Monday, August 12, 2013

Exodus

On Our Doorstep... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

Israel destroying destroy the basis of the solution called for by the international community, which aims to establish a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. photo credit Ma'an News

On Our Doorstep

Will international law-
and criminal investigations
come to knock on individuals' doors
as Americans opt to be Israeli
and Israelis opt to be 'settlers'
subsidized by state funds
to pulverize Palestine.

Or will local laws here be rewritten
to funnel more & more money away
from our common good, diverting more
& more everything into the wide open
purse of segregationists & religious
idiots arming conflict
field by field, street by street-
home by home... moment by moment
be 'other' and lose all you have earned
all you have saved- valued- treasured.

Be 'other' and your very heritage
will be usurped- your food, your dance
your land, your fight for freedom...

Be 'other' and be cheated, swindled, shammed
by propagandists purporting to make peace.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf is revered by fans in the Middle East but his main aim now is to help establish the rights of fellow Palestinians

"To be honest I have no trust in Israel at the moment. If they give us our land and our rights back, I will sing in Israel, but they have to do something positive. It's up to them. They have made no effort to dismantle their illegal settlements, for example – quite the opposite." Mohammed Assaf

Palestinian winner of Arab Idol Mohammed Assaf performs in the West Bank city of Ramallah last month. Photograph: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/10/palestinian-pop-singer-mohammed-assaf

Arab pop star adds his voice to the calls for a peace deal for Palestine

Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf is revered by fans in the Middle East but his main aim now is to help establish the rights of fellow Palestinians

Nabila Ramdani in Ramallah
The Observer, Saturday 10 August 2013

An incredible voice is invariably the key to success in any TV talent show. But not many singers choose to use theirs like Mohammed Assaf, the 23-year-old Palestinian who shot to prominence across the Middle East and north Africa in June by winning the hugely popular Arab Idol.

Assaf's pitch-perfect renditions of regional classics from across the Arab world attracted an audience of up to 100 million for the show's final. Exuberant idealism may have been the hallmark of his performances but, like those who achieved so much in the early months of the Arab spring revolutions of 2011, Assaf knows romanticism alone will not sustain his ambitions. In the buildup to Palestinian-Israeli peace talks which resume in Jerusalem this week, there is no doubting his growing political influence. "I have a great responsibility to my people," said Assaf, after performing at a new stadium near Hebron in the West Bank to thousands of ecstatic fans. Nationalist songs such as Ya Tair al-Tayer (Oh Bird in Flight) provided solace to those yearning for full Palestinian independence, but Assaf is convinced that real change is possible.

"I am confident that I will see a free Palestine in my lifetime," he said. "I sing about popular themes but they centre on the hopes of my own people – dreams of independence for the West Bank, for Jerusalem and for Gaza. We've been under Israeli occupation for decades."

Born in Colonel Gaddafi's Libya and growing up in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip, Assaf embodies the struggles of a generation who, two years ago during the pro-democracy revolutions, used every modern tool available to put their problems on the worldwide agenda. The internet and live satellite TV broadcasts were crucial to the Arab spring in an increasingly interdependent, media-driven world, but Assaf is also a passionate believer in the power of both popular music and celebrity to galvanise people.

"There are many ways to make a difference in life, but my way is as an artist," said Assaf, a graduate of Palestine University who has just become a UN youth ambassador. "I've always wanted to make my voice heard around the world, to sing about the occupation, about the security walls between communities, and about refugees. My first ambition is a cultural revolution through art. Palestinians don't want war...READ MORE

Friday, August 9, 2013

A captivating animated "translation" of Mahmoud Darwish's poem "لاعب النرد - قصيدة متحركة (The Dice Player)"

Published on May 29, 2013 قصيدة محمود درويش "لاعب النرد" و ثلاثي جبران في فيلم تعبيري. One of the first Animated Poetry Films done with an arabic poem "The Dice Player" by Mahmoud Darwish.

This film is a part of the project "Visual Poetry made in the Media Design Department in the GUC

لاعب النرد - قصيدة متحركة (The Dice Player)

Semitic Semantics for Palestine ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

"Cold & Worry" by Ismail Shammout (1931-2006) exhibited in Cairo in 1952 depicting Palestinian refugees in 1948-49

Semitic Semantics
for Palestine

In Arabic it is
"Mustowten" (illegal settler)
Mustowtena (illegal settlement)
and Mustowtenat (illegal settlements).

There is no agreement- no empty land
no dual meaning in English
leading people away from seeing
the brutal reality
and institutionalized bigotry
of Israel's land grabbing
segregationist armed fortresses.

