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Saturday, December 31, 2022

"May this year bring new happiness, new goals, new achievements, many new inspirations to your life, and most importantly, may it be a year closer to a free Palestine." Sliman Mansour

Sliman Mansour: Hope (أمل)، oil on canvas, 1985


"May this year bring new happiness, new goals, new achievements, many new inspirations to your life, and most importantly, may it be a year closer to a free Palestine." Sliman Mansour

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Thursday, December 15, 2022

Palestinians relive the raw and painful history of al-Nakba in Netflix's new film 'Farha'

Leila Giries' home in the Palestinian village of Ein Karem before and after it was destroyed in the 1948 war. Credit: Courtesy Leila Giries

'Everyone needs to see 'Farha''

Not a day goes by that Giries doesn't wonder what life would have been like if her family was not forced to leave their home in Ein Karem, now part of Jerusalem.
 
"When I went back 37 years later, I realized I remembered every single house and building that used to be there," Giries said. "That's how many times I traveled to Palestine in my mind, every single day, wanting to go back home."
 
She still has the bag her mother grabbed for her as they ran for their lives while the village burned, she said. It's framed and hanging on a wall in her California home, alongside the key to her family's Palestinian home, which was reduced to rubble.
 
Like most Palestinian refugees, Giries is forbidden from returning to live in Israel. Many Palestinian refugees and their descendants -- which the United Nations says now number 5 million people -- live in UN camps established in neighboring countries. Others are internally displaced throughout the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
 
Mahmoud Salah, another survivor of al-Nakba, said the violence depicted in "Farha" was eerily similar to what he saw as he fled from the Palestinian village of Sar'a. After his family was expelled, they traveled by foot for six months, sheltering in caves and under trees as they searched for food and safety. He remembers every detail of that journey, from flyers dropped from airplanes urging Palestinians to flee, to the screams of villagers who lost loved ones.
 
To this day, Salah says he still thinks about life before al-Nakba, memories vivid with the beautiful colors of his homeland. "Since the day we were forced to leave, my eyes have been searching, searching for my village, for the books I left behind, for what of mine has been taken and destroyed," Salah, 90, told CNN from his home in Orland Park, a suburb of Chicago.

He said having his experience denied for so long only added to the pain and anger. "That feeling of being forced out of our home, our country, will never leave us.... READ MORE

 Written by Alaa Elassar, CNN

 https://www.cnn.com/style/article/farha-palestinian-film-nakba-darin-sallam-reaj/index.html

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TOT THE ORIGINAL LINK TO READ THE STORY IN FULL

 

Palestinians relive the raw and painful history of al-Nakba in Netflix's new film 'Farha'

"Farha," released December 1 on Netflix, is inspired by the story of a young Palestinian girl and the violence she witnessed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, when roughly 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes by armed Jewish groups in what Palestinians have since called al-Nakba or "the catastrophe."

'We told the truth': Darin Sallam on portraying the Nakba in Netflix's 'Farha'

'We told the truth': Darin Sallam on portraying the Nakba in Netflix's 'Farha': The director explains how she came to make the film and the huge impact it has had with its depiction of events in 1948

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

WHY DID MOROCCO RAISE THE FLAG for PALESTINE ? ... Football 2022: Following a dramatic penalty shootout, Morocco became the first Arab side to make it to the World Cup quarterfinals.

World Cup quarterfinals 2022: This is the second time Moroccan players have raised the Palestinian flag after winning a match.
 
In context: lsrael killed 53 Palestinian children this year. The last one was a young girl looking for her cat when she was shot with 7 bullets. 

Bombings, shootings, arrests Apartheid Israel attacks Palestinian football from all angles. 


 
Players of the Palestine Amputees Association during routine practice in Gaza.
PHOTO: @mahmoud_ajjour


Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Netflix's Farha: Nakba film resonates with Palestinians globally

Netflix's Farha: Nakba film resonates with Palestinians globally: Thousands of people have praised the film for its depiction of the Nakba and shared their own family's story of being forced to flee Palestine

Annie's Notes:

 In 1948 armed Zionist invaders, seeking to usurp Palestinian homes and lands for Jewish immigrants, intentionally terrorized the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine.  

Many Palestinians were murdered, many more fled, thinking it was only a temporary situation...  Those armed Zionist invaders in shaping their preferred "Jewish State" created a massive refugee crisis that continues on today as racist Israel refuses to respect the Palestinian refugees' inalienable legal and moral right to return to their original homes and lands.      

