Merry Christmas from the Holy Land - The Holy Family painting by Palestinian artist Maher Naji

"Let the art and love be our common language." —Maher Naji

 

 

Dear SERRV Ethical Gift Guide

 

Sent by mail to SERRV International Administrative Office,  Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Dear SERRV,

 

I applaud you for carrying marvelous handmade objects from the West Bank, handcrafts made by Palestinians.   I have happily ordered several lovely hand made things last month from your catalogue in hopes of beautifying my own home as well as supporting persecuted and impoverished Palestinians.

 

Your most recent Holiday 2020 catalogue arrived yesterday and I was so excited!!!  I was eager to find gifts in it, and spend all my Christmas budget as you are a fair trade company advertising an Ethical Gift Guide. 

 

I saw some charming bread baskets with a bread warmer from Bangladesh which I  was about to buy until BOOM … I saw that you are calling the Arab treat and word “Za’atar” as being from Israel.

 

That was a punch in the stomach.  I gasped for air, and tears filled my eyes:  My husband’s beloved father was born in Palestine, before Israel came to be, and so we are very much aware of how Israel has spent decades ethnically cleansing the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land from their ancestral homes and lands. 

 

Imagine being denied full freedom and rights in the land where you were born because the powers that be have deemed you the “wrong” religion.  

 

We read international newspapers in this house, and so are well aware of the constant day in and day out atrocities large and small wrought by Israeli soldiers and religious fanatics who want the land but not the native non-Jewish people of that land.

 

You are a fair trade company with an Ethical Gift Guide. If you want to advertise Palestinian Arab Za’atar then do so, but please do not hand Israel credit for producing it. Israel has taken Palestinian land and homes, don’t let them also usurp the culture and food of the native non-Jewish Palestinians.

 

If Israel agrees to be one state, with full freedoms and rights and respect for the indigenous non-Jewish population,  including full respect for the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return, then you can call it made in Israel. Until then please don’t. Just don’t.

 

Sincerely,

 

Anne Selden Annab

 

 

#OnThisDay in 1948 #diplomat and #UnitedNations mediator Count Folke Bernadotte was assassinated by a Zionist terrorist group while on official business in #Jerusalem #Palestine

 

My letter to the NYTimes Sept 8 2020 RE The U.A.E.-Israel Flight Is Nothing to Celebrate by Diana Buttu

RE Diana Buttu's excellent op-ed: The U.A.E.-Israel Flight Is Nothing to Celebrate, It’s a slap in the face of Palestinians, who can no longer count on Arab states for political support. published September 8, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/opinion/uae-israel-palestinians.html?referringSource=articleShare&fbclid=IwAR0nL-feONpJZT0lzSACwFLbigk95qR2eejnGJ9uPanpHO8mez6__mm3Oy8

Dear Editor,

Oslo Accords were so long ago, too long ago. 1993.  A child born then has already fully grown up.  But where is the promised Palestine, as in the fully sovereign and free nation state that was supposed to be born to live side by side in peace with Israel ?!

Inch by inch that Palestine is being crushed by Israeli "settlements", monstrous land grabbing walls, home demolition policies, and Israel's state funded religious extremists... Israel clearly wants the land but not the native non-Jewish people of that land.  How is it that America's elected leaders, and now the UAE,  enthusiastically endorse and empower a Jews-preferred Israel that refuses to respect the Palestinians' basic human rights, including but not limited to the refugees right of return? 

For decades now, I have watched as many have tried all they can to help create a two state solution to end the Israel/Palestine conflict once and for all. Diana Buttu is absolutely right to say "Rather than continuing to press for a two-state solution, the P.L.O. should instead press for equal rights.", and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for speaking truth to power.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

 

Photo by Photo Ra'id Mukdi, 9 Sept. 2020 of Palestinian children (of Ras al-Tin, east of Ramallah)  during class before by Israeli forces confiscated tin panels from the school’s roof, 30 chairs and 12 classroom tables.   One example of many of how Israel daily harasses and impoverishes Palestinians. https://www.btselem.org/facing_expulsion_blog?nid=213075 

Free Palestinians

#Israel #Palestine: A clear illustration of injustice & racism ... why is this so hard for so many to understand?

