2024 Snoopy & Handala & the Statue of Liberty

 

West Bank Wall graffiti art in Bethlehem: Handala and Liberty as "Pietà"

Symbolism

Handala's age – ten years old – represents Naji al-Ali's age in 1948 when he was forced to leave Palestine and would not grow up until he could return to his homeland:^[6] Al-Ali wrote that:

Handala was born 10 years old and he will always be 10 years old. It was at that age that I left my homeland. When Handala returns, he will still be 10 years old, and then he will start growing up.

His posture, with his turned back and clasped hands, symbolises the character's "rejection at a time when solutions are presented to us the American way" and as "a symbol of rejection of all the present negative tides in our region."^[4] His ragged clothes and standing barefoot symbolise his allegiance to the poor.^[4] Al-Ali described Handala as "the symbol of a just cause":

He was the arrow of the compass, pointing steadily towards Palestine. Not just Palestine in geographical terms, but Palestine in its humanitarian sense—the symbol of a just cause   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handala

The greatest challenge to being alive: To witness the injustice of this world, and not allow it to consume our light.

Love to all, Ibtisam the Palestinian author

Ibtisam Barakat

Good Palestinian moment: 

 

I went to the local authors exhibit at the public library and had a great time. Many people stopped by and said that they are sorry for what is happening in Palestine. . . That means they see our humanity . . I wrote their names in Arabic calligraphy, sold books, gave out sweet grapes rather than candy to the children and many signed up for my Arabic language and culture class on Zoom. 

 

The best part is that I don't have to fake anything. 

 

For many, many years, I had to act like I am American and my people are not facing genocide. Nobody wanted to hear that or accept that. I had to carry a mountain on my back for years. 

 

Now, people know and say they are sorry. The mountain is on the ground. It's a mountain of pain, but I can look at it and walk around it and aim to climb it now rather than it crush my soul alone . . . Thank you everyone who thinks about the humanity of Palestine denied for so long . . 

 

Love to all,

Ibtisam the Palestinian author

Ibtisam Barakat, author of 

TASTING THE SKY, a Palestinian Childhood

& 

BALCONY ON THE MOON, Coming of Age in Palestine. 

 

2010 photo: Helen Thoman, Anan Ameri, AANM director, and author Ibtisam Barakat at the AANM national book award ceremony. Ibtisam served as a judge for the fiction category, 2010. Helen's sculpture was unveiled at the event. She was funny and sad about that controversial comment that ended her career.. Sam Donaldson from ABC introduced Helen's speech. Two huge journalism icons. Washington, DC.  GALLERY   http://www.ibtisambarakat.com/ 

70% of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza is funded by the American government: Consecutive American governments have been diverting taxpayer money to finance the Israeli genocide against Palestinians, resulting in the killing of Americans too, instead of spending it on education and infrastructure for its own citizens.

 

MIFTAH #CeasefireNOW #GazaGenocide

@miftahpal

 

Despite Palestine joining

@UNESCO

13 years ago, Israel continues to steal and/or destroy Palestinian heritage sites, in an attempt to erase Palestinian history and culture as part of its genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestine as a whole.

 

Statement from the bishop of the ELCJHL about Israel’s decision to close UNRWA: “We ask you to join us in condemning this action in the strongest possible terms”

 

https://www.facebook.com/elcjhl/

Israeli settlements and outposts are used to take over Palestinian land and enable Israeli settlers to torment and terrorize Palestinians, transferring the protected population by force in violation of international law.

 UN Human Rights Palestine

@OHCHR_Palestine

"Israeli settlers, supported and facilitated by the Israeli government, are building an unprecedented number of illegal outposts in the occupied #WestBank, including East Jerusalem, with 43 new outposts established from Oct 2023 to Oct 2024, compared to a yearly average of 8 during the past decade. Outposts are used to take over Palestinian land and enable settlers to torment and terrorize Palestinians, transferring the protected population by force in violation of international law. Israel must immediately cease all settlement activities, evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory and end the occupation as soon as possible, as concluded by the International Court of Justice."

The brutality in Gaza must stop: We cannot afford to remain silent or complacent in the face of such brutality. Now more than ever, the American people must advocate for the rights and dignity of the Palestinians.

 

The brutality in Gaza must stop | Patriot News- PennLive letters online

The brutality in Gaza must stop | PennLive letters

• Published: Nov. 02, 2024, 10:01 a.m.

• PennLive Letters to the Editor

In the middle of the night on October 13, the Israeli military unleashed flames of destruction on Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza, claiming the lives of countless innocent souls by the worse way possible - burning them alive. Journalists on the ground documented horrific scenes of helpless and trapped people consumed by flames in their sleep, in their hospital beds, bedridden and unable to move.

