"So let us put the narrative of injustice away and find the joy, if it’s the last thing we ever do. " Tala Abu Rahmeh, Palestinian poet and writer

Wadi Qelt, Jericho. Photo by Ramzi Hazboun.

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http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=4116&ed=223&edid=223

Contemporary Palestinian Literature In Search of Joy
By Tala Abu Rahmeh
 
“…there is no rain
anywhere, soft
enough for you.” Michael S. Harper

I used to have this recurring dream that I was wearing a red dress and walking down the steps to a jazz parlour in Harlem. It would take me a second to see through the smoke but then I would see him, John Coltrane, holding the saxophone and taunting gods with Naima. He would sway and I would wake up to the realisation that he’s been dead a while, and I no longer knew what my story was.

I always thought I knew what I would write about. My life has been cluttered with images of bombs and the small details of debris. I knew how to construct the perfect phrase about the exact sound of a shell escaping the tank and landing in the middle of my heart. The geography of my first book had the thick lines of the Apartheid Wall and the graves of all my grandparents, dead on the way and in exile.

Then, as destiny willed it, my mother died from cancer. As I tried to hold myself through grief it hit me, what if Palestine is no longer my story? What if this loud whimper matters more than all the other big bangs? I was slowly losing footing into my poems that suddenly became all about morphine and infested limbs.

Through my exploratory journey into modern Palestinian literature, I found myself to be an ever-found alien. The Pessoptimist by Emile Habibi defined my loneliness, Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani unravelled a multi-faceted anger, and Madih Adh-Dhill Al-‘Ali by Mahmoud Darwish dusted the pieces of all that was broken in me and forced me to look at them, one by one. Nevertheless, I was still an alien. My pain over the loss of my mother had never transformed into a metaphor for a lost country. As much as I tried to reshape it, it still nudged me awake in one simple statement, “Your mother is dead.”

What is it about this country that made us feel guilty for being our particular selves? Why is it that in the past 60 years we have only accepted literature that held together the collective narrative, but never our own? Our modern history is built on singular stories of lost children and destroyed villages, so why do we matter less today? In the past 15 years, authors have tried to drag their details into the bigger picture, but even those novels were mostly written in English, with the Westerner being the target audience. Even this article is written in English (obviously).

Is it the Palestinian literary scene or the reader that needs an overhaul? I’m thinking both. You might wonder who I am to think that I can gather years of Palestinian literature and relay a statement, and you might be right to ask if it weren’t for the simple fact that I have not read one Palestinian book written during the past period that ignited the fire of my soul. Well, maybe I’m expecting too many particularities, but why is it that it’s easier for me to relate to a writer in Kansas that it is to one in the West Bank?

The stark reality is that we are hungry for personal stories, but not when they are written as part of our wider notion of representation. When the story is printed for the public to read, we always need it to look, feel, and sound a certain way, even if that obliterates it. Palestinian writers are always daunted by the potential of straying from their national identity, whatever that may mean. Every time I read a new Palestinian book, I feel the struggle to try to prove a commitment to the “cause” in the veins of the pages.

The individual, especially in the complex layers of literature, does not erase the collective, nor does it threaten the struggle for freedom. Moreover, it is not a selfish concept, simply because our entire existence is an individual endeavour. At the end of each day we are alone, and if that story is not worth telling, nothing is.

Maybe my contemporary argument is that we have lost our capacity for joy. The first time I had this epiphany was when I looked at a portrait taken of all the major jazz and blues artists in Harlem in 1958. During that time, Harlem was barely pulling through under the weight of oppression and brutality, and yet, those beautiful men and women stood around and took a picture that contained one thing more than any other, pure joy. Maybe it was because it was a good day, or maybe because each one of them played their instruments with such individuality that it helped them wade through that water.

Joy in Palestine is a modernist idea that we do not buy. Dancing at weddings or right through a checkpoint might make us happy, but happiness is fleeting, whereas joy is there to stay. Joy is not communal, but incredibly specific. It is the feeling of wonderment over what we are able to create with pens, hands, vocal chords, fingers, and minds. It is the quiet corner in our spirit that, when found, can never be lost or taken away. So let us put the narrative of injustice away and find the joy, if it’s the last thing we ever do.  

Tala Abu Rahmeh is a Ramallah-based young writer and professor of literature and creative writing. She holds an MFA in poetry from American University in Washington, DC. She is a regular contributor to Mashallah News Magazine, and her poems have been published in a number of magazines and books. She is also the cofounder of the blog The Big Olive: the Tales of Two Professors in Palestine, http://thebigolive.tumblr.com/. Tala can be reached at tala.ar@gmail.com.

