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Saturday, September 15, 2012

At Zaatari camp, children struggle to cope with refugee life

A child walks outside her family’s tent at the Zaatari Refugee Camp near Mafraq on Saturday. The camp’s 5,000 children face many difficulties in adjusting to life as refugees (Photo by Muath Freij)
MAFRAQ — "I used to play football with my friends; they were like my brothers. Now, I have no idea where they are or if they are even alive," 13-year-old Mohammad Ameen told The Jordan Times outside his tent at the Zaatari Refugee Camp.

At the camp, where UNICEF says around 5,000 Syrian children aged between six and 18 are currently living, young people said that the violence in their country had driven them far from their homes, friends and any sense of normalcy.

Mohammad Majid, who came to Zaatari from Daraa 25 days ago, said he was having trouble making new friends.

"I only have one new friend at the camp. I do not know anyone else because most children stay in their families' tents. Also, most people at the camp are people older than me," the 12-year-old told The Jordan Times.

Sweating in the desert heat, Majid said that summer used to be his favourite season. Not anymore.
"I used to go out to ride my bicycle when I finished school, and hang out with my friends at night. Now, these are only memories," he said.

With a lack of entertainment options at the Zaatari camp and harsh weather keeping them indoors for much of the day, many refugee children suffer from boredom, on top of the trauma and the disorientation of displacement.

"We hardly play football. There is a play area in the camp, but my parents do not let me go there because it is far from our tent and people older than me play there as well," Zakaria Hoshan said.
"My parents do not allow me to go out because they are scared that the heat will affect our health," his 10-year-old cousin said.

In an effort to ease the hardship of refugee life for the camp’s young residents, international organisations have created spaces for children to play, UNICEF communication specialist Samir Badran said.

"There are four safe centres supported by the UNICEF at Zaatari camp designed for children to play and learn,” Badran said, adding that each of these centres includes three large tents that can accommodate up to 50 children at a time and host recreational programmes supported by UNICEF and implemented by Save the Children.

"It gives them a chance to meet new friends as well," he pointed out.

Education gap

Many of the children at the Zaatari camp have not been to school since even before they fled their countries.

Mustafa Hariri said that he missed his school days, which ended with the start of the conflict in Syria early last year.

"When the violence began, no one dared to go to school," the seven-year-old said.

His mother, who refused to reveal her name, said that with Syrian regime forces firing on demonstrators and doing battle with armed rebels, she had stopped sending her son to school out of fear that he would be caught in the crossfire.

"My husband and I were scared that we would lose our son," she said. "I hope that my child will have the chance to continue his studies in the camp."...READ  MORE

Bazinga

a poem by Anne Selden Annab


            Bazinga

Technology engineered in America
manufactured in China
tweaked world wide...
sold everywhere- circuit board extravaganzas
in everyone's hands

Cell phones- tablets- computers- TVs twittering
tuned into echo chambers here and there
everywhere...

In between in Arabs lands
Freedom of speech here
is freedom to believe the worst there

Meritocracy falters
with hate campaigns aimed
anywhere they can go...
Rage stoked and stupidity fueled
by extremists of every stripe
motivated to manipulate
a crowd into crazy

It's not religion-
it's idiocy.

It's too many half truths
too much news as entertainment
Too many scapegoats
and excuses
too many homes destroyed

and too many refugees
with no where left to go.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Ambassador Stevens was an exceptional diplomat who mixed impeccable professionalism with genuine passion and caring.

US Ambassador Christopher Stevens

 

The American Task Force on Palestine strongly condemns the heinous attack that claimed the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi yesterday, and extends its deepest condolences to the families of Ambassador Stevens and his colleagues.

Ambassador Stevens was an exceptional diplomat who mixed impeccable professionalism with genuine passion and caring. With his tragic death, the United States has lost a patriot who tirelessly pursued America’s interests, while the Arab world has lost a friend who was personally invested in a better future for the Arab world and in stronger Arab-American relations.


