"The conflict is not actually about religion, it's about land."
Sunday, December 24, 2023
In solidarity with the people of Gaza, Bethlehem cancels its annual Christmas festivities. #Palestine #Christians
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| Church of Nativity photo by Isam Telhami |
Shibley Telhami
In solidarity with the people of Gaza, Bethlehem cancels its annual Christmas festivities.
"A message of great hope accompanied by this light of the Christmas star despite the great sadness and despite the ugly occupation…" Bethlehem's Manger Square Christmas 2023 "The Holy Family, the first Palestinian refugee family" illustrating the ongoing Nakba by artist Tariq Salsa
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| Bethlehem's Manger Square 2023 https://tariqsalsa.info/the-holy-family-the-first-palestinian-refugee-family/ |
This idea portrays the suffering of the Holy Family, the first Palestinian refugee family that also suffered from oppression, rejection, and displacement, and was exposed to the first historical “Nakba” when they fled to Egypt after the birth of Jesus Christ.
In this work, all historical Christmas figures were costumed to depict the human scene with feelings and messages that would not be able to express the massive destruction and systematic genocide against the Palestinian people by colonialism and all its allies throughout the ages and different time periods.
The appearance of Virgin Mary this time is embracing Christ in a way similar to the way mothers of martyrs do, while Joseph is embracing her for consolation despite of grief and sorrow…
The angels hanging around the rubble are the souls of Palestinian children, martyrs of repeated massacres throughout history, starting with the killing of the children of Bethlehem city by Herod at the birth of Jesus Christ, passing through all the historical massacres by all colonial parties against the Palestinian people and their ancestors, all the way to the occupation’s massacres nowadays against Palestinians in Gaza.
As for the Magi, this year he will not carry gold, frankincense, or myrrh, but rather a white grave clothes. The shepherd was forced to evacuate the cave and walk away, carrying in his hand a bundle “bugja” of the Palestinian Exodus.
This completely destroyed house mimics the shape of the familiar grotto of Christ. As for the roof, whose area from an overhead view embodies the shape of the geographical map of Gaza, it was bombed this time, and the explosion of its roof carved the shape of a star to emit light inspired by the star of the nativity scene… an emanating light…
A message of great hope accompanied by this light of the Christmas star despite the great sadness and despite the ugly occupation…
Saturday, December 23, 2023
Mosab Abu Toha "If you are celebrating Christmas, please make sure to decorate your Christmas tree🎄 with some slices of watermelon to honor Palestine and some strawberries to honor Refaat... And never stop demanding a ceasefire!"
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Mosab Abu Toha "If you are celebrating Christmas, please make sure to decorate your Christmas tree |
All I want for Christmas is a free Palestine- Josh Mayfield an artist for Palestine
"" If
Christ were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble and
Israeli shelling," Reverend Munther Isaac, Lutheran Church in Bethlehem
Churches
in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, canceled Christmas because
Israel is slaughtering Palestinians.
Let that sink in.
How can we have a holiday celebrating the birth of the "prince of peace" when there is no peace in his historic homeland?
How can we celebrate the coming of the
"bread of life" when 9 out of 10 Gazans are going without food every
single day?
Want to keep Christ in Christmas? End the slaughter
of Palestinian men, women, and children. Allow aid trucks to enter and
administer much needed care. Allow Palestinians to live with dignity in
their historic homelands, not subjected to apartheid and colonialism."
Josh Mayfield
Another artist against apartheid
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Susan Muaddi Darraj: "Thank you, @ensarasbookcorner , for including BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA 🌊 in your "most anticipated releases of 2024"! And thanks for this gorgeous graphic!"
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Susan Muaddi DarrajThank you, @ensarasbookcorner , for including BEHIND YOU IS THE SEA in your "most anticipated releases of 2024"! And thanks for this gorgeous graphic! |
Friday, December 22, 2023
Up on the border of Israel (actually occupied Syria) and Syria with Lebanon, is the ancient site of the Hellenistic era town... the source of the river Jordan
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| Caesarea Philippi also known as Banias; the source of the river Jordan. |
St.George's College Jerusalem
Advent Calendar Day 17
Caesarea Philippi also known as Banias; the source of the river Jordan.
Up on the border of Israel (actually occupied Syria) and Syria with Lebanon, is the ancient site of the Hellenistic era town. Its beauty and historical significance means this is often a highlight for pilgrims. As well as the place where Jesus said that he would build the Church upon St Peter as the rock, this may also have been the place of Jesus’s transfiguration.