See PDF www.thisweekinpalestine.com/i186/pdfs/article/contemporary_palestinian_literature.pdf

***

Tala Abu Rahmeh | Facebook

 Palestinian poet and writer

Originally from Yaffa, she was born in Amman in 1984.  

After moving to Ramallah, living through the second intifada,

 and graduating from Birzeit University, Tala moved to Washington
DC to study for a Masters of Fine Arts at American University.

Tala's work has earned recognition from Palestine to the US and she
has received the Eliav-Sirtawi Middle East Journalism Award and the 

Expressions of Nakba Competition 2008 Best Written Work Award. 

She will also be featured in the upcoming anthology 25 under 25, which is edited by 
Naomi Shihab Nye, and published by HarperCollins.

She has been a featured performer at the American Poetry Museum, Black Church Maraca, the Peace 
Mural, Katzen Arts Center at American University, and readings ranging from Mahmoud Darwish 
commemorations to Gaza events.

She is currently working on her first book poetry

Jerusalem life: 'Are you aware? Women should not be strolling outdoors'

Flyers cast off a balcony during a large funeral gathering in Jerusalem give this reporter a crash course in modesty, at least by one fringe group's standards.

By Christa Case Bryant, Staff writer / October 11, 2013 

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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/Olive-Press/2013/1011/Jerusalem-life-Are-you-aware-Women-should-not-be-strolling-outdoors 

 Jerusalem

People often ask me what it’s like to be a female reporter in the Middle East, expressing concern about the rise of sexual harassment on Cairo’s street or extremist attitudes toward women.

Overall it’s fine, I tell them.

But this week I had an interesting experience in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Geula, where 850,000 people – 1 in 8 Israelis – gathered for the funeral procession of the ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, widely seen as one of the greatest Torah scholars of his generation.

As I was interviewing a secular Jewish man off to the side of a street, a flurry of flyers rained down from a balcony above us.

“ARE YOU AWARE?” the flyer asked, one side printed in English and the other in Hebrew.

“Separating oneself and maintaining distance between men and women is the basis for tznius [modesty],” it said, referencing a passage from Shulchan Aruch, a 16th century compilation that Rabbi Yosef and others have held up as the basis of all Jewish rabbinical law.

But few today would endorse the conclusions that followed this statement on the flyer:

“Thus:

•       When men are in the street, a woman should go off to the side.
•       A woman should not raise her voice whe[n] men are around....READ MORE

Dozens of flyers like this one were thrown over a busy street during the funeral procession for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Jerusalem's Geula neighborhood this week. Christa Case Bryant/TCSM

Attack on Jerusalem graves unnerves Christians

In this Monday, Oct. 7, 2013 photo, a damaged grave after a vandal attack is shown in the Protestant Cemetery of Mt. Zion, Jerusalem. Christian leaders in the Holy Land are up in arms over what they say is a string of relentless attacks on church properties and religious sites _ most recently the desecration of a historic Protestant cemetery where vandals toppled stone crosses from graves and bludgeoned them into pieces. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

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http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/crime/attack-on-jerusalem-graves-unnerves-christians/nbJxh/

By DANIEL ESTRIN

The Associated Press

JERUSALEM —

Christian leaders in Israel are up in arms over what they say is a string of relentless attacks on church properties and religious sites — most recently the desecration of a historic Protestant cemetery where vandals toppled stone crosses from graves and bludgeoned them to pieces.

The attack in the Protestant Cemetery of Mount Zion, one of Jerusalem's most important historic graveyards, has struck a particularly sensitive nerve because some of the damaged graves belong to famous figures from the 19th and 20th centuries, a key period in Jerusalem's history. Among them are a German diplomat, the founder of an orphanage who was a significant contributor to modernizing the city, and a relative of the owners of a prominent hotel.

Though members of the clergy say interfaith relations between top religious leaders have never been stronger, and police have been more responsive to such attacks in recent years, they say attacks continue unabated. Some activists say not enough is being done to stop them.

"We are striving so hard to promote dignity and respect among the living. And here we have our dead people ... vandalized," said the Very Rev. Hosam Naoum, caretaker of the Protestant cemetery. "No human would agree with this."

