Sunday, August 11, 2019
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Alison Weir of IF AMERICANS KNEW: Paul Findley, longtime advocate for Palestinian human rights, dies at 98 #Palestine #Israel #Politics #Religon #HumanRights #Educate #America
Paul Findley, longtime advocate for Palestinian human rights, dies at 98
The Republican Congressman from Illinois worked for human rights for Palestinians for almost half a century, penning the first exposé on the Israel lobby. A documentary about his life is below…
By Alison Weir of IF AMERICANS KNEWFormer Congressman Paul Findley, a longtime advocate for Palestinian human rights, has passed away at the age of 98. Findley was a forefather of the movement for justice in Palestine, speaking and writing on the issue for almost half a century.
Findley was a Republican Congressman from Illinois when he began speaking out about Palestine in the 1970s. Before long, the Israel lobby targeted him, and after serving 22 years in Congress, he was pushed out in 1982.
Findley then wrote a groundbreaking book: They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby. He described in riveting detail how Israel partisans had similarly worked to push out other Americans who had spoken out about Palestine, from positions in Congress, the media, academia, and elsewhere. (A PDF is available here.)
In the introduction to They Dare to Speak Out, Findley wrote:
“Much of the information provided here is
volunteered by career government officials who want the public to be
aware of how the lobby functions but insist that their own names be
withheld. These requirements tell a lot about the sensitivity of the
subject matter.”
“Declining to represent me, New York
literary agent Alexander Wylie forecast with prophetic vision that no
major U.S. publisher would accept my book. He wrote, ‘It’s a sad state
of affairs.’ Bruce Lee of William Morrow and Company called my
manuscript ‘outstanding,’ but his company concluded that publishing it
‘would cause trouble in the house and outside’ and decided against
‘taking the heat.’ Robert Loomis of Random House called it an ‘important
book’ but reported that the firm’s leadership decided the theme was
‘too sensitive.’ Twenty other publishers also said no.”
https://israelpalestinenews.org/paul-findley-longtime-advocate-for-palestinian-human-rights-dies-at-98/?fbclid=IwAR38MtxiU9f-Wup_iUlfinddbAE4OheeE_yrBMhRzqs3gaucO54_biluK2E
PLEASE go to the link to read the article in full.
Saturday, July 20, 2019
Re-imagining a future .... Dalia Elcharbini at the American Museum of Palestine
and also in 1948 UN Resolution 194 "resolving that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date"
Femme Felah 2019 at the American Museum of Palestine
The trail of time
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Artist Dalia Elcharbini creating her stylized Statue of Liberty |
"The museum’s mission statement says it hopes to create a space “where people are not marginalised because of the artificial distinctions we use to create borders between us.”
Farsakh says he wants the museum to be a place where non-Palestinians can see themselves reflected in universal human worries, hopes and experiences. “We want visitors to come in, hear our stories told by us in our own ways, and find themselves and find what’s common for us as human beings,” he says."
Please read the article in full, and share it, pass it forward, help empower real Anti-Racism in every way you can.
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"The Palestinian people hail from an ancient land with over 4,000 years of history. Empires have come and gone, only to make Palestinian culture richer and more colorful. The Museum of the Palestinian People is the first museum in Washington D.C. devoted to exploring and celebrating Palestinian history, arts and culture. It started in 2015 as a traveling exhibit, visiting over 50 locations across the country, and has now found a home in the heart of the nation’s capital. By sharing the stories of the Palestinian people with those who walk through our doors, we invite the world to discover what unites us all.
The museum:
- Shares Palestinian stories through historic artifacts, personal narratives and artistic expression to transcend separation, fragmentation, and boundaries.
- Connects Palestinians in the US, Palestine and the diaspora with each other to evoke pride and dignity and to impart this to future generations.
- Partners with other institutions and connect with broader audiences committed to our shared humanity."
Re-Imagining a Future
"Re-Imagining A Future is the opening exhibition at MPP of work
by artists Ahmed Hmeedat, Manal Deeb, Mohammad Mussalam, Dalia
Elcharbini, and Haya Zaatry — some of whom live in Palestine, and others
who are part of the Palestinian diaspora. All of the artists in this
exhibition explore a new and as yet un-imagined future for Palestine and
Palestinians. They invite members of the Palestinian community
worldwide to let their dreams for the future soar — as an act of
imaginative courage, and as an act of creative resistance. These works
invite Palestinians and others to look into the future."
