Saudi Arabia's challenge to the United Nations... If a wealthy and pivotal country like Saudi Arabia declines to wield greater power at the UN, what might become of the hope to create a stable and useful “international community”?

"The Saudi Foreign Ministry gave plenty of reasons for its rebuff of the UN offer. Its most immediate concern is the lack of UN punishment for Syria’s use of chemical weapons. Another one is the failure to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli dispute and to create a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. But the general complaint was that the Security Council’s “double standards” and its tilted power structure favoring five permanent members have prevented the UN “from keeping world peace.”..."

The United Nations Security Council votes on a resolution last month. Saudi Arabia, after being elected to a seat on the body, reject the offer Friday, citing the body's inability... to keep world peace.

 http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Monitor-Political-Cartoons#746629 

When Saudi Arabia refuses a seat on the powerful UN Security Council, does it say more about the UN or the royal House of Saud?

By the Monitor's Editorial Board / October 18, 2013 

For nearly seven decades, much of humanity has projected its inherent idealism onto the United Nations, or at least the values it stands for. So when one country, Saudi Arabia, is elected to be a member of the powerful Security Council – and then rejects it – is the UN itself to blame?

That was the question Friday after the Middle East kingdom refused a seat on the 15-member Council for a two-year term. The surprise move sent shock waves among diplomats. Council seats are coveted for their prestige and ability to influence global events. If a wealthy and pivotal country like Saudi Arabia declines to wield greater power at the UN, what might become of the hope to create a stable and useful “international community”?...READ MORE

The paling mythologies of the “axis of evil” and “axis of resistance”

"......Here, it would seem, lies a real opportunity for whoever could take advantage of mobilizing popular support that eschews terrorism but confronts the occupation with real, powerful resistance that is truly nonviolent." Hussein Ibish of ATFP

Axes of Fable

The fast-changing alliances in the Middle East have proven both the "axis of evil" and "axis of resistance" to be fantastical inventions of American and Arab political culture. Nonetheless, aspects of these imagined rivalries continue to mark US relations with Arab actors, particularly the sub-national groups of Hamas and Hezbollah.  

***

AMERICAN TASK FORCE on PALESTINE 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.

A new report says Israeli settlement construction on the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank has increased by about 70 percent.

Israeli Settlements in West Bank Up 70%

Published on Thursday, 17 October 2013 12:11

A new report says Israeli settlement construction on the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank has increased by about 70 percent.

 

Israeli organization Peace Now* said on Thursday that the Tel Aviv regime began the construction of 1,708 new settler units in the West Bank between January and June of 2013, compared with 995 units during the same period in 2012.

The organization also stated that the new illegal settlement activities were “drastic,” and that some 50 percent of the new construction projects were started in “isolated settlements.”

Most of the settlement projects were carried out within the 1967 borders, the organization added.

“Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Israeli population in Judea and Samaria has tripled, with a majority of settlers residing in the so-called settlement blocs,” Peace Now also said.

The Israeli regime has been under fire from the international community, including its own allies, over its expansionist policies.

However, the Tel Aviv regime defies calls to abandon its illegal settlement activities.

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

This article was originally posted on PressTV.*

*Peace Now
*Press TV 
*Palestine

Hanan Ashrawi on Oslo, Academia, and Women in Politics

"How can I go Home"... Ashrawi on why she, a Palestinian with a Ph.D in Medieval and Comparative Literature, was drawn into politics.

Ma'an News Report: Ashrawi Interview

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Head of the PLO Department of Culture and Information, Hanan Ashrawi, visited Brown University on Sept. 26 and spoke to Palestinian-American professor Beshara Doumani about the Oslo Accords, academia, and women in politics.

A long-time activist, lawmaker and scholar, Ashrawi was the first woman to be elected to the executive committee of the PLO.

Ashrawi visited Brown as part of a series of events organized by the Middle East Studies Initiative and spoke with Doumani, professor of the Department of History and director of the Brown Middle East Studies program.
Hanan Ashrawi on Oslo, Academia, and Women in Politics (Part 1)  Hanan Ashrawi on Oslo, Academia, and Women in Politics (Part 2)  Brown University

My letter to the NYTimes RE: If Not Now, When? By Roger Cohen

This year, the joy of harvest bears a bitter taste for many Beit Jalaians, who fear it could be their last time harvesting olives from the land.   Israel has already annexed 22,000 dunums of Bethlehem and Beit Jala land to build illegal settlements, including Gilo, Har Gilo and Har Homa.. Fear of Annexation Turns Olive Harvest Bitter

RE: If Not Now, When? By ROGER COHEN
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/opinion/cohen-if-not-now-when.html?ref=international&_r=0

Dear Editor,

Roger Cohen has based his career on insisting that Israel has to be Jewish- and he wants the world to base peace talks on that too.  No thanks.

