My letter to the New York Post RE their editorial "UN ignores starvation of Palestinians by Syrian regime"

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

Syria Crisis

Palestine Refugees from Syria Need Help

Palestine refugees have been severely affected by the ongoing armed conflict, with virtually all of their residential areas experiencing armed engagements or the use of heavy weapons. Of the total 540,000 Palestine refugees in Syria, almost all require assistance. http://www.unrwa.org/syria-crisis

***

RE: "UN ignores starvation of Palestinians by Syrian regime" by the New York Post Editorial Board
nypost.com/2014/01/18/un-ignores-starvation-of-palestinians-by-syrian-regime/

Dear Editor,

Daily I have seen world wide online news coverage of the UN being very much aware of the starvation of Palestinians... and on January 17th, American Task Force on Palestine announced a press conference on the topic ATFP Briefing on Palestinian Refugees in Syria and the Crisis at Yarmouk.

Panelists will include Richard Wright, the Director of the UNRWA New York Representative Office; Andrew J. Tabler, Senior Fellow at the The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish.

   http://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/event/info?id=17&reset=1 

Perhaps your editorial board needs to find some better sources of news and information in order to help formulate more accurate and helpful editorials.  

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab 

NOTES

"People in neighbouring states have shown incredible compassion and opened their homes to hundreds of thousands of people but we all have a shared responsibility. It would be catastrophic if the neighbouring countries closed their borders to the thousands of people who flee the conflict every day. Yet how can we call on Syria’s neighbours to keep their borders open to refugees if we keep our own under lock and key?"
 

ATFP Briefing on Palestinian Refugees in Syria and the Crisis at Yarmouk: The National Press Club Washington DC- January 22nd, 2014

Palestine for a New Beginning by Zahi Khouri 
 

This Week in Palestine Artist of the Month: Storyteller Denise Asaad In Her Own Words


Murdering Palestinians by starvation in Syria... much crueler and more arbitrary than anything imposed on Gaza by either Israel or Egypt.

Aid Convoy Unable to Reach Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Syria ... 41 Palestinian refugees have died of food and medicine shortages in the camp.

An Excellent letter in the Guardian: Ariel Sharon's motto could have been 'there's no such thing as a Palestinian'

Analysis: Why Palestinian leadership is right to engage in peace talks

Ziad Asali of ATFP: Why Palestinians are puzzled by the 'Jewish state' demand... Netanyahu's demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state bizarrely inserts Palestinians into the 'Who is a Jew' debate

Jerusalem... the respective capitals of Israel and Palestine

Hussein Ibish: Time for honesty about dialogue with Israel

Palestine is abundant in energy, skills, passion, and determination. Only when our belief in citizen solutions is reignited and our respect for one another is re-established can we officially witness the transformation we want as a society." Muna Dajani & Sami Backleh: This Week in Palestine

Arts & Culture: Organizers Prepare Palestinian Museum For 2015 Opening... Biggest of Its Kind, Privately-Sponsored Institution Will Have Satellite Locations Around the Globe

The monster that won't die: Al-Qaeda is making yet another appalling comeback "There have always been differences within al-Qaeda, those who have either successfully seized or been granted permission to use the name as a kind of franchise, and other salafi-jihadi or "takfiri" groups. But while the parent organization based in Pakistan and Afghanistan seems to be increasingly irrelevant, the political ideology and program of mass murder that are now synonymous with al-Qaeda seem at least as robust as ever, if not more so. It is the monster that, for the past decade, simply will not die."

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

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

 Live by the Golden Rule

American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) supports Palestinian institution-building, good governance, anti-corruption measures, economic development, and improved living standards. ATFP categorically and unequivocally condemns all violence against civilians, no matter the cause and who the victims or perpetrators may be. http://www.americantaskforce.org/

The Arab Peace Initiative

"People in neighbouring states have shown incredible compassion and opened their homes to hundreds of thousands of people but we all have a shared responsibility. It would be catastrophic if the neighbouring countries closed their borders to the thousands of people who flee the conflict every day. Yet how can we call on Syria’s neighbours to keep their borders open to refugees if we keep our own under lock and key?"