 The American Task Force on Palestine 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.

Israeli forces handed confiscation orders to several farmers in the Nablus villages of Beit Iba, al-Naqura, Zawatta and Ijnisinya on Tuesday, which will see 800 acres of [Palestinian] land annexed in order to build an Israeli bypass road.

Olive trees pictured in Beit Jala.(MaanImages/Eva Pilipp)
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=519384

PA official: Israel to confiscate 675 dunams of Nablus land

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities issued orders late Tuesday to confiscate 675 dunams of land in Nablus, having issued similar orders earlier in the day to confiscate 800 acres of land in a western area of the city, a PA official said.

Ghassan Doughlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that the Israeli decision will confiscate land from Awarta and Burin villages in the center and east of Nablus.

Confiscation orders were delivered to the villages late on Tuesday, Doughlas said, adding that the land set to be annexed consists mainly of olive trees.

Israeli forces handed confiscation orders to several farmers in the Nablus villages of Beit Iba, al-Naqura, Zawatta and Ijnisinya on Tuesday, which will see 800 acres of land annexed in order to build an Israeli bypass road.

The dunam, a measurement unit dating back to the Ottoman empire, is equivalent to 1,000 square meters.

Israel is using water agreements signed in the Oslo Accords to blackmail the Palestinian Water Authority and destroy the two-state solution

Israel's planned construction of the wall in the Cremisan Valley will
destroy a water reservoir. (MaanImages/ Eva Pilipp)
 Israel 'blackmailing' Palestinian Water Authority
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=518888

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel is using water agreements signed in the Oslo Accords to blackmail the Palestinian Water Authority and destroy the two-state solution, the head of the PWA said Monday.

Israel has reduced the Joint Water Committee, set up to implement the Oslo Agreement on water, to "a forum for blackmail," Shaddad Attili said in a statement.

Israel refuses to approve Palestinian projects to construct and rehabilitate water infrastructure in the West Bank unless the Palestinian Authority approves projects to benefit illegal Israeli settlements, Attili said.

"This is no different to asking us to approve our own occupation and colonization."

Attili added: "If Israel continues to treat the JWC as a mechanism through which to arm twist and blackmail Palestinians, then the JWC faces a very uncertain future. In essence, Israel will have killed the JWC."

By obstructing water projects in Area C, 60 percent of the West Bank, Israel undermines Palestinian efforts to build the infrastructure needed for a state, and forcibly displaces Palestinians by obstructing their access to water.

"In short, Israel’s policies in Area C seek to make permanent the status quo of territorial fragmentation, settlement expansion and resource exploitation that are all fundamental to its continued occupation," the water chief said.

Donor countries recognize settlements as a threat to the two-state solution, yet donor-funded water projects in the West Bank are only approved if the JWC approves projects supporting settlements.

"Israel has created a situation in which donor support for the Palestinian water sector is in danger of undermining donor support for the two-state solution. Donor countries need to intervene to change this situation, for the sake of Palestinian water rights and for the future of the two-state solution," Attili said.

In 2011, Israeli forces demolished 46 Palestinian rainwater-harvesting cisterns and 25 wells. Current data suggests this number will be surpassed in 2012, the Palestinian Water Authority says.

The PWA has submitted over 100 applications for water projects that are still waiting approval by Israel, some of which date back to 1999.

The Oslo Accords were slated as a five-year interim agreement until the establishment of a Palestinian state, but remain in place nearly two decades on in the absence of a final agreement. The agreement maintained Israeli control over West Bank water resources and its levels of extraction from them.

Demonstrators protesting the rising cost of living in cities across the West Bank have demanded the cancellation of the Paris Protocol, the economic annex to the Oslo Accords which Palestinians say mostly benefited Israel.

The al-Khan al-Ahmar school constructed of car tires covered in mud is the only permanent structure in the village and serves as a community center and focal point.

