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| THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE July Issue Where to Go? |
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/02/opinion/the-killing-of-the-three-israeli-teenagers.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
Dear Editor,
Living in a country where one is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, and being a big fan of the TV series Law & Order, I am not so eager to believe everything Israelis claim when it comes to anything to do with Palestinians. Even if Israelis were not usurping Palestinian land and funding Jewish-only settlement projects all thorough the illegally occupied territories, stifling peace and Palestinians at every turn, I think caution and calm are called for, as is a more careful assessment of what is really going on:
June 23 2014, Nasser Lahham of Ma'an News wrote an excellent analysis: The implicit goals of renewed Israeli aggression : " The Israelis claim that the major operation is meant to achieve three goals: finding the abductees and abductors, weakening Hamas, and thwarting the Palestinian national consensus government.... I do not believe these announced Israeli goals, but instead think that the Netanyahu government has taken advantage of the disappearance of three teenage settlers in still-unclear circumstances to implement a major political, military, and media campaign whose targets cannot clearly be understood now."
Earlier in June UNESCO granted Palestine's ancient terraces in the agricultural community of Battir, endangered heritage status and
UNESCO announced support for Jordan and Palestine's proposal on Jerusalem
Also earlier in June This Week in Palestine's June issue focused on diplomacy and promoting Palestine: This Week in Palestine promotes the Palestinian cultural image as an expression of embodied experience, a mode of communication, and a form for understanding our society, history, ecology, and ultimately ourselves... Taking a very close look at Palestinian public diplomacy and promoting Palestine.
On June 23 "‘This Week in Palestine’ magazine, in a press release, condemned the Israeli occupation forces breaking into the premises of a graphic design company and two nonpolitical and youth magazines, calling on the U.S. and the UN to voice its opinion on these barbaric actions. July's issue of This Week in Palestine was published despite the fact that their offices had been raided and that seven computers, including the servers were confiscated, severely hampering the companies' operating capacity. July's issue is on Where to Go, and the message from the editor starts out ""Where to go?” These days, with roads peppered with checkpoints and illegal settlers attacking innocent passers-by, it is hard to be motivated to go anywhere, even to work. Those of us who travel on a daily basis to get to their primary place of employment are well aware that this is nothing new, and that a 45-minute drive from Ramallah to Abu Dis could take anywhere between 45 minutes and 3, even 4 hours, which includes strenuous detours."
Seems to me Israel wants to incite Palestine rage and incompetence, further disenfranchising as well as radicalizing Palestinians and their supporters in part so that reasonable Palestinian voices will not be heard, ensuring that America's Congress defunds efforts to build a Palestinian state to live in peace alongside Israel.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
Click by Click Culpability ... a Growing Gardens for Palestine poem by Anne Selden Annab
The Echo Chamber & ISIS
Self-fulfilling prophecies are a danger to Iraq and Syria... Let’s not wish ourselves into cataclysm before it’s too late.
Why it's way too soon to give up on the Arab Spring
"A strong advocate for mutual understanding and respect between Americans and Arabs, Naomi Shihab Nye has created a cultural space in America for people to come together to celebrate their commonalities alongside their differences. Her artistic spirit has inspired millions..."
It's time for Palestinians and Israelis to share a just peace... It's time for freedom from occupation... It's time for equal rights.... It's time for the healing of wounded souls.
This Week in Palestine promotes the Palestinian cultural image as an expression of embodied experience, a mode of communication, and a form for understanding our society, history, ecology, and ultimately ourselves... Taking a very close look at Palestinian public diplomacy and promoting Palestine.
Abbas: Israel wants PA without authority: " “Israel’s acts in the West Bank are unjustified, their ways of searching the houses, assaulting locals and killing innocent people are rejected. Israel has taken away all authority from the Palestinian Authority..."