Police arrested four young Israeli settlers from the West Bank last week, two of them minors, in connection with the cemetery attack, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. But Rosenfeld said the four were subsequently released without charge until further questioning.

Two of the suspects had been banned from entering the West Bank because of their connections to the "hilltop youth," a movement of young Jewish extremists blamed for a spate of attacks in recent years on mosques, Christian sites and...READ MORE

New Video Previewing ATFP's 10th Anniversary Gala

The American Task Force on Palestine www.AmericanTaskForce.org is celebrating its 10th Anniversary at this year's annual Gala. As always, this year we will be honoring the accomplishments of distinguished Palestinian Americans.

ATFP's black-tie galas are attended by high-level decision-makers and opinion-influencers in Washington, along with an unmatched combination of community members, diplomats, analysts, journalists and other distinguished guests.

The Gala program will be informative and newsworthy -- a senior policy-maker (to be announced) will give the keynote speech, at a time when dramatic events in the Middle East are leading the news worldwide. Moreover, it will be entertaining: various musicians, singers and comedians will ensure that the atmosphere is lively and joyful.


Tuesday October 29, 2013

 
The Ritz-Carlton

1150 22nd Street, NW Washington, DC 20037

The ATFP Gala is a black-tie event

Purchase tickets here!

The American Task Force on Palestine

The American Task Force on Palestine.

***

Dear Ziad,

Thank you and your lovely wife Naila, and all of ATFP for hosting such an inspiring and interesting Gala. My husband and I very much enjoyed all the art- and the speakers... and the gift bag with zataar and olive oil and Nabulsi soap.

Meeting one of my favorite modern poets in person was a moment I will never ever forget. Naomi Shihab Nye is as welcoming and delightful as her poems.

ATFP's hard work and good intentions are obvious, as is the talent, intelligence, dignity and compassion of all the many people who chose to help support the American Task Force on Palestine... I wish you the best of luck in your collective efforts to help shape a just, lasting and comprehensive peace and a real Palestinian state.

Sincerely,
Annie

Salvaging Palestine ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

        Salvaging Palestine

Lunatic logic pilfers- freely
takes the work of organizations
builds momentum on borrowed facts
reshapes bits and pieces to suit
a story line aiming to destroy
the wrong enemy....

Lunatic logic is a line
drilled through the rock
of reality
a tiny tunnel
to a tiny stage
where shadows play.

Enchanting- yes
for some.
Empowering- no.

Lunatic logic
 aims into irrelevance
diverts resources
drains eclectic energy
depletes reserves
grabs all it can shove
into that teeny tiny tight tunnel
leading to that teeny tiny stage
where fearsome shadows play...

While outside a huge complex world
of light and air and earth and H2O

carbon units-and phosphorescence
photosynthesis... building permits

Roads and ruins. Life moves on:

Gravity will not reinvent itself
to favor some but not others.

Mountains and fields and forests and trees
Suburbs and cities and farms
borders and citizenship

A huge complex world
aware of connections
carries on collecting
 facts
organizing ideas
discussing options
building a future for realists
for dreamers and doers
and entrepreneurs
avoiding
the larceny
of lunatic logic.

NYTimes: In a Polluted Stream, a Pathway to Peace

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/opinion/in-a-polluted-stream-a-pathway-to-peace.html?ref=international

Ruth Gwily

By JEFF WHEELWRIGHT

Published: October 9, 2013

MORRO BAY, Calif. — PEACE talks are under way again in Jerusalem. If the past is any guide, the two sides are stymied over difficult issues like settlements and borders. The negotiators badly need a new approach, and one is right beneath their feet, in the Kidron Valley, the deep ravine that runs from the Old City through the West Bank toward the Dead Sea.  

As it snakes its way through the Judean wilderness, the Kidron comes to Mar Saba, a spectacular monastery slung upon a cliff. Orthodox Christian prayers have been chanted there every day for some 1,400 years. The monastery and its domes and chapels are protected on one side by stone walls and on the other by the deep gorge of the Kidron, or Wadi Nar, as the Arabs call it. If you descend the innumerable steps to the fast-flowing Kidron Stream, a vile smell rises to meet you. The flow is raw sewage from Jerusalem, coursing at a rate of 8 to 10 million gallons a day. 

Jerusalem treats two-thirds of its wastewater at a plant in the western part of the city. The remainder, which emanates mainly from Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem but also from Jewish housing, has been held hostage to the political impasse since 1967. Underground and out of sight near the Old City, the sewage breaks into the open at the separation barrier, where the West Bank begins; picks up additional loads from Bethlehem and the impoverished town of Ubeidiya; passes beneath the monastery; and eventually, though some is diverted by settlers for irrigation, it reaches the Dead Sea. 