“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’” Matt 16:13
https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/16.htm
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter, b and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades c will not overcome it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be d bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be e loosed in heaven.” 20Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Banias does not appear in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
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| Banias Waterfall |
Banias or Banyas (Arabic: بانياس الحولة; Modern Hebrew: בניאס; Judeo-Aramaic, Medieval Hebrew: פמייס, etc.;[2] Ancient Greek: Πανεάς) is a site in the Golan Heights near a natural spring, once associated with the Greek god Pan.
Etymology
In the Bible, Golan is mentioned as a city of refuge located in Bashan: Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 20:8, 1 Chronicles 6:71.[27] 19th-century authors interpreted the word Golan (Hebrew: גולן) as meaning "something surrounded, hence a district".[28][29]
The Greek name for the region is Gaulanîtis (Γαυλανῖτις).[30] In the Mishna the name is Gablān similar to Aramaic language names for the region: Gawlāna, Guwlana and Gublānā.[30]
The Arabic names are Jawlān[30] and Djolan (Arabic: جولان) and are Arabized versions of the Canaanite and Hebrew name "Golan".[31] Arab cartographers of the Byzantine period referred to the area as jabal (جَبَل, 'mountain'), though the region is a plateau.[32][dubious ]
The name Golan Heights was not used before the 19th century.[27]
"Christ In The Rubble" By artist Kelly Latimore of Kelly Latimore Icons... hoping to create "more dialogue among Christians in the United States during this holy season about the ways our beliefs and actions - or lack thereof - contribute to the violence we're currently witnessing in Gaza"
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"Christ In The Rubble" by artist Kelly Latimore of Kelly Latimore Icons |
"Christ in the Rubble," illustrates the prophetic message that if Jesus was born today, he would be born "under the rubble."
Kelly wants his art to be a ‘holy pondering’ - a process that potentially brings about a new way of seeing.
Our hope is that this icon, "Christ in the Rubble" will create more dialogue among Christians in the United States during this holy season about the ways our beliefs and actions - or lack thereof - contribute to the violence we're currently witnessing in Gaza.
How can we shape a culture of Christianity where love truly has no boundaries?
How do we create a world where our poor, homeless, refugee, Palestinian Savior - born to a teenage mother and later condemned to death - would be cherished had he been born today.
Historical photo of the day: In 2011, thirteen thousand Palestinian children smashed a Guinness World Record on a beach in northern Gaza for the largest number of people flying kites simultaneously.
Thanks to Mike Hanini Odetalla (born in Palestine) for posting this comment & photo on social media this morning
Americans in Jerusalem Are Helping Kick Out Palestinians... What is a guy from Virginia doing building a fence around a Palestinian home in Jerusalem?!
U.S. based charities for Israel are funneling $$$ to Israel's illegal settlements.
1,631,512 views May 1, 2022
What’s a guy from Virginia doing building a fence outside a Palestinian family’s house?
In exclusive footage obtained by AJ+, a group of Americans were filmed installing wiring and a fence around the land just outside the Salem family home in occupied East Jerusalem.
The incident happened just days after the family was served an eviction notice by settlers who are linked to U.S. charities.
In this report, we explore how the effort to displace the Salems has been decades in the making.
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The plight of Gaza’s ‘WCNSFs’ – wounded child, no surviving family: "The numbers of Gaza’s dead, wounded and orphaned children are uncertain but there is no question they have borne the brunt of the war"
"“We had a 14-year-old girl [on Wednesday last week] just walk out of some war zone of Gaza City, stunned, mute, bloodied, and she absolutely had no one,” he said. “How many other children are like that right now? We simply don’t know.”"
"For Gaza’s children, there is no end in sight to the horror. Even the relatively lucky ones – those who have not been wounded and still have their parents – are at increasing risk from disease, starvation and exposure as winter approaches. Many of them are in vast camps of makeshift tents that have sprung up in Rafah and elsewhere in the south."
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The plight of Gaza’s ‘WCNSFs’ – wounded child, no surviving family |
A chilling acronym used by aid workers reflects the reality of a conflict in which 40% of casualties are believed to be minors
by Nedal Samir Hamdouna and Aseel Mousa in Gaza, and Julian Borger in Jerusalem
Fri 22 Dec 2023 00.00 EST
When Yousef al-Dawi tries to go to sleep in his aunt’s house in Rafah, he thinks about resting his head in his mother’s hands, his father taking him on outings, and most of all, learning to swim with his brother, Mahmoud – taking himself away to a world that no longer exists.
The bomb that fell on his family’s house in Jabaliya at midnight on 23 October killed his whole family and left the 10-year-old pinned under the rubble. It was three days before he regained consciousness in a hospital bed, and his surviving relatives tried to put off breaking the news to him, telling him the rest of his family were in another hospital. Eventually they had to tell him they were all dead.
