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Wednesday, February 28, 2024

UN’s Palestinian aid agency UNWRA ‘at breaking point’ after $450m budget shortfall

Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images
 "Chris Gunness, who was UNRWA’s spokesperson for 11 years until 2019, said donors who had defunded the agency were “guilty of complicity” in a “slow-motion massacre” by starvation: “There are 1.2 million people on UNRWA’s food distribution lists in Gaza who are slipping into starvation right now. By defunding UNRWA, the UK and other countries are also adding to regional instability.

“UNRWA educates 550,000 children in over 700 schools, in the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria as well as Gaza. UNRWA’s health clinics across the Middle East see 7 million patient visits a year. The agency gives food and cash to 2 million people in the most fragile communities across a region at war.

“If the UK government wants to promote regional stability as it claims, they should be increasing funding to UNRWA, not suspending it.” " 

READ MORE... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/25/uns-palestinian-aid-agency-at-breaking-point-after-450m-budget-shortfall

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The world should thank South Africa for standing against genocide in Gaza

The world should thank South Africa for standing against genocide in Gaza | PennLive letters

".... In the US, protected by oceans and a mighty military, we have felt relatively safe. It is easy to think these problems affect only other people. But that is an illusion. Every conflict creates more instability in the world, and when tens of thousands of men, women, and children are slaughtered, there is an increased risk of terrorism. September 11 was an act of revenge. Can military responses protect us from future such acts? And with the advance of technology, can we be certain that future wars will not be fought on our land?

To stand against genocide is to create a world which is safer for us, too."

Lilly Hirsch, Pottsville, Pa.

Feb. 26, 2024 | PennLive letters

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2024/02/the-world-should-thank-south-africa-for-standing-against-genocide-in-gaza-pennlive-letters.html

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The Guardian: Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, United Nations rights expert say

Exclusive: UN special rapporteur on the right to food Michael Fakhri says denial of food is war crime and constitutes ‘a situation of genocide’

Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on 16 February. Photograph: Fatima Shbair/AP
Israel is intentionally starving Palestinians and should be held accountable for war crimes – and genocide, according to the UN’s leading expert on the right to food.

Hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where about 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages resulting from Israel destroying food supplies and severely restricting the flow of food, medicines and other humanitarian supplies. Aid trucks and Palestinians waiting for humanitarian relief have come under Israeli fire.

“There is no reason to intentionally block the passage of humanitarian aid or intentionally obliterate small-scale fishing vessels, greenhouses and orchards in Gaza – other than to deny people access to food,” said Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.

“Intentionally depriving people of food is clearly a war crime. Israel has announced its intention to destroy the Palestinian people, in whole or in part, simply for being Palestinian. In my view as a UN human rights expert, this is now a situation of genocide. This means the State of Israel in its entirety is culpable and should be held accountable – not just individuals or this government, or that person.”  ... READ MORE...   

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/un-israel-food-starvation-palestinians-war-crime-genocide


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Tuesday, February 27, 2024

US Air Force member died setting himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy Washington DC #FreePalestine Aaron Bushnell 1999-2024

"I would have tried with all my might to talk Aaron Bushnell out of killing himself because things do get better and I would have liked for this courageous and beautiful soul to have lived to see that. He was the epitome of a soldier. Memory eternal, dear Aaron." Nancy Harb Almendras

 

from Palestine- Hanan Ashrawi


Who was Aaron Bushnell?

"Aaron Bushnell — the Air Force engineer who died hours after lighting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in DC on Sunday — was a 25-year-old IT engineer-in-training who hailed from a tiny Massachusetts town.

Bushnell livestreamed his gruesome final moments — chilling footage that included him calmly walking to his final destination outside the embassy’s gates before dousing himself in a flammable liquid and lighting it, sending him up in flames.

The steely-eyed serviceman, dressed in his camouflage uniform, said in the video, “I will no longer be complicit in genocide [in Gaza].

“I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” he added before repeatedly screaming, “Free Palestine!’’ as fire engulfed him and he eventually collapsed. "

 https://nypost.com/2024/02/26/us-news/who-was-aaron-bushnell-us-air-force-member-who-set-himself-on-fire/

 

Gary Burge, Wheaton College professor, explaining why he is no longer a Christian Zionist.