A call of duty - 25 leading charities urge PM to open Britain’s door to its share of Syria's most vulnerable refugees 

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/exclusive-a-call-of-duty--25-leading-charities-urge-pm-to-open-britains-door-to-its-share-of-syrias-most-vulnerable-refugees-9068475.html

As the plight of its displaced civilians grows more desperate still, the organisations call on David Cameron to 'transform the lives' of those most affected by the civil war

The letter
Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing to you on behalf of the most vulnerable refugees from Syria who are struggling to survive in crowded refugee camps and makeshift shelters. They have witnessed and survived unimaginable horrors. Meanwhile Syrians living in the UK are desperately worried about their families.

The UK deserves credit for its leadership in providing assistance to refugees in the region, including £600m in aid, helping millions of families survive. However, given the scale and the gravity of the humanitarian crisis unfolding across the region, we would urge the UK to join the 18 other states participating in UNHCR’s global resettlement programme. Those with family already in the UK should be allowed to reunite with their loved ones.

UNHCR has appealed for Western governments to accept 30,000 of the most vulnerable refugees from the region. This would include women at risk, children who are in need of special assistance, vulnerable older adults and torture survivors who will simply struggle to survive in the harsh conditions in the region. We must play our part in offering them a place of safety.

This number may seem like a drop in the ocean, but it would transform the lives of each person resettled and help countries like Lebanon and Jordan who are already feeling the strain. In Lebanon, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, a fifth of the population are now Syrian refugees.

People in neighbouring states have shown incredible compassion and opened their homes to hundreds of thousands of people but we all have a shared responsibility. It would be catastrophic if the neighbouring countries closed their borders to the thousands of people who flee the conflict every day. Yet how can we call on Syria’s neighbours to keep their borders open to refugees if we keep our own under lock and key?

Yours sincerely,

Maurice Wren, CEO, Refugee Council
Kate Allen, director, Amnesty International
Richard Miller, executive director, ActionAid
Wayne Myslik, CEO, Asylum Aid
Chris Bain, director, Cafod
Paul Valentin, international director, Christian Aid
Tiffy Allen, national coordinator, City of Sanctuary
Chris Doyle, director, Council for Arab-British Understanding
Keith Best, CEO, Freedom from Torture
Faddy Sahloul, chairman, Hand in Hand for Syria
Dr Mohamed Ashmawey, CEO, Islamic Relief Worldwide
Peter Balleis SJ, international director, Jesuit Refugee Service
Dr Edie Friedman, executive director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality
Syed Sharfuddin, CEO, Muslim Aid
Jim Steinke, CEO, Northern Refugee Centre
Mohamed Nasreldin, CEO, North of England Refugee Service
Mark Goldring, CEO, Oxfam
Dave Garrett, CEO, Refugee Action
Michel Gabaudan, president, Refugees International
Amy Lythgoe, chair of trustees, Refugee  Welcome Trust
Justin Forsyth, CEO, Save the Children
John Wilkes, CEO, Scottish Refugee Council
Emma Williams, CEO, Student Action for Refugees
Rob Williams, CEO, War Child
Salah Mohamed, CEO, Welsh Refugee Council

18 January 2014 More than two million refugees have been registered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Syria’s four neighbouring countries, in what has been labelled the “defining humanitarian crisis of our time”...  The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said numerous attempts by the UN and other organisations over the past four months to deliver aid to the 18,000 people in the camp have been thwarted...READ MORE

ATFP Briefing on Palestinian Refugees in Syria and the Crisis at Yarmouk: The National Press Club Washington DC- January 22nd, 2014

Register Now

ATFP Briefing: Yarmouk Camp Crisis

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) will be hosting a briefing on Palestinian Refugees in Syria and the crisis at Yarmouk on Wednesday, January 22 from 1-3 PM. The event will be held in the Zenger Room at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045.

Panelists will include Richard Wright, the Director of the UNRWA New York Representative Office; Andrew J. Tabler, Senior Fellow at the The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish. 

