ابتسام بركات: RAY, a poem by Ibtisam Barakat

Spring in Palestine painting by Ismail Shammout

ابتسام بركات: RAY, a poem by Ibtisam Barakat

RAY
A poem by Ibtisam Barakat

There is a ray
In the word prayer

Do you see it?

I hold onto it
With my soul

Until I reach the court
Of God

Where everyone
At all times

About all matters

Can have a hearing. . .

Do you hear me?

And the judge I discover
Is me!

Have I been true
To the desires

Put in my heart
Like seeds

By the hand of the one
Who hung that fruit
In me

Have I unwrapped
My presents

Moment by moment
Or let them wither
In Waiting

Knotted with the ray
Of an unsaid prayer . . .

My question to you:

What kind of tree
Are you?

What kind of fruit

On the open t-ray of time

The forever feast

In the garden of humanity

Ibtisam Barakat 2010

UNWRA Seeds of Success: Shukran Murtaja – Education is the cornerstone of life

http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=631

Shukran Murtaja – Education is the cornerstone of life

Seeds of Success

Damascus, March 2010

For the last three years Shukran Murtaja has cast a spell on Syrian audiences through her portrayal of Fawziyeh, one of the central characters in the country’s primetime Ramadan TV series, Bab Al-Hara.

Shukran, whose Palestinian parents came to Syria after leaving Gaza, credits her successful career to her education. After a childhood in rural Syria, she won a place at Damascus’ High Institute of Drama and went on to become one of its most high-profile alumni.

Education, she thinks, is a cornerstone in the life of any Palestine refugee, including her sister’s children, who attend UNRWA’s Ein Ghazal School in Damascus’ Dummar neighbourhood.

She says: “'Education, education and education’. That is what I tell all the girls, Palestinian or Syrian, who want to achieve something in life. Education is a weapon that enhances people’s chances of having a better future.”

Gaza visit

In January, Shukran travelled with a group of Syrian artists to the Gaza Strip, where she met her father’s family, most of whom she had never seen before.

Shukran says: “There are no words to describe the feeling I experienced arriving in Gaza City. I could not believe that I was between the beauty of its sea and the constant hardship and suffering of its people.

“It was a moment I had been waiting for all my life,” she says, with a broken voice, of the visit she paid to her grandmother’s tomb.

Since the visit to Gaza, Shukran has written a series of articles for magazines and newspapers describing her experiences there. “I feel much more optimistic, just like a newborn. I am proud of being Palestinian and I feel capable of anything.”

Endurance

“Palestine refugees are strong because they have been through a lot. They are known for their intelligence and cleverness, for their endurance and also their joy of life,” the 38-year-old entertainer says.

“As an actress, every day you perform a different role, but it is the role you enact in private that is the most important of them all - when the lights are off and you live your own life.

“Being a woman, a Palestinian and an actress, people sometimes believe that I have met many obstacles in my life. I always prove them wrong, because for me, the only conceivable obstacle to achieving something is oneself,” she continues, before the lights go off.

Text and photograph by Diego Gomez-Pickering

Read more Seeds of Success stories

TV star shines in Syria
Professor Mohamed Tawfiq Al-Bujairami

Damascus, February 2010

In the second part of our Seeds of Success series, Professor Mohamed Tawfiq talks about his transformation from a displaced 10-year-old boy to a successful Syrian television presenter.

Read professor Mohamed's story

Hala Agha – Women First

Damascus, January 2010

Hala Agha was granted a research prize by the Arab Women Organization for her project on gender and violence in Syria. "This is a very important recognition because it symbolises the struggle Arab women face to let their voices be heard."

Read Hala's story

President al-Assad: Right to Return is the Basis for Solving Issue of Palestinian Refugees

My letters to USA Today & The Times regarding "Apologies needed" & "For the first time there are voices questioning Israel’s strategic value"

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad:
We are Building a State While Under Occupation to End the Occupation

RE: USAToday letters- Apologies needed
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/03/letters-us-should-focus-on-radical-islam-not-israeli-settlements-.html#more

Dear Editor,

I very much appreciated seeing Ken Galal's excellent letter insisting that Israel should "be apologizing for continuing to take Palestinian land and denying Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation the right to a viable state of their own." Well said!

