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Thursday, September 12, 2019

STOPPING RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM: It did not have to go so wrong. Israel could have and should have respected international law and 1948's Universal Declaration of Human Rights by giving the indigenous, native, non-Jewish population (Palestinians) full and equal rights in 1948.

From Mike on Facebook: "Today's beautiful #Palestinian faces and smiles come to you from the now ethnically cleansed Palestinian village of Ein Kerem (ethnically cleansed of its native inhabitants in 1948 by the #Zionist #terrorists) Circa 1937...

Memories of Palestine 1937 Ein Kerem before the Zionist war & Ethnic Cleansing of 1948.  

It did not have to go so wrong. Israel could have and should have respected international law and 1948's United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights by giving the indigenous, native, non-Jewish population (Palestinians) full and equal rights in 1948.

Stopping Religious Extremism begins with refusing to idolize, excuse or fund any country or group that abuses religion in order to gain political power & financial gain by discriminating against and oppressing "others." 

Monday, August 19, 2019

Trending #MyPalestinianSitty

Inspired by American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib
who was first denied entry to Palestine due to her compassionate refusal to idolize Israel

Picture from Nancy's cousin Maria & Maria's beautiful words:

 "This is our Sitty. She was kind, but stern and when she looked at you with her faded yet sparkly eyes you knew how much she Loved you. She had amazing hands and was a wonderful cook. I think of her often and always remember sharing a room with her and praying with her." 







August 16, 2019
Press Release
DETROIT –  Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13) released the following statement regarding travel to Israel and Palestine:

"In my attempt to visit Palestine, I’ve experienced the same racist treatment that many Palestinian-Americans endure when encountering the Israeli government. In preparation for my visit, my grandmother was deciding which fig tree we would pick from together, while Palestinians and Israelis who are against the illegal military occupation were looking forward to Members of Congress finally listening to and seeing them for the first time. The Israeli government used my love and desire to see my grandmother to silence me and made my ability to do so contingent upon my signing a letter – reflecting just how undemocratic and afraid they are of the truth my trip would reveal about what is happening in the State of Israel and to Palestinians living under occupation with United States support.

“I have therefore decided to not travel to Palestine and Israel at this time. Visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions meant to humiliate me would break my grandmother's heart. Silencing me with treatment to make me feel less-than is not what she wants for me – it would kill a piece of me that always stands up against racism and injustice.

“When I won the election to become a United States Congresswoman, many Palestinians, especially my grandmother, felt a sense of hope, a hope that they would finally have a voice. I cannot allow the Israeli government to take that away from them or to use my deep desire to see my grandmother, potentially for the last time, as a political bargaining chip. My family and I have cried together throughout this ordeal; they’ve promised to keep my grandmother alive until I can one day reunite with her. It is with their strength and heart that I reiterate I am a duly elected United States Congresswoman and I will not allow the Israeli government to humiliate me and my family or take away our right to speak out. I will not allow the Israeli government to take away our hope.

Racism and the politics of hate is thriving in Israel and the American people should fear what this will mean for the relationship between our two nations. If you truly believe in democracy, then the close alignment of Netanyahu with Trump's hate agenda must prompt a re-evaluation of our unwavering support for the State of Israel. The denial of entry of a congressional delegation is not only about Congresswoman Omar and I, but also about the deep-rooted racism within Israel that is taking us further away from peace. The Israeli and Palestinian people need us to be more courageous and to be honest brokers of peace. Being silent and not condemning the human rights violations of the Israeli government is a disservice to all who live there, including my incredibly strong and loving grandmother.

“This type of oppression is painful for all humanity, but it is especially painful for me personally every time I hear my loving family members cry out for the freedom to live and the right to feel human."

GOLDEN RULE THINKING: In a world where you can be anything be kind


...walking the earth


Saturday, August 10, 2019

Alison Weir of IF AMERICANS KNEW: Paul Findley, longtime advocate for Palestinian human rights, dies at 98 #Palestine #Israel #Politics #Religon #HumanRights #Educate #America

Paul Findley, longtime advocate for Palestinian human rights, dies at 98

The Republican Congressman from Illinois worked for human rights for Palestinians for almost half a century, penning the first exposé on the Israel lobby. A documentary about his life is below…

By Alison Weir of IF AMERICANS KNEW

Former Congressman Paul Findley, a longtime advocate for Palestinian human rights, has passed away at the age of 98. Findley was a forefather of the movement for justice in Palestine, speaking and writing on the issue for almost half a century.

