My letter to the New York Times RE We are Palestinians by Daoud Kuttab

Symbolism, Steps Towards Statehood and so Much More

RE We are Palestinians by Daoud Kuttab
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/opinion/we-are-palestinians.html?_r=1&ref=global

Dear Editor,

The Palestinian flag was hoisted at UNESCO this week and in the New York Times in that beautifully illustrated, fascinating and revealing op-ed by Daoud Kuttab "We are Palestinians"... I very much hope that state building efforts continue on this positive track and that the people of Palestine, and the people of Israel, are able to veer away from militancy and religious extremism in order to create a fair and just and fully secular human rights based two state solution to once and for all end the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
“The Palestinian people, as all peoples, must be able to preserve their culture and heritage. They must benefit from quality education, education for peace. A strong educational system teaches respect for human rights. A vibrant culture respects the culture of others. In this connected world, healthy societies flourish through ties with others. UNESCO stands for all of this.” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova Welcoming Palestine to the agency UN NEWS CENTRE

Executive director of Oxfam International Jeremy Hobbs: "The increasing rate of settlement expansion and house demolitions is pushing Palestinians to the brink, destroying their livelihoods and prospects for a just and durable peace," Record number of Palestinians displaced in 2011

10 December is International Human Rights Day... Many Palestinians have no freedom of movement

"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

Help Build A Golden Rule Peace for the Holy Land

Growing Gardens for Palestine
The Harvest by Ibrahim Ghannam

New York Times: We Are Palestinians by Daoud Kuttab

JERUSALEM — When they were young, one of my children’s favorite games was reciting the family lineage. In our culture a person’s full name is a combination of his paternal parentage. My son, born in Jerusalem in 1988, would say his name is Bishara Daoud George Musa Qustandi Musa Kuttab.

Our family name came from the profession two brothers had a long time ago. The first Kuttabs were scribes who sat outside the court and wrote up petitions for people who had a claim with the authorities. Kuttab is Arabic for writers or scribes.

Upon graduating from North Park University in Chicago and returning to Palestine, Bishara visited the St. James Orthodox Church in the Old City of Jerusalem. He met with the head of the local Palestinian Christian parish. Using extensive baptismal records, they were able to patch together the history of Kuttabs in Jerusalem for hundreds of years. This turned into a family tree that has been circulated on Facebook to all Kuttabs...READ MORE

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/opinion/we-are-palestinians.html?_r=2&ref=global-home

The Palestinian Authority is struggling to raise funds for a planned renovation to Bethlehem's iconic Church of the Nativity

Palestinians plan to coordinate with churches, UNESCO, everybody with an international criteria: "The renovation itself will have to comply with international standards for cultural heritage protection..."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=444727
Greek Orthodox clergymen clean the floor of the Nativity Church, believed
by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, ahead of Orthodox and Armenian
Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem (MaanImages/Luay Sababa, File)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority is struggling to raise funds for a planned renovation to Bethlehem's iconic Church of the Nativity, a Palestinian official said Monday.

Ziad Bandak, presidential adviser for Christian affairs and head of the Nativity Church restoration committee, says the PA has raised about $1.6 million of the nearly $15 million needed for a major roof renovation.

"The major issue is the issue of funding," Bandak told reporters in Bethlehem. He says the government and local businesses have offered the bulk of the money secured so far, along with a $100,000 grant from Hungary in response to an international appeal for assistance.

"The first who paid $1 million was the Palestinians, from the Palestinian treasury," after President Mahmoud Abbas established a committee in 2009 to carry out work on the church's leaky roof, he says.

The problem with the roof has been exacerbated for centuries, as one authority after another ignored it. Under Ottoman, British, Jordanian and Israeli rule, only cosmetic improvements were made. Now that Palestinians have nominal control of Bethlehem, the PA wants to prove it is up to the challenge.

"The Church of the Nativity is part of our history," Bandak says.

"At the end of it we are going to have the Palestinian Authority's renovation ... which reflects the respect of the Palestinian people for their history."

Asked if he was disappointed with the response so far, Bandak said, "I am maybe a little disappointed, but not pessimistic. I'm sure the majority of the countries want to know the official numbers and figures."

He said support would come through once the committee was able to present a comprehensive plan, in early 2012. "We asked for more study on certain issues" related to the renovation, he said. "We didn't want to ask for money from other countries (in case) there was a miscalculation."