Bethlehem Arab Women's Union, a Sunbula partner, is among the oldest income generation projects in Palestine, starting in1949 as a first aid center for refugees from the Nakba. Visit their embroidery workshop at the heart of Bethlehem's Old City, near the Church of Nativity.
UNESCO supports Jordan, Palestine proposal on Jerusalem
UNESCO | Building peace in the minds of men and women... Emergency Nomination- Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines - Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir, inscribed on World Heritage List and on List of World Heritage in Danger
UNESCO grants Battir endangered heritage status
Elton Performs at Starry Starry Night Benefit for Palestinian refugee children
CNN: Presbyterian Church dumps companies it says help Israel suppress Palestinians
"I advocate a two-state solution, based upon the pre-1967 borders, that includes recognition of the plight of, and redress for, the refugees from 1948, and also guarantees equal rights under law for all citizens of the region, whatever their religion or ethnic background..." The Rolling Stones and Tel Aviv: EXCELLENT letter by Roger Waters (of Pink Flyod) in the NYTimes
"A multiplication of new crises, and at the same time old crises that seem never to die": More than 50 million displaced worldwide, half are children, many of them caught up in conflicts or persecution that world powers have been unable to prevent or end, UNHCR said in its annual Global Trends report.... Afghan, Syrian and Somali nationals accounted for 53 percent of the 11.7 million refugees under UNHCR's responsibility. Five million Palestinians are looked after by a sister agency UNRWA.
‘War’s Human Cost’: World's population of displaced tops 50 million, UN refugee agency reports... By the end of 2013, an estimated 51.2 million people worldwide were considered to be forcibly displaced due to persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations
“one family torn apart by war is too many”
CSPAN
to Cover Live ATFP's Iraq Crisis Panel, Monday, June 23,
2014 -National Press Club- Washington DC
"I have yet to meet a refugee who wanted to be a refugee and even less so, who wished to remain a refugee. Palestine refugees are no different. Their call for a just and lasting solution to their plight must be heard." UNWRA's Pierre Krähenbühl on World Refugee Day
A Palestinian Christian family that preaches non-violence from a farm in the West Bank is battling to hold on to land it has owned for 98 years. Now surrounded by Israeli settlements, the family is a living example of the idea of peaceful resistance.
Analysis: Presbyterian church shows Israel tough love "Presbyterians can use this opportunity to straighten the White House's spine based on what the administration already knows: Israel is intentionally blocking progress in the peace talks while jeopardizing US strategic interests in the region, not to mention the fate of Palestinians and Israelis alike."
"As long as Israel subjects Palestinian athletes to detention and violence, their seat at the table of international sports will be never be short of precarious."
"I have yet to meet a refugee who wanted to be a refugee and even less so, who wished to remain a refugee. Palestine refugees are no different. Their call for a just and lasting solution to their plight must be heard." UNWRA's Pierre Krähenbühl on World Refugee Day
A Palestinian Christian family that preaches non-violence from a farm in the West Bank is battling to hold on to land it has owned for 98 years. Now surrounded by Israeli settlements, the family is a living example of the idea of peaceful resistance.
Analysis: Presbyterian church shows Israel tough love "Presbyterians can use this opportunity to straighten the White House's spine based on what the administration already knows: Israel is intentionally blocking progress in the peace talks while jeopardizing US strategic interests in the region, not to mention the fate of Palestinians and Israelis alike."
"As long as Israel subjects Palestinian athletes to detention and violence, their seat at the table of international sports will be never be short of precarious."
Iraqi
Christians flee homes amid militant push:
During the past 11 years, at least half of the country's
Christian population has fled the country, according to
some estimates, to escape frequent attacks by Sunni Muslim
militants targeting them and their churches.
Ziad J. Asali: Crisis in Iraq Risks Regional Conflagration: " Iraqi Shiites will continue to defeat their own purposes if they attempt to marginalize the Sunni community in a sectarian and exclusionary manner. Iraqi Sunnis cannot achieve their own goals by banding together around fanatical extremists."