"... And here is the truest thing I can say: You can’t understand a story of occupation and oppression or the violence it requires unless you’ve seen it up close -- or made friends with those who live it.

This Arab pastor told me that even though I thought I had been to the Holy Land a dozen times, I had only been there once. I had been on the “tourist trail” and never gone astray. He was right. This tourist trail kept people from seeing behind the scenes in order to protect the Israeli tourism industry. But now I had peeked behind that curtain. And there was no going back.
 
I asked to meet other pastors. And this led to a network of friendships. And more experiences in the second uprising of 2000. I wrote a book about this in 2003 (Whose Land? Whose Promise?) and while it became a best seller my momentary fame evaporated quickly: I foolishly thought my evangelical friends would like to learn what was going on. They did not. By then I was a tenured professor at evangelical Wheaton College, still taking students to “Israel/Palestine” and feeling the growing resentment of my evangelical world. Which culminated in a formal letter from the college that prohibited me from taking any of our students to a Palestinian theology conference because “it was dangerous.” It would be “upsetting.” Some might need counseling afterward. Actually, it was inconvenient for Wheaton’s constituency. 
 
I have returned to Israel/Palestine and about a half dozen Arab countries many times over the years. I have tried to read widely and thoughtfully and discovered that the views of Israel – the theological views promoted by Christian Zionism -- are ill-informed and simply not biblical (see my analysis of this in Jesus and the Land). But worse, they are dangerous. I became convinced that there was a severe moral flaw in my evangelical church’s commitments. We were promoting harm and not representing the gospel or the love and truth of Christ in this part of the world. Our zeal for prophecy, our excitement about Israel and our hope in end times had blinded us. In a word, Christian Zionism had betrayed us.” 
 
About Gary Burge: A respected authority on the context of the New Testament, Dr. Gary Burge has authored numerous books on an academic level as well as books for laypeople. His technical works generally focus on the Gospel of John as well as the Israel/Palestine conflict. Gary is Professor of New Testament and  Dean of the Faculty at  Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI (USA). His works include Life Questions Every Students Asks (edited by Gary Burge and David Lauber), Interpreting the Gospel of John, and John: the NIV Application Commentary.  


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

Gary Burge, author of  Whose Land, Whose Promise: What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians (2003, revised 2013)

Sunday, February 25, 2024

Saturday, February 24, 2024

The New Yorker: My Family’s Daily Struggle to Find Food in Gaza by Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha

 Recently, my wife’s distant aunt, Leila, invited me, my wife, and our three children to her home in the Faisal neighborhood of Cairo. She promised to cook us maftoul, a Palestinian dish that we had not eaten since we fled Gaza in December. Back home, making maftoul was often a family affair. One person cooks a rich stew from pumpkin, onions, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Someone else mixes wheat flour into a dough. A third person rubs the dough through the holes of a sieve, creating tiny balls that are similar to pearl couscous. Finally, the balls are steamed and served with a hot ladleful of the stew. We looked forward to tasting it again.Leila speaks with the same warmth as my mother, and she cooks the same familiar foods... READ MORE https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/my-familys-daily-struggle-to-find-food-in-gaza

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

Friday, February 23, 2024

Jews don watermelon kippahs in Gaza solidarity #Palestine


Where you stand matters

Icon, “Christ in the Rubble,” by Kelly Latimore. It is inspired by the witness of Palestinian pastor and theologian, Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac. This year, he and his congregation in Bethlehem placed Christ under the rubble in the nativity of their church. And when asked where God is as Gaza is being bombed, Isaac replied, “God is under the rubble.”
 

This is Jesus in Gaza today: 

 
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 
 
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
 
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 
 
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 
 
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
 
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
 
Where you stand matters

Khader El-Yateem

 

Every nation that has divested funding from UNWRA is complicit in the starvation of human beings... and the torture of children

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Our beloved "friend" Israel has been actively oppressing, demonizing, impoverishing, and displacing the native non-Jewish people of historic Palestine and has been since 1948.