January 22, 2014
 1:00-3:00 PM

 

The National Press Club
Zenger Room
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor
Washington, DC 20045

 

Palestinian refugees in Syria, especially at the Yarmouk refugee camp outside of Damascus, are facing a dire humanitarian crisis. 18,000 refugees are trapped in Yarmouk and there have been many reported deaths due to attacks, starvation, and lack of medicines and fuel.

On December 20, UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi warned that "It is my responsibility to inform the international community that humanitarian conditions in the besieged refugee camp of Yarmouk are worsening dramatically and that we are currently unable to help those trapped inside. If this situation is not addressed urgently, it may be too late to save the lives of thousands of people including children."

On January 15, Secretary of State John Kerry said, "[in] Ghouta and other parts of the country, such as Yarmouk refugee camp, civilians are dying of malnutrition. That is absolutely unacceptable. If the regime can allow access to United Nations and international weapons inspectors, surely it can do the same for neutral, international humanitarian assistance.” 

This ATFP panel will examine the crisis from numerous angles, including its humanitarian and regional components, and place it in the context of international responsibilities towards the
victims.

Richard Wright, the Director of the UNRWA New York Representative Office

ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish

Andrew J. Tabler, Senior Fellow at the The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

 

When

January 22nd, 2014 1:00 PM   through   3:00 PM

 

Location

The National Press Club
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor
Zenger Room
Washington DC 20045
United States

Register Now

Palestine for a New Beginning by Zahi Khouri

[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=4170&ed=226&edid=226

 The unemployment and under-employment faced in our country does not bode well for our future. We are failing to prepare our youth to lead us into the next generation. This is not a problem that will be solved only by our government leaders, but it requires all aspects of our society to help, including and quite importantly, the private sector. Palestine for a New Beginning (PNB) brings together some of the largest private-sector entities in Palestine - Paltel Group, Bank of Palestine, PADICO HOLDING, Wataniya Mobile, Consolidated Contractors Company, the National Beverage Company - to form a dynamic network that supports and facilitates both innovation and entrepreneurship. We believe that the private sector needs to encourage the creativity of young innovators, and that by injecting new ideas into a stagnant economy, we can hopefully decrease the number of unemployed youth and contribute to healthy economic growth.

For this reason we have put our resources, both human and financial, to work. As members of PNB, we organise the annual Celebration of Innovation (COI), a national competition of ideas and entrepreneurs. Each year, approximately 300 guests, including leading local and regional private-sector leaders and angel investors, listen to young entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas. Even those who don’t win often gain access to mentors and investors who offer their support.

One of our first-year winners, Ahmad Ramahi, went on to participate in the Stars of Science show on MBC, taking his invention, iSurface, to a regional level. Ahmad has also represented Palestinian entrepreneurs at the World Economic Forum in Davos and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Kuala Lumpur. Last year, we selected five more winners, including Independent Wind, a team that aims to bring the first large-scale wind farm to Palestine, which would help reduce our dependence on Israeli energy resources; and Al Okhwah Farm in Beit Furiq, outside of Nablus, which will hopefully soon be the first organic sheep farm in Palestine. 
 
Our support for the winners of the COI has not been without challenges...READ MORE

  *** 

This Week in Palestine January 2014

     Message From the Editor

I cannot help but think that publishing an entire issue on Innovative Palestine that clearly has an IT/technology flavour is, well, funny, infuriating, ironic, and ridiculous...READ MORE

• Entrepreneurship and Innovation Systems in Palestine National Strategies and Policies
  By Hasan Omar

 
• Palestine for a New Beginning
  By Zahi Khouri

 
• Environmental Innovation Reviving Environmental Consciousness in Palestine
  By Muna Dajani and Sami Backleh

 
• The Palestinian Interoperability Framework “Zinnar”
  By Safa Nasser Eldin

 
• iT is Hard to Memorize..easy to Innovate
  By Aref Husseini

 
• Tackling Youth Unemployment by Engaging Palestine’s Diaspora
  By Hashim Shawa

 
• Learning Innovation The Palestinian Learning Objects Bank The Result of Thinking Outside the Box
  By Marwan Tarazi

Book of the Month
Mediterranean Cultural Heritage, a Manual for Good Practice

Mediterranean Cultural Heritage, a Manual for Good Practice: A Euromed Heritage Experience

 

 

This Week in Palestine Artist of the Month: Storyteller Denise Asaad In Her Own Words

[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=4183&ed=226&edid=226 

A Palestinian artist originally from the destroyed village of Qisariyah in historic Palestine

I was born in Nazareth. Before I turned two, my family moved to Haifa, where I now reside with my husband and children. Ever since I was a child I wanted to become a doctor (as is expected of a good student), but I ended up studying electrical engineering. I worked in health equipment maintenance for nine years at Al Karmel Hospital in Haifa.

