AP PHOTOS: Palestinians in Egypt village exhibit consequences of 65 years of mass displacement

In this Friday, May 17, 2013 photo, Palestinian refugee Sulaiman al-Namodi, 92, sits outside of his house in Gezirat al-Fadel village, Sharqiya, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Cairo, Egypt. As...   (Associated Press)

"...While many know nothing more of life beyond Gezirat al-Fadel, they say they have not lost their connection to Bir el-Sabae. They say they dream of returning to their land in hopes of living a more dignified life and leaving behind this almost forgotten corner of Egypt, a nation already burdened by a population boom and widespread poverty."

 http://www.newser.com/article/da6brsvg1/ap-photos-palestinians-in-egypt-village-exhibit-consequences-of-65-years-of-mass-displacement.html

AP PHOTOS: Palestinians in Egypt exiled, forgotten

In 1948, Suleiman Mamoudi fled by foot with his parents and other families from their village of Bir el-Sabae in Palestine. The 28-year-old and his family walked west for several hundred miles, crossing the Sinai Peninsula before settling in an area around 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Cairo.

They had not planned to stay long in Egypt's Sharqiya province, until they found themselves unable to return home after the Jewish takeover of their city, renamed Beersheba.

Mamoudi, now 93 years old, is among some 3,000 Palestinians living in the impoverished village of Gezirat al-Fadel. He spends his days sitting on a cushion on the ground outside his sparsely furnished two-bedroom, mud brick home. The dirt roads make it difficult for him to walk with his cane.

He lives with his 13 children and 28 grandchildren. Like his neighbors, they sleep on mats spread in the corridors of the house.

His neighbor, Khadra Mohammed, 52, lives in a 540 sq. foot (50 sq. meter) mud brick house with 19 of her family members...READ MORE

 [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]

Time Magazine Pictures of the Week: May 10 – May 17... Palestinian refugee children play in front of their family house in Jabaliya Refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip.

Ali Ali—EPA

May 14, 2013. Palestinian refugee children play in front of their family house in Jabaliya Refugee camp, in the Gaza Strip.

Read more: http://lightbox.time.com/2013/05/17/pictures-of-the-week-may-10-may-17/#ixzz2TdpBOKyF

"In 1949, the international community accepted Israel's UN membership upon two conditions: That they respect resolutions 181 (two states) and 194 (refugee rights). Neither has been honored. In fact, 65 years later, Israel has not even acknowledged what it did in 1948." Saeb Erekat

Wednesday marks the 65th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=595459
 65 years of impunity

By Saeb Erekat

Every May 15, a nation marks her historic catastrophe. In 1948, the Palestinian people were condemned to exile, and their homeland, Palestine, disappeared from the maps. Some 418 villages were destroyed and 70 percent of our people became refugees.

For 65 years, our people have lived through the vicissitudes and humiliation of being treated as strangers, both in exile and in their own land. Today, we are still struggling to return Palestine to the map and attain justice based on international law for Palestinians everywhere.

This solemn commemoration, which pains the heart of every Palestinian, should be a cause for shame on an international level. After decades of unfulfilled resolutions calling for the achievement of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, Israel continues to act with impunity.

Twenty-five years after Palestine's historic and painful compromise of recognizing the State of Israel on 78 percent of our historic homeland, Israel has not only failed to recognize the State of Palestine, but continues to expand its colonies throughout our occupied country.

Moreover, Israel benefits from its illegal and oppressive enterprise while maintaining good relations with countries throughout the world.

In 1949, the international community accepted Israel's UN membership upon two conditions: That they respect resolutions 181 (two states) and 194 (refugee rights). Neither has been honored. In fact, 65 years later, Israel has not even acknowledged what it did in 1948.

Even more despicably, the State of Israel has legislated to forbid Palestinian citizens of Israel from commemorating their Nakba. But denying the Nakba does not negate its existence. Refusing to assume responsibility for the refugee question does not mean that refugees will disappear. On the contrary, it simply makes it harder to achieve reconciliation and a just and lasting peace.

Today's Nakba is alive in 11 million Palestinians around the world. One example is the Palestinian refugees in Iraq and Syria, suffering the consequences of sectarian violence in conflicts of which they are not a part. This situation shows, once again, that international responsibility for the safety and welfare of the Palestinian people cannot be effective without the Palestinian return to their homeland.

We have made painful compromises to achieve peace. With us we have brought the Arab Peace Initiative, which confirms the Arabs will to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for some small measure of historical justice, meaning the end of the occupation that began in 1967 and a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees based on resolution 194.

Unfortunately, what we are faced with is an occupying power that does not want peace; an extremist government made for and by settlers. A government that each time it has had the opportunity to choose between peace and settlements has chosen the latter; a government whose ministers call for the elimination of the Palestinian state and for the construction of settlements for 1 million settlers in occupied territory.