UN Resolution 194 of 1948 demands that Israel needs to respect the Palestinian Refugees Right of Return. 

However, armed Zionists continue to persecute, impoverish, oppress, and murder Palestinians, exasperating religious extremism all through out the region, starting with Israel's own state funded Jewish "scholars" & settlers.

Meanwhile here in the West, America's elected leaders, many churches, mainstream newspapers, official tweets, news programs, and celebrities basically ignore this tragic situation. Our own hard earned tax dollars are diverted away from our own country's needs to buy more perks and privileges, and weapons, for racist Israel.

Israel is REAL RACISM, not just hurt feelings.  

 Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

Refugees, Borders & Jerusalem
"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

UN Resolution 194 from 1948 : The refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible


  • 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


Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Thursday, November 17, 2022

A couple (زوج), mud on wood, 1989 by Sliman Mansour #FreePalestine

A couple (زوج), mud on wood, 1989 by Sliman Mansour

A couple (زوج), mud on wood, 1989 by Sliman Mansour
.
"During the first Intifada (1987 – 1993), Palestinians boycotted Israeli goods as a form of resistance. Artists in their turn boycotted Israeli art supplies. Four Palestinian artists Vera Tamari, Nabil Anani, Tayseer Barakat and myself formed a group and called it the “New Visions” group. Artists turned towards their environment and used materials such as wood, leather, mud, henna, natural dies and found objects. This new approach helped to develop Palestinian art and formed a link between Palestinian art produced for several decades after Alnakbah and the contemporary art produced by young Palestinian artists." Sliman Mansour  

Thursday, November 10, 2022

What Is Anti-Palestinian Racism?

 "Anti-Palestinian racism entails the dehumanization and erasure of the Palestinian people. Anti-Palestinian racism can be implicit, overt, systemic and structural. It is perpetrated across Canadian society, including by political, intellectual, social and economic elites. Anti-Palestinian racism includes: denying that Palestinians are a people who belong to historic Palestine, devaluing Palestinian life, denying or excusing violence against the Palestinian people, pressuring institutions to exclude Palestinian perspectives, and stereotyping Palestinians and those who defend Palestinian rights as un-Canadian, anti-Semitic or supportive of violence."  https://pcaan.org/?fbclid=IwAR0xK7xoVBjO-sJabxu4pkSqa-RoNxikmV7npmgJg8U5PLEOH_cfjuvutas

About

The Palestinian-Canadian Academics and Artists Network (PCAAN) is a growing national and interdisciplinary network of Palestinian-Canadian academics and artists concerned with Palestine and Palestinians, including in relation to Canada and Turtle Island.

Our Mission

We help challenge anti-Palestinian racism in its various expressions. We provide Canadians a network through which they have access to Palestinian-Canadian academic and artistic voices, expertise, and opinions regarding past and current events related to Palestine.

Why We Do It

Palestinian Canadians are increasingly represented in the Canadian academic and  artistic landscape. At the same time, we are witnessing rising anti-Palestinian racism in Canadian academic and artistic circles. We believe it is our obligation to raise awareness of the realities of the Palestinian people.

Palestinian-Canadian Academics and Artists Network


“Oppressive pines: Uprooting Israeli green colonialism and implanting Palestinian A’wna” by Ghada Sasa

Abstract

This article provides a comprehensive overview of Israeli green colonialism, denoting the apartheid state’s misappropriation of environmentalism to eliminate the Indigenous people of Palestine and usurp its resources. I focus on the violence of ‘protected areas’, encompassing national parks, forests, and nature reserves. This article argues that Israel primarily establishes them to (1) justify land grab; (2) prevent the return of Palestinian refugees; (3) dehistoricise, Judaise, and Europeanise Palestine, erasing Palestinian identity and suppressing resistance to Israeli oppression; and (4) greenwash its apartheid image. I situate Israeli green colonialism within the broader histories of Western environmentalism – particularly its perpetuation of the human–nature binary – and Zionism. Furthermore, I identify various means through which Palestinians and their land resist this phenomenon. I also explore Palestinian environmentalism, which is influenced by the concepts of a’wna (collaboration), sumud (steadfastness), and a’wda (return), in addition to the Islamic concept of tawhid (unity). I offer it as an alternative environmentalism, which is holistic, anti-racist, feminist, socialist, and nonlinear, while rejecting the trope of the ecological savage. Overall, the intrinsic link between all humans, and them and the environment must be recognised, to realise a just and sustainable society, in Palestine and beyond.

