Wednesday, July 29, 2026

For 2,000 years, Christians have called the Holy Land home. CNN’s Clarissa Ward travels from Jerusalem to the occupied West Bank to examine how Israeli ultranationalist extremism is reshaping that reality.

The quiet erosion of Christian life in the Holy Land

0:00 Losing Ground: Christians in the Holy Land

3:32 Anti-Christian Incidents in Jerusalem are rising

8:01 Christian Palestininans are leaving faster than most

13:24 A confrontation with the Israeli army

"People talk about post-traumatic stress, but for us, there is no post-era; the trauma is ongoing. Keeping our people safe in such a context is incredably difficlut, especially when you see your mother in pieces, your father under rubble, and your friends gone. Such experiences profoundly affect your brain and emotions, and we must help our people to be resilient in this harsh reality." -Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb of Palestine

Bright Stars of Bethlehem https://www.instagram.com/bright_stars_of_bethlehem/?g=5

[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]

From 400 hives to 35: the Gaza beekeeper refusing to let war end his life’s work - Ibrahim al-Dabba continues to care for his colonies despite losing his home and most of his hives and equipment. Story by Lina Abu Zayed, photographs by Omar Ashtawy

Ibrahim Naji al-Dabba, 49, (in green) working with his sons. He was displaced from the Shuja’iyya area, east of Gaza City to Tel al- to the south

"Beekeeping... is our life, our livelihood, and our future."

The Guardian picture essay

Each morning, Ibrahim Naji al-Dabba climbs to the roof of a damaged residential tower in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, where rows of beehives sit surrounded by shattered concrete and the scars of war. The rooftop is far from an ideal place for beekeeping, but for the 49-year-old father of seven, it is the only place where he can continue the profession that has sustained his family for decades.

Before the war, al-Dabba owned more than 400 beehives spread across eastern Gaza. His apiaries, equipment, storage facilities, and four-wheel-drive vehicle allowed him to manage a thriving beekeeping business that supported his family. Today, almost everything he built over years of work has disappeared.

“Beekeeping is not just a business,” he says. “It is my family’s only source of income. It is our life, our livelihood, and our future.”

Al-Dabba, who also serves as president of the Gaza Beekeepers’ cooperative society, says beekeeping became a passion long before it became a profession. Over the years, he specialised in producing honey, breeding queen bees, and developing bee strains adapted to Gaza’s climate. Before the war, Gaza’s beekeeping sector had continued to grow despite years of blockade, with hundreds of beekeepers producing honey and supporting local agriculture through pollination.

That changed after the war erupted.

Unable to reach his apiaries because of bombardment and displacement, al-Dabba watched his life’s work vanish. He lost his home, more than 400 beehives, honey-processing equipment, storage facilities, and nearly all the tools required for his trade... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jul/29/gaza-beekeeper-refusing-to-let-war-end-lifes-work

Monday, July 27, 2026

".... diplomacy, multilateralism and global standards are a better choice than a race for the bomb."

The Guardian view on a US-Saudi nuclear agreement: an offer that further erodes international safeguards

Editorial

Even if no reactors are built, Donald Trump’s announcement of a double-standards deal with Riyadh has wrought further damage in a new era of proliferation

Sun 26 Jul 2026 12.29 EDT

Even as he threatened to escalate an unlawful war sold in part as preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, Donald Trump opened the door to proliferation in the region on Wednesday. The US announced that it had signed a deal with Saudi Arabia which would potentially allow the kingdom to enrich uranium in future and to avoid the fullest inspection rights for the international watchdog.

Experts have long warned that a civilian nuclear programme could create a path towards a nuclear-armed Riyadh. Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince and de facto leader, has said that if Tehran gets a nuclear weapon, “we will have to get one”. Concerns are magnified by the agreement’s terms. Washington previously argued that the “gold standard” was the United Arab Emirates’ agreement to permanently forgo enrichment and accept full monitoring by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency. Weakening it sets a precedent that Russia or China could also cite in nuclear deals in future.

