"Let the art and love be our common language." —Maher Naji
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
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
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"
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APARTHEID WALL ART |
APARTHEID WALL ART ICON CLOSEUP |
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 |
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 |
Susan Muaddi Darraj standing beside the Philadelphia Mural |
Diana Buttu |