Palestine Writes [in America] 2023!

 "Palestinians are an ancient indigenous people from a fabled and tortured land. No matter who holds the guns and power over our homeland, our nation is deeply rooted in its soil, which cradles our collective memory, as it does the bones of our ancestors. All of our traditions, our stories, folklore, poetry, culinary forms, superstitions, traditional clothing, architecture, art, and cultural habits were born in that singular patch of earth over the span of millennia. Palestine Writes exists as an artistic and literary space to hold dear and celebrate and share the magnificence of Palestine’s indigenous heritage, particularly as powerful forces work tirelessly to erase us."    https://palestinewrites.org/

Palestine Writes: On circles, keys, and joy as resistance

As a former political prisoner in Egypt, and dissident writer in exile, Palestinian culture and literature have inspired and shaped my work. When I attended the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, my heart came full circle.... READ MORE  

 

Worldmaking in action at Palestine Writes festival

Despite the incessant efforts of the pro-Israel lobby to censor Palestinians and their allies, the festival was a testament to the strength of transnational solidarity between those fighting for liberation around the world, writes Randa Abdel-Fattah... READ MORE

 

 

PRESS RELEASE:

Palestine Writes Was An Immense Moment of Indigenous Agency and Togetherness

 

The 2023 Palestine Writes Literature Festival wrapped up on Sunday, September 24 following five joyful days of Palestinian heritage, stories, art, music, dance, crafts, books, scholarship, food, photography, 123 speakers,  sessions, and a sold out crowd of over 1500 registered in-person attendees, as well as 4890 virtual attendees on Friday....  READ MORE

 

International Day of Democracy

Right to choose. 

 

Right to speak up. 

 

Right to build together the world we want. 

 

This is what democracy is about. 

 

15 September is #DemocracyDay #UNESCO

BBC News August 2023: Palestinian fears grow amid rising Israeli settler attacks

Farmer Ammar Abu Alia is one of many Palestinians forced to abandon his home

By Yolande Knell

BBC News, Ramallah

There's been a dramatic rise in violence carried out by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank this year, with more than 100 incidents reported a month according to the UN. It warns that some 400 people have been driven from their land since the start of 2022.

Smashed cars and homes and shops set ablaze. Recent months have seen some of the worst ever scenes of settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Some have turned deadly.

Posters in remembrance of 19-year-old Qusai Maatan, showing him astride his white Arabian horse, now surround a small roundabout in the village of Burqa, set among olive trees in the rolling hills north-east of Ramallah.

"He had a deeply caring nature. He'd always greet me warmly and check on me in a thoughtful way," says his grandfather, Abdul Moneim Maatan, his voice cracking. "His absence leaves a huge void."

On the evening Qusai was shot dead by an armed settler, his family say he had gone for a picnic with friends at the edge of the village. Locals describe how a confrontation with radical Israelis living nearby escalated quickly. Stones were thrown and at least one settler opened fire. In an unusually strong rebuke, Israel's closest ally, the US, described what happened here as "Jewish terrorism".

....READ MORE

Palestinian fears grow amid rising Israeli settler attacks

BBC News Photo & caption: Nida, a mother of nine, says the world seems unaware of the displacement of Palestinians

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]    

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-66620250

“No more silence. The time to act is now.” US Jews urged to condemn Israeli occupation amid Netanyahu censure

 "Another group of Israelis, including two former military chiefs of staff, an ex-director of military intelligence and a former member of parliament, placed an advertisement in the New York Times on Sunday warning the US-based World Jewish Congress that it is being “misled” by Netanyahu."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/15/us-jewish-groups-statement-occupation-israel-palestine-netanyahu

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]   

“No more silence. The time to act is now.”

Cartoon that appeared with a letter to the American Jewish community signed by academics and other public figures from Israel/Palestine and abroad calling on U.S. Jews to address the “elephant in the room”: Israeli apartheid.

Cartoon that appeared with letter signed by 750 academics and other public figures from Israel/Palestine and abroad, calling on U.S. Jews to address the “elephant in the room”: Israeli apartheid. The letter calls on U.S. Jews “to embrace equality for Jews and Palestinians” inside Israel and in the occupied territories.

"American Jews have long been at the forefront of social justice causes, from racial equality to abortion rights, but have paid insufficient attention to the elephant in the room: Israel’s long-standing occupation that, we repeat, has yielded a regime of apartheid. As Israel has grown more right-wing and come under the spell of the current government’s messianic, homophobic, and misogynistic agenda, young American Jews have grown more and more alienated from it. Meanwhile, American Jewish billionaire funders help support the Israeli far right."   The Elephant in the Room

This is Palestine... as seen by the heart (2 online memes the summer of 2023)

 

This is Palestine, A place where brave people are born

Palestine as seen by the heart

My Letter Published online in my local paper. Their title: Our nation’s founding mothers and fathers envisioned equality and justice for all -- not just for some

 

Our nation’s founding mothers and fathers envisioned equality and justice for all -- not just for some

I very much appreciated your inspiring 4th of July editorial. In my opinion, our American founding fathers (and mothers) were not totally perfect, but in seeing the big picture more than 200 years later I’d much rather focus in on the gift of great hope they gave all of us.

They painstakingly established a solid foundation to build real freedom, justice and equality for what is now all people, not just a chosen few white males.

Democracy is most certainly an ongoing process and project.

In light of that, this past week it was good to see the revealing letter by Suhail Shafi “Palestinians deserve human rights, too” in our Patriot newspaper July 27. Respect for the rule of fair and just laws matters immensely, for all our sakes, and a crucial part of that equation worldwide is freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religion.