One of the victims, 19-year-old Shabaan Al-Dali, burnt alive with an IV line still attached to his hand. The world bore witness to the tragedy through the heart-wrenching screams of Saleh Al-Jafarawi: “People are being burnt alive right in front of us!”

His words echoed the profound helplessness that has gripped us all. This latest massacre is not an isolated incident. It is a chilling reminder of the previous “tent massacre” that unfolded in May at Tel Al-Sultan, where images of charred bodies and the beheaded child circulated across social media, igniting outrage and sorrow globally.

The purposefully inflicted humanitarian crisis in Gaza has been escalating at an alarming rate for the past year, in the most documented genocide in our history. The images of burning tents and helpless cries for help echo in our minds, a haunting reminder of the reality the Palestinians have been living for over 76 years. We cannot afford to remain silent or complacent in the face of such brutality. Now more than ever, the American people must advocate for the rights and dignity of the Palestinians.

Ikram Mezghani, Derry Township, Pa.

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2024/11/the-brutality-in-gaza-must-stop-pennlive-letters.html

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"The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell." ~Dag Hammarskjöld, second Secretary-General of the United Nations

 

"The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell." ~Dag Hammarskjöld, second Secretary-General of the  @UN

 

United Nations Geneva

@UNGeneva

Choose peace over conflict. It's time to turn on for peace and off for war and destruction. Every action counts in building a world where harmony prevails over chaos. 

The world needs to #ChoosePeace for #OurCommonFuture!

NOT A TARGET ...  #EducationCannotWait

CHOOSE PEACE

 

Racism, intolerance & discrimination tear at the fabric of our societies, which is a tragedy for all of us.

United Nations

@UN

Racism, intolerance & discrimination tear at the fabric of our societies, which is a tragedy for all of us. 

 

But everyone, everywhere can take action to spread compassion & acceptance. 

 

Get ideas about how you can #FightRacism. https://un.org/en/fight-racism

 

 

 75 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the urgency of combatting racism and racial discrimination remains.

Every day, each and every one of us can stand up against racial prejudice and disrespectful attitudes. Let’s build a world beyond racism and discrimination, where we all exercise our human rights.

"As the world faces unsustainable levels of inequality, we need education – the great equalizer – more than ever."

– United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

"These children are like children everywhere – they dream of becoming a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer. The difference is that most of them are forcibly displaced and struggling simply to stay safe and survive. With the right tools and the right kind of support, we can help them realise their dreams."

– United Nations Deputy Secretary-General
Amina J. Mohamed

‘Death is everywhere’: fears grow that Israel plans to seize land in Gaza Increasingly violent siege of north raises suspicions about Netanyahu’s war aims

A devastated street in Gaza City on 2 November [amid Israel's WAR ON PALESTINE] Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images

Israel has tightened its siege of northern Gaza in the face of warnings from the UN and other aid agencies that hundreds of thousands of Palestinian lives at are risk, raising questions over whether the Netanyahu government’s ultimate war aims include territorial expansion.

The IDF says it is hunting Hamas militants but suspicions are growing that Israel is putting into practice a blueprint it had officially distanced itself from, known as the “generals’ plan”.

The plan, named after the retired senior officers promoting it, was intended to depopulate northern Gaza by giving the Palestinians trapped there an opportunity to evacuate and then treating those that stayed as combatants, laying total siege.

The government insisted the plan had not been adopted, but some IDF soldiers in Gaza, as well as Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, say it is being implemented on a daily basis, but with a major difference: the Palestinians in northern Gaza were not given a realistic chance to evacuate. They are trapped.... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/02/fears-grow-israel-plans-seize-land-gaza-siege-netanyahu-war-aims

  [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]

Philippe Lazzarini: Children & their education are not featured in any discussions when “experts “ or politicians talk about replacing UNWRA. Why? Because in the absence of a functioning state, there is no alternative.

UNWRA's good works through the years include educating the children of Palestine

 Philippe Lazzarini

@UNLazzarini

Children & their education are not featured in any discussions when “experts “ or politicians talk about replacing UNWRA. 

 

Why? 

 

Because in the absence of a functioning state, there is no alternative. 

 

Until October last year, @UNRWA provided learning to over 300,000 boys & girls in #Gaza, making half of the school children cohort. 

 

They are now losing a second year of education. In the #WestBank, nearly 50,000 children go to our schools. 

 

UNRWA is the only UN agency that directly provides education in UN schools. 

 

Our schools are the only education system in the region that includes a Human Rights programme and that follows United Nations standards and values. 