Bedouin children from the Jahalin clan attend the Khan Al Ahmar School in Khan Al Ahmar village in the West Bank. Ilan Mizrahi for The National
Israeli court rules on demolition of 60 year old #WestBank school made of recycled tires http://t.co/qXPzNHK0

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20670
JERUSALEM, September 12, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli Supreme Court will rule on a petition by settlers demanding the demolition of the iconic car tire school, which is the only permanent structure in the West Bank Bedouin village of al-Khan al-Ahmar, according to a press release by the Jahalin Association.
 
It said that Israeli Supreme Court will rule on a petition filed by settlers of Kfar Adumim demanding the demolition of a Bedouin school which is ecologically built of mud and used car tires.
 
The school is attended by roughly 95 Bedouin children (grades 1-4), who are residents of the nearby hut village al-Khan al-Ahmar. 
 
This Jahalin Bedouin community has been residing in the area for over 60 years, long before the construction of the settlement of Kfar Adumim, which now resides alongside their huts, it said.
 
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was quoted saying that he intends to “move the ‘illegal’ al-Khan al-Ahmar village to a site adjacent to the Aqabat Jabar refugee camp in Jericho or to a site adjacent to Nueima refugee camp in the Jordan Rift Valley.”
 
 The release stated, “If this plan is to move forward soon, the school will be demolished and moved with the rest of the village. If the plan is delayed the school will still be moved to a temporary structure in one of the sites mentioned in the response.”
 
The Bedouin community of al-Khan al-Ahmar is represented by Attorney Shlomo Lecker, who argues that the 'illegality' of the school is “rooted in the Israeli forces’ decades-long denial of orderly building permits for the community.” This policy was put in place with the aim of clearing the indigenous population to make room for settlements such as Kfar Adumim.
 
'Furthermore, the position of the Minister of Defense remains unclear on the problematic nature of sending young girls and boys to distant strange locations such as Nueima in the Jordan Valley,' Lecker added. 'Just in order to comply with the wishes of settlers who have been leading a crusade against their neighbors' school in al-Khan al-Ahmar.'
 
Restricted by their harsh conditions of life, the Jahalin Bedouin of Al Khan al Ahmar struggle to provide their children with an education. The al-Khan al-Ahmar school constructed of car tires covered in mud is the only permanent structure in the village and serves as a community center and focal point.
 

American-Islamic Relations: "The only proper response to intentional provocations such as this film is to redouble efforts to promote mutual understanding between faiths and to marginalize extremists of all stripes."

ead more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/09/11/4254760/cair-asks-mideast-muslims-to-ignore.html#storylink=cpy
 
"We urge that this ignorant attempt to provoke the religious feelings of Muslims in the Arabic-speaking world be ignored and that its extremist producers not be given the cheap publicity they so desperately seek. Those who created this trashy film do not represent the people of America or the Christian faith.  The only proper response to intentional provocations such as this film is to redouble efforts to promote mutual understanding between faiths and to marginalize extremists of all stripes.

We condemn the attack on the American embassy, which had nothing to do with the production of this intentionally inflammatory film."

CAIR Asks Mideast Muslims to Ignore 'Trashy' Anti-Islam Film


Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/09/11/4254760/cair-asks-mideast-muslims-to-ignore.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/09/11/4254760/cair-asks-mideast-muslims-to-ignore.html#storylink=cpy

Killing of US envoy to Libya underscores threat of unchecked religious fanaticism

In this April 2011 file photo, US envoy Christopher Stevens (c.), speaks to Council member for Misrata Dr. Suleiman Fortia (r.) at the Tibesty Hotel Ben Curtis/AP/File
The US ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three diplomatic staff members were killed last night when Islamists attacked the American consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, the State Department confirmed today.


In a video released by the State Department when Mr. Stevens was appointed ambassador to Libya after Qaddafi’s ouster, he said he “quickly grew to love this part of the world” when he spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley. In the video, which has Arabic subtitles, he said he looked forward to returning to Libya and hoped the US could partner with the newly independent country on issues like health care and education.