Sasa, Ghada. (2022). Oppressive pines: Uprooting Israeli green colonialism and implanting Palestinian A’wna. Politics, online first, 1-17

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02633957221122366

 

EXPLORE MORE

Visualizing Palestine....



Rising Tide/Apartheid

 https://visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/between-rising-tide-and-apartheid

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Rima.... a poem by Anne Selden Annab in Growing Gardens for Palestine

 

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Rima

Rima Najjar in a traditional Palestinian Embroidered Thobe
 

Rima 

 

Rima- connected

by family and Palestine.

She travels the world online and on foot,

following the art and the history

of and for Palestine.


Rima's goodness

(her greatness)

has a reach far beyond

the leap of literary awareness

and books, far beyond

the rainbow colors and hues of paint

and tile and trees and flowers in spring

all for and of Palestine.


Rima shares, shares the beauty she finds,

shares the challenges and routes

whereby humans connect

over and over through the years.

Rima shares knowledge and facts

and empathy and compassion

and character


Rima is as exquisite

as the roses her sister tends.


Where music and art for Palestine might be

she is there, in body or spirit

she is there for and of Palestine.


poem copyright © 2022 Anne Selden Annab

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Tax Payer Funded Religious Tyranny & State Sponsored Terror ... Since 1948, Zionist Israel wants the land, but not the Palestinian people of that land. #RayanSuleiman 7 years old

 Since 1948, Zionist (Jews-preferred) Israel wants the land, but not the Palestinian people of that land. 

 

 IN CONTEXT:

"It's a familiar scene, unfortunately: Soldiers armed with the latest deadly weapons storm into homes and schools, chase children and treat them with unbelievable brutality. The whole world watches on television and social media, but does nothing. When it comes to Arab children, especially Palestinians, the international community has no conscience; it protects the occupation state and its non-existent "right of self-defence". The UN is incapable of holding Israel to account for its crimes. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres refused to add the Israeli occupation army in 2012 to the blacklist of countries and groups violating the rights of children in conflict areas, despite the grave violations against Palestinian children in the occupied territories, the West Bank and Jerusalem.

On World Children's Day 20 November 2021, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that the Zionist occupation had arrested 1,149 Palestinian children since the beginning of the year. The club also indicated that since 2000, the Israeli occupation state had arrested at least 19,000 Palestinian children. Moreover, in 2020, Defence for Children International noted that Israel is the only state in the world to systematically prosecute children before military courts, with between 500 and 700 Palestinian children facing trials every year that lack justice and basic rights.

Ever since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, occupied Palestine has been the scene of brutal crimes committed by Zionist thugs and gangs. Many children have been killed alongside women and men in Israeli massacres of Palestinians. The so-called "Israel Defence Forces" appear to target Palestinian children deliberately, and this is reflected in the increase in the number of children martyred. According to official Palestinian statistics, about 2,230 children have been killed by Israelis since the 2000, most of them in Gaza during the past four Israeli military offensives.

Rayan Suleiman was thus not the first and will not be the last Palestinian child to be killed by the Israeli occupation. The settler-colonial state will continue to kill Palestinian men, women and children for as long as the international community maintains its pro-Israel bias and turns a blind eye to the crimes of the occupation authorities."

Friday, September 23, 2022

Flag of Honour: Iranian women hoist chopped hair on stick as most powerful symbol of dissent. We call on women and men around the world to show solidarity #hairflag #MahsaAmini #Hijab #GenderApartheid

Removing hijab is a punishable crime in Iran.
 

Hair flag, protest sign of the murdered Iranian young woman Mahsa Amini

"Massive protests are being carried out in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini following her detention by country’s morality police. In rage over the incident, female agitators cut their hair and burnt hijabs to express their anger over veiling of women." 

Female agitators in Iran have cut their hair and burnt hijabs in protests against the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. She was detained by country's morality police on 13 September and after three days she died

FP Staff September 21, 2022

When did Mahsa Amini die?

Mahsa Amini was on a visit to Tehran with her family in western Kurdish region when she was detained on 13 September by Iran's mortality police. She collapsed at the police station and died three days later.

Why did police detain Mahsa Amini?