In the malodorous water lies a political opportunity. The Kidron Valley traverses an area holy to three world religions. Cleaning up the basin ought to be a lead item in the current talks, a cause instead of a consequence of peace. After all, the pollution is owned by both sides and breaches any possible future boundary between them. Compared with issues like the Palestinians’ right of return, the Jewish settlements and the final status of Jerusalem — not to mention the borders themselves — solving the Kidron’s problem is straightforward. 

More important, if the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government can work together on an uncontroversial civil project, one that improves the quality of life for all residents, they will start to develop a mutual trust...READ MORE

"At its heart, Israel’s policies are costing many Palestinians the simple dignity of being self-sufficient, which is why keeping a class of people in deliberate poverty is seen as a very clear restriction on their freedom."... Palestinians lose billions to Israeli land bans, says World Bank report

Palestinian "Restricted Land" Results in Economic Loss 
First World Bank comprehensive study of the potential impact of West Bank’s inaccessible land sets loss to the Palestinian economy at about US$3.4 billion.

More | Report

***

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Israel is costing the West Bank billions
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/editorial/israel-is-costing-the-west-bank-billions

National Editorial
October 8, 2013

The World Bank has quantified in clear terms this week what most have known for years: Israeli restrictions keeping Palestinians off some of the West Bank’s most fertile ground are costing the Palestinian economy billions of dollars.

The dollar figure – $3.4bn (Dh12.5bn) – is bad enough for the direct cost of not being able to access the 61 per cent of West Bank land known under the Oslo Peace Accords as Area C. It was supposed to have been transferred to Palestinian control by 1998.

But it is what that money represents in human terms that shows the rank injustice of what is happening in what has become, in effect, an open prison on the West Bank.

It means more Palestinian families are struggling to make ends meet when they should be working their way towards prosperity. It means more Palestinian youths who cannot find work and thus become more susceptible to the appeal of violent radicalism, and it means an economy reliant on handouts rather than on hard work and entrepreneurship.

To the rest of the world, the World Bank report also provides a clear demonstration of the apartheid-like aspects of the occupation. At its heart, Israel’s policies are costing many Palestinians the simple dignity of being self-sufficient, which is why keeping a class of people in deliberate poverty is seen as a very clear restriction on their freedom.

The origin of the report from a trusted and impartial international organisation rather than one of the partisan pro-Palestinian groups, adds considerably to the reporting of the real “facts on the ground” on the West Bank.

This report should be publicised far and wide to show that the desperate Palestinian plight is caused in large part by the Israeli occupation rather than it being one of their own making.

It is just the latest in a steady succession of reports that point to the utterly unbalanced nature of the one-state solution Israel has been working towards while seeking to maintain the pretence of negotiation.

This is why public opinion has been steadily turning against Israel, particularly in places like Europe, where Israel’s right to exist is accepted, but its treatment of the Palestinians has been rightly condemned.

This report will further that shift in opinion. If it begins to change a majority of minds in the United States as well, we might see real progress.

Related

Palestinians lose billions to Israeli land bans, says World Bank report

October 8, 2013
JERICHO, WEST BANK // The Palestinians could expand their struggling economy by a third and halve their budget deficit if Israel allowed them to use the 61 per cent of West Bank territory that is now largely off-limits, the World Bank said today.

The bank and donor countries supporting the Palestinians have repeatedly urged Israel to open up the restricted territory, known as Area C.

But the report released Tuesday marked the first detailed attempt to quantify Palestinian losses.
“Access to Area C will not cure all Palestinian economic problems but the alternative is bleak,” the report said. “Without the ability to conduct purposeful economic activity in Area C, the economic space of the West Bank will remain crowded and stunted, inhabited by people whose daily interactions with the state of Israel are characterised by inconvenience, expense and frustration.”

Yigal Palmor, the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said most of the issues raised by the World Bank are to be settled in continuing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Developing the Palestinian economy is in Israel’s strategic interest, he said in a statement.

The partition of the West Bank into spheres of control was part of interim deals that were to have concluded with a final Israeli-Palestinian agreement on the borders of a Palestinian state by 1999.

The Palestinians want to establish such a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, lands captured in 1967. A new round of peace talks began in late July, but expectations of reaching a deal are low.