My letter to the IHT/NYTimes RE Seven Lean Years of Peacemaking by Daniel Levy


RE:  Seven Lean Years of Peacemaking by Daniel Levy
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/seven-lean-years-of-peacemaking.html?_r=1&ref=global

Dear Editor,

Demographics are a research tool, a simple tally momentarily totaling up various groupings of people revealing the inherent diversity of every human community.  Tragically, in Israel demographics have been misused and abused to fuel paranoid fantasies, creating cruel policies shaping institutionalized bigotry, injustice, home demolitions and an ongoing refugee crisis as well as religious extremism as more and more Palestinians are pushed into poverty, forced exile and despair.

Israel has not been seeking peace with Palestine- not in the last seven years, and not for many decades. What we have right now, with Israeli investors and tax payers (here and there) funding jobs, housing, positive PR and favors for Jewish citizens while impoverishing, disenfranchising, displacing, demonzing, and destroying native non-Jewish men, women and children already is the one-state "solution".

Universal rights, democracy and freedom are best served by a fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict for everyone's sake, regardless of anyone's supposed race or religion.... One sovereign secular Israel living in peace alongside and with one sovereign secular Palestine.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
In a joint declaration, the conference of religious leaders stated: “While state systems may be different, equal citizenship, the rule of law and protection of freedoms are the basis of a strong and vibrant civil society.” Hard lessons in liberty for the Middle East

Tariq Alhomayed says it is political buffoonery for Arabs to allow Hamas and Hezbollah to thrive while the PA is on the brink of bankruptcy.

For Palestinian Kids in Hebron, Little Joy on Back-to-School Day

Phil Primack: On a trip to the West Bank, a vision of potential for peace... how agreement on water can lead to at least a trickle of hope in a region long parched for it.

My letter to Obama: Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict

Analysts say crime rates to rise amid economic hardship

Ibish: States define themselves without demanding a recognition of their “character” from their neighbors as a condition for peaceful relations

Hanan Ashrawi: Israel's Cynical Definition of 'Refugee'

Is peace a “vital” American interest?

No Wall Against Identity Warfare

9-4-2012: Israeli vandals attack West Bank monastery

Political Realities

Israel's Ongoing Policy of Destroying Homes & Displacing Palestinians

The Truth is Stranger than Fiction in Palestine

Breaking the Silence: More than 30 former Israeli soldiers have disclosed their experiences of the treatment of Palestinian children during military operations and arrests, pointing to a pattern of abuse.

Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict: "It is the view of the United Nations that there is a responsibility not only on the parties themselves but on all member states to consider their action and their language in light of the goal,"


We Palestinian are locked in a fierce struggle for our independence....to make the matter straight and simple this is not a clash of religions...

Violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property, mosques and farmland had increased by 150% over the past year.

"If you have to modify it, it isn't really a democracy."




********
The Office of International Religious Freedom ( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to:
Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries

"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

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


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Hard lessons in liberty for the Middle East

With pro-democracy struggles in trouble in Iran and in the Arab Spring, opposition figures now realize that unity against tyranny is easier than unity in favor of democracy. Many see the need for a change.

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / September 11, 2012 

UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie meets Syrian refugees in Jordan Sept. 10. More than 23,000 people have died in an uprising that has lasted more than 17 months. Reuters
 For three years, the world has watched the people of the Middle East rise up against dictators. First came Iran in 2009 and then the Arab Spring in 2011. Almost all of the revolts – either active ones as in Syria or successful ones as in Egypt – have since ended, stalled, or hit rough spots.

Why?

One reason is that those who ignited the protests have since learned it is far easier to unite against tyranny than unite in favor of democratic values, such as respect for the opinions of others. Opposition leaders have too often split over egos, the role of Islam, the use of violence, or differing views of what democracy means.
 