Radical Islamists worldwide abuse the very real plight of the Palestinians in order to gain recruits. Best way to stop that is to make sure that the powers that be (including America's media, as well as our political and religious leaders), seriously focus in on making both peace and Palestine a solid reality.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

***************************************

RE: For the first time there are voices questioning Israel’s strategic value
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7063214.ece

Dear Sir,

I was quite impressed to see the article "For the first time there are voices questioning Israel’s strategic value". Hopefully more and more people in power will step up to seriously question exactly what Jews-preferred Israel has been doing, and why it is crucially important to refuse to endorse the rampant institutionalized bigotry and injustice that is Israel today.

Day after day after day Palestinians are harassed and harmed by Israeli zealots and Zionist invaders who want the land but not the people of that land. A negotiated, nonviolent, fully secular two state solution to end the Israel /Palestine conflict once and for all needs to empower fair and just laws and firm respect for basic human rights- real freedom and true democracy regardless of supposed race or religion.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

We need a Golden Rule Peace for Israel and Palestine

Growing Gardens for Palestine

Need the facts on Palestine?

• American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) President Dr. Ziad J. Asali Emphasizes Convergence Between Diplomacy, State-Building at Senate Hearing

Ben White's new book: Israeli Apartheid A Beginner's Guide

http://israeliapartheidguide.com/

Find information about the book’s content, the author, what people are saying about the book, upcoming events, and read some sample text.

Buy the book on Amazon in the UK, USA or Canada.

For a full archive and his latest articles, visit Ben’s personal website.

“This book deals rationally and cogently with a topic that almost always generates considerable heat even just with book titles. The reader may not agree with everything that White asserts but it is a highly commendable effort to throw light on a fraught subject.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Excellent review of "Return to Haifa" by Faten Dabis

http://www.examiner.com/x-37221-Chicago-ArabAmerican-Culture-Examiner~y2010m3d14-Return-to-Haifa

Return to Haifa

March 14, 7:16 PMChicago Arab-American Culture ExaminerFaten Dabis

Inspired by Ghassan Kanafani’s novella, M.E.H. Lewis’ play, Return to Haifa focuses on two couples who end up sharing the same house at different points in time. The Palestinian couple, Safiyeh (Diana Simonzadeh) and Ishmail (Anish Jethmalani) are living in their home in Haifa with their newborn son when the Zionist militias attack Palestine. They are forced from their home leaving their infant son behind in the turmoil.

Jewish immigrants, Sarah (Saren Nofs-Snyder) and Jakob (Daniel Cantor) promptly replace the displaced couple in their home and are stunned to find a crying infant when the Israeli Ministry of “Abandoned” Property gives them Safiyeh and Ishmail’s home. Twenty years later, the Palestinian couple returns to their home in Haifa to find it occupied, a theme that has plagued all of Palestine for decades. They are also astonished to find their son alive and well. ...READ MORE

Robert Naiman: Can President Obama Mobilize His Inner Rachel Corrie?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/can-president-obama-mobil_b_500736.html

• Huffington Post

Today is the seventh anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie in Gaza by Israeli government bulldozer, and the anniversary this year comes at an unusually bad time in US-Israel relations - by which I mean, of course, that it comes at an unusually wonderful time in US-Israel relations, one of those rare times in which the US appears to put some real effort into establishing narrower boundaries… » Full Story on Huffington Post

My letters today to the LA Times, the Washington Post, & the Philadelphia Inquirer regarding Israel and Palestine

Palestinian schoolchildren shout slogans as they carry a national flag and a poster depicting Jerusalem during a protest at the Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp, southern Lebanon March 16, 2010. The protest was held to express solidarity with Palestinians in Jerusalem who were protesting in a "day of rage" on Tuesday.REUTERS/ Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST EDUCATION POLITICS)

RE: LA Times Editorial: Stumbling over settlements, The more Israel builds housing in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the more elusive an accord with the Palestinians becomes.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-israel16-2010mar16,0,2137522.story

Dear Editor,

Modern, man-made Israel continues to systemically and intentionally impoverish and displace the native non-Jewish Palestinians, undermining both peace and Palestine at every turn. Bravo to the Obama administration for confronting and criticizing Israel's intransigence.

