UK NGOs Attack Israel through Christmas Cards

24/12/2008

In time for Christmas, several British NGOs have returned to past theological offensives against Israel by combining emphasis on Bethlehem, stories of Palestinian suffering, and Israeli cruelty, NGO Monitor said in a report issued Tuesday.

As in previous years, when NGOs used London Underground station advertisements and greeting cards, these campaigns capitalize on holiday sentiment and Christian religious symbols to declare: "The wall must fall," and present a biased view of the conflict, NGO Monitor said. War on Want and Amos Trust are marketing Christmas cards depicting the security barrier and conflating Jesus with the Palestinians - a familiar theme among British NGOs.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is selling similar items to protest the "illegal structure" of the "apartheid wall," thereby also appealing to religious prejudices.

War on Want's cards feature "the three wise men trying to get to Bethlehem but being forced to dig underneath Israel's separation wall." A second card shows Mary and Joseph encountering a Bethlehem that is "effectively sealed off from the outside world by Israel's Separation Wall," and "Mary and Joseph being frisked on their way to find an inn for the night."

Similarly, Amos Trust advertises cards that portray Santa Claus walking along the security barrier with a bag of gifts, ringing a bell. The inside text ends, "As we celebrate the child born in Bethlehem - let us not forget God's children living in Bethlehem today." Additionally, as in previous years, Amos Trust offers the "Wall Nativity," which comes with a prayer guide and "complete with separation wall [and] depicts the current situation in Bethlehem."

On November 26, a group called Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods organized an event titled, "Bethlehem Now: Nine Alternative Lessons and Carols for Palestine," involving "traditional carols with untraditional lyrics, interspersed with poetry and prose readings, to highlight current reality in the Holy Land."

The event was held at a prominent Anglican church, St. James, Piccadilly, and proceeds supposedly went to Medical Aid for Palestinians and Open Bethlehem. While Medical Aid for Palestinians is funded to provide just that, medical aid, many of its activities focus on political campaigning, including accusations that the Israeli government is responsible for "harsh (and illegal) measures of collective punishment."

And Open Bethlehem, an NGO funded by Trocaire (the overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland), blames the "Israeli-built wall" for "an unprecedented wave of emigration, particularly among the city's Christians". Lyrics for the "Twelve Days of Christmas" include: "Twelve assassinations, Eleven homes demolished, Ten wells obstructed, Nine sniper towers... and an uprooted olive tree." "Once in Royal David's City" was changed to "Once in royal David's city stood a big apartheid wall..."

Israeli government sources said the work of these NGOs - some of which include Jews and Israeli citizens - crosses the line of legitimate criticism and feeds into efforts to delegitimize Israel.

There is concern in Israel that policy-makers look at the actions of these NGOs and conclude that they represent a substantial part of public opinion, something that could erode support for Israel at the governmental level.
The officials said Israel's supporters in the United Kingdom needed to speak out more clearly against this type of Israel-bashing, and not leave it to the embassy to respond.

Numerous NGOs participated in the Piccadilly event. War on Want was an official supporter and Bruce Kent, vice president of Pax Christi, was a special guest with a reading role. After the event he said, "The carols pointed out exactly what is going on in occupied Palestine today. I am delighted they have had the publicity that this has generated. Anyone who speaks against Zionist policies is labeled anti-Semitic."

Also in attendance was Baroness Jenny Tonge, former trustee of Christian Aid. The composers drew inspiration from Garth Hewitt, founder of the Amos Trust, who also wrote some of the alternative lyrics.

Israeli bestseller breaks national taboo

By Jonathan Cook
Dec 23, 2008, 03:58


Dr Shlomo argues that the idea of a Jewish nation is a myth invented little more than a century ago.


By Jonathan Cook

TEL AVIV - No one is more surprised than Shlomo Sand that his latest academic work has spent 19 weeks on Israel’s bestseller list – and that success has come to the history professor despite his book challenging Israel’s biggest taboo.

Dr Shlomo Sand argues that the idea of a Jewish nation – whose need for a safe haven was originally used to justify the founding of the state of Israel – is a myth invented little more than a century ago.

An expert on European history at Tel Aviv University, Dr Sand drew on extensive historical and archaeological research to support not only this claim but several more – all equally controversial.