Findley was a Republican Congressman from Illinois when he began speaking out about Palestine in the 1970s. Before long, the Israel lobby targeted him, and after serving 22 years in Congress, he was pushed out in 1982.

Findley then wrote a groundbreaking book: They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby. He described in riveting detail how Israel partisans had similarly worked to push out other Americans who had spoken out about Palestine, from positions in Congress, the media, academia, and elsewhere. (A PDF is available here.)

In the introduction to They Dare to Speak Out, Findley wrote:

“Much of the information provided here is volunteered by career government officials who want the public to be aware of how the lobby functions but insist that their own names be withheld. These requirements tell a lot about the sensitivity of the subject matter.”

 Findley revealed that It had been extremely difficult to get the book published:

“Declining to represent me, New York literary agent Alexander Wylie forecast with prophetic vision that no major U.S. publisher would accept my book. He wrote, ‘It’s a sad state of affairs.’  Bruce Lee of William Morrow and Company called my manuscript ‘outstanding,’ but his company concluded that publishing it ‘would cause trouble in the house and outside’ and decided against ‘taking the heat.’ Robert Loomis of Random House called it an ‘important book’ but reported that the firm’s leadership decided the theme was ‘too sensitive.’ Twenty other publishers also said no.”

Eventually, a small company published the book, and for a brief time it was a Washington Post bestseller. Soon, however, the explosive book was largely buried. Today, even many Palestine activists haven’t heard of Paul Findley or his book – a testament to the degree to which information about the Israel lobby continues to be obscured from Americans’ knowledge.... READ MORE or WATCH SOME VIDEOS
 

https://israelpalestinenews.org/paul-findley-longtime-advocate-for-palestinian-human-rights-dies-at-98/?fbclid=IwAR38MtxiU9f-Wup_iUlfinddbAE4OheeE_yrBMhRzqs3gaucO54_biluK2E

PLEASE go to the link to read the article in full. 
 

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Re-imagining a future .... Dalia Elcharbini at the American Museum of Palestine




The key in her hand is the symbol of every person's obvious, inalienable, natural, and normal right return to their home and land.... When you leave for work or vacation or to get out of a war zone you have a right to return to your original home. This right has been written down and called for since the horrors of the the Nazi Holocaust in 1948 with The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

and also in 1948 UN Resolution 194 "resolving that “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"



Femme Felah 2019 at the American Museum of Palestine

The trail of time


Artist Dalia Elcharbini creating her stylized Statue of Liberty

The American Museum of the Palestinian People opened June 2019 in Washington DC... "The museum is a first in the city and is dedicated to telling the stories of the people of Palestine, fostering a conversation about what it means to be Palestinian and nurturing a better understanding of an identity that remains highly politicised and largely obscured in the West. It’s a museum where people get introduced to the Palestinian story and Palestinians as a people, not as a news item,” says Nizar Farsakh, chairman of the museum."

"The museum’s mission statement says it hopes to create a space “where people are not marginalised because of the artificial distinctions we use to create borders between us.” 

Farsakh says he wants the museum to be a place where non-Palestinians can see themselves reflected in universal human worries, hopes and experiences. “We want visitors to come in, hear our stories told by us in our own ways, and find themselves and find what’s common for us as human beings,” he says."


Please read the article in full, and share it, pass it forward, help empower real Anti-Racism in every way you can.

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"The Palestinian people hail from an ancient land with over 4,000 years of history. Empires have come and gone, only to make Palestinian culture richer and more colorful. The Museum of the Palestinian People is the first museum in Washington D.C. devoted to exploring and celebrating Palestinian history, arts and culture. It started in 2015 as a traveling exhibit, visiting over 50 locations across the country, and has now found a home in the heart of the nation’s capital. By sharing the stories of the Palestinian people with those who walk through our doors, we invite the world to discover what unites us all.
The museum:
  • Shares Palestinian stories through historic artifacts, personal narratives and artistic expression to transcend separation, fragmentation, and boundaries.
  • Connects Palestinians in the US, Palestine and the diaspora with each other to evoke pride and dignity and to impart this to future generations.
  • Partners with other institutions and connect with broader audiences committed to our shared humanity."

