It never did and it never will.” Frederick Douglass
"If one remains neutral in situations of injustice,
then one is complicit in that injustice" Desmond Tutu
From: Mazin Qumsiyeh
Two action items at bottom about a popular
Palestinian American Conference and trips
to Palestine for all
Nearly 500 people attended Alison Wier's talks in Greenwich
library on Thursday and Saturday (event reinstated after
extremist Zionists tried to have it canceled).
http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2008
/02/exciting-triumph-over-censorship.html
http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com
/2008/02/effort-to-censor-if-americans-knew.html
For those who never heard Alison speak or those who want
to share with their colleagues, here is a short video about Alison:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
Website: http://ifamericansknew.org/
A lot of media coverage of the controversy but Alison's
talks are about how the media choses not to report the
reality of Israel and Palestine. In fact, I just took time
to write a few snippets of storied from these past few
days that you would not have seen on CNN, Fox,
Time Magazine, or NY Times:
- After generations of occupation, Valentine's Day has
meant little in the Gaza Strip. But the flowers that
lovers presented in Europe have. Majed Hadaeid,
43, knows that better than most, as he watches
livestock make a meal of the flowers he had hoped to
export to Europe. "I have 130 dunams (32 acres),"
he says. "All carnations, in 30 different colours, and
varieties yielding 16-17 million blossoms per year."
In all, about 480 dunams of plantation produce on
average 60 million flowers a year in Gaza between
mid-November and mid-May. The seasonal export
brings five million dollars in revenue, and means 4,000 jobs.
- "Fayezza Qabb, 67 Year old women dies in West Bank
Village when Israeli occupation officer at checkpoint
refused to allow her to get to Palestinian Hopsital." 2/15/2008
- "The latest round of Israeli massacres in Gaza has resulted
in the brutal killings of eight members of Al Fayeq family in
Bureij Refugee camp, Gaza City as they sat in their own house.
An American-made F16 fighter plane targeted Ayman
Al Fayeq’s house in the evening. Ayman, his wife,
his daughter, and five other members of the family
were found under the rubble. 40 other people, mostly
women and children were injured, some critically.
The death toll is expected to rise." 2/15/2008
- "The eight-month closure of Gaza has created "grim and
miserable" conditions that deprive Palestinians of their
basic dignity" according to the U.N.'s
humanitarian chief (2/15/08).
- Israeli occupation authorities raided dozens of homes,
money changers and businesses throughout the West
Bank stealing hundreds of thousands worth of money
and precious items (they gave the public excuse that
money was being funneled to support the resistance,
what they call terrorism but offered no prof and took
no one to court). 2/11/08
http://www.ochaopt.org/
document
- Amnesty International: Israeli army
destroying Palestinian homes
"Every single home in the West Bank villages of Humsa
and Hadidiya is slated for destruction. The Israeli army
has declared most of the Jordan Valley, where the villages
are situated, as a "closed military area" from which the
local Palestinian population is barred. The local
Palestinian population – which has been there since
long before Israeli forces occupied the area four
decades ago – is being put under increasing pressure to
leave the area. In contrast, Israeli settlements –
established in blatant violation of international law –
continue to be expanded in the area and Israeli
settlers are allowed to move freely and use vast
quantities of water."
http://www.commondreams.org
/news2008/0214-18.htm
ACTION 1: Popular Conference for
Palestinians in the U.S. 2008
A historic gathering of the Palestinian people in the US
will take place in Chicago, Illinois the weekend of
August 8, 2008, the 60th anniversary of Al-Nakba.
PLEASE PUT THIS reminder ON YOUR Work , School,
Masjed , Church , cell phone, Ipod , Iphone ,
Facebook page, Myspace book , anywhere you can
reach out your fellow Palestinians,
WE cannot do it without you.
This is a self-funded and supported
project so go to http://www.palestineconference
to help and join.
It's your chance to meet your fellow
Palestinian in almost every field ,
it's a celebration of Unity ,
Culture and Identity .
ACTION 2
The Palestinian Summer Celebration
2008: 15 June 2008 – 17 August 2008
June 15th – July 13th 2008 (first month)
July 14th – August 17th 2008 (second month)
Come and celebrate Palestine, learn Arabic, study
history, know the people and their culture, share
some time with local families and volunteer with
a local community organization.
http://www.sirajcenter.org
content
The Palestinian summer celebration is a unique annual
program that gives people from all over the world the
chance to encounter the life and culture in Palestine in
addition to donating some of their time to a local
community organization through voluntary work and
internships. The Palestinian summer celebration
2008 will take place in the Bethlehem area in Palestine,
between June 15th and August 17th 2008. The
annual celebration is organized by Siraj Center for
Holy Land Studies www.sirajcenter.org in partnership
with Bethlehem University www.bethlehem.edu and
the US based Society for Biblical Studies, www.sbsedu.org.
Participants will also have the opportunity to listen
and question high level speakers of various positions
and expertise.
The 2007 participants developed videos explaining their
time and experience during the 2007 Summer Celebration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
They have written about their time:
http://www.sirajcenter.org/s
The program includes, studying Arabic, History and
Theology at Bethlehem University, living with local
families, volunteering with local community
organizations in addition for touring Palestine and
enjoy its beauty and culture and have a firsthand
experience of the political situation. Participants will
have the chance to have Palestinian Cooking classes,
Palestinian Debkeh Dancing training, and during the
program, eight films will be screened in the Siraj office.
For more information regarding schedules,
registration and cost:
http://www.sirajcenter.org
_content
2- Christmas Pilgrimage for Peace:
December 28th 2008- January 10th 2009
The Christmas Pilgrimage for Peace is an annual program
that gives people from all over the world the opportunity
to experience oriental Christmas in Bethlehem
celebrated with local families. Moreover, gives
participants that chance to more educated about the
pledge for Justice and Peace. The Christmas Pilgrimage
for Peace, will enrich its participants with the culture of
the land, through living and sharing the lives of the
people of the land.
for more information:
http://www.sirajcenter.org
=com_content
George S. Rishmawi
Coordinator,
Siraj, Center For Holy Land Studies
Beit Sahour, Schoold Street
P.O.Box 48
Palestine
Email: george@sirajcenter.org
Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://justicewheels.org
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