Dismantling UNRWA in the absence of a viable alternative will deprive Palestinian children of learning in the foreseeable future. 

 

Without learning, children slip into hopelesness, poverty & radicalization. 

 

Without learning, children fall prey into exploitation including joining armed groups. 

 

Without learning, this region will remain unstable & volatile. 

 

Without UNRWA, the fate of millions of people will hang by the thread. 

 

Instead of focusing on banning UNRWA or finding alternatives, the focus should be on reaching an agreement to end this conflict. 

 

This is the only way to prioritize the return to school for hundreds of thousands of children, currently living in the rubble. 

 

It’s time to prioritize children and their future.

Israel kills the journalists. Western media kills the truth of genocide in Gaza: Western publics are being subjected to a campaign of psychological warfare, where genocide is classed as ‘self-defence’ and opposition to it ‘terrorism’

Children who were injured during an Israeli attack in the Jabalia refugee camp await treatment at Al-Ahli Arab hospital on 21 October 2024 (AFP)

 

"Doubtless some Nazi concentration camp guards committed suicide in the 1940s after witnessing the horrors there – because they were responsible for them. Only in some weird parallel news universe would their "psychological burden" be the story. "

"The echoes from history are apparently entirely lost on officials: the UK is once again associating the Mandela family with terrorism. Before it was to protect South Africa’s apartheid regime. Now it is to protect Israel’s even worse apartheid and genocidal regime." 

 Jonathan Cook

25 October 2024 14:31 

 

Israel knew that, if it could stop foreign correspondents from reporting directly from Gaza, those journalists would end up covering events in ways far more to its liking. 

They would hedge every report of a new Israeli atrocity – if they covered them at all – with a "Hamas claims" or "Gaza family members allege". Everything would be presented in terms of conflicting narratives rather than witnessed facts. Audiences would feel uncertain, hesitant, detached.

Israel could shroud its slaughter in a fog of confusion and disputation. The natural revulsion evoked by a genocide would be tempered and attenuated. 

For a year, the global networks’ most experienced war reporters have stayed put in their hotels in Israel, watching Gaza from afar. Their human-interest stories, always at the heart of war reporting, have focused on the far more limited suffering of Israelis than the vast catastrophe unfolding for Palestinians.... READ MORE   https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-israel-kills-journalists-western-media-killing-truth-genocide

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It's been 107 years since the Balfour Declaration and Britain has not yet atoned for its grave historic mistake. It is time to make amends with the Palestinian people.

It's been 107 years since the #BalfourDeclaration and Britain has not yet atoned for its grave historic mistake. It is time to make amends with the Palestinian people.

 

Husam Zomlot

@hzomlot

Ambassador of the State of Palestine to the UK. Former Ambassdor to the United States.

 

Today, 2 November 2024, marks 107 years since the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917. 

 

It has never been more urgent that the injustice of that declaration be addressed and accounted for.

By ignoring the rights of the Palestinian people to their own land, the Balfour Declaration effectively cancelled the Palestinian people.

 

This set in motion a series of events culminating in the ethnic cleansing of two-thirds of the Palestinian people in the 1947-49 Nakba. 

 

By then allowing Israel to ignore, without consequence, the right of return of Palestinian refugees, a long record of Israeli impunity began. 

 

This record of impunity has emboldened Israel not only to seek to take more territory by force over the following decades, but to engage in an ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and across occupied territory.

 

It is time Israeli impunity ends. 

 

It is time the cancellation of the Palestinian people embodied in the Balfour Declaration is addressed.

And it is time the British government accepts its historic responsibility for this state of affairs, and took action to redress the injustice at the heart of the Balfour Declaration. 

 

How can the UK begin to make amends and work toward ending Israeli impunity? 

 

The UK must take steps to end the ongoing genocide. 

 

It can do this by imposing a full arms embargo, instituting sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank including occupied East Jerusalem, and demand accountability for Israeli leaders accused of war crimes. 

 

The UK must immediately recognise the State of Palestine as a long overdue inalienable right of the Palestinian people and in compliance with international law and international resolutions.

 

This should come along with an official apology from the British government for the cancellation of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights.

 

 Simultaneously, the UK must also, in compliance with the International Court of Justice and international law and in accordance with the UK’s explanation for its the vote in the UN’s General Assembly on 18 September, ban all trade in goods and services with Israel’s illegal settlements in occupied territory, penalise British companies that operate illegally there, and affirm the UK’s support for the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

 

International law as expressed by the International Court of Justice is clear: third parties must end any support for Israel’s illegal occupation and recognise the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. 

 

Those steps are well understood. It is time to take them.

Palestine in the UK

@PalMissionUK

 

 

1917 Balfour Declaration