region could be built around the three baskets of the Helsinki process — economy, security and human dignity

House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid

“House of Stone takes the reader to the heart of the Middle East and all its conflicts: the core question of what gives people a sense of who they are and what they are. In this deeply personal but deeply relevant memoir, he looks at the way family, place, history and faith work their way into a people’s blood, determining not only how they look at their past, but how they go about trying to build a future.” – Christopher Dickey, Middle East Bureau Chief, Newsweek

Over 40 years after his first exhibition, artist Mahmoud Taha’s work continues to be driven and inspired by the Palestinian people’s quest for freedom

The Year of Reading Dangerously ...Charter for Compassion calls for stories

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"Religious conservatism invariably focuses on social and sexual control. Women are the most immediate targets and primary focus of the authoritarianism of the religious right, wherever they may be. As Islamists seem to be finally getting their chance at gaining a share of power in the Arab world, the greatest and most immediate danger they pose is to women’s rights. That is why it is up to everyone else, including both secularists and religious moderates, to insist on the introduction of inviolable constitutional principles protecting the rights of individuals, women and minorities." Hussein Ibish: Islamism and misogyny

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." Eleanor Roosevelt

Sunday, February 19, 2012

PEEKS... The cool new Palestinians: geeks... The West Bank and Gaza Strip is home to hundreds of tech companies,

creating everything from websites to smart phone apps.

Yousef Ghandour, who is fostering a new community of Palestinian tech entrepreneurs, works on his social networking site at a Ramallah coffee shop.
"It doesn't matter where you are and what you do, you can go anywhere on the Internet – the opposite of what's here in Palestine, with checkpoints and [the] political situation and everything." Rasha Rasem Hussein, a computer systems engineering student in her last year at Birzeit University in Ramallah.

"We believe the private sector is really going to save the Palestinian economy, not the public sector, not the NGOs," says Mr. [Faris] Zaher, who currently has five employees. "The young people all have the same vision..."

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0218/The-cool-new-Palestinians-geeks

By Jackie Spinner, [CSM] Correspondent / February 18, 2012

Ramallah, West Bank

In the hip Ramallah coffee shop ZAMN, Yousef Ghandour laments the slow Wi-Fi as he launches the beta version of one of his many start-ups, a social networking site that allows users to travel through time to find connections.

Mr. Ghandour, who never wastes a moment, shares the e-books he is currently reading on his iPhone (among them, "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't"), shows off his blog, and lingers for a moment on his latest vision for a social networking site for Muslims called AnaBasili, or "I'm praying."

"People are really passionate about entrepreneurship and putting Palestine on the map using technology," says Ghandour, a software engineer who is helping to create – and brand – an emerging community of technology entrepreneurs in the Palestinian territories. They call themselves Palestinian geeks, or peeks.

Until now, the primary Palestinian contribution to technology has been outsourcing programmers and engineers to firms in the United States and Israel, including Google and Cisco Systems.

But these new entrepreneurs want to do more. They want to create companies based on their own ideas and hire people to implement them. Already their ventures range from smart phone apps to Web design.

Crucially, the community is now beginning to attract investors. The Sadara Fund, the first venture capital fund focused on the Palestinian territories, launched last year with an initial $28 million to invest in Palestinian start-ups... READ MORE