The turmoil that Mr Trump has created in the Middle East is encouraging governments both to hedge their bets and to tool up. The US paused attacks on Iran at the weekend, after 13 successive days of strikes, amid reports that it is concerned about declining interceptor stockpiles, but no exit is in sight. As António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said on Thursday, the region “is teetering on the edge of [the] unimaginable … One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next.” ... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/26/the-guardian-view-on-a-us-saudi-nuclear-agreement-an-offer-that-further-erodes-international-safeguards

“The power of the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality and dignity." #StandUp4HumanRights

United Nations

@UN

In every language, everywhere, human rights belong to all of us. They are non-negotiable. Learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ohchr.org/en/universal-d

via @UNHumanRights

https://www.ohchr.org/en/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

“The power of the Universal Declaration is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality and dignity."

The original records

The Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 during its 183rd plenary meeting.

View the original resolution.
Explore the meeting record for the historic adoption.
Examine the voting record.
And for more information about the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, discover research guides and resources.

#StandUp4HumanRights

United Nations Geneva

@UNGeneva

Human rights belong to all of us. They are non-negotiable. And they are fundamental to our hopes for a world at peace.

buff.ly/ZIr9tBC

https://www.ohchr.org/en/what-are-human-rights

Universal and inalienable

Human rights are rights we have simply because we exist as human beings - they are not granted by any state. These universal rights are inherent to us all, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status. They range from the most fundamental - the right to life - to those that make life worth living, such as the rights to food, education, work, health, and liberty.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, was the first legal document to set out the fundamental human rights to be universally protected. The UDHR, which turns 75 on 10 December 2023, continues to be the foundation of all international human rights law. Its 30 articles provide the principles and building blocks of current and future human rights conventions, treaties and other legal instruments.

The UDHR, together with the 2 covenants - the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - make up the International Bill of Rights.... READ MORE

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Common Words with Arabic Roots

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Arabic_origin

Given the number of words which have entered English from Arabic, this list is split alphabetically into sublists, as listed below:

Saturday, July 25, 2026

Dear America- letter I just sent to my elected leaders: ICE and Israel should both be de-funded and de-fanged.

Gazelle near Gaza on the lower left hand corner of an 1850 Ottoman Palestine map- Palestine illustrated atlas and modern history of the world 1851

Dear America,

Before Trump opted to join Israel in bombing Iran, Israel was already shamelessly violating multiple international laws and expectations with its aggressively cruel mistreatment of indigenous non-Jewish men, women, and children in all the "Holy" land that was once called historic Palestine.

Modern man-made Israel (with a name borrowed from our bibles and prayers and hymns) wants our money and weaponry. Heck if you want to hand over all your personal money and your children's inheritances to modern man-made Israel, please feel free to do so- BUT NOT OUR TAX $$$$ !!!

We have worked hard for our money, and many of us live on a very tight budget in order to afford both food and housing.

Public funds should be for public good- not for endless wars, catastrophic pollution, and data centers.

Violence, rage, revenge, and rampant destruction are entertaining fun in TV shows, movies and video games- but violence is totally counterproductive and monstrously cruel in real life.

We live in a post-1948 world where respect for UNIVERSAL human rights is the basis for international laws and criminal courts. We should be empowering that.

The 'preemptive' US-Israeli war on Iran is wrong, and a huge waste of American money and life.

Pervasive pro-Israel harassment campaigns aim to silence voices for peace and justice worldwide.

Our elected leaders are bullied and bribed to support Israeli injustice and war. Corruption and greed have become ubiquitous. Thanks to multiple PR firms and paid propagandists working for Israel our mainstream media ignores or downplays Zionist violence and crimes.

Fact is Israel has been waging manipulative misinformation wars on America for decades, doing all it can to block international sympathy and support for the men, women, and children of Palestine.

Fact is a very foreign modern nation state has been aggressively bulldozing homes and bombing refugee camps with American made weaponry and technology: Israeli pogroms against Palestinians should be galvanizing worldwide outrage and sanctions.

State sponsored terrorism is the worst type of terrorism.