According to a report by news agency The Associated Press, police detained Amini over wearing her hijab "too loosely".

https://www.firstpost.com/world/flag-of-honour-iranian-women-hoist-chopped-hair-on-stick-as-most-powerful-symbol-of-dissent-11304321.html


CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour declined to wear a head scarf in front of Iran's president, walking away from the interview amid ongoing hijab protests over the death of Mahsa Amini

  • CNN's Christiane Amanpour walked away from a long-anticipated interview with Iran's president.
  • The anchor "politely declined" to wear a head scarf since the interview took place on US soil.
  • Her decision follows a history of women journalists declining to wear the clothing for interviews.

https://www.businessinsider.com/christiane-amanpour-refused-to-wear-head-scarf-for-irans-president-2022-9

Christiane Amanpour at 67th Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon Waldorf=Astoria Hotel New York, NY USA June 16, 2008 


American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib: I stand in solidarity with the #IranProtests as they fight for a woman's right to bodily autonomy and against police brutality in the wake of the horrifying murder of #MahsaAmini

Sunday, September 11, 2022

Picnics For Palestine any where any time #PicnicsForPalestine

Today: taking the solidarity for #Palestine outside Parliament

Good Morning from Palestine



Join us in solidarity with the Palestinian people under an illegal oppressive occupation.

Throughout August and September we are asking everyone to head to parks, green spaces or your garden throughout the nation to show your support and solidarity for Palestinians.

Palestinians are subject to a system of oppression and control and one example of this is being forced out of public spaces by Israeli authorities, just because they’re Palestinians and often for something as simple as having a picnic.

To protest Israel’s colonisation of Palestine we ask you to grab your loved ones and head to any green space to show your support for Palestine. Take photos and videos and upload them on your social media using #PicnicsForPalestine to encourage others to take part.

If you’d like to organise or attend a Picnic for Palestine then please email picnic@foa.org.uk you will receive a Picnic Pack which will include:

  • Information and ideas on how to organise your picnic
  • Palestine Quiz for the picnic
  • Palestine bunting
  • Palestine flag
  • ‘Most Creative Photo’ competition details
  • Injustice illustrated booklet
  • Free Palestine Stickers
  • A4 ‘Picnic for Palestine’ Posters to promote in your area

We look forward to seeing all your picnics!  

https://www.foa.org.uk/events/picnics-for-palestine/

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Growing Gardens for Palestine: The story of Randa Sedar, 8-year-old chess player from Palestine

 Growing Gardens for Palestine

The story of Randa Sedar, 8-year-old chess player from Palestine

Eight-year-old Randa Sedar has instantly earned global attention and fame. The young chess protege from Palestine is the youngest participant at the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram near Chennai, India.
  
Eight-year-old Randa Sedar has instantly earned global attention and fame. The young chess protege from Palestine is the youngest participant at the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram near Chennai, India

The story of Randa Sedar, 8-year-old chess player from Palestine

"The 44th Chess Olympiad is going on in Mamallapuram near Chennai, India. This city is decorated with the slogans of Namma Chennai Namma chess. The center of attraction in all this is 8-year-old chess player Randa Sedar from Palestine. She is the youngest player in this Olympiad. At a young age, Sedar is adept at playing chess. It was not easy for her to come to India from war-torn Palestine. But she came to India and is winning everyone’s heart with her talent. 

Randa Sedar is ranked second in the world for players of her age. On the second day of the tournament, Randa Sedar defeated Fahima Ali of Comoros in 39 moves. Randa may be young but big players find it difficult to understand her moves. Her height is so small that it is difficult for her to reach the chess board placed on the table. She sits on the chair with her knees bent and then plays.

Who is Randa Sedar?

Randa hails from the Hebron province of Palestine. She comes from a chess-playing family. She started playing chess at the age of 5. Sedar was taught to play chess by her father and is her coach. Her elder brother also plays chess and he is a FIED master.

Randa Sedar won the silver medal at the Palestine Women’s Chess Championship earlier this year.

In a country like Palestine, where the war is going on, girls are coming out from there and making their country shine in the world. It is a matter of great pride.  "  https://groundreport.in/who-is-randa-sedar-chess-player-from-palestine/  AS Always please go to the original link to read the story in full.

 

Randa has participated in many tournaments. Her second place in the Palestine women's championship qualified her for the #ChessOlympiad team. 


Tuesday, August 9, 2022

"Do you have any weapons on you?" ...

"Do you have any weapons on you?"

"I have a longing that's killing me." 

Mahmoud Darwish, from Memory for Forgetfulness 

Monday, July 25, 2022

Lest we forget the Palestinian refugee that planted them with absolute tender, loving care...