Now, however, there are signs that many who first sought freedom have learned an expensive lesson from their own experience and from history in what can happen during a revolution. Even Americans in 1776 were more united against King George III than united for democracy.

Ultimately, an affirmative identity for these movements based on democratic principles will be far more lasting for the Middle East than a negative identity, or what a group opposes. Positive ideals help form bonds across faiths, ethnicities, and classes...READ MORE 

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Monday, September 10, 2012

Tariq Alhomayed says it is political buffoonery for Arabs to allow Hamas and Hezbollah to thrive while the PA is on the brink of bankruptcy.


"This is both puzzling and depressing; what future do we want for our children and our region? Do we want Hamas, Hezbollah and others of their ilk, or do we want to consolidate the concept of the state that upholds human values, encourages knowledge and respects laws, all according to the principles of God’s religion and a homeland for all? "  Tariq Alhomayed

Tariq Alhomayed, Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat

Tariq Alhomayed
Asharq Alawsat (Opinion)
September 10, 2012 - 12:00am
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=31011


The Iranian President told his Palestinian counterpart that he loves the Palestinians, prompting Abbas to reply: “For God’s sake, love us all”, i.e. not just Hamas. But it is hard for Ahmadinejad to do that, for Iran and its adherers will not be satisfied with the Palestinians until they are a game in their hands, like Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Assad.

It’s a shame that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has declared bankruptcy while Hamas - a party that does not suffer from financial hardship due to the Iranian support it receives - is preparing to create a new generation of diplomats from Gaza. This will only consecrate the Palestinian division that originally resulted from the Hamas coup. It is shameful that Abbas has announced the PA’s inability to provide salaries in the West Bank, while in Egypt it has been reported that Islamic terrorist groups in the Sinai have drone aircraft and advanced weaponry in order to carry out strikes on the Egyptian army. So how can terrorists be financed to strike Egyptian security, while we cannot find anyone to fund the PA, which is searching for a peaceful solution to the Palestinian cause! Likewise it is shameful that Abbas is begging for money while al-Assad gets all he wants from Iran and its adherers, in order to kill the Syrian people! Yes it is shameful that Abbas is declaring bankruptcy at a time when the symbols of destruction and division in our region are enjoying the funding and facilities of Tehran. As for some Arab regimes – and the Gaza government is one of these – who claim to be fighting Iran’s agent in Syria, they only want to destroy the authorities there to reinforce the power of the Muslim Brotherhood in our region. This is a contradiction that could only happen in our region, which is full of inconsistencies and political buffoonery. 

While we are on the subject of political buffoonery, let us consider the call from the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti to his European counterparts, urging the need to hold a conference to counter the danger of populists, demagogues or deceivers - call them what you will, i.e. those who seek to mislead the public. Monti claimed that these figures are threatening the future of Europe and its unity by taking advantage of the current financial crisis. The Italian Prime Minister called on the Europeans to address these populist currents by saying that: “It is paradoxical and sad that in a phase in which one was hoping to complete the integration, instead there is forming a dangerous counter-phenomenon that aims at the disintegration”. This is the case with our own region today, unfortunately, where there is no louder voice than the populists and deceivers. How else can we explain Abbas’ cry that the PA is bankrupt, while Hamas and Hezbollah are not suffering from financial hardship with the support of Iran and some of the revolutionaries in our region? How else can we understand Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, defending al-Assad by saying that the alternatives to the tyrant of Damascus would be mere reactionists? Has Aoun forgotten that he was an ally of Saddam Hussein before al-Assad? Is there anything more reactionary than that? 

This is both puzzling and depressing; what future do we want for our children and our region? Do we want Hamas, Hezbollah and others of their ilk, or do we want to consolidate the concept of the state that upholds human values, encourages knowledge and respects laws, all according to the principles of God’s religion and a homeland for all? 