Meanwhile, the old arrangements remain in place. Israel has sole control over 61 per cent of the West Bank, or Area C, while the Palestinians administer the rest. Israeli retains overall control over security and crossings in and out of the West Bank.

All of the West Bank’s 300,000+ Israeli settlers live in Area C, along with 6.6 per cent of the territory’s Palestinians, or 180,000.

Most of the West Bank’s natural resources and open spaces, including the sparsely populated Jordan Valley, are located in Area C.

Yet less than one per cent of Area C is open for Palestinian use, the bank said. Most of the rest of the land is controlled by Israeli settlements or has been designated as nature reserves and closed military zones, making it off-limits to Palestinians.

“The key to Palestinian prosperity continues to lie in the removal of these restrictions with due regard for Israel’s security,” the report said.

The bank looked at direct benefits to agriculture, Dead Sea minerals exploitation, stone mining and quarrying, construction, tourism, telecommunications and cosmetics.

The potential additional output from these sectors would be at least US$2.2 billion a year, or 23 per cent of the Palestinian Gross Domestic Product in 2011, the bank said. The bulk would come from agriculture and from exploitation of Dead Sea minerals like bromine and potash.

The total potential value added would grow to $3.4bn, or 35 per cent of the GDP, if indirect benefits such as improved infrastructure and spillover to other sectors of the economy are taken into account, the report said.

The added value would increase tax revenue by some $800m, significantly reducing the West Bank’s dependence on donors, the bank said.

Mr Palmor said Israel has approved more than 300 humanitarian and economic projects in Area C in the past two years, and is reviewing projects proposed by the international community and the Palestinian Authority.

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Related

• ■ Bethlehem’s economic potential squandered by Israeli occupation
• ■ Palestinian economic recovery plan takes shape
• ■ $4bn plan to boost West Bank economy 

What 20 years of the "Peace Process" has meant for Palestinians... September 1993- September 2013

SOURCES:
Amnesty International
B'Tselem
ICAHD
UN agencies

The United Nations: An Introduction for Students


The UN emblem shows the world held in the “olive branches of peace”.


The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the UN Charter had been ratified by a majority of the original 51 Member States. The day is now celebrated each year around the world as United Nations Day.

The purpose of the United Nations is to bring all nations of the world together to work for peace and development, based on the principles of justice, human dignity and the well-being of all people. It affords the opportunity for countries to balance global interdependence and national interests when addressing international problems. There are currently 192 Members of the United Nations. They meet in the General Assembly, which is the closest thing to a world parliament. Each country, large or small, rich or poor, has a single vote, however, none of the decisions taken by the Assembly are binding. Nevertheless, the Assembly's decisions become resolutions that carry the weight of world governmental opinion....READ MORE

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 ***

UN chief urges journalists to increase dialogue in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts

8 October 2013 – Hailing a time of renewed hope for the Middle East peace efforts, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged participants in a United Nations-backed seminar to keep up their efforts to increase dialogue and understanding in the region.

“Many of you, as journalists, activists, policy-makers and representatives of civil society, have played a vital role in promoting transparency, accountability and democracy,” Mr. Ban told the International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East Peace that began today in Istanbul, Turkey.

“I urge you to continue to advance peace and increase mutual understanding between communities, especially Palestinians and Israelis,” the UN chief added in a message delivered by Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, head of the world body’s Department of Public Information (DPI).

The two-day seminar, organized by DPI and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, is part of an annual project established by the General Assembly in 1991 to look at the role of the media in advancing the peace efforts...READ MORE

***

"I welcome the re-engagement of Israelis and Palestinians in direct negotiations, and the bold diplomacy that made this possible. If we are serious about achieving a two-state solution, then we must recognize that the window is closing fast." Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in address to General Assembly, New York, 24 Sept 2013

Latest Developments

• UN chief urges journalists to increase dialogue in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts
• Palestinian refugee children return to school in Lebanon, aided by UN
• At UN, Israel insists tough sanctions must remain to deter Iranian nuclear threat
• Migration is a key priority in Greece, Deputy Prime Minister tells UN Assembly
• UN and Middle East partners reaffirm support for resumed Israeli-Palestinian talks

---

Statement by the Middle East Quartet - 27 September 2013

Question of Palestine

• UN's General Assembly votes to accord Palestine non-member observer State status
  News story | Meeting coverage | Text of resolution

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My letter to the NYTimes RE The Anxiety of Exodus By Shmuel Rosner