Also, the PA wants "to coordinate this issue with churches, UNESCO, everybody with an international criteria. The renovation itself will have to comply with international standards for cultural heritage protection.

'A very sensitive line'

"The Church of the Nativity is one of the most magnificent and holiest places in the world for the Christians, and also for the Palestinians and Arab countries in general."

There is some precedent for taking it slow. The Nativity Church was built in 330 AD and since that time, there have not been any comprehensive renovations, Palestinian officials say.

"I'm talking about 1,700 years," Bandak points out.

"Earthquakes, wars, changing authorities. So, this is the first time in the history of the church, which is the cradle of Christianity, that a comprehensive renovation is taking place."

The main obstacle to the undertaking is apparent to visitors. Built over the historic birthplace of Christ, the building is strictly divided between the Greek, Latin and Armenian churches.

Finally in 2009, Bandak managed to secure approval from all three groups.

"We have to be very careful not to harm the status quo (agreements)," he says. "We have to coordinate any step with them because they are, at the end of the day, the owners.

"We don't want to harm this understanding, so we have to walk on a very sensitive line and respect their rights and reach the renovation at the end of the day."

In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority tourism minister celebrated...

"In remarks welcoming Palestine to the agency, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova noted that membership “goes beyond raising the flag” and includes critical rights and responsibilities, as well as the sharing of universal values such as tolerance and respect for others.

“Membership allows a country to bring to the world that which it cherishes most – the wealth of its culture, the resonance of its dreams for mutual understanding,” she said.

“The Palestinian people, as all peoples, must be able to preserve their culture and heritage. They must benefit from quality education, education for peace. A strong educational system teaches respect for human rights. A vibrant culture respects the culture of others. In this connected world, healthy societies flourish through ties with others. UNESCO stands for all of this.”
UN NEWS CENTRE

UN NEWS Palestinian flag raised at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France

AFP Photo

The Palestinian flag flies next to the UNESCO flag, moment after it was raised for the first time at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=444654

Abbas raises Palestinian flag at UNESCO

President Mahmoud Abbas (C), UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova and
officials attend the flag-raising ceremony for the Palestinian flag at the UNESCO
Headquarters in Paris December 13, 2011. (Reuters/Benoit Tessier)

Some 50 diplomatic guests watched as Abbas lifted the flag to the Palestinian national anthem and said he hoped UNESCO's move was the beginning of international recognition for Palestine. The Palestinian national anthem played as a morning of biting wind and rain gave way to a burst of sunshine.

"It is moving to see our flag raised and for it to be flying in this beautiful city of Paris among all the other states. This bodes well for Palestine becoming a member of other international institutions," Abbas said.

"We hope we will have one independent state in the future that will live side by side with Israel," he said.

In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority tourism minister celebrated.

"We are very thankful and consider it a Christmas gift under our tree to be included in UNESCO. And as of today our flag is also flying at UNESCO headquarters," Kholoud Daibes told reporters in Bethlehem.

"This is a reason for us not to give up, and we are very optimistic that the international community is becoming more sensitive and very supportive to the issue of ending occupation," she said Monday....READ MORE

http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18349

Abbas to UNESCO: It’s an Emotional, Historical Moment

PARIS, December 13, 2011 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday described the raising of the Palestinian flag at UNESCO headquarters in Paris as a historical and emotional moment.

Shortly after raising the flag making Palestine officially UNESCO member number 195, Abbas told the General Conference that “it is a historical and an emotional moment for me and my people to raise the Palestinian flag at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.”

UNESCO voted on October 31 to admit Palestine as full member, the first for a UN agency.

Abbas received a warm welcome and a standing ovation when he entered the hall and after he took to the podium of the General Conference to address UNESCO plenum.

It is a cause for pride that UNESCO, with its noble and humanitarian charter, programs and objectives, was the first international organization to admit Palestine a full member, said Abbas....READ MORE

Record number of Palestinians displaced in 2011

Israel demolishing a Palestinian home near Jerusalem (MaanImages/file)
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=444655&mid=55163

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities have displaced a record number of Palestinian families in the West Bank including East Jerusalem this year, a coalition of rights groups said Tuesday.

Some 20 leading aid agencies and human rights groups released a joint statement condemning the violations as the Mideast Quartet prepares to meet in Jerusalem.

"The increasing rate of settlement expansion and house demolitions is pushing Palestinians to the brink, destroying their livelihoods and prospects for a just and durable peace," executive director of Oxfam International Jeremy Hobbs said.