In 1984, my first son, Amir, was born. He went into brain paralysis as a result of a medical mistake and was in intensive care for six weeks. During his time at the hospital the doctors asked me to start speaking to him, and since I didn’t know how to speak to someone who wasn’t aware, I found myself telling him stories my father used to tell me, for he found that the best way to keep me quiet. Amir’s existence led me to discover the magic of stories and the connections forged through them.

Later I discovered that my school-principal, conservative father had been a storyteller and had evidently passed that passion on to me. My father’s gravestone reads “For the love of stories, Qisariyah, and my country.”

After Amir was born I left my work at the hospital and went back to school because my time with him made me realise the scarcity of local children’s literature. I received both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in children’s literature and early childhood education from the University of Haifa. My master’s thesis was about the catastrophe facing children’s literature in Palestine. As I was planning to begin studying for my PhD, I met the Egyptian director Hasan Al Jartly at a storytelling workshop in Amman. His faith in my storytelling was the main reason behind quitting school and taking my talent to the next level.

My journey into the world of stories truly began in 2004. I travelled everywhere - from Palestine to England, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, South Africa, and France - to collect children’s stories and transport them to children and adults all over the country through actual storytelling, letters, and video conferencing (especially for children in Gaza). I also worked as a storytelling trainer to people of all ages, including parents, students, librarians, and others.

In addition to collecting stories, I participate in events such as conferences on children’s literature and cultural festivals. One memorable festival was in Jordan where I participated as a storyteller and accompanied Kamal Khalil, a renowned musician and performer.

My other more recent projects include filming a story for the documentary “Golden Pomegranate,” by director Ghada Altirawi (which was also accompanied by sign language interpretation). Moreover, I have been launching workshops to empower and support women, youth, and children with special needs. My most memorable and heart-warming experiences were two, one with refugee youth in Amman, where we worked on storytelling as a way to discover their identity, creativity, and power. I met the same group nine years later while filming a documentary, and to my cheerful surprise I found them retelling my stories. The experience made me feel as though I had left something of myself with those people, and they had kept and cherished it.

My second beautiful experience was in Tunisia, where I worked with parents of disabled children as part of a workshop launched by the Almoro’a organisation entitled “Hikawati Hiyakati.” During the workshop I shared my story as a mother of a disabled child, and ended up weaving painful, hopeful, and rich masterpieces with these women, who opened up about their own love and suffering. The workshop’s other outcome was a gorgeous book in Arabic and French, also entitled Hikawati Hiyakati, gathering those stories.

 See PDF www.thisweekinpalestine.com/i189/pdfs/article/aotm.pdf

Staying Power ...a poem by Anne Selden Annab

            Staying Power

Careful diplomacy
is a reasonable response
no matter what...

measured words
clear thinking

seeking

water flows finding a path
peace pours into compassion
soothes- changes moods
minds
gently
persuading

allowing liberating thought
to be as free as the dragonflies.

My letter to the Economist RE An Arab-Israeli dilemma: Might they want to join Palestine? Avigdor Lieberman’s radical ideas for population transfers are gaining ground

National Geographic Map The Human Journey

RE An Arab-Israeli dilemma: Might they want to join Palestine? Avigdor Lieberman’s radical ideas for population transfers are gaining ground
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21594353-avigdor-liebermans-radical-ideas-population-transfers-are-gaining-ground-might

Dear Editor,

Human beings have been migrating, relocating all through out the history of humankind. Individuals and families must be free to do so for their own personal reasons, following legal channels- but sovereign states must not ever be free to push individuals and families into forced exile or poverty. 