In Arabic it is
Ihtilaal Sahyouni (Zionist occupation- a military occupation)

and the ongoing catastrophe is al Nakba.

Tenders almost sound like tenderness....
something gentle and kind.

Our English translations can not reach far enough
wide enough deep enough to express
the full plight of the Palestinians
and the many ways Palestinians are tortured,
oppressed, exiled and erased
as the Ihtilaal Sahyouni grinds on
and Israel's Mustowtenat destroy Palestine
and peace.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

My letter to IHT/NYTimes RE Daring to Fail By Thomas L. Friedman

Songs & Pictures from Palestine:

Beirzeit heritage week 26 June 2013

RE Daring to Fail By Thomas L. Friedman
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/07/opinion/friedman-daring-to-fail.html?ref=global&_r=0

Dear Editor,

I am convinced that a two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict is the best way forward- but I vehemently object to the ridiculous idea that the Palestinian refugees must be, as Friedman claims, "persuaded that they can return to those two places [the West Bank and Gaza] but never again to their original homes in pre-1967 Israel."

I do think Palestinian refugees should be encouraged to relocate to the West Bank and Gaza, for Palestine's sake. They should also be free to relocate to any country worldwide that will welcome them in with full and equal citizenship... However, for civilization's sake, we must do all we can in shaping policy and peace negotiations to send the clear message that the rule of fair and just laws matter, as do universal basic human rights: Return is return, not more forced transfer. It is simply and completely wrong for any nation state to impoverish, oppress, displace and disfranchise targeted populations.

It was wrong when the Nazis did it- and it is wrong when Israelis do it.

Furthermore, if Israel continues to scorn the Arab Peace Initiative and Palestine is not able to become a viable independent sovereign nation state, what then? Do we sit back and watch while Israel continues to impoverish, oppress, displace, disfranchise and destroy the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land?

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
"This conflict [Israel-Palestine conflict] is so asymmetrical as to not even be a conflict. Someone once characterized it as being negotiations between a wolf and a lamb, with the mediator being a supporter of the wolf. "

No portrayal of the settlements should equivocate about what happens when two peoples live side by side, one enjoying the benefits of political participation and a responsive legal system and the other living under military rule, devoid of rights

Jerusalem theater revives Rachel Corrie's controversial memory with Jerusalem's mayor citing freedom of expression as he defends public funding for the theater showing a play about pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie... meanwhile Across town last month in East Jerusalem, the annual Palestinian children’s puppet theater festival was not so lucky. Israel’s Ministry of Defense cancelled performances and shut the theater based on the claim that the festival’s organizer illegally received funds from the Palestinian Authority.

"Israel is the most threatened state in the world"

Peace Talks 2013

2013 Zionist propagandists usurp a 1930s photo of Palestinian villagers from a Palestinian-American's facebook page, and they share it far and wide relabeled with the false caption "Palestinian Arabs attending a Nazi Rally in the 1930's"

'Why are men so angry that they kill children to get what they want?' Rami Elhanan is an Israeli, Bassam Aramin is a Palestinian. Both live in Jerusalem, both grieve for daughters killed in the conflict. And somehow they fought off the urge for vengeance

The New Yorker: The Fight for Jerusalem’s Past, and Future... Archeology is another weapon in the fight over territory.

Middle East identity politics is more than Sunni-Shia schism: Caabu director Chris Doyle's letter in the Financial Times

Kerry: "The only announcement you will hear about meetings it's the one that I just made, and I will be the only one by agreement authorized to comment publicly on the talks in consultation obviously with the parties... That means that no one should consider any reports, articles or even rumors reliable unless they come directly from me and I guarantee you they won't."

Boston Globe editorial: Kerry’s enormous effort stirs new hope for Mideast talks

"The way forward is to be found not in looking back at what might have been, but in an honest assessment of what can be done to address current realities." Dr. James Zogby

Live by the Golden Rule
Words to Honor: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1.

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.
"In 1949, the international community accepted Israel's UN membership upon two conditions: That they respect resolutions 181 (two states) and 194 (refugee rights). Neither has been honored. In fact, 65 years later, Israel has not even acknowledged what it did in 1948." Saeb Erekat

Jordan's King Abdullah II explains that extremism has "grown fat" off of the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

"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

The Balfour Declaration of 1917

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
          shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
          rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine....