"There is a growing disconnect between the Quartet talks and the situation on the ground. The Quartet needs to radically revise its approach and show that it can make a real difference to the lives of Palestinians and Israelis," he added.

The increase in house demolitions in 2011 has been accompanied by the expansion of illegal settlements and a sharp increase in settler violence.

Since the beginning of 2011, more than 500 homes, wells and other structures have been destroyed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, displacing over 1,000 Palestinians, UN figures show.

This is twice as many people over the same time period last year and the highest figure since 2005. Half of those displaced are children.

Around 4,000 housing units have been approved in East Jerusalem over the past year, the highest number since 2006, the Israeli organization Peace Now said.

Settler attacks against Palestinians have increased by over 50 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, and by 160 percent since 2009, UN reports show.

Meanwhile, over 10,000 olive and other trees have been destroyed this year.

"The Quartet should call ongoing settlement expansion and house demolitions what they are: violations of international humanitarian law that Israel should stop," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Phillip Luther, regional director for Amnesty International, said the figures show the Quartet's approach has failed.

"Israel’s escalating violations show the fundamental failure of the Quartet’s approach. It’s time for the Quartet to understand that they cannot contribute to achieving a just and durable solution to the conflict without first ensuring respect for international law."

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER PALESTINE AND PEACE]

UN: Refugees excluded from economic growth

PLO official invites Gingrich to Palestine

UNESCO to raise Palestinian flag

Forget-Me-Nots ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

Forget-Me-Nots

When possible-
I no longer buy
six pointed stars
and snowflakes

preferring Palestine

Perhaps one day
six pointed stars
and snow flakes
will once again
simply be what they are

And certain flags
will not represent
rampant bigotry and injustice:

Quietly- calmly, the quest
for peace starts here
with a five pointed star
and a poet
simply being
remembering
honoring
Palestine

and all it might be

poem copyright ©2011 Anne Selden Annab

Palestinian flag to fly at UNESCO headquarters

(AFP Photo/Mohammed Abed)

http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-flag-fly-unesco-headquarters-234129405.html

The Palestinian flag will be hoisted Tuesday at UNESCO headquarters, over a month after its admission to the UN cultural agency sparked anger and reprisals from the United States and Israel.

President Mahmud Abbas will travel to Paris to attend the event, which led Washington to pull funding to the UN organisation, and which is seen by many as a step on the Palestinians' road to eventual UN membership.

"President Abbas wants to show the importance he attaches to UNESCO," said a Palestinian diplomat. "And this is the first time that the flag will be flown at the headquarters of a UN institution."

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation says the flag-hoisting is a symbolic ceremony "to mark Palestine's admission to the organisation" that takes place each time a new member joins.

The Palestinians were admitted to the body in late October, when the UNESCO general assembly voted 107-14 to make Palestine its 195th member....READ MORE

Gingrich stands by 'invented' Palestinians jab

"...And American Task Force on Palestine spokesman Hussein Ibish was quick to point out that "there was no Israel and no such thing as an 'Israeli people' before 1948," when the country was established."
MAP of PALESTINE circa 1856

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=443918

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Leading Republican White House contender Newt Gingrich has stood by remarks that Palestinians are an "invented" people, which have sparked outrage as he seemed to call into question long-held US policy on statehood.

"Is what I said factually correct? Yes. Is it historically true? Yes," Gingrich said during a thorny moment in the latest debate among the Republicans vying to challenge President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.

Gingrich's comments were the most hawkish to date from any Republican vying to take on President Barack Obama in November 2012's national election, and came as his rivals upped the bidding to gain key support from Jewish voters.

In a sign he could abandon the US position on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, Gingrich said the Jewish people had the right to a state, but did not confirm if Palestinians should have the same privilege.

"Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire," Gingrich told The Jewish Channel in an interview released on Friday.

"We've had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community," he said.

"They had a chance to go many places. And for a variety of political reasons, we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and I think it's tragic," the candidate said.

Republicans aiming for the presidency have declared an unshakable commitment to Israel, while criticizing Obama's policy toward Israel.

But Gingrich's campaign was later forced to backtrack and a statement was issued that said the candidate did in fact favor the same two-state solution espoused by Obama and previous US presidents.

"Gingrich supports a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," spokesman R.C. Hammond said, "which will necessarily include agreement between Israel and the Palestinians over the borders of a Palestinian state."

Outraged Palestinian officials called for the former US House speaker to apologize for his "vulgar, hurtful and ridiculous remarks."