This is what we must always remember, but for the Palestinians to implore Ahmadinejad, saying “For God’s sake, love us all”, this is a pipe dream!



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For Palestinian Kids in Hebron, Little Joy on Back-to-School Day

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http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/grim-back-to-school-day-for-hebr.html
A boy walks past a checkpoint en route to his first day of school. (photo by AL-MONITOR/Lena Odgaard)

By: Lena Odgaard posted on Sunday, Sep 9, 2012

HEBRON — Catching up with friends, showing off new clothes and getting new books — for most kids, the first day of school is exciting. But for Palestinian children who live in or go to school in the Old City of Hebron, the day is nothing to look forward to. Here, crossing checkpoints manned by heavily armed Israeli soldiers and dodging barbs and attacks from Israeli settlers are unfortunate parts of an ordinary school day.

On Sunday morning (Sept. 2) little girls sporting new dresses, shiny shoes and braided hair, boys in blue shirts, and teenage girls in blue and white school uniforms flocked to the otherwise usually quiet and empty Shuhada street in H2. Israel’s military closed all the shops and sealed off the Old City’s main artery to Palestinian traffic after the 2000 Intifada to avoid recurring clashes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers — between 600 and 800 live in the midst of 35,000 Palestinians. Only settler vehicles can use that street.

At one of the many checkpoints controlling passage from the Palestinian-managed side of Hebron, known as H1 to H2, eight soldiers watched as children, parents and teachers crossed through the beeping metal detector. An 8-year-old girl walked nervously through from H1 and started running as soon as she passed the armored vehicle parked next the checkpoint. A boy, 6, clung to his father’s hand and kept looking over his shoulder toward the soldiers. A group of 6- to-12-year-old girls, who reside in H2, ran down the hill toward the checkpoint while making sure to keep as much distance from the soldiers as possible. The children were heading for the Cordoba school, which is the only school still open for Palestinian children in the H2 area.

Monitoring potential rights violations in the highly volatile part of the city were Chris Cox and Eero Mäntymaa, volunteers with the international organization EAPPI. Cox remarked on the soldiers checking the backpacks of even very young children, even though the school has asked them not to because it frightens the pupils. Many residents in H2, including children, are used to crossing checkpoints, but some still react very strongly. Said Mäntymaa: "Children react how they react, often by crying, and they remind you that it is not normal to have a gun pointed to your face."

Children face violence from soldiers and settlers

But the children of H2 often face much worse treatment from soldiers. Recent published testimonies of former Israeli soldiers by Breaking the Silence reveal a practice of beatings, intimidation and humiliation of Palestinian children and youth. Accounts by soldiers include conducting random arrests, leaving boys aged 12-to-14 blindfolded and handcuffed for hours, and witnessing how kids cry, scream or wet their pants.

Besides the cruel treatment dealt by some soldiers, the Palestinian children in H2 also face harassment and attacks by settlers. In a report by the UN's Richard Falk, concern is expressed for the recent surge in settler violence especially in areas such as Hebron. The report talks of “constant high tensions between Israeli settlers and the indigenous population, including young schoolchildren who are often threatened or even assaulted by Israeli settlers on their way to school.”

Numbers from a UNICEF-led working group on violations against children indicate a significant rise in the amount of Palestinian children injured as a consequence of settler violence in the West Bank: from 29 in 2010 to 41 in 2011 and 21 during the first half of 2012. In 2011 in Hebron alone, nine children were injured and one was killed. In 2012 seven boys aged 9 to 17 were injured in settler-related incidents. The numbers only include cases where children required medical treatment and therefore not minor incidents of attacks and harassment as those often witnessed by organizations monitoring rights on the ground.

When school becomes a target 

In H2, the Palestinian Cordoba School lies on a hill across from the Jewish settlement of Beit Hadassah. The school’s courtyard is surrounded by a tall fence and outside the school, a camera records potential attacks on the school. In the past year, the UNICEF-led working group has registered incidents of Israeli settlers throwing rocks and bottles at the school, assaulting teachers and girls on their way home from school. In June, before the pupils were to take their final exam, settlers damaged and blocked the main door to the school and tagged the school’s wall with the words “Death to Arabs” written in Hebrew.