In addition, he argues that the Jews were never exiled from the Holy Land, that most of today’s Jews have no historical connection to the land called Israel and that the only political solution to the country’s conflict with the Palestinians is to abolish the Jewish state.

The success of When and How Was the Jewish People Invented? looks likely to be repeated around the world. A French edition, launched last month, is selling so fast that it has already had three print runs.

Translations are under way into a dozen languages, including Arabic and English. But he predicted a rough ride from the pro-Israel lobby when the book is launched by his English publisher, Verso, in the United States next year.

In contrast, he said Israelis had been, if not exactly supportive, at least curious about his argument. Tom Segev, one of the country’s leading journalists, has called the book “fascinating and challenging”.

Surprisingly, Dr Sand said, most of his academic colleagues in Israel have shied away from tackling his arguments. One exception is Israel Bartal, a professor of Jewish history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Writing in Haaretz, the Israeli daily newspaper, Dr Bartal made little effort to rebut Dr Sand’s claims. Paradoxically, he dedicated much of his article instead to defending his profession. He suggested that Israeli historians were not as ignorant about the invented nature of Jewish history as Dr Sand contends.

The idea for the book had come to him many years ago, Dr Sand said, but he waited until recently to start working on it. “I cannot claim to be particularly courageous in publishing the book now,” he said. “I waited until I was a full professor. There is a price to be paid in Israeli academia for expressing views of this sort.”

Dr Sand’s main argument is that until little more than a century ago, Jews thought of themselves as Jews only because they shared a common religion. At the turn of the 20th century, he said, Zionist Jews challenged this idea and started creating a national history by inventing the idea that Jews existed as a people separate from their religion.

Equally, the modern Zionist idea of Jews being obligated to return from exile to the Promised Land was entirely alien to Judaism, he added.

“Zionism changed the idea of Jerusalem. Before, the holy places were seen as places to long for, not to be lived in. For 2,000 years Jews stayed away from Jerusalem not because they could not return but because their religion forbade them from returning until the messiah came.”

The biggest surprise during his research came when he started looking at the archaeological evidence from the biblical era.

“I was not raised as a Zionist, but like all other Israelis I took it for granted that the Jews were a people living in Judea and that they were exiled by the Romans in 70AD.

“But once I started looking at the evidence, I discovered that the kingdoms of David and Solomon were legends.

“Similarly with the exile. In fact, you can’t explain Jewishness without exile. But when I started to look for history books describing the events of this exile, I couldn’t find any. Not one.

“That was because the Romans did not exile people. In fact, Jews in Palestine were overwhelming peasants and all the evidence suggests they stayed on their lands.”

Instead, he believes an alternative theory is more plausible: the exile was a myth promoted by early Christians to recruit Jews to the new faith. “Christians wanted later generations of Jews to believe that their ancestors had been exiled as a punishment from God.”

So if there was no exile, how is it that so many Jews ended up scattered around the globe before the modern state of Israel began encouraging them to “return”?

Dr Sand said that, in the centuries immediately preceding and following the Christian era, Judaism was a proselytising religion, desperate for converts. “This is mentioned in the Roman literature of the time.”

Jews travelled to other regions seeking converts, particularly in Yemen and among the Berber tribes of North Africa. Centuries later, the people of the Khazar kingdom in what is today south Russia, would convert en masse to Judaism, becoming the genesis of the Ashkenazi Jews of central and eastern Europe.

Dr Sand pointed to the strange state of denial in which most Israelis live, noting that papers offered extensive coverage recently to the discovery of the capital of the Khazar kingdom next to the Caspian Sea.

Ynet, the website of Israel’s most popular newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, headlined the story: “Russian archaeologists find long-lost Jewish capital.” And yet none of the papers, he added, had considered the significance of this find to standard accounts of Jewish history.

One further question is prompted by Dr Sand’s account, as he himself notes: if most Jews never left the Holy Land, what became of them?

“It is not taught in Israeli schools but most of the early Zionist leaders, including David Ben Gurion [Israel’s first prime minister], believed that the Palestinians were the descendants of the area’s original Jews. They believed the Jews had later converted to Islam.”

Dr Sand attributed his colleagues’ reticence to engage with him to an implicit acknowledgement by many that the whole edifice of “Jewish history” taught at Israeli universities is built like a house of cards.