"I Am From There" a poem by Mahmoud Darwish of Palestine

A Palestinian girl takes a closer look at cherry blossom at a park in central Hebron, in the West Bank

Photograph: Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA photo published in the Guardian 2009 "In Bloom"

I Am From There

Mahmoud Darwish - Palestine

I am from there and I have memories.

I was born, as all people are born.

I have a mother,

and a house with many windows.

I have brothers, friends,

and a prison with a cold window.

Mine is the wave, snatched by seagulls.

I have my own view,

and an extra blade of grass.

Mine is the moon at the ends of speech,

and the blessings of birds,

and an immortal olive tree.

I passed over this land before the swords

Turned its body into a table.

I am from here.

I return the sky to her mother,

when she weeps her mother.

I cry to make myself known,

to a returning cloud.

I learned all the words befitting of the court of blood,

so that I can I break the rule.

I learned all the words, and dismantled them,

To create a single word: homeland…

[Original Arabic]: 

أنا من هناك

محمود درويش – فلسطين

أنا من هناك. ولي ذكرياتٌ . ولدت كما تولد الناس. لي والدة

وبيتٌ كثير النوافذِ. لي إخوةٌ. أصدقاء. وسجنٌ بنافذة باردهْ.

ولي موجةٌ خطفتها النوارس. لي مشهدي الخاص. لي عشبةٌ زائدهْ

ولي قمرٌ في أقاصي الكلام، ورزقُ الطيور، وزيتونةٌ خالدهْ

مررتُ على الأرض قبل مرور السيوف على جسدٍ حوّلوه إلى مائدهْ.

أنا من هناك. أعيد السماء إلى أمها حين تبكي السماء على أمها،

وأبكي لتعرفني غيمةٌ عائدهْ.

تعلّمتُ كل كلام يليقُ بمحكمة الدم كي أكسر القاعدهْ

تعلّمتُ كل الكلام، وفككته كي أركب مفردةً واحدهْ

…هي: الوطن

Palestine EID MUBARAK Blessed Feast

    Eid Mubarak or (Arabic: عيد مبارك‎) is an Arabic term that means “Blessed Feast/festival”.

If someone says Eid Mubarak to you, it is polite to respond by saying 'Khair Mubarak', which wishes good will on the person who greeted you. You could also say 'JazakAllah Khair' which means thank you, but literally translates as 'May Allah reward you with goodness'

Friends of Kairos Palestine #Churches #Prayer #Christians #Hope #Love #Peace #Faith #Bethlehem #Palestine

APARTHEID WALL ART

 “Our word is a cry of hope, with love, prayer and faith in God. We address it first of all to ourselves and then to all the churches and Christians in the world, asking them to stand against injustice and apartheid, urging them to work for a just peace.”

APARTHEID WALL ART ICON CLOSEUP

In this historic document, we Palestinian Christians declare that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity, and that any theology that legitimizes the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed, a call to justice and equality among peoples.

To read the document, click here: http://www.kairospalestine.ps/?q=content/document 

To sign the document, click here: http://www.kairospalestine.ps/?q=node/19

It's a worrying and uncertain time right now for people across the globe, including in occupied #Palestine. Parts of the #WestBank remain on lock-down and already stretched #healthcare services face even greater challenges. We express our continued solidarity with all of those in the region.

With the complete lock-down on the city of #Bethlehem, we hear that the usual #Friday prayers at the separation barrier went ahead online tonight instead. In these very difficult circumstances, work for #peace and #justice can and will continue. Let us keep our creativity and inspiration.

We encourage you to keep following our social media in the coming weeks for more on how you can stay up to date and keep working for justice in these challenging times.

#CoronaCrisis #Palestine #Israel #Solidarity #FridayPrayers

 

Celebrating Women's History Month:The exhibition "Telling the Palestinian Story" features more than 200 works of art by women spanning painting, sculpture, photography, textiles and mixed media.