Since
then... 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]
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Don't let our tax dollars pollute the Holy Land with more bullets & bombs... & racist hate
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| A Palestinian Couple with their baby by artist Ismail Shammout |
Dear Biden, Casey, Fetterman, Perry, & Gov Shapiro
Weapons for Israel bring a few jobs to America by escalating war in the Holy Land.
Help create a just and lasting peace for all people (here & there), regardless of supposed race or religion: Don't arm Israel's sky rocketing religious extremism and its relentless persecution & displacement of the native non-Jewish men, women & children of historic Palestine.
Religion should be a personal, private choice, not a state funded project.
I do not like or support HAMAS, but I do understand why they exist, & why HAMAS will not go away even if all HAMAS fighters are killed this week by Israeli snipers & bombs: You simply can not stop people who are seriously oppressed from doing all they can to shake off their oppressors.
Every young person in Gaza and the West Bank
today, plus many
outsiders on social media, are witness to racist Israel's crimes,
and they will- we will- find a way to Free Palestine.
Don't let our tax dollars pollute the Holy Land with more bullets & bombs... & racist hate.
If you are addicted to violence please just go play a video game or watch an action adventure movie- don't hurt real people.
Sincerely
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
A Christmas Message for our World from Rev. Imad Haddad: "As we sing “silent night holy night” this Christmas let us remember the nights in which the silence was shattered by the sounds of bombs..."
More than 90% of the Gazan population have been recently displaced
Dec 17, 2023 MECA Video with Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha speaking to us from Cairo about the situation in Gaza, some of his friends & relatives who have been killed in Israeli attacks & reading some of his poetry and the work of his friend Refaat Al-Areer.
Donia had lost her parents and two siblings in an Israeli strike. She was getting treatment in the hospital after she lost her leg in a previous Israeli strike when she was killed by yet another Israeli shelling.
Palestine demands investigation into reports of Israel burying victims alive in Gaza
"Caption's yours, write freely" Ibrahim Ghunaim
Christmas 2023 for Palestinians
"My hero Wael Eldahdouh. If he wasn’t Palestinian, he’d be the most famous face in the world decorating the covers of every magazine as person of the year"
Gazans find themselves completely isolated - cut off from their loved ones and from the rest of the world.
Why is a foreign country so free to swindle and trick America into supporting religious tyranny and rampant injustice?!
Always remembering Palestine, no matter where we are, who we are, or what we are doing ... #Flag #FreePalestine
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel "indifference to evil is worse than evil itself..."
Israeli sniper murdered two Palestinian CHRISTIAN women inside The Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where many of Gaza's Christians have taken shelter
Star of Bethlehem Quilt circa 1845 & Susan Muaddi Darraj's friendly annual reminder that this symbol you see everywhere this time of year is *not* a snowflake.
Christ was a Palestinian ... a small collection of (older) poems by Anne Selden Annab in Growing Gardens for Palestine #Christmas
My elderly relatives first fled for their lives in 1948. In Gaza right now they are walking the Nakba again- Ghada Ageel in The Guardian
TikTok isn’t creating false support for Palestine. It’s just reflecting what’s already there.
106 years ago (11 December 1917) the #Crusaders returned, led by England's General Allenby- his name now a bridge where Palestinians wait to be harassed by racist Israel's minions
With the children of #Gaza on my mind and forever in my heart 💔 Moonlight...By Mike Odetalla
If Americans Knew- The number of motherless, fatherless babies and children in Gaza is skyrocketing.
An American Muslim student’s perspective on the Palestinian-Israeli crisis in the Stanford Daily December 8 2023
Speak Up For Those Who Cannot Speak for Themselves, for the Rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and Judge Fairly...
Our Congress created a storm of news condemning "anti-Semitism", a storm of news that totally ignores the very real plight and suffering of the native non-Jewish men, women, and children of historic Palestine (who also happen to be Semites)
The sacred between mother and child captured in two images across time... Palestine past & Palestine present.
The Little Prince and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - both 75 years old & And both impart messages of hope and dignity that are available for all.
An Ongoing Displacement- The Forced Exile of the Palestinians since 1922
Invest Time & Money in American Ideals - NOT ISRAEL ... letter to my elected officials
The UN Mediator for Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte, believed that the Palestinians displaced had a right to return to their homes and wrote several UN reports to that effect.
"It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries."
Bernadotte was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the group Lehi, a Zionist terrorist organization, commonly known in the West as the Stern Gang
sliman.mansour "A cover i painted for Al-Awda magazine in the 1980’s, depicting the settlers attacks on olive groves during olive picking season, mixed media on paper, 1980’s"
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