Zionist troublemakers clearly want to do to Jerusalem what they have already done to Hebron: "Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Israeli settler groups in Hebron have acted with increasing impunity in a city with an overwhelming Palestinian majority. This is largely due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli government to promote the settler presence in the heart of Hebron's Old City." http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/10/jerusalem-hebron-israel-palestine The Hebronisation of Jerusalem

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

*************************************
RE: Washington Post Editorial- The U.S. quarrel with Israel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/15/AR2010031502667.html

Dear Editor,

Fact is, regardless of who is in office, Americans should not be empowering Israel's institutionalized bigotry and the many Zionist invasion projects, infrastructures, and polices that oppress and perpetually displace and impoverish the native non-Jewish Palestinians on both sides of that monstrous Israeli-made Apartheid wall.

If our Congress insisted on funding Christians-only immigration and housing here there would be a huge uproar of righteous indignation... and rightly so.

America should be firmly and clearly insisting on a fully secular two state solution to end the Israel/Palestine conflict once and for all for everyone's sake.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

We need a Golden Rule Peace for Israel and Palestine

*************************************
RE: Philadelphia Inquirer letters- Cut aid to Israel
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100316_Letters_to_the_Editor.html

Dear Editor,

I very much agree with the letter writing asking that we cut aid to Israel. Quickly would be best, before our 'friend' can do even more harm to both Palestine and peace- and to America itself and all the ideals we are supposed to be defending.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

Need the facts on Palestine?

• American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) President Dr. Ziad J. Asali Emphasizes Convergence Between Diplomacy, State-Building at Senate Hearing

AIPAC takes dangerous position on Israel

AIPAC takes dangerous position on Israel

Posted using ShareThis

Israeli Colonisation Of East Jerusalem Cuts To Heart Of Conflict

http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/israeli-colonisation-east-jerusalem-cuts-heart-conflict/5/41743

Israeli Colonisation Of East Jerusalem Cuts To Heart Of Conflict

Contributor: Voxy News Engine
Monday, 15 March, 2010 - 17:33

Israel's intention to build new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem stands in sharp contrast to the prospects for Palestinians in nearby Shu'fat and its large refugee camp, says Dr Nigel Parsons, a Middle East specialist and senior lecturer in politics.

Israel's plans for 1600 additional homes in the settlement of Ramat Shlomo, plus more than 100 others in the settlement of Betar Illit, antagonised visiting United States Vice-President Joe Biden, as well as the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, Dr Parsons says.

"But for residents of Shu'fat, the impact will be all the more proximate; along with neighbouring Anata and Beit Hanina, the Palestinian population of contested Jerusalem will find itself further compressed by settlement.

"This cuts right to the heart of the conflict. This is the essence of the problem - the state of Israel lending institutional support to housing for Jewish settlers while in the same location some of the world's most vulnerable people struggle in overcrowded conditions awaiting an end to the occupation and recognition of their rights.

"Shu'fat is unique for hosting the only Palestinian refugee camp within Israeli-defined municipal Jerusalem. The camp is unique again as the only one in the West Bank established nearly two decades after the creation of Israel. In 1948, refugees from more than 50 Palestinian villages fled to Jerusalem's old city; planning urban renewal, the Jordanian government began to relocate them in 1965 before Israel expelled the remainder following the occupation of 1967.

"The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the body responsible for basic services in the camps, records it as established on 20ha. Officially, the population is about 11,000 but it is thought to be well in excess of 20,000.

"Restrictions on movement, unemployment, over-crowding, and separation from the West Bank have generated difficult conditions. However, offers of relocation have been refused by camp residents for fear of undermining the Palestinian right of return, a matter for final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

"In lieu of a final status agreement, Shu'fat captures Palestine in microcosm: an isolated, disempowered indigenous population and an overcrowded refugee camp confront advancing Israeli settlement."