A painting by Haya Kaabneh, who depicts the hardships of women under occupation. Faisal Saleh / Palestine Museum US

A view of the exhibition ‘Enough …!’ by Nameer Qassim. Courtesy Faisal Saleh, Palestine Museum US

Jacqueline Bejani’s portraits capture famous Palestinian figures, such as Edward Said, seen far right. Faisal Saleh, Palestine Museum US

Preserving Palestinian History & Culture

 https://www.palestinemuseum.us/

Palestine Museum US was founded by Palestinian American businessman Faisal Saleh who, after over 40 years of entrepreneurial work, is turning his attention to managing the most ambitious Palestinian media project in the United States. Located in Woodbridge, Connecticut, USA

Museum aims to bring the work of 50 Palestinian women artists to one show

'good part of the work is that you can’t tell it’s Palestinian by looking at it – and that’s intentional,' says Palestinian-American entrepreneur Faisal Saleh

March is truly set to be a month of Sundays. Last Sunday marked the beginning of Women’s ­History Month and today is International Women’s Day. In honour of both, the Palestine Museum US in Woodbridge, Connecticut, will be encouraging visitors to immerse themselves in the artworks of 50 female Palestinian artists from around the world every Sunday until the end of May.

The exhibition Telling the Palestinian Story, which opens today, features more than 200 works of art, spanning painting, sculpture, photography, textiles and mixed media. The participating artists, many of whom will be exhibiting their work in the US for the first time, are from 14 countries on five continents, including the US and Canada, Palestine, Kenya, Chile, Germany and the UK.... PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ THE ARTICLE IN FULL

https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/art/museum-aims-to-bring-the-work-of-50-palestinian-women-artists-to-one-show-1.989454?fbclid=IwAR0uOnU9SJ-7YUOFe9cCO9NtQl5LPrmO8BiwNwcvBJXgxj0Z4KuzG07n6Hg

 

Standing with Palestine & the rule of fair and just laws, policies and investments: Photos from Al Awda Right of Return March Washington DC 3-1-2020

"...the possibility of infinite development"

Susan Muaddi Darraj  standing beside the Philadelphia Mural

from her facebook page

"This #Philadelphia #mural takes a quote by #WEBDuBois and translates it into #Arabic. (quote below)

It honors the neighborhood of Black Bottom, whose inhabitants were steadily displaced.

The mural was sponsored by @albustanseeds

"I believe that all men, black & brown & white, are brothers, varying through time & opportunity, in form & gift & feature, but differing in no essential partcular, & alike in soul & the possibility of infinite development."

- DuBois, Darkwater (1920) "

March First for Al Awda - a poem in Growing Gardens for Palestine by Anne Selden Annab

                   March First for Al Awda


My heart is with all

who march March 1st ...


with all who value every home
& family.


All who value freedom of
(and from) religion.


All who crave and help create

fair and just laws...


All who write stories and poems, and paint,
all who build beauty & museums for Palestine.


All who vote for full and equal rights
and respect.



Every step marched yesterday
today and tomorrow for Al Awda

is amplified a thousand fold,
by all who can not be there.


And amplified again, and again
for Al Awda, amplified a trillion fold
by every refugee.


My heart is with all

who march for real justice

and a lasting peace.

poem copyright ©2020 Anne Selden Annab 

 

Family from the #Ramallah area on a picnic...#Palestine circa early 1900s

Arab Jerusalem, Palestine long ago

Jerusalem Palestine old photograph by Félix Bonfils
from the British Library

Diana Buttu in Newsweek: Trump's "Peace" Plan Risks Setting Fire to Israel, Palestine—and International Legal Order As We Know It

Diana Buttu

"Beyond just Palestinians, many in the international community are deeply alarmed by the Trump/Kushner plan. As a precedent, it threatens to do away with the international legal system as we know it, including the idea that countries should not be allowed to acquire territory by force, replacing it with a system in which "might is right." The dangers beyond Palestine/Israel are obvious, including legitimizing Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea."  Diana Buttu 

READ MORE- Please go to the original article to read it in full.  Every click helps let a newspaper know what its readers want to read about.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-peace-plan-risks-israel-palestine-international-law-1484721?fbclid=IwAR0gLlVi1AzTWDVOggJiIJnHwgZ7_i_lIVopRXHlMkVesCGi_m-Oga0N09o

Palestinian-American Sam Bahour on "Trump's Ordeal of the Century" regarding Israeli/U.S. Occupied Palestine

NO JUSTICE = NO PEACE

 

The American Human Rights Council (AHRC-USA) expresses its serious concerns regarding the so-called “Deal of the Century,” a false hope to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.This effort to impose a surrender on the Palestinians is a betrayal of international law, justice and American values.

Jerusalem THE CAPITAL OF PALESTINE

#Bethlehem, #Palestine: City from the southwest circa late 1920's

Bethlehem, Palestine: City from the southwest circa late 1920's