Borders have to be firm, however citizenship formulas can be flexible. Many but not all countries allow for dual citizenship. Dual citizenship already allows Israeli-Americans as well as Palestinian Americans to vote in American elections, and provides more potential job opportunities as well as educational choices so the precedent for dual citizenship is obviously firmly in place for both Israel and for Palestine.

Dual citizenship as Israeli-Palestinians should be an option for Arab-Israelis as negotiations to end the Israel-Palestine conflict with a fully secular, fair and just two state solution move forward creating a sovereign state of Palestine living in peace and security alongside Israel.

Dual citizenship would also help Palestinian refugees living in third countries return to help build a new Palestinian state, but no one should be forced to move to Palestine, or to Israel, if they would rather move on and away. 

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
The One-State Trap ... a poem

Murdering Palestinians by starvation in Syria... much crueler and more arbitrary than anything imposed on Gaza by either Israel or Egypt.

Aid Convoy Unable to Reach Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Syria ... 41 Palestinian refugees have died of food and medicine shortages in the camp.

An Excellent letter in the Guardian: Ariel Sharon's motto could have been 'there's no such thing as a Palestinian'

Analysis: Why Palestinian leadership is right to engage in peace talks

Ziad Asali of ATFP: Why Palestinians are puzzled by the 'Jewish state' demand... Netanyahu's demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state bizarrely inserts Palestinians into the 'Who is a Jew' debate

Jerusalem... the respective capitals of Israel and Palestine

Hussein Ibish: Time for honesty about dialogue with Israel

Palestine is abundant in energy, skills, passion, and determination. Only when our belief in citizen solutions is reignited and our respect for one another is re-established can we officially witness the transformation we want as a society." Muna Dajani & Sami Backleh: This Week in Palestine

Arts & Culture: Organizers Prepare Palestinian Museum For 2015 Opening... Biggest of Its Kind, Privately-Sponsored Institution Will Have Satellite Locations Around the Globe

The monster that won't die: Al-Qaeda is making yet another appalling comeback "There have always been differences within al-Qaeda, those who have either successfully seized or been granted permission to use the name as a kind of franchise, and other salafi-jihadi or "takfiri" groups. But while the parent organization based in Pakistan and Afghanistan seems to be increasingly irrelevant, the political ideology and program of mass murder that are now synonymous with al-Qaeda seem at least as robust as ever, if not more so. It is the monster that, for the past decade, simply will not die."

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

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

 Live by the Golden Rule

American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) supports Palestinian institution-building, good governance, anti-corruption measures, economic development, and improved living standards. ATFP categorically and unequivocally condemns all violence against civilians, no matter the cause and who the victims or perpetrators may be. http://www.americantaskforce.org/

The Arab Peace Initiative

Jordan to Israeli PM: Make peace with Palestinians... "seize the moment and opportunity made possible under a U.S. diplomatic push to achieve a lasting and comprehensive settlement with the Palestinians"

AMMAN, Jordan —
Jordan's king called on visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to seize the moment and opportunity made possible under a U.S. diplomatic push to achieve a lasting and comprehensive settlement with the Palestinians, the Royal Palace said.

The appeal came during a surprise visit by Netanyahu, who held talks with Abdullah II on the latest in the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The palace said the two talked behind closed doors about the "developments in the peace process" and Israeli-Palestinian negotiations sponsored by the United States.

[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]  

Jordan to Israeli PM: Make peace with Palestinians

The One-State Trap ... a poem

...Handala...

   The One-State Trap

As things are
for Israel-Palestine
one state translates
into Jewish settlements
staying, expanding,
multiplying...

Demographics are numbers,
not an open heart or mind.

One state is PR savvy Israel
empowered to be subtle-sly
with an ongoing Nakba...

One state is Israel benefiting
from a low wage workforce,
and expensive legal battles
for lone Palestinians, one
by one by one...

One state is perpetual
fragmentation....

impoverishment.

One state is no question
of Palestine to discuss.

One state is UNWRA defunded
and disenfranchised.

One state is, irretrievably,
no second chances-
the end of Palestine,
BUT not the beginning
of freedom or justice
for Palestinians...
nor is it refugee return, or even an end
to hostilities & home demolitions.

