Showing posts with label Palestine Connected. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palestine Connected. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
My letters to the NYTimes & CSM RE From Nablus to Jerusalem by Raja Shehadeh & Khaldun Bshara has dodged bullets to preserve Palestinians' heritage
RE: Khaldun Bshara has dodged bullets to preserve Palestinians' heritage http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2011/1114/Khaldun-Bshara-has-dodged-bullets-to-preserve-Palestini
Dear Editor,
Khaldun Bshara: "I believe that everyone has to give back to the community that helped him to flourish," he says, citing his mother as the inspiration for this desire to help other people in this way."
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2011/1114/Khaldun-Bshara-has-dodged-bullets-to-preserve-Palestinians-heritage
Thank you CSM for helping at least one authentic and totally admirable Palestinian voice be heard today.
I was TOTALLY delighted and frankly relived to see this fascinating story on Palestine and Khaldun Bshara's RIWAQ, a West Bank architectural firm which renovates and preserves buildings that are part of Palestinians' cultural heritage.
I like Bshara's positive attitude and his perseverance... it is good to hear that he will continue on with his inspiring work regardless of whether there is a state or not. I very much hope there will be a Palestinian state- and a just and lasting peace for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Jordan's King Abdullah points out in a recent interview that the Arab Spring is a defining moment in Arab history... and his majesty reiterated for the umpteenth time that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains the region’s core issue: “The train wreck that is waiting to happen is the Israeli-Palestinian problem. As we talk about the Arab Spring and Iran, we keep forgetting the core issue.”"
Fact is day after day after day, year after year- decade after decade with both war and peace, Israel really has been systemically impoverishing, evicting, and disenfranchising the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land. Hanan Ashrawi wisely warns this week that “Israel’s determination to halt the Quartet’s efforts and its continued violations of international law are clear messages that Israel is not interested in a two-state solution. The Quartet Committee and international society must reject settlement expansion projects that aim to erase Palestinian existence and impose a new identity on Jerusalem.” PNN NEWS: PLO to Take Withheld Funds to Security Council
Just yesterday Israeli forces demolished four more Palestinian homes west of Jericho in the central West Bank. Families did not have a chance to remove their furniture and belongings. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=436843
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
********************
RE: From Nablus to Jerusalem by Raja Shehadeh
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/from-nablus-to-jerusalem/?ref=global
Dear Editor,
“Palestine Connected” is the title of the art installation by the Palestinian artists Iyad Issa and Sahar Qawasmi, "set in the pickle factory that now stands where the Nablus central station once was..."
Seems to me that the perfect title "Palestine Connected" is much much bigger than one fascinating and creative bit of art set in a pickle factory. "Palestine Connected" is the wave of the future as the global information age gives us all ways to reach out beyond our own borders and assumptions... Reaching out and connecting with far away people and places and conversations that very much enhance the market place of ideas that builds the momentum to end the Israel/Palestine conflict (once and for all) with a just and lasting peace.
Thank you for publishing Raja Shehadeh's Latitude essay "From Nablus to Jerusalem". I hope that at least some of your readers are inspired by his short but compelling essay to seek out and read his books. I thought “Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape” was very illuminating and I very much look forward to reading his latest book.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American homemaker & poet
The Great Debate: Middle East Peace
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER PALESTINE AND PEACE]
http://www.bu.edu/today/2011/great-debate-middle-east-peace/
Boston University
http://www.bu.edu/today/2011/great-debate-middle-east-peace/
Boston University
COM event asks who stands in the way
11.15.2011
Achieving meaningful peace in the Middle East has become one of the most contentious issues facing the international community. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, centered largely on issues of borders, control of Israeli settlements, and freedom of movement for Palestinians, remains a stalemate, despite efforts by the Obama administration to bring both sides back to the table for revived peace talks earlier this year. Just last week, attention was drawn to the region after Palestine’s bid to win full membership in the United Nations was set back when the Security Council’s admission committee announced it was deadlocked.
So what stands in the way of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement? That question will be debated by students and well-known Middle East experts tonight when the College of Communication hosts its annual Great Debate, which poses an issue of national or international significance to a panel of experts and students for spirited discussion. Justin Bourke (COM’13) will be part of a team arguing that Israeli leaders are to blame for the political impasse, while Phillip Kisubika (COM’13) will be among those arguing that Palestinian leaders are at fault.