Yes to peace- and yes to a negotiated settlement to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict, but PLEASE stop coercing taxpayers here and there into funding institutionalized bigotry... and religious fantasies & fanatics.

Israel is indeed strong- strong enough to survive just as America did when we ended slavery and Jim Crow laws. Strong enough to make peace with Palestine and to work with Palestinians to determine firm borders and fair polices.  Strong enough to overcome a very troubled and tortured past in order to move forward for everyone's sake, regardless of supposed race, religion or gender.

Yes to peace- a just and lasting peace.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
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.

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

Israel-as-a

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

Attack on Jerusalem graves unnerves Christians

"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

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.

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.

"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

This Week in Palestine Artist of the Month: Yazan Khalili

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!

New Video Previewing ATFP's 10th Anniversary Gala

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."

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

Thomas Paine: "Of all of the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny of religion is the worst."

"In every country and in every age, the priest [rabbi/imam/...etc...] has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own"
Thomas Jefferson

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.

This Week in Palestine Artist of the Month: Yazan Khalili

Venice Biennale /2011 /Special Features / Future of a Promise

Yazan Khalili shown in Paris at Imane Farès gallery

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

 http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=4124&ed=223&edid=223

    Artist of the Month

Yazan Khalili
 

Do you know who Yazan Khalili is? No? You really should meet this intelligent, talented photographer, writer, producer, and intellectual; a visual artist who uses the image as a medium for his work. He is another resounding, driven Palestinian voice who is leaving a clear mark on the artistic scene, both nationally and internationally. Young artists like Yazan are Palestine’s unplanned treasure. They are the perfect form of Palestinian resistance.  Yazan’s work is creative and every bit contemporary. Yazan received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Birzeit University in 2003; he finished his master’s degree in 2010 at the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

His photography explores the relationship between the social and spatial elements of built environment and the landscape. He tackles questions of urbanism from a visual point of view. But Yazan is also interested in the production of the image, not necessarily the final image itself; what are the political elements and processes - both global and local - that lead one particular photograph to look, feel, and read in a particular way? In his body of work Area C-The Landscape in Exile, Yazan worked with images he took while traveling through the West Bank for several years. “I was doing a reading of the images as a forensic work by trying to expose the processes that influence the production of aesthetics.” His work comprises text and photography, performing together by way of narrating the personal experience that went into taking a particular image and then discussing and analysing it.

 
In his latest exhibition at Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre, he showed his body of work Landscape of Darkness, 2010, in which he examines how darkness can reshape a highly politicised fragmented landscape. “Looking into the dark spaces, the otherwise fragmented landscape of the occupied area re-emerges with the potential of a continuous whole, thus reshaping the operational notions of space and time, light and darkness.” 

 He is a freelancer who moves between mediums in order to explore and learn more. He is one of the founding members of Zan Design Studio (2005) and works as production coordinator for films and exhibits. He has exhibited in various venues and places, including the Venice Biennial 2011 and the Sharjah Biennial 2013. He has taught a politics of production course at the International Art Academy - Palestine, and co-curated, along with Reem Shilleh, the Young Artist of the Year Award (YAYA, 2012). He also curated The City | The Image symposium with Goethe Institute, Ramallah, 2012.

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

***

Deep into that darkness peering | محدقا في عمق تلك العتمة | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/events/.../permalink/443080395770204/‎

Curated by Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center and co produced with the French ... the politics of light and darkness through two different yet akin bodies of work.

Israel-as-a

fractal hand

              Israel-as-a

"Israel-as-a" is the Jews-preferred word
for those who prefer Jews-preferred laws
and housing and perks...

like a Jews-preferred country
and a Jews-preferred economy
and a plethora of Jews-preferred news reports
delegating Jews-preferred voices and votes...