We need to set the right example with what we say and what we do: American taxpayers should not be forced to fund religious schools or Israel’s supposed Jewishness and the cruel Zionist war on the native non-Jewish men, women and children of historic Palestine.

Religion should be a personal, private choice, not a local, state or federally funded program.

Anne Selden Annab, Mechanicsburg Pa.

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2023/07/our-nations-founding-mothers-and-fathers-envisioned-equality-and-justice-for-all-not-just-for-some-pennlive-letters.html

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]  

Artist Fayez Elhasani of Palestine... full of hope

Painted by Artist Fayez Elhasani of Palestine

  

I painted this work “Return to Palestine 2” while I was in my besieged city #غزة , but I am full of hope and certainty that I will restore the lines and colors of the work again in the heart of the city #القدس , which was liberated from occupation and colonialism. . Artist Fayez Elhasani

Centuries-old Jerusalem soup kitchen serves up ‘food with dignity’

The entrance to the courtyard of the Tikiya Khaski al-Sultan soup kitchen, a compound of 25 rooms, kitchen, and a school at the heart of Jerusalem's Old City, April 3, 2023.  Taylor Luck

Rana steps off Al Wad Street onto a winding narrow stairway, following an almost-hidden passage in the labyrinthine Old City that has led to generosity for nearly 500 years.

Carrying two bucket pails and a shopping bag packed with empty Tupperware, she passes Mameluke-era architecture as part of her daily route – a journey to feed her family.

“This is where we get food with dignity,” says the mother of three. “This is where the Holy City’s generosity is always kept warm.”

Tikiya Khaski al-Sultan, a soup kitchen that has been serving up meals since the height of the Ottoman Empire, is a lifeline for modern-day Jerusalemites who face rising costs and unemployment and are in need of “support without judgment.”

Yet the centuries-old charity also serves up some “good cooking.”

“This isn’t canned food or handouts,” Rana says. “This is a meal for all.”

A woman of influence

The Tikiya soup kitchen and sprawling complex were built on a hill facing the Al-Aqsa Mosque/Temple Mount in 1552 on the order of Roxelana, wife of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman II... READ MORE https://www.csmonitor.com/Daily/2023/20230726?cmpid=ema:bundle:20230726:1164731:toc&sfmc_sub=62874446#1164731

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]  

“Crises and wars come and go, but the desire to give charity remains, good deeds remain, and generosity remains,” Mr. Jaber says as he closes up the kitchen at the end of the day.

Help achieve a world of freedom, equality & justice for all ... Celebrate and Elevate The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

"In 2023, we reinvigorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, showing the ways it meets the needs of our time, and advancing its promise of freedom, equality, and justice for all."

2023 marks 75 years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 

Help achieve a world of freedom, equality & justice for all

What Are Human Rights? 

Human rights are inherent to us all, regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status...

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 turned 70 in 2018, 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.

Universal and inalienable

The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international human rights law. This means that we are all equally entitled to our human rights. This principle, as first emphasized in the UDHR, is repeated in many international human rights conventions, declarations, and resolutions.

Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken away, except in specific situations and according to due process. For example, the right to liberty may be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a court of law.

Indivisible and interdependent

All human rights are indivisible and interdependent.  This means that one set of rights cannot be enjoyed fully without the other. For example, making progress in civil and political rights makes it easier to exercise economic, social and cultural rights. Similarly, violating economic, social and cultural rights can negatively affect many other rights.

Equal and non-discriminatory

Article 1 of the UDHR states: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” Freedom from discrimination, set out in Article 2, is what ensures this equality.

Non-discrimination cuts across all international human rights law. This principle is present in all major human rights treaties. It also provides the central theme of 2 core instruments: the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Both rights and obligations

All States have ratified at least 1 of the 9 core human rights treaties, as well as 1 of the 9 optional protocols. Eighty per cent of States have ratified 4 or more. This means that States have obligations and duties under international law to respect, protect and fulfill human rights.

• The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights.
• The obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses.
• The obligation to fulfill means that States must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.

Meanwhile, as individuals, while we are entitled to our human rights – but, we should also respect and stand up for the human rights of others.

Get Inspired 

https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/campaign/udhr-75/get-inspired

AND don't forget Palestinians & the very real plight of the native non-Jewish men, women, & children of historic Palestine

Apartheid

noun

1. An official policy of racial segregation formerly practiced in the Republic of South Africa, involving political, legal, and economic discrimination against nonwhites.
   
2. A policy or practice of separating or segregating groups.
3. The condition of being separated from others; segregation.

Apartheid is an Afrikaans^[19] word meaning "separateness", or "the state of being apart", literally "apart-hood" (from the Afrikaans suffix -heid).^[20][21] Its first recorded use was in 1929.^[9]

Letter I just wrote to my elected leaders regarding Israel- and our Congress idolizing and funding such a fiasco of injustice!

 Dear President Biden

Antisemitism is evil and wrong- and so is Israel's cruel quest to destroy and displace the native non-Jewish people of historic Palestine.

I am sure there are nice and good people who live in Israel, but Israel is not a fair or just nation state.

Israel's ongoing quest to define itself as Jewish motivates Israel's heavily armed Zionist soldiers and settlers to persecute, impoverish, and displace indigenous Christian and Muslim men, women and children.

Why is our Congress idolizing and funding such a fiasco of injustice! 

We should know better, we live in a post Nazi Holocaust world where international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be guiding our way towards a just and lasting peace for all people, regardless of their supposed race or religion.

But right now American taxpayers are being forced to fund, protect, and pander to Israel's "Jewishness".  Let religion be a personal private choice, not a taxpayer funded requirement here and there. 

Be a staunch partner and supporter of the rule of fair and just laws, real freedom and true democratic values.... Not Israel

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

Social Media Meme 2023