Friday, July 19, 2019
Real Anti-Racists... a 2019 poem by Anne Selden Annab
for all types and tribes
is a worthy goal.
Real anti-racists
do not believe that color
or religion or race or gender
(or a flag) are reasons for hate.
Real anti-racists know
and do not try to distort
or erase history.
Real anti-racists
might be found any where
but only if you look,
think, and care.
poem
copyright ©2019 Anne Selden Annab
Uniting Anti-Racists
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| Palestinian refugees during the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine known as the ‘Nakba’ (‘The Catastrophe’) |
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| “The Squad”: from left to right Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Presley |
Trump’s blunder empowers The Squad and unites anti-racists
by · PublishedWe have come to live in disconcerting times of unpredictable change. Ever since the USA elected a Twitter-addicted President into power, the world has been in a continuous state of imbalance. While it may seem as if everything only plays into the hands of ‘Israel’ and its Western allies, it would be wise not to draw that conclusion too quickly. There is more at play than only the logic of geopolitics and military dominance.
On a public relations level, some of it must be making Tel Aviv quite nervous. The forces of zionism have in the past years been stepping up their game, successfully interfering with legislation in the countries of the West to suit their purposes. However, they certainly don’t seem to be as much in control as they would like to be.
The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) has continued to gain traction among politicians and among the general public all over the world. It continues to be a thorn in the side of Israeli colonization and annexation plans. Zionist lobbies in most Western countries have been trying to counter this trend in two significant ways. One is at a purely ideological level, which has been to force a change in the official definition of ‘antisemitism’. The other has been taking place at the level of legislation, and is based on attempting to coerce countries to install laws that outlaw calls for the boycott of the state of ‘Israel’.
Before we dive below the surface, let’s first have a look at what has been happening in the lead-up to the confrontation about anti-Israeli criticsm between “The Squad” and Donald Trump.
Redefining antisemitism
In 2016, in Bucharest, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) adopted a ‘working definition’ of antisemitism. It included several definitions that were to be understood as equating any type of criticism of the state of ‘Israel’ to antisemitism. Its undeclared goal was a first step to initiate a kind of ‘purge’ in the West of its adversaries, by providing a framework for clamping down on all its critics.... READ MORE
http://www.docjazz.com/trump-empowers-squad/?fbclid=IwAR2s5LsdlTG9YudHQtkmztexKOfTcIDa132vi-NnxZvbtG09D2xvdCvgD0w
Please read the article in full, and share it, pass it forward, help empower real Anti-Racism in every way you can.
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Eurovision 2019 was in Israel ?!!!!!!
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| Palestinian born Basil Harb with his beloved daughters Nancy & Barbara- Christmas in Bakersville, California |
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| Nancy Harb Almendras at 19, 46 years ago visiting her Aunt Jameela in Ramallah, Palestine |
I got off relatively well. Maysoon Zayid, the Palestinian comic who is disabled, wrote about the time she was menstruating and the Israelis wouldn't let her have her pads. It's all orchestrated to humiliate us so that we won't return. Some of us have too much pride to return. I will never forget the late Palestinian renowned artist, Vladimir Tamari, whose family hails from Jaffa, telling me in Tokyo, that he would not return because he did not want to endure being humiliated by some immigrant to Israel. We are well off and have done well for ourselves in Asia, America, and Europe. Our humiliations pale compared to the suffering, occupied people of Gaza and the West Bank. Think of this when you tune in to Eurovision this week." Nancy Harb Almendras on May 14th 2019
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Eurovision 2019 was in Israel ?!!!!!!
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Israel’s Eurovision: ‘Dare to Dream’ Unless You’re Caged in Gaza- Just an Hour’s Drive Away, Palestinians Yearn for Freedom & Equality Abier Almasri
Israel, in coordination with Egypt, has turned Gaza into an open-air prison, caging in the two million of us Palestinians living in the small territory. For almost 12 years, Israeli authorities have largely limited travel to “exceptional humanitarian cases” – an unlawful generalized travel ban not based on any individualized assessment of security risk. The number of people travelling out of Gaza in 2018 via the Erez Crossing in was about 1 percent of what it was in September 2000, before the closure was imposed.