ICE and Israel should both be de-funded and de-fanged.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

Rights groups call for help stopping Israeli 'pogrom' against Palestinians in West Bank: B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights among others urge action after four Palestinians are killed by settlers near Nablus

Amputees take part in a match inspired by the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina amid the rubble in Gaza City. Palestinians widely supported Spain in the final because the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has strongly criticised Israel’s military campaign

The number of registered orphans in the territory [GAZA, Palestine] has risen to 65,279, including 54,468 children who it said lost one or both parents during the war.

"The headline is incredibly misleading. It completely reverses the point I was making. Rather than highlighting my explicit distinction between Zionist organizations and Jewish partners in justice, it collapses that distinction and leaves readers with the false impression that I accused British Jews collectively of complicity in Israel’s crimes. This is precisely the kind of framing that has made speaking about Palestine so difficult for so many years. It is not only manipulative; it fuels the false narrative that criticism of Israel is criticism of Jews." Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac - Jul 23, 2026

'A triumphant failure': How Israel's use of social media influencers to win back support backfired- Israel quadrupled its PR budget to $730m in 2026 and is reportedly paying influencers up to $7,ooo to post pro-Israel content

"Bombing the infrastructure people rely on will not make Iranians [or Palestinians] embrace those carrying out the attacks." .... ‘It’s truly hell here’: airstrikes, repression and water shortages become ‘new normal’ for Iranians

"At the very moment that the Israeli regime, with the support of the United States, is pursuing the dismantlement of UNRWA in violation of international law, there can be no accommodation of political projects designed to facilitate its replacement. UNRWA was established by General Assembly Resolution 302 because the international community failed to implement Palestinian refugees' rights under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194. Its mandate therefore remains exclusively under the authority of the General Assembly until those rights—including return, restitution, compensation, and reparation—are fulfilled. It cannot be transferred, conditioned, or terminated through political arrangements." Statement by BADIL and GPRN “Dismantling UNRWA: “The Board of Peace” Agenda”

DEAR AMERICA

Dear America - Jobs created by the weapons industry bring temporary economic relief to some- while inflicting immense pain and suffering on many many many more.

Pushing all commerce online to "Save A Tree" ends up decimating numerous forests and fields for energy and water hungry Data Centers. CEOs and our elected leaders take huge profits while taxpayers are left with escalating losses, including the surging loss of land and water for hyperscale Data Centers.

Anti-immigrant legislation and excessive funding for ICE are more about protecting wealthy people and corporations, who can hire illegals knowing that the workers and their families will be too afraid to complain about dangerous working conditions, low pay, long hours, and slum landlord housing.

You can't win a modern war. You can destroy homes & families, you can usurp land & resources from the rightful owners, and you can undermine & destroy a free press and the fourth estate- but people worldwide have memories, as well as a sense of right and wrong that cannot be bombed into oblivion.

STOP THE BOMBS and the bigotry, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop accepting bribes & propaganda & bad advice from a very foreign country that seeks to destroy support for UNIVERSAL human rights and the rule of fair and just laws.

Along the way we learned that slavery is wrong. We learned that domestic violence is wrong. We learned that racist hate is wrong. SO WHY are we funding Israel and why are we bombing Iran for Israel!!!

Violence is a problem- not the answer

"Attacks on critical infrastructure are not only about what is destroyed, but also about the people left without what they need to live. Even wars have limits and they must be respected." ICRC Red Cross

The power of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the power of ideas to change the world. It inspires us to continue working to ensure all people can gain freedom, equality and dignity...

In 1945, 50 nations came together in San Francisco to create a new organization for peace, prosperity & human rights- the United Nations

"The United Nations is the only place on Earth where all the world's nations come together to discuss common problems and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. This intergovernmental organization born out of the ashes of the Second World War remains indispensable to the pursuit of world peace, justice, equality and sustainable development" https://www.un.org/en/

The right of refugees to return to homes and lands they were expelled from is an individual right and cannot be unilaterally abrogated by third parties. https://imeu.org/resources/resources/fact-sheet-palestinian-refugees-the-right-of-return-under-international-law/441

"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..." https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Annie's New Letters (& notes)

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