Demographics are numbers,
simply numbers numbers
numbers
numb... cold- calculating
not an open heart or mind,
not the rule of fair and just laws,
not compassion or empathy
or peace.

The conflict multiplies
with no borders,
no boundaries
and no way out.
             

Murdering Palestinians by starvation in Syria... much crueler and more arbitrary than anything imposed on Gaza by either Israel or Egypt.

Patrolling the vicinity. (AFP Photo/Anwar Amro)

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/530276-murdering-palestinians-by-starvation

Murdering Palestinians by starvation in Syria

Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk are being starved to death by the Syrian regime. Does anyone care?

Hussein Ibish 
January 14, 2014

There isn't much the Palestinian people haven't suffered. But the use of enforced starvation against them by the Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad at the Yarmouk refugee camp breaks new ground in cruelty. Hundreds are said to be facing imminent death by starvation, lack of water and medical care, and the loss, for almost a year now, of all heat and electricity.

Last weekend, at least 41 Palestinian refugees were reported to have died as a result of food and medicine shortages, and all the evidence suggests this account is a low estimate. The numbers continue to grow daily.

Rights groups said that today eight more Palestinians in Syria have died from malnutrition, including an 80-year-old, Jamil al-Qurabi, a 40-year-old, Hasan Shihabi, and a 50-year-old woman called Noor. Meanwhile 10-year-old Mahmoud al-Sabbagh and two 19-year-olds, Majid Imad Awad and Ziad al-Naji, were killed while protesting the blockade of the camp. Muhammad Ibrahim Dhahi is reported to have been tortured to death by regime forces, while Hasan Younis Nofal was killed by one of Assad's now-notorious barrel bombs.

Yesterday a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) convoy of trucks loaded with desperately-needed food and medicines were fired on by pro-Assad forces, most likely the so-called PFLP-GC, as they tried to enter the camps and were unable to deliver the urgent relief.

The PLO says it is still trying to negotiate with "Syrian officials and [pro-Assad] militants in Palestinian camps in Syria in order to reach a solution and create a safe passage for the entry of relief supplies to Yarmouk." They are, in effect, begging for the lives of innocent Palestinians suffering a siege that, while significantly smaller in scale, is without doubt much crueler and more arbitrary than anything imposed on Gaza by either Israel or Egypt....READ MORE

Aid Convoy Unable to Reach Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Syria ... 41 Palestinian refugees have died of food and medicine shortages in the camp.

Yarmouk refugee camp:

Palestinian Refugees Starving in Syria

http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/international/6626-aid-convoy-unable-to-reach-yarmouk-refugee-camp-in-syria
Published on Tuesday, 14 January 2014 10:44

An aid convoy consisting of six trucks loaded with medicine and food were attacked on their way to Yarmouk refugee camp. The convoy was prepared by the PLO and tried to reach the camp  on Monday under UNRWA auspices. It is unclear who attacked the convoy of the much needed humanitarian supplies.

Yarmouk refugee camp has been under siege since last summer and no humanitarian aid organizations, including UNRWA, have not been able to reach the camp since september 2013. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 41 Palestinian refugees have died of food and medicine shortages in the camp.

Before Syria’s civil war began, the camp was home to 150, 000 Palestinian refugees. Today only about 20, 000 Palestinians remain there. Syria is officially home to nearly half a million Palestinian refugees. Since the war broke out in 2011 half of them have been displaced, becoming refugees for a second time.

An Excellent letter in the Guardian: Ariel Sharon's motto could have been 'there's no such thing as a Palestinian'

I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity

[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.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/13/ariel-sharon-palestinian

Your obituary writer's comment that Sharon felt at peace only on his farm in the Negev overlooks the fact that until 1948 this land belonged to the Abuelaish family, one member of which, Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish, wrote a book in 2011, described by the Guardian as "an impresssive statement of triumph over adversity". Its title, I Shall Not Hate, is testimony to a lifetime devoted to reconciliation, which stands in stark contrast to the philosophy of the man who removed him from his family property.
 
Roger Symon
Cheltenham