Despite our difficult reality, I dared to dream for years of traveling and seeing the world and nearby Jerusalem, also just a short drive away. Last year, the Israeli army permitted me to leave Gaza for the first time in my life, as a 31-year-old, to attend meetings for Human Rights Watch in New York. I later received another permit to visit Israel and the rest of Palestine for the first time, taking in every moment, knowing I may never have the opportunity again.
I am more fortunate than most people in Gaza, 80 percent of whom depend on humanitarian aid and more than half of whom are unemployed.
I wish those attending Eurovision could visit me in Gaza and experience our reality, such as rolling power cuts that last most of the day, and the psychological torment of feeling trapped and unable to travel through no wrongdoing of your own.
We Palestinians of Gaza may not be able to attend Eurovision, but we will never stop daring to dream.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Madonna and Eurovision 2019 contestants.....
"Let me tell you what supporting peace really means.
It means affirming the fact that Palestine is under occupation and that Israel
has violated numerous UN resolutions calling for the withdrawal of its
troops from Palestinian territories. It means recognising that Israel
and its illegal settlements operate under apartheid, where Palestinians
are segregated, surveilled, oppressed, and killed into submission. It
means acknowledging that Israel was built on a land whose original
native population was violently ethnically cleansed and dispossessed.
The very venue your hosts are having you sing at,
the Expo Tel Aviv, was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village
Al-Shaykh Muwannis, which like 530 others were completely razed to the
ground in 1948 to make way for settlers coming from your countries in
Europe. We, the six million Palestinian refugees scattered around the
world, are the living proof that Palestine was a thriving and civilised
land before the arrival of the European Zionists.
Those few Palestinians who were able to remain in
their land and were given Israeli citizenship, face more than 50
discriminatory laws which make them non-equal citizens. In fact, last
year Israel finally officially acknowledged
the apartheid it had imposed for decades on the non-Jews within its
borders by proclaiming itself a Jewish state. But even before this
declaration, anti-apartheid fighters, like Nelson Mandela and Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, had repeatedly compared Israel to South Africa and said
that the parallels are clear.
If Europe took action and boycotted the racist murderous regime of apartheid South Africa, why aren't you doing so with Israel? Why do you insist on rewarding the perpetrators of the second-gravest crime against humanity, apartheid?
Why are you pretending not to see the colonisation of Palestine? Over
the past few days, you have been singing just a few kilometres away
from a vast network of segregated infrastructure and checkpoints that
separate some 650,000 Jewish settlers who live in illegal settlements built on occupied Palestinian land from the Palestinian population. Meanwhile, the true owners of the land in the West Bank have no state to protect them, no rights to the resources of the land, including water, no real freedom of movement, and no real economic prospects to live a dignified life."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Salma Hayek at Cannes Film Festival - #FreePalestine !!!
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| Salma Hayek at Cannes Film Festival - #FreePalestine !!! |
I put in an exclamation point "!!!" for each of the three religions that are based in The Holy Land: Palestine/Israel
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Israelis and Americans Would Act Just Like Palestinians Do Today: The situation is volatile, a veritable tinderbox. If the Mideast blows up, many will die, Palestinians and Israelis.
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| Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay |
Sam Bahour....."The truth is
that, if placed in the same ill-fated predicament, Americans and
Israelis would act just like Palestinians do today; some would use
violence, like what emerged from Gaza recently. This is not to say that
this is a smart or effective strategy, it merely is a human reaction
when a community feels no other path to live exists.
Others,
the majority, would use diplomatic and non-violent methods to protect
their community, like boycotting and divesting from their occupier and
refusing to attend an “economic workshop” called for by a third party in
a foreign venue aimed at beautifying life in their cages of military
occupation. These non-violent strategies would become a rallying call to
mobilize all four corners of the earth to hold the occupying state
accountable.
Imagine,
for example, China suddenly invading New York City claiming that a
Golden Sky-Dragon gave it all of Manhattan. Imagine further that native
New Yorkers were forced into just two boroughs, all their assets
forfeited. Furthermore, every aspect of their new lives will be
controlled by the Red Army.