The saga of Prof. Dajani is a subset of a broader Arab struggle between the forces of intelligence and stupidity: "The whole Arab world is at a turning point. If it continues to allow the stupidity and ignorance lobby, in all its myriad forms, to insist on cultural insularity, chauvinism, and deafness to the outside world, it will remain utterly stuck and unable to successfully join and compete in a globalizing world. But if the intelligence and knowledge constituency, as embodied by Prof. Dajani and so many other important leading Arabs, succeed in turning their societies away from decades of enforced parochialism, they will be among the most important groups in building a better future for the Middle East." Hussein Ibish
Palestinians villagers fear encroaching Israeli settlement bloc... Palestinian villager Ismail Taha: "It's stealing, and we have no means to defend ourselves. While they have biased courts, police and an army, we have no money and no power. We're peaceful, but..."
Visual map of how the Israeli ID system is stratified to limit democratic access to home ownership, security, services & participation in the polical system which creates and sustains the Israeli ID system
STAY CONNECTED... 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
UNITED NATIONS: International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 2014
Reasonable voices & helpful resources ...America for Palestine MAY 2014
The Arab villages lost since Israel's war of independence - Guardian Interactive: ...Pre 1948 ...March 1948 ... May 1948 ...June 1948 ...Oct 1948 ...July 1949 ...Now
Remembering the Nakba: Israeli group puts 1948 Palestine back on the map Zochrot aims to educate Israeli Jews – through tours and a new phone app – about a history obscured by enmity and denial
Growing Gardens for Palestine: "And it's up to all of us together"... a Spring poem for Palestine & peace
Peace Building ... civic muscle
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.
Ziad J. Asali: Crisis in Iraq Risks Regional Conflagration: " Iraqi Shiites will continue to defeat their own purposes if they attempt to marginalize the Sunni community in a sectarian and exclusionary manner. Iraqi Sunnis cannot achieve their own goals by banding together around fanatical extremists."
The saga of Prof. Dajani is a subset of a broader Arab struggle between the forces of intelligence and stupidity: "The whole Arab world is at a turning point. If it continues to allow the stupidity and ignorance lobby, in all its myriad forms, to insist on cultural insularity, chauvinism, and deafness to the outside world, it will remain utterly stuck and unable to successfully join and compete in a globalizing world. But if the intelligence and knowledge constituency, as embodied by Prof. Dajani and so many other important leading Arabs, succeed in turning their societies away from decades of enforced parochialism, they will be among the most important groups in building a better future for the Middle East." Hussein Ibish
Palestinians villagers fear encroaching Israeli settlement bloc... Palestinian villager Ismail Taha: "It's stealing, and we have no means to defend ourselves. While they have biased courts, police and an army, we have no money and no power. We're peaceful, but..."
Visual map of how the Israeli ID system is stratified to limit democratic access to home ownership, security, services & participation in the polical system which creates and sustains the Israeli ID system
STAY CONNECTED... 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
UNITED NATIONS: International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People 2014
Reasonable voices & helpful resources ...America for Palestine MAY 2014
The American
Task Force on Palestine 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.
The Arab villages lost since Israel's war of independence - Guardian Interactive: ...Pre 1948 ...March 1948 ... May 1948 ...June 1948 ...Oct 1948 ...July 1949 ...Now
Remembering the Nakba: Israeli group puts 1948 Palestine back on the map Zochrot aims to educate Israeli Jews – through tours and a new phone app – about a history obscured by enmity and denial
Growing Gardens for Palestine: "And it's up to all of us together"... a Spring poem for Palestine & peace
Peace Building ... civic muscle
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
"The only way to honor our tragic histories is to create a future for our children free of man-made tragedy. This means making peace fully, completely and without reservation, between Israel and Palestine." American Task Force on Palestine's born in Jerusalem Dr. Ziad Asali: To honor a tragic history, we must work for peace
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