His characterization of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "constituted a totally unacceptable distortion of historical truth," Ramallah prime minister Salam Fayyad said Saturday, stressing that in Israel "even the most extremist settlers don't dare to speak in such a ridiculous manner."

And American Task Force on Palestine spokesman Hussein Ibish was quick to point out that "there was no Israel and no such thing as an 'Israeli people' before 1948," when the country was established.

But late Saturday in the latest Republican presidential debate, Gingrich kicked the hornet's nest again, saying: "These people are terrorists."

"They teach terrorism in their schools. They have textbooks that say if there are 13 Jews and nine Jews are killed, how many Jews are left?" he said.

"We pay for those textbooks through our aid money. It's time for somebody to say 'enough lying about the Middle East.'"

Gingrich's latest remarks, including saying that "the Palestinian claim to a right of return is based on a historically false story," put his rivals -- and Americans in general -- on notice that he has no intention of shying away from controversy as he seeks his party's nomination.

While Jewish voters account for a very small portion of the electorate, they play an important role in pivotal states such as Florida and delegate-rich Pennsylvania that are key to the presidential nominating process.

Earlier in the week, Gingrich told a Republican Jewish forum that if he won the nomination he would ask John Bolton, former president George W. Bush's UN envoy, to be his secretary of state. Bolton is known for his virulent defense of Israel.

At that same forum, Gingrich's main rival for the nomination, Mitt Romney, said he would visit Washington's close ally on his first trip as president, and claimed that Obama had "chastened" Israel.

Republican White House hopeful Michele Bachmann meanwhile joined Gingrich in saying she would move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, to which both Israel and Palestinians lay claim.

In the interview with Jewish TV, Gingrich also charged that the Palestinian Authority shares the militant Islamist Hamas movement's "enormous desire to destroy Israel."

The Palestinian Authority formally recognizes Israel's right to exist.

10 December is International Human Rights Day... Many Palestinians have no freedom of movement

http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1183

9 December 2011

Ramadin al Janubi, West Bank

10 December is International Human Rights Day, the day the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. To mark the day, OHCHR (oPT) and UNRWA are putting the spotlight on human rights stories and rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory. In this series, we look at how the occupation and its associated regime affects the daily lives of ordinary Palestinians, raising questions about the protection of their human rights.

Abu Kassaab overlooking the nearby city of Qalqilia, on the opposite side of the West Bank Barrier

Kassaab Ash-Shu’ur, a resident of Ramadin al Janubi, picks up a child’s car seat stashed in his living room. “Even this must be taken out of the car and carried through the checkpoint, along with the baby,” he explains, describing the security checks he and his family must go through to reach their homes.

Kassaab, along with 300 residents of Ramadin al Janubi, and 100 more in the adjoining village of 'Arab Abu Farda, are not Israeli citizens, but live in the “seam zone”, on the Israeli side of the West Bank Barrier but inside the 1949 armistice line separating Israel from the West Bank.

No freedom of movement

Their ability to travel to their homes is restricted to the point of violating Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

The Jaljoulia checkpoint that they must cross to reach work, school, and shopping centres in nearby Qalqilia has been controlled by a private company called the Checkpoints Crossing Authority (CPA) since 2011. While Israeli cars pass in and out of the checkpoint freely, Ramadin Al Janubi and 'Arab Abu Farda residents are redirected to a separate screening station that contains x-ray machines, sniffing dogs, and a lab to test liquids - “even aluminum cans”, notes Kassaab. No such screening station existed before 2006 under IDF control.

The checkpoint alone, they say, takes one to three hours to cross, including body scans and full car inspection. In addition, there are severe restrictions on the amount and types of goods they can bring with them, and even the days they may bring groceries.

Limited rights

The construction of the separation Barrier, beginning in 2003, not only limited the community’s ability to travel, work, and reach school, but their human right to livelihood. Their herd of 1,500 sheep has now shrunk to 300 or 400 because of lack of access to grassland.

“The policy is to attempt to get us to leave,” Kassaab says. The community, originally from the Negev desert, became refugees in the West Bank in 1948. They settled in their current location in 1956, and purchased their land and began building homes in the 70s and 80s. Despite Israeli pressure to relocate them, “we refuse to become refugees a second time,” Kassaab maintains.

Donate to UNRWA

More about UNRWA in the West Bank

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin?