The Office of International Religious Freedom ( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/) Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to:

Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries

"Legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Thomas Jefferson

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

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

"This conflict [Israel-Palestine conflict] is so asymmetrical as to not even be a conflict. Someone once characterized it as being negotiations between a wolf and a lamb, with the mediator being a supporter of the wolf. "

Baltimore Sun letters

In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 'peace' isn't the issue at all

2:00 p.m. EDT, August 5, 2013

Regarding your editorial on the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the emphasis on "peace" may be a misnomer in this conflict ("Israeli-Palestinian talks merit guarded pessimism," July 31).

These negotiations are not, and never have been, about peace. Israel has enjoyed relative peace since its inception. The wars it has been involved in have been of its own making.

Granted, there have been some Israelis killed by Palestinians — and many, many more Palestinians killed by Israelis. But this does not constitute a war by any means. For one thing, Palestinians do not have the capability to wage a war. They are totally subjected to Israel. The fact that they occasionally attempt to fight back is reasonable. In fact, Ehud Barak has been quoted as saying that if he were a Palestinian, he would be a terrorist. For the most part though, Palestinians have tried nonviolent resistance.

This conflict is so asymmetrical as to not even be a conflict. Someone once characterized it as being negotiations between a wolf and a lamb, with the mediator being a supporter of the wolf. It is hard to believe that the Palestinians have fallen for yet another "peace process." This is a prime example of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Israel has managed to steal so much Palestinian land and water during these many peace "processes" that there is not much left for a Palestinian state. One has only to look at a current map to see that this is true. I believe "steal" is the correct word here, as international law forbids settling ones citizens in occupied territory.

The label of "peace process" should be jettisoned in favor of something more basic to the conflict, since it is, and always has been, totally about control of the land. When one side is busy gobbling up the land in question, there doesn't appear to be much sense in continuing to confer about it. Even George Orwell would have a tough time with this.

Doris Rausch, Columbia

No portrayal of the settlements should equivocate about what happens when two peoples live side by side, one enjoying the benefits of political participation and a responsive legal system and the other living under military rule, devoid of rights

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-reality-of-jewish-settlements-in-the-west-bank/2013/08/05/a4a85008-f963-11e2-a954-358d90d5d72d_story.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads

Letter to the Editor

The reality of Jewish settlements in the West Bank

Published: August 5

The July 30 front-page article “In Mideast talks, an old challenge” accurately portrayed the growing number of Jewish settlements in the West Bank as an impediment to peace. But the portrayal of settlements as cozy middle-class enclaves, akin to American gated communities, belies the reality on the ground. The many human rights groups operating in the occupied territories have doggedly chronicled the theft of privately owned Palestinian land, settler violence against Palestinian lives and property and the humanitarian hardships caused by the separation wall. Moreover, despite the growing number of vigilante “price-tag” attacks against Palestinians, few arrests have been made.

The situation in the West Bank is complex. However, no portrayal of the settlements should equivocate about what happens when two peoples live side by side, one enjoying the benefits of political participation and a responsive legal system and the other living under military rule, devoid of rights. The ongoing human rights violations entailed by the settlements not only jeopardize the day-to-day lives of Palestinians, but they also threaten the fabric of Israeli democracy and degrade any chance of reconciliation, equality and peace.

Naomi Paiss, Washington
The writer is vice president for public affairs at the New Israel Fund.

Jerusalem theater revives Rachel Corrie's controversial memory with Jerusalem's mayor citing freedom of expression as he defends public funding for the theater showing a play about pro-Palestinian activist Rachel Corrie.

In this photo taken July 7, 2013, Israeli actress Sivane Kretchner plays American activist Rachel Corrie as she performs in a theater in Jerusalem. A one-person play about an American activist who was killed by the Israeli military is being performed for a Hebrew-speaking audience in Jerusalem. Sebastian Scheiner/AP

"...“Even if the municipality and mayor don’t agree with the specific content that presents soldiers in a negative light, we are prevented by law from interfering in the freedom of expression,” said Mr. Barkat in a statement.

Across town last month in East Jerusalem, the annual Palestinian children’s puppet theater festival was not so lucky.

Israel’s Ministry of Defense cancelled performances and shut the theater based on the claim that the festival’s organizer illegally received funds from the Palestinian Authority.

By contrast, "Rachel Corrie" was produced by a state-supported organization, and in its content and backstory belonged to an international framework.

Controversy, however, is nothing new to the play. In New York, Florida, and Vancouver, shows were reportedly canceled due to pressure from Jewish and pro-Israel groups...."

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0805/Jerusalem-theater-revives-Rachel-Corrie-s-controversial-memory