Jews preferred blogs and perspectives
as well as Jews-only refugee rights
segregating a universal right
into a Jews-preferred sieve
for a cup half empty
Israelasa full of angst

as sectarian sidewalks
and schools and
buses and bars

delineate a future
full of more and

more divisiveness...

Rattle the cage-
open the pen
free thought:
call it Israel
and make peace with that.

My letter to INYTimes RE How Palestinian Hate Prevents Peace By Yuval Steinitz & The Middle East Pendulum By Roger Cohen

William of Ockham (c. 1287 – 1347)

Section of a stained glass window at a church in Surrey, UK

This week's word: Ockham's razor

RE: How Palestinian Hate Prevents Peace By Yuval Steinitz & The Middle East Pendulum By Roger Cohen
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/opinion/how-palestinian-hate-prevents-peace.html?ref=international&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/opinion/the-middle-east-pendulum.html?ref=international

Dear Editor,

A shame to see the newly rebranded "International New York Times" start out by featuring opinion writers who are obsessed with belittling and insulting Palestinians- in addition to, or perhaps as part of, demanding that efforts must be made to ensure Israel's "future as a Jewish and democratic state." 

Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular two state solution in line with international law and fully respecting universal basic human rights (including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees right of return) will not totally erase religious extremism or the hate and bigotry and misogyny on both sides of the conflict, but it will give both Israel and Palestine the ability and the momentum to become modern nation states of the people, for the people and by the people- regardless of supposed race or religion or gender...  Religion should be a personal private choice, not a state funded project.

Fair and just laws and better investments on both sides of every border will help diffuse, disarm and dismantle the rampant religious extremism, bigotry and injustice currently making life miserable for countless men, women and children trapped in and tormented by the conflict.  KISS: Keep it simple- Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security, and within each separate sovereign nation state every individual a full and equal citizen able  to live in peace and security, encouraged and empowered to help build a Golden Rule peace with all their neighbors.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American homemaker & poet

NOTES

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

"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

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

Attack on Jerusalem graves unnerves Christians

New Video Previewing ATFP's 10th Anniversary Gala

Salvaging Palestine ... a poem

NYTimes: In a Polluted Stream, a Pathway to Peace

"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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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.

"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

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.

In Arabic, French, and Hebrew with English subtitles: Inheritance

 OPENING NIGHT will feature the premiere of the Palestinian film Inheritance directed by veteran actor Hiam Abbass. The film screening will take place on Friday, October 25 at 7:00 PM and will be immediately followed by a reception.

Inheritance follows a Palestinian family living in the north of Galilee as they prepare for the wedding of the patriarch's eldest granddaughter. But war raging between Lebanon and Israel as well as among the family members cuts short the festivities with air raid sirens and bruised spirits. The conservative patriarch-grandfather is losing control over his family. As his health deteriorates, his five offspring and their adult children strive to uphold tradition, or their versions of it, against a variety of modern day challenges. The young women seek independence, and Hajar, in particular, faces a potentially difficult decision regarding her British boyfriend. The other siblings struggle with debt, infertility, infidelity and identity; secrets are revealed and no one remains unscathed. Veteran actor Hiam Abbass (The Source, Arabian Sights 2012) pours volumes of rich personal experience into her directorial debut. She triumphs in weaving together these delicate stories to create an unflinching and courageous portrait of a modern Palestinian family.

In Arabic, French, and Hebrew with English subtitles

SCREENING WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A RECEPTION

Co-presented with American Task Force on Palestine

Friday	October 25	7:00 PM	AMC Mazza Gallerie	$20.00   Buy Tickets

American Task Force on 

Palestine

MOVIES

 Arabian Sights returns for its 18th year! From October 25 – November 3, Arabian Sights will present two weekends featuring some of the best in contemporary cinema throughout the Arab world. A panel discussion on the current post-revolution cinema in Egypt will also be held. Guest filmmakers will be present for post-screening discussions.

All film screenings will take place at AMC Mazza Gallerie. Tickets are available for presale and will be available for purchase at the theatre during the festival.

 

Press Releases

Kristin Van Meerbeke
Press Relations
filmfestdc@filmfestdc.org
202.274.5782

• The 18th Annual Arabian Sights Film Festival kicks off Friday, October 25 - Media Advisory, October 10, 2013
• Arabian Sights Film Festival 2013 - Media Advisory, September 30, 2013