The problem with the teaching of history in Israel, Dr Sand said, dates to a decision in the 1930s to separate history into two disciplines: general history and Jewish history. Jewish history was assumed to need its own field of study because Jewish experience was considered unique.

“There’s no Jewish department of politics or sociology at the universities. Only history is taught in this way, and it has allowed specialists in Jewish history to live in a very insular and conservative world where they are not touched by modern developments in historical research.

“I’ve been criticised in Israel for writing about Jewish history when European history is my specialty. But a book like this needed a historian who is familiar with the standard concepts of historical inquiry used by academia in the rest of the world.”

-- Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are "Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East" (Pluto Press) and "Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair" (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net. This article originally appeared in The National (www.thenational.ae), published in Abu Dhabi.


-- Middle East Online

CARLOS LATUFF; CARTOONIST AND OPINION MAKER

December 24, 2008 at 8:03 am (Activism, Israel, Palestine, People's Art)

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)

He has been alternatively praised and vilified in the press for his depictions of suffering in places like the Palestinian Territories, Iraq, and the slums of Latin America. But Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff says he is not out to please anyone. MENASSAT spoke with Latuff on the heals of a newly released series of cartoons about Iraqi journalist Muntazer Al-Zaidi.
By JACKSON ALLERS

Scenes from Carlos Latuff’s comic-book, Captain Iraq - flank a real-world hero in the Arab world: the Iraqi shoe-throwing journalist, Muntazer Al-Zaidi. © Carlos Latuff

BEIRUT, December 23, 2008 (MENASSAT) — Carlos Latuff, 40, is nothing short of a one-man cartoon wrecking-ball when he hits the ink.
Based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Latuff has spent the last 15 plus years crafting a style that can best be described as “populist cartooning.” He has touched on issues like Apartheid in South Africa, the plight of Native Americans in the US and the oppression of Tibetans in China.

But perhaps his most controversial series to date is “We are all Palestinians,” in which he compares the actions taken by the Israeli government towards Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip directly to the Nazi’s treatment of Jews.

In a December interview with the Jewish cultural scholar Eddy Portnoy, Latuff said, “It happens to be Israeli Jews that are the oppressors of Palestinians. If they were Christians, Muslims or Buddhists, I would criticize them the same way.”

Latuff’s cartoon series of world leaders like former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, outgoing US president George W. Bush and British PM Tony Blair conjure up the distorted, monster-like depictions of UK-based stencil graffiti artist, Shepard Farley.

And his irreverent take on recent issues like the Bush shoe-throwing incident with the Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi has continued to stir-up hundreds of online comments equally praising and decrying his work.
i-heart-girl writes in one online forum, “Your pieces have inspired me to keep hoping, praying, and working for peace and the end of corruption, no matter how fruitless the attempt may seem. I hope you can continue to bring awareness to the ignorant.”
MENASSAT reached Latuff in Rio de Janeiro and conducted this on-line interview.

MENASSAT: Can you tell us about your personal history? Your biography says you’re 40-years-old. How long have you been a cartoonist?

CARLOS LATUFF: I have been a professional artist since 1989. I started as an illustrator for a small advertising agency and then worked as a political cartoonist for leftist trade union papers in 1990. But I’ve been drawing since I was a kid.
MENASSAT: Why did you decide to focus on issues relating to the Arab world?

CARLOS LATUFF: My work doesn’t only concern the Arab world. I also draw cartoons about concerns closer to home, like the police brutality in Brazil, the right-wing conspiracy against Evo Morales and his administration in Bolivia, and elsewhere, about events like the Russia-Georgia crisis, the riots in Greece, and so on. I do have a special focus on Palestine because of the time I spent there. When I was in the West Bank in 1999, I decided I would support the Palestinian struggle with my art.

MENASSAT: You’ve characterized your work as controversial. What is at the heart of your cartoons that makes them controversial?

CARLOS LATUFF: Touching the taboo of the Palestinian-Israeli [conflict] is always controversial, especially when you take the side of the oppressed. My art intends to break the common perception of the issue and it challenges the mainstream version of the conflict.
MENASSAT: Your work has been featured on Independent Media Center sites (www.imc.org) worldwide and in more mainstream publications like The Toronto Star. Which outlets have more impact on the public and does that matter to you?