Generations of Commitment:  The American Task Force on Palestine is proud to announce that the renowned Syrian-American composer and pianist Malek Jandali will be performing at ATFP's 10th anniversary Gala on October 29th... Jandali is an internationally recognized, award-winning artist as well as a human rights activist. He was the recipient of the 2011 “Freedom of Expression” award in Los Angeles. In 2012, he was recognized in New York City with the “Arab-American Cultural Achievement Award.” Among his outstanding artistic achievements include the album "Echoes from Ugarit," which is based on ancient Hurrian songs inscribed on clay tablets that were discovered in Ugarit, Syria, and are considered to be the oldest notated music in the world. Jandali is also known for his inspiring song of freedom, “Watani Ana.”

 RE The Anxiety of Exodus By Shmuel Rosner
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/the-anxiety-of-exodus/?ref=international

Dear Editor,

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you... Golden Rule living is a good recipe for mental health, personal relations, peace negotiations, and for creating a more inclusive and enduring happily ever after no matter who you are, or how you chose to define yourself.

"Jews fleeing the Nazis, only to have their grandchildren flock back to Germany a few decades later" mainly proves that modern Germany has enlightened compassionate policies in welcoming home returning refugees... and fair and just laws... and thus a bright future.

In sharp contrast modern Israel is obviously not as compassionate and enlightened, nor is today's Jews-preferred Israel as mindful of the importance of respecting universal basic human rights including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return to original homes and lands. 

Israel's ongoing pattern of demolishing Palestinians homes, usurping Palestinian land and pushing the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land into poverty and forced exile is cruel.  How much worse is "The Zionist enterprise" going to get ?  No wonder Israeli Jews are anxious- and nervous about being abandoned by their offspring!

"Jews fleeing the Nazis, only to have their grandchildren flock back to Germany a few decades later" clearly indicates that life moves on and narratives can change... and sometimes if you are lucky your grown children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and all their friends will have the freedom and the ability as well as the desire to live nearby, or at least visit you often, making nice memories. 

Fair and just laws and polices are a necessary part of helping make that happen for everyone, regardless of any one's supposed race or religion.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Tel Aviv conference plans for Palestinian return:  Israel is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians who were displaced from their villages in 1948 but remained inside the new state’s borders. Many of these communities ended up as refugees only mere miles from their original villages but were forbidden to return by the State of Israel.

A quest to preserve Palestinian heritage in the digital stacks: Sami Batrawi's struggle to open an online Palestinian Library of Congress is part of a broader effort to recover lost Palestinian intellectual heritage.

Pomegranates in season along the path!

VERY CATCHY Theme song for THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING! ... please help pass the word [The film now out on iTunes and Amazon for rental/purchase]

ATFP Galas: Palestine's Washington Showcase... "One of the most crucial aspects of ATFP's mission has been to change the image of Palestine and Palestinians in Washington, moving beyond the traditional binary stereotypes of menacing terrorists or wretched refugees. There is an all-American story to be told about Palestinian immigrants to the United States, and a need to celebrate their contributions to our country and to the world."

Grape festival begins in Hebron area

Peace & Israel... "It was the theft of that land that led to the continuing hostility of Arab and Muslim countries, a hostility that will only go away when the Palestinians receive justice." Guardian letter by Karl Sabbagh, author of Palestine: A Personal History

Obama urges world to take risks for Mideast peace... "All of us must recognize that peace will be a powerful tool to defeat extremists, and embolden those who are prepared to build a better future," he said.

Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians

CSM: Israel increases rate of home demolitions as peace talks chug along- Human rights activists say home demolitions show that protection for Palestinian human rights is missing from the peace process.

Walking Palestine & The Abraham Path... a creative space for stories that highlight the unique culture, heritage and hospitality of the region

"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 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

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

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

Live by the Golden Rule

Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring

194

Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.

Help Build A Golden Rule Peace for the Holy Land

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 1

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

My letter/thank you note to the NY Daily News RE The Muslims are coming! And they’d like to chat By Dean Obeidallah

'The Muslims Are Coming!' shows comics embarking on a tour to try to show America that not all Muslims are jihadists... Dean Obeidallah and Negin Farsad in 'The Muslims are Coming' follows a band of Muslim-American comedians as they visit big cities and small towns, rural areas and everything in between to combat Islamophobia.