One proposal currently on the table calls for a two-state solution, creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Just last week, President Obama’s leading envoy to the Middle East, Dennis Ross, who has announced he is resigning at the end of the year, told the New York Times that neither Israel nor Palestine “can wish each other away. They have to live together, there’s no other option, and the only way they can live with each other is a two-state solution.”
“If things go wrong, the investment in peace taken by Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin could come very close to the Nasser-era hostilities,” Zelnick says, referring to the former Egyptian president and Israeli prime minister who signed an historic peace treaty in 1979. “Additionally, the upheavals growing out of the Arab Spring could push the parties towards more intense conflict rather than democracy and negotiation. The Arab Spring has unleashed a variety of emotions, ranging from a yen for democracy to a renewed commitment to Islamic fundamentalism and a desire to settle scores with Israel.”
Bourke and Kisubika say they’ll bring starkly different interpretations to who is at fault for the stalled peace talks. “One of the big considerations in our argument is that it is a very asymmetrical relationship,” says Bourke, a broadcast journalism graduate student. “Israel commands a vast majority of the leverage, and given that fact, certainly there is plenty of blame to go around to either side, but I came to the conclusion that Israel’s position is a little unclear, and I think they have been a little heavy-handed in negotiations.”
Sports journalism graduate student Kisubika says he’ll argue that “Israel has to fight just to be a country, to be accepted. It hasn’t helped that Palestinians haven’t separated themselves from those who wish ill to Israel. The constant negative rhetoric directed towards Israel makes it hard for them to work towards peace.”
The two students will be joined on stage by leading policy experts. Hussein Ibish, a senior research fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, and Geoffrey Aronson, director of research and publications at the Foundation for Middle East Peace will argue with Bourke that Israel, more than Palestine, is responsible for the impasse. Taking Kisubika’s position will be Robert Lieber, a Georgetown University professor of government and international affairs, and Joshua Muravchik, a Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Foreign Policy Institute fellow.
This is the second time that Lieber has been invited to appear as a guest at COM’s Great Debate, an honor, Zelnick says, “infrequently bestowed,” but that reflects Lieber’s “elevated standing” among Arab-Israeli conflict scholars. Zelnick describes Ibish as a “rising young intellectual and gifted spokesman for the Palestinian cause. He is carefully followed by scholars and diplomats on both sides of the conflict for his reason, his moderation, and his intellect.”
The Great Debate is modeled after the famous Cambridge and Oxford University Union Societies’ public discussions, a fierce debating competition between the two universities. At the end of tonight’s two-hour event, Zelnick says, he will ask the audience to vote for who they believe has made the most persuasive argument by moving to one side or the other of the Tsai Performance Center.
Bourke and Kisubika both admit to some anxiety in advance of tonight’s forum. “This debate requires a lot of background and history on the topic,” Bourke says. “You need to get your facts right more than anything. The amount of research required is almost overwhelming.”
Clouds of uncertainty hang over Palestinian village waiting to see if the Israeli army will call off its demolition of the community's solar panels
Palestinian woman Nihad Moor and her children stand at their home lit by electricity provided by a solar panel in the southern West Bank village of Imneizil. The Israeli army, which controls civilian affairs in the area, issued a demolition order for the panels and an adjacent control structure (AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana)West Bank solar panels risk demolition
By Jonah MandelClouds of uncertainty hung over this tiny Palestinian village on Wednesday, as locals waited to see if the Israeli army would call off its demolition of the community's solar panels.
It was two years ago that Spanish NGO SEBA joined forces with Nablus's Al-Najah University and installed two solar panels in the community, at the southernmost tip of the West Bank, replacing the gasoline generators that the village had been using as its only source of power.
Since then, the 34 families living in Imneizil have sped into the 21st century, stocking their homes with appliances and rigging up light bulbs inside their tents and small makeshift homes.
The panels also provide power for the local water pump, as the village is not connected to a water pipeline.
But last month, the army, which controls civilian affairs in Area C where the village is located, issued a demolition order for the panels and a nearby control structure, saying they were built without a permit.
Israeli NGOs and the UN's Habitat agency have urged the army to freeze the order, which they say came as a surprise to the village.
The Spanish government is also working through diplomatic channels to prevent the closure of the 365,000-euro ($495,000) project, most of which was funded by SEBA.
"We are suspended between heaven and earth; the solar panels were a glimmer of hope for us," said village head Ali Mohammad Ihrizat.