CARLOS LATUFF: Having my cartoons shown from time to time in the mainstream media is only a consequence. The method I rely on the most to distribute my drawings are the good people throughout the world that are willing to reproduce my images online, via email, on their websites, etcetera.

MENASSAT: Your cartoon series, “We are all Palestinians,” published on the Swiss Independent Media Center (IMC) site in 2002 prompted a Jewish organization to level the charge of anti-Semitism towards your work. A Swiss court suspended the criminal proceedings, but do you think it was anti-Semitism?

CARLOS LATUFF: Regarding cartoons and anti-Semitism, I have a recent interview with Eddy Portnoy, which clarifies my opinion about this on my blog, Tales of Iraq War. As a cartoonist, I feel comfortable enough to make any comparison I think necessary that expresses my point. Metaphors are the key point to political cartooning. Of course Israel isn’t building gas chambers in the West Bank, but surely we can find some similarities between the treatment given to Palestinians by the [Israel Defense Forces] and the Jews under Nazi rule.

Inaccurate or not, it’s important to highlight that such comparisons have been made worldwide—not only by cartoonists but by people such as Yosef ‘Tommy’ Lapid, Ariel Sharon’s former Justice Minister and a Holocaust survivor [who died in June of 2008.] He said in 2004, during an interview, that a photo of an elderly Palestinian woman searching through rubble reminded him of his grandmother who died in Auschwitz. For me, this is more painful than comparisons of how Palestinians live under Israeli occupation.

My cartoons have no focus on the Jews or on Judaism. My focus is Israel as a political entity, as a government, their armed forces being a satellite of US interests in the Middle East, and especially Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. It happens to be Israeli Jews that are the oppressors of Palestinians. If they were Christians, Muslims or Buddhists, I would criticize them the same way. I made cartoons about George Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Tony Blair, [former Mexican President] Ernesto Zedillo, [former Chilean dictator Augusto] Pinochet, and none of them were Jewish.

I mean… you insult the Muslims with a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a [suicide] bomber and claim the right to freedom of speech, but if you make drawings about the Holocaust, then it’s hatred against the Jews.

MENASSAT: On your deviant art page, you list Sebastião Salgado as a big influence. A lot of his work has dealt with the oppressed and downtrodden in societies, and
 his assignments are often lengthy ones. Do you look to replicate this documentary approach with your cartoon work—as opposed to a one-off political cartoon?

CARLOS LATUFF: The cartoons I make aren’t directed at middle-class, bourgeoisie readers, so I really don’t care about what they think or believe. I make art for people living in Gaza, in Baghdad, in the slums of Latin America, ordinary people, the populace. I hope this art can serve to boost the morale of people suffering and the freedom fighters in every corner of the planet.

LATUFF ON THE WEB:
► http://latuff2.deviantart.com/

► http://tales-of-iraq-war.blogspot.com/

In GAZA, SANTA IS INSOLVENT

December 24, 2008 at 6:51 am (Gaza, Holidays, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, Religion)

Ben Heine © Cartoons)

In Gaza, Santa Is Insolvent

by Mohammed Omer

GAZA CITY - “Santa Claus is empty-handed this year … insolvent,” says Father Manuel Musallam, head of the Holy Family School in Gaza City.

“All forms of celebration are absent,” he says, raising his empty palms skyward. “We Christians and Muslims all live in fear and instability. The Israeli tanks, bulldozers, and warplanes have laid siege on us all.”

His school, which has both Muslim and Christian students, likes to celebrate including all, but this year few celebrations were planned, for fewer children.

The Sunday school headmaster of the Greek Orthodox Church, Jaber al-Jilda, echoes his Catholic colleague’s sentiments. “This year’s celebrations are mainly religious,” he says. “We want to celebrate, but our hearts are full of pain and grief. We cannot celebrate and at the same time watch as the funeral of another killed by Israeli occupation passes in front of our church.”

On Friday the building where he teaches is a mosque. On Sunday, it is a church.

“I don’t feel like celebrating Christmas,” says 16-year-old Merkiana Tarazi. “Without safety and peace, even if I wear new clothes, I won’t be happy.”

Like many in Gaza who have family members in Israel, Jordan, or the West Bank, Merkiana is cut off from much of her family. Her elder sister attending Birzeit University in the West Bank cannot come home for Christmas “because of the Israeli siege.”