Re-Imagining a Future

"Re-Imagining A Future is the opening exhibition at MPP of work by artists Ahmed Hmeedat, Manal Deeb, Mohammad Mussalam, Dalia Elcharbini, and Haya Zaatry — some of whom live in Palestine, and others who are part of the Palestinian diaspora. All of the artists in this exhibition explore a new and as yet un-imagined future for Palestine and Palestinians. They invite members of the Palestinian community worldwide to let their dreams for the future soar — as an act of imaginative courage, and as an act of creative resistance. These works invite Palestinians and others to look into the future."

Friday, July 19, 2019

Real Anti-Racists... a 2019 poem by Anne Selden Annab

Shaping a better world
for all types and tribes
is a worthy goal.
    
Real anti-racists
do not believe that color
or religion or race or gender
(or a flag) are reasons for hate.


Real anti-racists know
and do not try to distort
or erase history.


Real anti-racists
might be found any where
but only if you look,
think, and care.


poem copyright ©2019 Anne Selden Annab

Uniting Anti-Racists

Palestinian refugees during the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine known as the ‘Nakba’ (‘The Catastrophe’)

“The Squad”: from left to right Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Presley

Trump’s blunder empowers The Squad and unites anti-racists

by · Published
We have come to live in disconcerting times of unpredictable change. Ever since the USA elected a Twitter-addicted President into power, the world has been in a continuous state of imbalance. While it may seem as if everything only plays into the hands of ‘Israel’ and its Western allies, it would be wise not to draw that conclusion too quickly. There is more at play than only the logic of geopolitics and military dominance.

On a public relations level, some of it must be making Tel Aviv quite nervous. The forces of zionism have in the past years been stepping up their game, successfully interfering with legislation in the countries of the West to suit their purposes. However, they certainly don’t seem to be as much in control as they would like to be.

The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) has continued to gain traction among politicians and among the general public all over the world. It continues to be a thorn in the side of Israeli colonization and annexation plans. Zionist lobbies in most Western countries have been trying to counter this trend in two significant ways. One is at a purely ideological level, which has been to force a change in the official definition of ‘antisemitism’. The other has been taking place at the level of legislation, and is based on attempting to coerce countries to install laws that outlaw calls for the boycott of the state of ‘Israel’.

Before we dive below the surface, let’s first have a look at what has been happening in the lead-up to the confrontation about anti-Israeli criticsm between “The Squad” and Donald Trump.

Redefining antisemitism

 

In 2016, in Bucharest, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopted a ‘working definition’ of antisemitism. It included several definitions that were to be understood as equating any type of criticism of the state of ‘Israel’ to antisemitism. Its undeclared goal was a first step to initiate a kind of ‘purge’ in the West of its adversaries, by providing a framework for clamping down on all its critics.... READ MORE

http://www.docjazz.com/trump-empowers-squad/?fbclid=IwAR2s5LsdlTG9YudHQtkmztexKOfTcIDa132vi-NnxZvbtG09D2xvdCvgD0w

Please read the article in full, and share it, pass it forward, help empower real Anti-Racism in every way you can.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Eurovision 2019 was in Israel ?!!!!!!

Palestinian born Basil Harb with his beloved daughters Nancy & Barbara- Christmas in Bakersville, California

Nancy Harb Almendras at 19, 46 years ago visiting her Aunt Jameela in Ramallah, Palestine
"Forty-six years ago I was nineteen and doing my junior year abroad in Heidelberg. I wanted to see my late Aunt Jameelah in Ramallah so I flew in to the Tel Aviv Airport (Lydda is Palestinian town that was there before). Although I had an American passport, my last name was Harb so I was interrogated; at least one of the interrogators was a young Russian girl. They wanted to know my grandfather's name. Three hours later after being strip searched and having every candy bar that I'd brought from Germany for my aunt and uncle opened up and scrutinized, I was free to go to the terminal. Nineteen year-old Nancy Harb from Bakersfield, California,was no threat to the Israeli government. Its purpose was to humiliate me so that I wouldn't return to the place where my father was born. 