Dear (Elected State & Federal Officials)

Pennsylvania's tax funds, our hard earned money usurped and saved by our treasury should not be given to Israel.

Currently America's mainstream media refuses to expose the full ugly truth about rampant Israeli cruelty, corruption, and lack of REAL DEMOCRACY... but we no longer live at a time where America's mainstream media and our elected officials are the only orators heard.

The worldwide internet is exploding with real stories about the tragic plight and suffering of the Palestinians. Heartbreaking stories:  Our beloved "friend" Israel has been actively oppressing, demonizing, impoverishing, and displacing the native non-Jewish people of historic Palestine and has been since 1948.  

AIPAC and other Israel focused fund raising groups are highly motivated to silence support for real justice and a lasting peace for all people, regardless of supposed race or religion.   

We live in a post Holocaust world, a time when international law and basic human rights are a vital part of how we say we operate, and how we expect other countries to operate, but we make Israel the exception to every rule and ideal we are supposed to uphold.

Shame on America for investing in Israeli injustice and war...  and the intentional torture and starvation of Gaza's children.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

American Homemaker & Poet

NOTES

Washington Post: Why the U.S. should start telling the whole truth about Israel nukes: American silence no longer makes sense. In fact, it's dangerous  https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../israel-nuclear-weapons/

Patriot News Harrisburg: Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s decision to invest more Pa. money in Israel Bonds, "Protesters called for Garrity to divest from all Israeli investments due to the war’s rising death toll and invest in domestic priorities instead. They also demanded she consistently take into account environmental, social, and governance ethics when choosing investments.“We’re talking about a large percentage of money that we have invested in Israel Bonds that [isn’t] going towards our schools, [isn’t] going towards our roads,” said Omar Mussa, an organizer with the Pennsylvania Palestine Network."   https://www.pennlive.com/news/2024/02/treasurer-stacy-garritys-decision-to-invest-more-pa-money-in-israel-bonds-draws-democratic-opposition.html

The Guardian: Gaza’s social media activists are a potent force for change in the fight against racism, The new wave of Palestinian protesters are heirs to giants such as Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, CLR James and Rosa Parks "Railing against the state propaganda machines, people such as Motaz Azaiza, Bisan Owda, Plestia Alaqad, Hind Khoudary and the veteran journalist Wael al-Dahdouh have brought shocking, heart-rending images straight to our phones. Pictures of weeping parents kneeling over the tiny, bloodied corpses of children have stirred up deep anger against Hamas, the Israeli government and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and at the complicity of the US, UK and EU governments. Politicians may dominate the narrative, as they gaslight the world with fake facts, but the voices of activists, amplified through social media, are making an indelible mark." https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/20/gaza-palestinian-protesters-social-media-activists-fight-racism-inequality

The Patriot News Harrisburg:  Israeli siege has placed Gazans at risk of starvation − prewar policies made them vulnerable in the first place | The Conversation "Yet untangling what Israel’s intentions may be – whether it is using starvation as a weapon of war, to force mass displacement, or if, as it claims, it is simply a byproduct of war – does little for the people on the ground in Gaza. "   https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2024/02/israeli-siege-has-placed-gazans-at-risk-of-starvation-prewar-policies-made-them-vulnerable-in-the-first-place-the-conversation.html

"I cannot understand how raw, naked evidence can be overridden by American intellectuals just because the “security” of Israel demands it" Edward Said"

The Philly Palestine Coalition, CAIR, and Jewish Voice for Peace Rally for Justice & Peace: DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE

Please stopping funding Israel and fueling terrorism and war all over the Middle East

Violence is the feel good answer in movies & on TV- not in real life

Religion should be a personal choice, not a state funded project. 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights "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..."

WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER

 

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Ahmed Masoud "I am currently tumbling in a drum of emotion..."

"My sister sent me this pic from Rafah, I am currently tumbling in a drum of emotions - feeling sorry for her, seeing the kite and remembering my friend Refaat Alareer, thinking of my grandfather who was kicked out of his home in 1948 & my growing up in Jabalia refugee Camp" Ahmed Masoud