Mike Hanini Odetella photo of "his lone bunch of grapes defiantly announcing their existence through the rubble."
"My late father in law's pride and joy (ay), much like my late mother (ay) was his exquisite garden that occupied every nook and cranny around his humble abode. He took great care and joy in planting and tending to his garden, and so when I paid a visit to what was once his home, and through the sad ruins, I saw beautifully multicolored roses and this lone bunch of grapes defiantly announcing their existence through the rubble. Lest we forget the Palestinian refugee that planted them with absolute tender, loving care...Allah yirhamhak ya 3amee Abu Ahmed!" Mike Hanini Odetella     

Friday, July 1, 2022

My letter to the Patriot News July 1, 2022 RE Suhail Shafi's June 30th letter "The killing of an American journalist is a sign of increasing Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinian"


RE Suhail Shafi's June 30th letter "The killing of an American journalist is a sign of increasing Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinian"

Dear Editor,

Here we are in America, 4th of July weekend 2022, celebrating the freedoms and good fortune we have thanks to our brave & beautifully insightful Declaration of Independence of 1776:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"

Yes, it took time for slaves to be freed, and for full and equal rights and respect to be given to all Americans, including women- but we started on the right path in 1776.

After the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 was also establishing the right path on a global level: "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world"

Israel's most recent extra judicial killing of yet another unarmed journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, is shocking and should be a rude awakening for America's misguided supporters of the dangerous myths and deceptions inspired by Zionist Israel. 

Israel is not on the right path, and never has been on the right path. Modern man-made Israel has been oppressing, impoverishing and displacing the native non-Jewish population of historic Palestine for generations.  America should not be supporting Israel in any way, shape or form. 

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

 

Women delegates from various countries played a key role in getting women’s rights included in the Declaration. Hansa Mehta of India (standing above Eleanor Roosevelt) is widely credited with changing the phrase "All men are born free and equal" to "All human beings are born free and equal" in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 

 PATRIOT NEWS

The killing of an American journalist is a sign of increasing Israeli human rights abuses agains Palestinians | PennLive letters

Over a month ago, Shireen Abu Akleh, a U.S. citizen of Palestinian heritage working as a journalist with the Al Jazeera network was killed by Israeli occupation forces while wearing a press vest clearly identifying her as a journalist. One month after this brazen extra judicial killing of an unarmed journalists, the Biden administration has refused to take a stand against the killing of a U.S. citizen by a supposed U.S. ‘’ally’' and has instead vaguely advocated for an ‘’investigation’' into the killing, while ignoring the mounting evidence the killing was conducted by the Israeli military.

The murder of a prominent Palestinian American journalist comes at a time when the human rights situation in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories under Israel control for five and a half decades appears to be deteriorating with extrajudicial killings, ethnic cleansing and house demolitions against Palestinian civilians becoming increasingly the norm.

The human rights violations are paid for by U.S. tax dollars sent by the United States to the tune of $3 billion a year. In other words, at a time of increasing economic challenges in the US, American tax dollars continue to be funneled into one of the world’s most repressive regimes whose human rights record Amnesty International, in one recent report, compared to South Africa’s apartheid.

The murder of a U.S. citizen and journalist should come as a reminder at a time of economic uncertainty no reason exists why U.S. overseas aid should be paying for human rights abuses by Israel.

Suhail Shafi, Mechanicsburg, Pa.


Friday, June 24, 2022

24 U.S. Senators urge direct US involvement in Shireen Abu Akleh killing probe - Veteran Al Jazeera journalist was killed by Israeli forces while reporting in Jenin, Palestine on May 11.

People light candles during a vigil in memory of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh [File: Mussa Qawasma/Reuters]

"Multiple witnesses said Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli gunfire, a narrative that has been enforced by numerous investigations. The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Qatar, where Al Jazeera is based, have also blamed Israel.

In the letter delivered on Thursday, the legislators, all Democrats and two independents who caucus with the party, called for “a thorough and transparent investigation under US auspices” into the killing of Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American who was wearing a “Press” vest when she was shot."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/24/us-senators-urge-direct-us-involvement-in-abu-akleh-killing-probe?sf166570668=1

Senators urge direct US involvement in Abu Akleh killing probe

Veteran Al Jazeera journalist was killed by Israeli forces while reporting in Jenin on May 11.

Twenty-four United States senators have called on President Joe Biden to ensure direct involvement from Washington in the investigation of the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces.

The latest appeal from US legislators comes after the Biden administration backtracked on Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement in early June that the US wants an “independent” investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing as she covered a raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on May 11.... READ MORE- as always please go to the original link to read the article in full