In the past, even under occupation, Gaza’s Christian community celebrated Christmas, though without the commercialism and grandeur of the West. Before the second Palestinian uprising, the Intifada, began in 2000, Christians and Muslims would gather at Gaza’s main square on Christmas Day. A giant Christmas tree was set up in the square, and a Santa Claus handed out gifts to people on the street. Today, the municipality cannot afford a tree.

“We used to offer chocolate to our children at the school,” Father Musallam said. “But now because of the Israeli siege, no chocolate is available.”

The Christmas decorations are gone, too. “Paper and drawing materials are scarce. And if we happen to find supplies in the market, we cannot afford them. Even clothes or just the basic ingredients needed to make a Christmas cake are not available here.”

But the conditions have still not killed spirits; in place of chocolate, Father Manuel’s school arranged strawberries. Strawberries grown in Gaza were one of the products destined for Europe this year, but Israel stopped the export. That made them some hope at Christmas.

Jilda too has found his own substitutes. For Christmas gifts he is offering religious books instead of chocolates, dresses, and more traditional gifts.

Christmas comes this year amid stories that continue to surface in Western media accusing the Hamas government or Muslims in general of persecuting Christians in Gaza or Palestine. Not many Christians in Gaza say that.

“Hamas has never done that,” Jilda says emphatically. “They send representatives from Hamas to our celebrations. Last year, as the year before, they came and offered Christmas greetings at our church to the entire congregation.”

In the absence of much else, the Christian leaders offer words of hope.

“Christmas is about forgiveness and peace,” says Father Musallam. “It begins with a child. If we each plant a tree of happiness in our children’s hearts, the fruit produced will be peace. I send my love and respect to the world at a time when our people live in hope, and in despair.”

The above was written a year ago by our Gaza Brother….NOTHING HAS CHANGED SINCE.

of tunnel's and absurdities

of tunnel's and absurdities

Switzerland Gaza Steve

In life, one encounters odd situations

which often are at the limits of absurdity.

I remember the film:

The Great Escape

with Steve Mc.Queen among other stars

don't you ???

The key of that adventure , whether true or not,

was a Tunnel...... ..

Tunnels by definition are: "underground passages

that avoid a barrier , natural or not "

Having just passed a week in Switzerland,

I realised how would Switzerland be without its tunnels.

Palestine is not Switzerland unfortunately

otherwise the Zionists would rather be there

and not in Gaza....although Zionism or the State Israel

was symbolically born in Basel, Switzerland.

And I wounder if the Israelis would have been better

skiers than children-murderers. ....?

Why I now speak of tunnel's and absurdity

is the fact that soon all Palestinians would have

to dig tunnels under that WALL to visit their uncle Mazin

or the cousin Wael.......or just to reach their Olive trees.

People of Gaza build tunnel's to smuggle their liberating-guns

and liberation-bullets. ........nowadays with that new Global War

on Terrorism, the tunnel's are used only to smuggle the bread

and the Aspirins for the ill.....so it becomes the liberating-bread

and or the liberation-Aspirins .

The year 2008 starts today

and I presume my brothers in Palestine

shall become more active in tunnel-building than the Swiss.

Tunnel's are one solution of avoiding a problem

but destroying or rather eliminating any problem

would be better than avoiding it.

The Swiss cannot throw away the Alps in the sea

because the Alps are there before the Swiss ,

and the Alps are Switzerland ....but Zionism is not Palestine !!

Raja Chemayel

the second day in 2008

AT ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES JEWS CAN…. BUT ARABS CAN’T

November 14, 2007

Israel… the ‘only Democracy in the Middle East’ seems to have found another contradiction to that phrase…. it’s obviously only a Democracy for its Jewish citizens. The Palestinians that live here and have Israeli citizenship might as well have Identity Cards proclaiming that they are SECOND CLASS CITIZENS!

The following report from Ynet tells of the latest incident, this time at two major Israeli universities….

Students clash on ‘Kaffiyah Day’

Arab and Jewish students demonstrate at Haifa, Hebrew Universities on self-proclaimed ‘Kaffiyah Day.’ Chairman of Hadash students’ board in Haifa: ‘No reason to prohibit an Arab student from wearing his traditional garb on campus’

By Ahiya Raved

Some 100 Arab and Jewish students held opposing demonstrations on Wednesday at Haifa University as Arab students gathered to mark the newly christened “Kaffiyah Day.” A scuffle between the two groups was avoided only after campus security guards intervened. A similar protest was also held at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

“Kaffiyah Day” was declared by national Arab student organizations following an incident earlier in November in which an Arab student wearing a kaffiyah at the Hebrew University was assaulted by a group of Jewish students.