I got off relatively well. Maysoon Zayid, the Palestinian comic who is disabled, wrote about the time she was menstruating and the Israelis wouldn't let her have her pads. It's all orchestrated to humiliate us so that we won't return. Some of us have too much pride to return. I will never forget the late Palestinian renowned artist, Vladimir Tamari, whose family hails from Jaffa, telling me in Tokyo, that he would not return because he did not want to endure being humiliated by some immigrant to Israel. We are well off and have done well for ourselves in Asia, America, and Europe. Our humiliations pale compared to the suffering, occupied people of Gaza and the West Bank. Think of this when you tune in to Eurovision this week." Nancy Harb Almendras on  May 14th 2019


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Eurovision 2019 was in Israel ?!!!!!!

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Israel’s Eurovision: ‘Dare to Dream’ Unless You’re Caged in Gaza- Just an Hour’s Drive Away, Palestinians Yearn for Freedom & Equality Abier Almasri 

This week, Israel hosts the international song contest Eurovision in Tel Aviv, under the slogan of “Dare to Dream.” Many across Europe have come hundreds of miles to Israel for the festivities but, even though I live less than an hour’s drive away in the Gaza Strip, I’m not allowed to make the trip.
Israel, in coordination with Egypt, has turned Gaza into an open-air prison, caging in the two million of us Palestinians living in the small territory. For almost 12 years, Israeli authorities have largely limited travel to “exceptional humanitarian cases” – an unlawful generalized travel ban not based on any individualized assessment of security risk. The number of people travelling out of Gaza in 2018 via the Erez Crossing in was about 1 percent of what it was in September 2000, before the closure was imposed.

Despite our difficult reality, I dared to dream for years of traveling and seeing the world and nearby Jerusalem, also just a short drive away. Last year, the Israeli army permitted me to leave Gaza for the first time in my life, as a 31-year-old, to attend meetings for Human Rights Watch in New York. I later received another permit to visit Israel and the rest of Palestine for the first time, taking in every moment, knowing I may never have the opportunity again.

I am more fortunate than most people in Gaza, 80 percent of whom depend on humanitarian aid and more than half of whom are unemployed.

I wish those attending Eurovision could visit me in Gaza and experience our reality, such as rolling power cuts that last most of the day, and the psychological torment of feeling trapped and unable to travel through no wrongdoing of your own.

We Palestinians of Gaza may not be able to attend Eurovision, but we will never stop daring to dream.

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Haidar Eid
Dear Madonna and Eurovision 2019 contestants.....
"Let me tell you what supporting peace really means. 
It means affirming the fact that Palestine is under occupation and that Israel has violated numerous UN resolutions calling for the withdrawal of its troops from Palestinian territories. It means recognising that Israel and its illegal settlements operate under apartheid, where Palestinians are segregated, surveilled, oppressed, and killed into submission. It means acknowledging that Israel was built on a land whose original native population was violently ethnically cleansed and dispossessed.

The very venue your hosts are having you sing at, the Expo Tel Aviv, was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village Al-Shaykh Muwannis, which like 530 others were completely razed to the ground in 1948 to make way for settlers coming from your countries in Europe. We, the six million Palestinian refugees scattered around the world, are the living proof that Palestine was a thriving and civilised land before the arrival of the European Zionists. 

Those few Palestinians who were able to remain in their land and were given Israeli citizenship, face more than 50 discriminatory laws which make them non-equal citizens. In fact, last year Israel finally officially acknowledged the apartheid it had imposed for decades on the non-Jews within its borders by proclaiming itself a Jewish state. But even before this declaration, anti-apartheid fighters, like Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, had repeatedly compared Israel to South Africa and said that the parallels are clear

If Europe took action and boycotted the racist murderous regime of apartheid South Africa, why aren't you doing so with Israel? Why do you insist on rewarding the perpetrators of the second-gravest crime against humanity, apartheid?

Why are you pretending not to see the colonisation of Palestine? Over the past few days, you have been singing just a few kilometres away from a vast network of segregated infrastructure and checkpoints that separate some 650,000 Jewish settlers who live in illegal settlements built on occupied Palestinian land from the Palestinian population. Meanwhile, the true owners of the land in the West Bank have no state to protect them, no rights to the resources of the land, including water, no real freedom of movement, and no real economic prospects to live a dignified life."


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