Suppose
further that Russia, North Korea, and others block UN resolutions to
punish China, and funds its illegal invasion/occupation. How long do you
think red-blooded Americans would put up with that and not fight back?
Palestinians
have tried every form of protest — from armed resistance to civil
disobedience to negotiations to lawsuits to boycotts. Nothing has
worked. Israel, like 18th-century England (the US Declaration of
Independence lists 27 grievances that British King George III ignored),
blocks all forms of redress while continuing to kill, land grab, and
steal resources.
Palestinians
are being pushed into ever-smaller enclaves with less and less to lose.
The situation is volatile, a veritable tinderbox. If the Mideast blows
up, many will die, Palestinians and Israelis. It would be a historic
tragedy for history to look back, yet again, and question how a
developed, modern society allowed itself to be governed into
never-ending turmoil."
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American business consultant from Ramallah/Al-Bireh in the West Bank. He is chair of Americans for a Viable Palestinian Economy (AVPE) and serves as a policy adviser to Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network and is co-editor of “Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians” (1994). He blogs at ePalestine.com. @SamBahour
Monday, May 6, 2019
Nihal Rabbani: "November or December 1988 with my dad, celebrating Palestine's Declaration of Independence..."
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| Mahmoud Rabbani, born in Palestine, with his daughter, Nihal Rabbani, who is wearing a traditional embroidered Palestinian dress. |
"November or December 1988 with my dad, celebrating Palestine's Declaration of Independence.
Thirty years ago, when the First Intifada received worldwide media attention, and we slowly started being portrayed as human beings instead of terrorists for the first time ever, there was a sparkle of hope.
This was before the Oslo Accords, before the apartheid wall was erected, before the West Bank quadrupled in settlements, before the Palestinian Authority was formed, before the Gaza Strip became a mining field for the Israeli military to practice ILLEGAL chemical warfare on the Palestinian population, before a small proportion of a lost generation succumbed to suicide bombings, before Hamas would become a household name and replace Israel's accountability for its war crimes (it had only been in existence for a year in 1988) and before I even set foot in my parents' birthplace.
Shortly after this photo was taken, my father visited Palestine for the first time since he was thirteen years old, about forty years after his family was expelled from their homeland in 1948 and forced to escape to refugee camps in Lebanon."
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Ilhan Omar's refusal to 'pledge allegiance' to Israel does not make her antisemitic
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar defended herself in a series of tweets posted on Sunday night:
"Our
democracy is built on debate, Congresswoman! I should not be expected
to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve
my country in Congress or serve on committee," she said.
"I have not mischaracterized our relationship with Israel, I have questioned it and that has been clear from my end.
"I am told everyday that I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel. I find that to be problematic and I am not alone.
"I just happen to be willing to speak up on it and open myself to attacks."
Ilhan Omar says her refusal to 'pledge allegiance' to Israel does not make her antisemitic
https://news.yahoo.com/ilhan-omar-says-her-refusal-085230217.html
MARCH 1st 2019
GOP's hatemongering anti-Muslim/ anti-Ilhan Omar meme that is now making the rounds on social media
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GOP's anti-Muslim display likening Rep. Omar to a terrorist rocks W. Virginia capitol
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"Omar tweeted about the incident later on Friday.
"No
wonder why I am on the 'Hitlist' of a domestic terrorist and
'Assassinate Ilhan Omar' is written on my local gas stations," she
wrote.
The display was set up as part of "WV GOP Day,"
which the party advertised on Facebook as a day when "Republicans Take
the Rotunda."" https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/gop-s-anti-muslim-display-likening-rep-omar-terrorist-rocks-n978371
March 4th 2019
"House
Democrats will vote Wednesday on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism
in response to comments made last week by Representative Ilhan Omar (D.,
N.Y.) that were deemed anti-Semitic by a number of prominent fellow
Democrats.
It remains unclear whether the resolution, which was first reported by the Washington Post, will condemn Omar by name or just anti-Semitism in general." https://news.yahoo.com/house-dems-introduce-anti-semitism-195915822.html
Merriam Webster Dictionary Definition of anti-Semitism
: hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group
Definition of prejudice
: an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics
Seems to me the nasty anti-Muslim hate mongering directed towards destroying Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar is what should be condemned by our Congress....
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| American Hero, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar in the audience ahead of President's State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 5, 2019 |
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