The Arab protestors in Haifa arrived at demonstration wearing the traditional headscarves. They chanted slogans and waved the Palestinian flag. The opposing demonstration held Israeli flags and sang the national anthem. Campus security was eventually forced to separated the groups or risk an escalation in the tensions.

Chairman of the University’s Hadash students club, Rabiyah Shaa’ir, said “there is no reason an Arab student should be attacked for wearing this traditional garb on campus. We reject the racist behavior of the Jewish students who tried to make him take off the kaffiyah.”

Freshman student Eva Biton told Ynet she was shocked to see Palestinian flags on a Jewish-Israeli campus: “I come from France where I witnessed many similar demonstrations. I didn’t believe that I will see these flags in Israel.”

Tension at the Hebrew University

Arab and Jewish students faced off in Jerusalem as well as tensions continue to rise on the Hebrew University campus. Earlier in the week a large-scale fight broke out between the two groups.

“These students are the future of the Israeli-Arab sector,” said Ali Baher, chairman of the Arab students’ board in Jerusalem.

“We need a generation of people who stand up for their rights and fight for their beliefs. We have a right to express our opinion, study here and confront those who don’t want us.”

The counter-protest was organized by Haifa University’s Student’s Union. Shai Panini, Chairman of the Union, said: “I cannot grasp the holding of a rally for the memory of a man (Yasser Arafat, who singlehandedly turned the kaffiyah into an enduring Palestinian icon) whose name brings revulsion to every Israeli citizen. I call on Haifa University not to allow rallies like these from now on for the sake of the fragile coexistence at Haifa University.”

Sa’ar Ziv,Spokesperson of the Union, added that “while no violation of freedom of speech took place, rallies of hatred and slander must not take place under the protection of free speech. We are shocked by the presence of such protests, which take place every year. Despite the Student’s Right Law, we don’t understand how the University allows such a thing. This is not what the law was designed to allow.”

The road to Bethlehem

1)

BBC correspondent Aleem Maqbool explains his motivation for retracing the Christmas journey made by Joseph and Mary in the New Testament.

For all the sacred places in this region - Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jericho - it is the land in-between where you can often feel most connected to history.

The hills and valleys have played a part in so many of the stories that still shape the lives of millions around the world today.

Whether you believe Mary and Joseph's walk ever took place or not, most of us became familiar with the story at a young age.

Many of us are even scarred by embarrassing moments acting in school nativity plays - or perhaps that is just me... I once played a sheep.

If it did happen, the journey of around 150km (93 miles), along Roman roads and dirt tracks, is likely to have been an arduous one, particularly for a heavily pregnant woman.

What does not get included in the nativity plays, is the probability that the couple also faced hostility from Samaritans who lived in what is now the northern West Bank.

Complex land

Of course, there are new difficulties today. The supposed route goes through areas of continued conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Army incursions, militancy, and checkpoints manned by soldiers are commonplace, and all have the potential to interrupt my journey.

Still, the notion of a walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem is, for me, a romantic one.

When I have told people here what I intend to do, they have generally seemed quite amused, but understand that it is a vehicle to tell modern day stories along this ancient route.

It will hopefully help me to get to know at least a little bit more about this complex land through getting to hear people's stories on the way.

For carrying daily provisions and equipment, a donkey seemed as practical a solution now as it might have done two millennia ago, and will, of course, be an added connection to the tale that inspired the journey.

SOURCE

Posted by Karin at 3:52 PM

BBC NEWS Middle East Route map: The road to Bethlehem


Aleem Maqbool will be repeating on foot the journey made by Mary and Joseph according to Luke the evangelist, about 2,000 years ago.

Aleem's journey, due to end on Christmas Eve, could turn out to be just as hard as that made by his predecessors, but in different ways.

Here are some of the places he and his donkey, Cynthia, are expected to pass through.

Nazareth : The town, according to Luke, where Mary and Joseph lived and where the Angel Gabriel appeared. The other gospels note that Jesus was brought up here.