The school has about 150 students and is the only co-coed school in Hebron. Noura Nasser, the Cordoba school principal, said it used to be an all-girls school but as pupils were dropping out for fear of being harassed by soldiers or settlers, the school started accepting boys in first through sixth grades. Seventh through 10th remain only for girls as the older boys face more even more problems at the checkpoint and their families prefer they go to another school outside H2.

Lamya Tamimi, an English teacher at Cordoba School, told Al-Monitor that last school year was especially difficult partly due to checkpoint closures and vandalism by settlers. But she worries especially about the long-term trauma inflicted on the children by recurring incidents of violence. This, she said, is reflected in the students’ drawings, which often feature soldiers and guns, but also in their behavior: “Some children become more violent and hit the other children. Some are scared and cry. Others isolate themselves.”...READ MORE

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Phil Primack: On a trip to the West Bank, a vision of potential for peace... how agreement on water can lead to at least a trickle of hope in a region long parched for it.

Boston Globe Magazine September 09, 2012

[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]

Illustration by Pete Ryan

THE LONG DROUGHT HAS MADE HEADLINES ABOUT RISING FOOD COSTS in this country, but water is always an issue in other parts of the world, with stakes far greater than more costly hamburgers. On a recent trip to Israel, I saw how agreement on water can lead to at least a trickle of hope in a region long parched for it. I also saw how easily such opportunity can evaporate.

An American Jew born the same year as Israel, I was on my first trip there. Like many visitors, I found the country beautiful and its issues complex. I talked with anyone, from falafel vendors to Israeli soldiers, but few felt peace was likely or, worse yet, even possible.

Eager to look beyond the usual tourist stops, I had a wonderful cabbie — “I’m Palestinian, with an Israeli ID and a Jordanian passport” — drive me from Jerusalem into the West Bank. The cabbie didn’t need to point out the long and towering barrier Israel says it has built to keep out terrorists. He let me off at a cabstand just beyond the wall, where I’d arranged to meet Mohammed Obidallah, Palestinian project manager for the Friends of the Earth Middle East’s (FoEME) Good Water Neighbors project.

As we drove to the nearby village of Battir, where he grew up, Obidallah explained the simple premise of his project. “Water and the environment recognize no borders,” he said. “Water can be a tool for peace here, but only when all sides — Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian — agree to work together.” Not long ago, FoEME — made up of environmentalists from all three parties — helped these oft-hostile players jointly obtain $3.65 million in World Bank funding for a new reservoir and water system for Battir and four surrounding Palestinian villages. The effort was supported by the Israeli government, which wants to protect the West Bank ground water from which it draws heavily.

Obidallah pointed out Battir’s main spring. It was tapped by the Romans, part of an irrigation system that has been used, by various peoples, ever since and still brings water to the village’s terraced gardens. Battir, with its fine views and valley full of tombs and other cultural landmarks, would be a B&B magnet in places like Galilee. Obidallah wants such a future for Battir — but then he points to the valley floor, through the middle of which Israel plans to extend its wall...READ MORE

My letter to Obama: Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict





Dear President Obama,

I know that supporting Palestine destroys careers here in America, and I know that with the upcoming election you would rather not sabotage your own chances of re-election. But please support Palestine anyway.

Let your presidency and America stand for respecting the rule of fair and just laws and policies- and fully honoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) are refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

Let your presidency and America stand for honor and dignity and decency.... let your presidency and America help end the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular two state solution shaping two sovereign separate nation-states, one Israel and one Palestine.

Let your presidency and America be about electing to be real leadership setting a good example in thought, word and deed, shaping a civilized and compassionate and honest earnest conversation focused in on empowering real justice and peace for everyone's sake.