Human Rights Day: UN calls for building on momentum of an ‘extraordinary year’

Human Rights Day: UN calls for building on momentum of an ‘extraordinary year’

9 December 2011 – Building on the momentum for change triggered by the Arab Spring, top United Nations officials have urged everyone, everywhere to join in the Internet and social media campaign launched on the occasion of Human Rights Day to help more people know, demand and defend their rights.

“In 2011, the very idea of ‘power’ shifted,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a message to mark Human Rights Day, which is observed annually on 10 December.

We know there is still too much repression in our world, still too much impunity, still too many people for whom rights are not yet a reality.

“During the course of this extraordinary year, it was wielded not just by mighty institutions in marble buildings, but increasingly by ordinary men, women, and even children, courageously standing up to demand their rights,” she said.

“The message of this unexpected global awakening was carried in the first instance not by the satellites of major media conglomerates, or conferences, or other traditional means – although these all played a role – but by the dynamic and irrepressible surge of social media.”

This year’s Day is building on the pro-reform movements witnessed across North Africa and the Middle East, and social media’s vital contribution to them, to encourage more people to get involved in the global human rights movement.

The campaign by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) focuses on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and aims to help more people know, demand and defend human rights.

“Today, as in the past, editorial and financial factors – as well as access – determine whether or not protests, and repression of protests, are televised or reported in newspapers around the world,” noted Ms. Pillay. “But, wherever it happens, you can now guarantee it will be tweeted on Twitter, posted on Facebook, broadcast on YouTube, and uploaded onto the Internet…

“Instead we are seeing real lives in real struggle, broadcast in real time – and it is in many ways an exhilarating sight,” she added. “In sum, in 2011, human rights went viral.”

Today at UN Headquarters, Ms. Pillay hosted a global human rights dialogue at which she answered questions sent in via different social media platforms from all over the world.

It was one of several elements of the “Celebrate Human Rights” campaign, which also featured an online discussion on Facebook and Twitter that began a month ago called “30 Days and 30 Rights” that counted down to the Day with a daily posting about one article of the Declaration....READ MORE

Gingrich: Palestinians 'invented,' promises Netanyahu-style foreign policy

"Gingrich's comments will likely infuriate backers of Palestinian statehood on both sides of the debate, and drew immediate criticism from a fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, Hussein Ibish.

"For a man who likes to call himself a historian, Gingrich's grasp of these realities is astoundingly weak. To call the Palestinians 'an invented people' in an obvious effort to undermine their national identity is outrageous, especially since there was no such thing as an 'Israeli' before 1948," he said. "Arab and Jewish identities are very old, but Israeli and Palestinian nationalisms are both 20th-century phenomena, and arose at the same time in competition with each other. The idea that either is more 'invented' and hence less 'authentic' than the other is ignorant, ahistorical claptrap.""

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1211/Gingrich_Palestinians_invented_promises_Netanyahustyle_foreign_policy.html

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/12/gingrich-says-palestinian-people-are-invented.html

Jordan, the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, warned Israel on Friday against closing a wooden access ramp to the sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque

The Mughrabi ramp leading from the plaza by the Western Wall to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the old city of Jerusalem. Jordan, the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, warned Israel against closing a wooden access ramp to the sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City. (AFP Photo/Gali Tibbon)

Related Article: Jordan warns Israel over Al-Aqsa ramp closure

Jordan, the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, warned Israel on Friday against closing a wooden access ramp to the sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City.

"Jordan rejects any Israeli attempt to affect Jerusalem's holy sites, identity and heritage, including Al-Mughrabi Gate" that leads to the compound's Al-Buraq Wall, known to Jews as the Western Wall, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said.

The kingdom, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, "is in daily contact with the Israeli side to make sure it does not change the status quo of the gate," Judeh told the government-owned Al-Rai Arabic daily.

Jerusalem's city council on Thursday ordered the closure of the access ramp, saying it poses both a fire hazard and is at risk of collapse.

But Muslim leaders fear work on it could have a destabilising effect, accusing Israel of failing to coordinate renovation plans with the Waqf, the Islamic organisation that has jurisdiction over Muslim parts of the site.

Jordan's powerful Islamists have condemned the city council's decision.

"Israel is disregarding all Arab and international warnings," said Hamzeh Mansur, head of the opposition Islamic Action Front party, accusing Israel of pursuing a "policy of Judaising the Holy Land."

Last month, Amman warned that any Israeli "threats and aggressions" against the holy site would lead to "endless" violence in the Middle East.