My letter to the New York Times RE Driving Drunk in Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman

RE: Driving Drunk in Jerusalem
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/opinion/14friedman.html?ref=global

Dear Editor,

Biden being rude will not stop Israel's 61 year long trend of investing in projects, infrastructures and policies that discriminate against the native non-Jewish Palestinians... Israel, inebriated by its own entrenched institutionalized bigotry, has been driving drunk for a long long time.

Perhaps Israel thinks it will have more to bargain with if it continues on with its flagrant violations of international law and the Palestinians basic human rights... or perhaps Israel does not want peace- and never really did. Time will tell. Meanwhile, American policy makers and movers and shakers (regardless of what they think of Israel and/or Palestine) should be endorsing a just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on the universal idea that "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."

I think it is obvious for everyone's sake, that we need to be firmly and clearly supporting a fully secular two state solution to end to the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

We need a Golden Rule Peace for Israel and Palestine

My letter to the Washington Post RE Are America and Israel drifting apart?

RE: Are America and Israel drifting apart? The Post asked former officials and policy experts whether there is a divide between the Obama administration and the Jewish state- responses from Elliott Abrams, David Makovsky, Aaron David Miller, Danielle Pletka, and Hussein Agha and Robert Malley.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031203570.html

Dear Editor,

The real question in seeking to end the Israel/Palestine conflict is not so much "Are America and Israel drifting apart?" but "Why has Israel wasted the past 61 years refusing to respect international law and the Palestinians basic human rights, including but not limited to the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal and natural right to return to original homes and lands?"

Former officials and policy experts helped shape (or at least sustain) many of the misguided blindly "pro-Israel" polices that have created the situation we have today. Blame games will not fix the situation- but a firm focus on what is needed to achieve a just and lasting peace for both Israel and Palestine will. We need to be advocating a Golden Rule Peace for Israel and Palestine.

Obviously fully supporting a fully secular two state solution is the best way forward for everyone's sake.

The Arab Peace Initiative makes the minimum requirements quite clear: Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194 (from 1948), and the acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
Growing Gardens for Palestine

A Palestine To Return To

The Arab Peace Initiative

Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:

1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.

2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:

I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.

II- Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.

III- The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the following:

I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.

II- Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.

Celebrating Women's History Month by celebrating some GREAT Palestinian-American Artists, Writers & Poets: MARCH FORTH!

Of the Women, By the Women, For the Women by Moign Khawaja in the Foreign Policy Journal

View of a pre-school classroom run by ANERA, a US non-governmental organization working in the occupied territories since 1968. Teachers, often under-resourced, come up with brilliant ideas to recycle refuse and use them in the classrooms to educate children. Israel’s crippling blockade of Gaza means no books, toys, classroom aids or even meals can be provided to school going children. In my opinion, Palestinian teachers are one of the most resourceful teachers in the world as they do their best to come up with solutions and carry on teaching. Photo - ANERAorg

Of the Women, By the Women, For the Women

March 13, 2010
by Moign Khawaja

“No Moign, everything we are going to do today will be done by me,” Menna insisted in a loud but polite tone. “You have to understand that it’s International Women’s Day so I will do everything myself today and you’ll only be a silent observer. It’s my turn to tell the story and you’ll patiently be my audience. You see any problem with it?”

The Gazan school teacher is brimming with confidence today. Someone who is usually very kind and accommodating with me is in a mood to prove a point. “Having a day reserved for women does not mean that we do something special on this day and it’s highlighted. For me it’s a day to remind everyone all over the world that women work 365 days a year and do as much important work as men,” she said in an assertive tone. And she was proving a valid point. The fair sex works hard day and night but gets recognition only one day a year!

UNRWA SCHOOL – GAZA – 0900 local time

This is the place where I come every day to work. This is the place that is most important to me after my home. It has always been my dream to be a decent human being, and a responsible woman who is useful to her family and the society. When I completed my formal education, I looked around to see how my ambitions can be fulfilled and my aspirations of being a useful member of the society be realized.

Once I was out on the street early in the morning to buy breakfast for my family. There I saw kids as young as three year old walking to the school with a dazzling smile on their face and their uniforms shining brightly in the morning sun. It took me no time to recognize that I belong to a place where kids are given the most precious gift in their life – education. It is such a present that can change their life forever. I decided to train as a teacher and become the guardian of our children’s future....READ MORE