Let your presidency and America be about giving every child, regardless of supposed race or religion, the tools and the chance to achieve as much as you have achieved, so that they in turn can become good role models and mentors for coming generations: Let real democracy with real freedom, justice and equality be the foundation not only of our domestic polices but of our foreign policies too.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

To Rise to the Challenge
Growing Gardens for Palestine

Analysts say crime rates to rise amid economic hardship


BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Academics predict crime rates in Palestine will rise as people bear the brunt of the Palestinian Authority's financial crisis.

"The rate of poverty and unemployment are rapidly increasing ... and poverty sets an enabling environment for crime" sociology lecturer Mohamad Farahat told Ma'an by phone on Friday.

Mass protests have rocked cities across the West Bank this week as people express outrage at rising prices.

Public authorities must urgently address both poverty and crime, Farahat said.

The PA should "study deep and radical solutions for social justice, to end corruption and injustice," he continued.

The director of the Palestine Center for Political and Economic Research Sameer Abdullah told Ma’an that the difference was being sharply felt in contrast to past prosperity.

Palestine had low poverty rates in 2010 and 2011, but the current protests sprung from the realization that low economic growth and rising prices could only result in poverty growth.

If crime rates increase, Farahat added, this should not be treated as unexpected, but "the individual's expression of the social crisis."



[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]

Palestine will go to the UN seeking non-member status on September 27 [2012]

Remembering 1949 in Al-Jalazun refugee camp: Al-Jalazun refugee camp was established in 1949 on less than a quarter of a square kilometer, north of Ramallah. According to UN records, most of the 11,000 refugees living in al-Jalazun came from 36 different Palestinian villages around Lydd and Ramleh. Sitting opposite the Israeli Beit El settlement, the residents have to contend with repeated settler violence, as well the daily difficulties of sanitation and water.


 
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Abbas: PA will not obstruct protests

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Asserting that the ongoing protests against the rising cost of living in the West Bank are legitimate, President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated that Israel and some Arab countries share the blame for the PA’s financial crisis.

The Palestinian Authority, he said, will not seek to stop the popular protests as long as they remain peaceful and do not harm public interests. However, he stressed that the government would not allow any attacks on public properties.

“The PA will not intervene, but we will stand in the face of those who may try to sabotage or set fire or damage (public properties),” Abbas said.

Speaking at a news conference in the presidential compound in Ramallah, Abbas asserted that the PA would respond to citizens’ demands as far as possible. “We are ready to respond as much as we can, but protests must be civilized and popular,” he said.

With regards to prime minister Salam Fayyad and his government, which some protesters have blamed for the financial crisis, Abbas said, “There is no disparity between me and the government. They (the ministers) follow my orders and I am committed to what their policy development and recommendations.”

“We do not play around with the people’s fate. I am against armed uprisings. I am against opening fire because I know how the consequences of doing so affect our people. I am pro-peaceful popular demonstrations whether they are against the occupation or against the PA,” Abbas said in response to a question by a Ma’an reporter about the possibility of a third intifada.

Abbas also reiterated that the PA would go to the UN seeking non-member status on Sept. 27.

“When we go to the UN, we will say we are a state under occupation … we have 133 states who recognize a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in addition to dozens of other countries with whom we have good relations and diplomatic representation.”

US opposition to the UN bid, added the president, is one of numerous examples of pressures facing the Palestinians. “We have before us two hard options; either we go to the UN knowing what to expect after that, or we don’t go and yet by so doing we will be losing out.”

Abbas slammed the Israeli government’s refusal to recognize Palestine's demands in order to resume negotiations, the first of which, Abbas said, is ending settlement activities and recognizing the pre-1967 borders.

Speaking about reconciliation with Hamas, Abbas said “reconciliation is elections.” He insisted that reconciliation would not be achieved before the elections commission can operate in the Gaza Strip, and then after three months when elections take place.