This is why US Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest initiative should be supported. Sixty-five years after the Nakba, the sole message of the international community must be that enough is enough. It is a shame that 65 years later, we are still listening to statements without actions.

It is time to put things right, to do whatever is needed to allow Palestine to return to the map as a free and sovereign state living side by side with Israel and, most importantly, to fulfill the rights of Palestinians everywhere.

To achieve this, the international community must leave old, failed recipes aside. To call for a resumption of negotiations without terms of reference or without forcing Israel to honor its previous obligations are simply calls for another 20 years of empty dialogue which will allow Israel to continue its policy of colonization with a better cover. This will destroy any remaining prospects for peace.

After well over half a century, this is the first anniversary of the Nakba whereby Palestine is a recognized state in the United Nations. Though we are under occupation, we have taken a concrete and positive step in the right direction. We will continue following the same path toward exercising our legitimate and inalienable rights.

We must end 65 years of impunity. The international community cannot continue marking commemorations without taking any real action. Israel must become aware that the price for denying the rights of the Palestinian people is higher than the price of making peace. In Israel’s mind, this equation is the other way around.

Saeb Erekat is the chief negotiator of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Arab and Islamic countries and organizations pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to support Jerusalem during conferences and summits, but that only a small portion of the pledged money was sent.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=596597
Abbas urges Muslims, Christians to visit Palestine

CAIRO (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday urged Muslim and Christian Arabs to visit Palestine to show support for the Palestinian people.

"We welcome any Arab Muslim and Christian visiting Jerusalem and Bethlehem," Abbas said in a meeting with Egyptian journalists and intellectuals at the end of his 3-day visit to Cairo.

"Coming to this country does not mean normalization between the visitors' countries and Israel, but rather a visit to imprisoned people not to those who imprison them."

Abbas criticized the Islamic world's indifference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and blamed some Islamic intellectuals for "issuing Fatwa suggesting that visiting al-Aqsa Mosque and offering support is prohibited according to the Islamic regulations.

"Prophet Muhammad, though, mentioned al-Aqsa Mosque as one of the few mosques Muslims should set out to," the president said.

Influential Muslim cleric Yousef al-Qaradawi recently said that visiting the mosque while it remains under Israeli occupation would be a breach of religious regulations.

Al-Qaradawi visited the Hamas-run Gaza Strip earlier in May, a step that was strongly denounced by Palestinian Authority officials who said such visits had political implications and maintained disunity between the Palestinians.

Abbas said that Arab and Islamic countries and organizations had pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to support Jerusalem during conferences and summits, but that only a small portion of the pledged money was sent.

During the Arab League summit in Libya the conveners agreed to allocate $500 million to Jerusalem, but in reality only $37 million was delivered, Abbas said.

At another Arab League summit in Doha, Arab countries agreed to allocate $1 billion to Jerusalem, but that was "just a number," the president said.

Repercussions... a poem

     Repercussions

Thucydides noticed
“Ignorance is bold..."

ALL CAPS SCREAMING
social media bellows
WAR IS TERRORISM
WITH A BIGGER BUDGET

forwarded over and over
by naive wives, mothers
little sisters
college students
and myopic Islamists near and far.

No budgets are needed
enlisting pawns- puppets- tools
bridges to beyond reason
bolstering bomb builders
and bullies world wide fueling
bigotry and bad attitudes

creating Hell for random strangers
and religious tyranny for Palestine.

Why Ending the Occupation and Peace with Israel is Still the Palestinian National Goal...

Peace Based on Two States:  End the conflict in the Middle East through a negotiated agreement that provides for two states - Israel and Palestine - living side by side in peace and security.

Hussein Ibish lecture at Tufts University-February 10, 2010

What’s Wrong with the One-State Agenda?

Why Ending the Occupation and Peace with Israel is Still the Palestinian National Goal

by ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish

In this new book, Dr. Ibish examines the arguments generally put forward by Palestinian and other Arab American proponents of abandoning the goal of ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian state and instead seeking to promote a single, democratic state in all of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. The book also looks at differences between the deployment of the one-state idea by some Palestinian figures in the occupied territories as a diplomatic "threat" intended to spur greater Israeli seriousness about a negotiated agreement and the diasporic discourse that drives most one-state rhetoric. Finally, Dr. Ibish explains in some detail why ending the occupation and peace with Israel, while difficult to achieve and thus far elusive, are the only plausible and practicable Palestinian national strategy.

The book also includes a preface by ATFP President Ziad J. Asali.

The 138-page book can be read or downloaded in the following formats:
HTML |  EBook | PDF

Hard copies can be ordered from ATFP for $10 per copy, inclusive of shipping, by clicking here

***

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.