RE: The Muslims are coming! And they’d like to chat By Dean Obeidallah
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/muslims-coming-article-1.1477861#ixzz2h3CCpi8P

Dear Editor,

Adored seeing the op-ed "The Muslims are coming! And they’d like to chat" by the utterly marvelous creative genius and darn good comic Dean Obeidallah!!!!!!!!

What a relief that word is getting out that Muslims are regular normal people, and some are even very bright- and very very funny.... and very very able to be talented citizen diplomats making the world a better place one conversation at a time.

Frankly the comedy documentary shocked and startled me, and it made me laugh and laugh and laugh, but it also helped me hope that more people will find more ways to help empower tolerance and compassion and intelligent discussions about important topics.

AND gosh I really really do like that catchy theme song Title track to the motion picture The Muslims Are Coming! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il3wk1tpt00 ... I think the song (including the lyrics) should be a cell phone ring tone :-) . 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American homemaker & poet

NOTES
The Muslims are coming! Film's Website: http://themuslimsarecoming.com

You can rent or buy the film on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-muslims-are-coming!/id689131789 or Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FEBLFHW
Theme song The Muslims Are Coming! - Title track to the motion picture The Muslims Are Coming! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il3wk1tpt00

MASTER OF CEREMONIES, Dean Obeidallah ATFP 10th Anniversary Gala,Tues, Oct 29th, 2013 honoring the accomplishments of distinguished Palestinian Americans,The Ritz-Carlton Washington, DC

10th Anniversary Gala

Tues, Oct 29th, 2013

The Ritz-Carlton 

1150 22nd St. NW

Washington, DC

- See more at: http://gala.atfp.net/#sthash.JzV0hMvR.dpuf

The American Task Force on Palestine is celebrating its 10th Anniversary at this year's annual Gala. As always, this year we will be honoring the accomplishments of distinguished Palestinian Americans. - See more at: http://gala.atfp.net/#sthash.JzV0hMvR.dpuf

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is a 501©(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC. Established in 2003, its mission is to articulate and educate about the United States national interest in helping to create a Palestinian state living alongside Israel in peace, security and dignity. ATFP is committed to strengthening Palestinian-American relations at every level. The Task Force supports Palestinian institution-building, good governance, anti-corruption measures, economic development, and improved living standards. ATFP holds that these same values are relevant to the broader Arab world, and that the question of Palestine is inextricably linked to regional realities and developments.

ATFP provides an independent voice for Palestinian-Americans and their supporters and advances human rights and peace. It categorically and unequivocally condemns all violence against civilians, no matter the
cause and who the victims or perpetrators may be.

ATFP builds effective and durable working relationships with government departments and agencies, think tanks and NGOs, and the media. It has developed lines of communication with the US and other relevant governments in order to pursue its policy advocacy goals.  AFTP’s Board of Directors is made up of noted Palestinian Americans who agree with these principles.

.... and no I do not work for ATFP or for Dean Obeidallah- I am just a huge fan who notices and really really admires and applauds their work!

****
"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 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

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

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

Live by the Golden Rule

Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring

194

Help Build A Golden Rule Peace for the Holy Land

Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.

Walking Palestine & The Abraham Path... a creative space for stories that highlight the unique culture, heritage and hospitality of the region

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 1

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

My letter to the Guardian RE Binyamin Netanyahu: occupation is not cause of conflict

Change negative into positive. How a flower can bloom and grow in a tear gas canister. Songs and pictures from Palestine

RE Binyamin Netanyahu: occupation is not cause of conflict- Hardline speech fuels suspicion PM is unwilling to agree to dismantle settlements and withdraw from West Bank
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/07/israel-binyamin-netanyahu-palestinians

Dear Editor,

Netanyahu's insistence that Israel be legally deemed officially "Jewish" by all its neighbors reminds me of a famous speech "Slavery a Positive Good" delivered in February 06, 1837 by American Senator John C. Calhoun who lead the pro-slavery faction in America's Senate during the 1830s and 1840s. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/slavery-a-positive-good/ 

Claiming to take 'higher ground' with his position, slave owner Calhoun was voicing what many Americans wanted to believe. That did not make it true- neither authoritative speeches, nor wishful thinking, nor quotes from religious texts or scientific papers ever made slavery a positive good, which in hindsight really is quite obvious. 

But it was not so obvious then. In 1837 "Slavery a Positive Good was one speech of many by many stating "facts" that helped shape a future not only of eventual civil war but also the emergence of Jim Crow laws after that war.