"We have been here since 1948, and have nowhere else to go."
According to Ihrizat, they saw no point in asking the army for permission to erect the panels as Israel does not recognise the village, and none of its structures have ever received a construction permit.
A Spaniard running the project for SEBA told AFP they had requested a permit after setting up the panels, but had never received a response from the military department responsible for granting them....READ MORE
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER PALESTINE AND PEACE]
Arab Spring a defining moment in Arab history
His Majesty King Abdullah is received by British Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in London on Tuesday (AP photo by Lewis Whyld/Pool )Responding to a question on dealing with Israel, the King said there were no indications that the Israeli government is seriously interested in reviving the peace talks with the Palestinians.
“We have been in contact. I haven’t seen or spoken to the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] in quite some time because I got to a point where I didn’t see anything to me that justified seriousness on behalf of the Israeli government.”
“Having said that, we are in contact with them. They’re beginning to realise how serious the problem is. Can we collectively put something together from now to the end of the year? We are frankly out of ideas,” he said.
“The continuation of a lack of a peace process limits Israel’s options,” he warned, adding: “The Arab Spring overshadowed the strong discussions that Israel was going to be addressed with by the international community.”
“One Western diplomat said to me recently, if Israel continues with its policy, they will find that the only allies that they have in the world is the US Congress. And that’s quite a fascinating statement. Because their options become less and less as time goes on.”
The Monarch reiterated that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains the region’s core issue.
“The train wreck that is waiting to happen is the Israeli-Palestinian problem. As we talk about the Arab Spring and Iran, we keep forgetting the core issue.”
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Palestine News & Info Agency - WAFA - Ashrawi: Negotiations’ Success Depends on Quartet’s Commitment to Peace Requirements
RAMALLAH, November 14, 2011 (WAFA) - Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee, said Monday “the success or failure of negotiations depends on the Quartet committee’s well to commit to the clear and known peace requirements; make Israel commit to international law and 1967 borders and stop settlement activities as well as determine a binding timeframe,” according to a press release.
Ashrawi added, “If the quartet can commit to these requirements, it means it started dealing with the content not the form, away from dealing with Israeli maneuvers.”
She stressed on the importance of putting pressure on Israel to make it commit to the peace requirements and not to put pressure on the Palestinians.
She affirmed that there are no signs of dealing with Israel seriously in light of America’s acquisition over the peace process, US forthcoming elections and the Israeli arrogance challenging the entire world.
She called on the international community to work on putting pressure on Israel to make it commit to the international law rules and to stop unilateral breaches concerning East Jerusalem, settlement activities as well as to hold Israel accountable.
She said, “If the Israeli right-wing extremist government does not pay for its violations, and is not held accountable for its breaches, it will continue its racist occupational practices.” “If there are no real intentions to hold Israel accountable, then there is no meaning for any steps taken by the quartet in this context.”
NYTimes: From Nablus to Jerusalem by Raja Shehadeh
New York Times
Latitude Views From Around the World
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/from-nablus-to-jerusalem/?ref=global
Latitude Views From Around the World
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/from-nablus-to-jerusalem/?ref=global
From Nablus to Jerusalem
By RAJA SHEHADEHNABLUS, West Bank — Last Saturday, I arrived at the Nablus train station, a low, thick-walled stone structure, in time to board the 3:20 pm to Jerusalem. Some 20 passengers were waiting at the entrance, mostly young men and women, with a few people old enough to remember the days of train travel during the British Mandate over Palestine. The excitement was palpable: It was our chance to take a ride to Jerusalem, a city we are barred from visiting, bypassing the Israeli checkpoints along the way. As I entered the station, a porter in a dark blue uniform issued me a ticket on the Green Line. The journey would take 30 minutes, with stops planned at Hawwarah, Zatara, Uyun al Haramiya, Attarah and Kalandia — all existing checkpoints. I made my way to the waiting room. It was barren, except for low tables with brochures entitled “Palestine Connected” showing local train networks and their destinations. Gaza. Jaffa. Haifa. Beersheba.
Soon there was an announcement in Arabic and English: the train would be arriving in three minutes. I could hear it approach, all whistles and honks. The sounds grew louder and louder until they became deafening. Then, they subsided; the train had arrived. The doors of the waiting room opened...READ MORE[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER PALESTINE AND PEACE]
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