The task at hand right now in today's more enlightened world vis-a-vis the Israel-Palestine conflict needs to be ending the conflict with a just and lasting peace: Israel's refusal to respect the Palestinian refugees right of return paves the way for a Jews-preferred Israel to continue to cruelly persecute, impoverish, displace and intentionally disenfranchise the native non-Jewish Palestinians with a plethora of polices aimed at keeping Israel "Jewish".  Tax payers here and there are being forced to help fund Israel's religious scholars and schemes and the rampant institutionalized bigotry and injustice that is making life miserable for countless men women and children.

The Israel-Palestine conflict has many symptoms, and perhaps even many causes. It certainly has many negative ramifications that will only get worse with time. The task at hand needs to be ending the conflict with a just and lasting peace: Two fully secular, fully sovereign independent states living side by side in peace and security is the best way forward.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Tel Aviv conference plans for Palestinian return:  Israel is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians who were displaced from their villages in 1948 but remained inside the new state’s borders. Many of these communities ended up as refugees only mere miles from their original villages but were forbidden to return by the State of Israel.

A quest to preserve Palestinian heritage in the digital stacks: Sami Batrawi's struggle to open an online Palestinian Library of Congress is part of a broader effort to recover lost Palestinian intellectual heritage.

Pomegranates in season along the path!

VERY CATCHY Theme song for THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING! ... please help pass the word [The film now out on iTunes and Amazon for rental/purchase]

ATFP Galas: Palestine's Washington Showcase... "One of the most crucial aspects of ATFP's mission has been to change the image of Palestine and Palestinians in Washington, moving beyond the traditional binary stereotypes of menacing terrorists or wretched refugees. There is an all-American story to be told about Palestinian immigrants to the United States, and a need to celebrate their contributions to our country and to the world."

Grape festival begins in Hebron area

Peace & Israel... "It was the theft of that land that led to the continuing hostility of Arab and Muslim countries, a hostility that will only go away when the Palestinians receive justice." Guardian letter by Karl Sabbagh, author of Palestine: A Personal History 

Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians

CSM: Israel increases rate of home demolitions as peace talks chug along- Human rights activists say home demolitions show that protection for Palestinian human rights is missing from the peace process.

Walking Palestine & The Abraham Path... a creative space for stories that highlight the unique culture, heritage and hospitality of the region

Remarks by Palestine's President Abbas at the United Nations General Assembly..."The hour of freedom for the Palestinian people has rung. The hour of the independence of Palestine has rung. The hour of peace has rung."

Obama urges world to take risks for Mideast peace... "All of us must recognize that peace will be a powerful tool to defeat extremists, and embolden those who are prepared to build a better future," he said.

"I sit in preventive detention... The reason, sir, is that I am an Arab." Fouzi al-Asmar (1937-2013)

Palestinian Journalist/Author/Poet/Activist Fouzi El-Asmar, R.I.P... El-Asmar was a doting husband, father, grandfather, a devoted friend, and a respected journalist who died this month at age 76, three weeks after the passing of his wife: He had asked to be buried in his native land.

UNHRC Discusses Human Rights Situation in Occupied Palestinian Territories

Arab Myths Distort Understanding Of American Policy

Palestine and Israel in the New Regional Context

"The occupation is an emergency, not a macro- or trans-historical problem, particularly for the millions of Palestinians living under its oppressive rule. They, especially—but we too—do not have the luxury of waiting to see what the next hundred years of history will bring us, good or bad. On the contrary, we must have the courage to act now, and with urgency, within the existing realities, however difficult, to try to create a working solution to a situation that is both intolerably unjust and regionally (and to some extent even globally) destabilizing."Hussein Ibish & Saliba Sarsar of ATFP...

ATFP provides an independent voice for Palestinian-Americans and their supporters and advances human rights and peace. It categorically and unequivocally condemns all violence against civilians, no matter the cause and who the victims or perpetrators may be. 

***
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 1

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
  

Live by the Golden Rule

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

Dear President Obama... Let Freedom Ring

194

Help Build A Golden Rule Peace for the Holy Land

Globalizing Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Promised Land: Ibrahim's Estate... a poem in Celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Peace Day 2013

 *********

The Arab Peace Initiative

1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.

2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:

I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.

II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.

III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:

I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.

II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.

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

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

"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 Balfour Declaration of 1917

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
          shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
          rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine....

"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
 

11 December 1948 UN Resolution 194:"Refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible"

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