Jenin : Known in the Bible as En-Gannim, a large refugee camp lies adjacent to the town.

Nablus: Founded by the Romans near the Biblical town of Shechem, where some say Prophet Joseph's tomb is located. It is a city with a recent history of militancy and is now surrounded by Israeli checkpoints.

Salfit : A Palestinian town near the large Jewish settlement of Ariel.

Al Bireh : Mary and Joseph are said to have lost Jesus here, on a later trip.

Beit Sahour: The place where, according to tradition, the Heavenly Host appeared to the shepherds.

Bethlehem : Aleem's journey ends in Manger Square. The Church of the Nativity, located on the square, is believed by Christians to have been built on the site of the manger where Jesus was lain in the Christmas story.

Story from BBC NEWS

BBC NEWS Middle East Route map: The road to Bethlehem

For all the sacred places in this region - Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jericho - it is the land in-between where you can often feel most connected to history.

The hills and valleys have played a part in so many of the stories that still shape the lives of millions around the world today.

Whether you believe Mary and Joseph's walk ever took place or not, most of us became familiar with the story at a young age.

Many of us are even scarred by embarrassing moments acting in school nativity plays - or perhaps that is just me... I once played a sheep.

If it did happen, the journey of around 150km (93 miles), along Roman roads and dirt tracks, is likely to have been an arduous one, particularly for a heavily pregnant woman.

What does not get included in the nativity plays, is the probability that the couple also faced hostility from Samaritans who lived in what is now the northern West Bank.

Complex land

Of course, there are new difficulties today. The supposed route goes through areas of continued conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Army incursions, militancy, and checkpoints manned by soldiers are commonplace, and all have the potential to interrupt my journey.

Still, the notion of a walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem is, for me, a romantic one.

When I have told people here what I intend to do, they have generally seemed quite amused, but understand that it is a vehicle to tell modern day stories along this ancient route.

It will hopefully help me to get to know at least a little bit more about this complex land through getting to hear people's stories on the way.

For carrying daily provisions and equipment, a donkey seemed as practical a solution now as it might have done two millennia ago, and will, of course, be an added connection to the tale that inspired the journey.

SOURCE

Posted by Karin at 3:52 PM

Gaza, You Are Not Alone!

The Newsletter of the Free Gaza Movement 3/2008, Dec. 22

"The siege of the Gaza strip has been in place for nearly two years. A total of seven crossing points linking Gaza with the outside world have been closed. Raw materials, food stuffs, spare parts, medical machines and tens of commodities were barred from Gaza. Construction projects, housing and infrastructure rehabilitation were halted, leaving Gaza in dire straits of poverty and chaos." This is what Sameh Habeeb, a photojournalist from Gaza, reports. The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, three more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza. On 20 December voyage # 5 reached Gaza, this time with a delegation from Qatar, see a two-minute video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2pBlFcIrss.

They are expected back this Tuesday. Now, other ships, especially cargo ships, need to follow in our wake. - Also in this issue: President Abbas calls the Free Gaza efforts a "silly game", Mazin Qumsiyeh asks "Why are Europeans Silent?", Fida Qishta reports on activities of the ISM in Gaza, there is a feature on the "Stories from Gazans" page from the Free Gaza website and the quote of the week. This week's photo "Children in a Gaza Refugee Camp" (912 x 684 pixel, 72 dpi) by Sameh A. Habeeb, Gaza, can be downloaded here.

Free Gaza # 5: Qataris First Arab Delegation to Break Blockade

The Free Gaza Movement boat, the Dignity, sent another ton of medicine, baby formula and gifts to Gaza on December 19. It arrived at Gaza Port at 8:00 am the following day after the Israeli Navy threatened to board it and take the two Israelis off the boat. "We know you have Israelis on board, so either turn back, or we will board and take them off," said the voice on the radio. "We are going to Gaza," Huwaida Arraf, the delegation leader, replied. This time, the donations come from the people of Qatar, and two envoys from that nation accompany the supplies. The envoys from Qatar will assess hospitals, schools and civilian centers and will return with recommendations on how to help the beleaguered Palestinians rebuild the infrastructure that Israel has destroyed. One of the much-needed projects is fixing the sanitation system, which Gazans have been unable to do since Israel refuses the entry of vital supplies such as lumber, steel and cement. The only way these supplies will be able to come to Gaza will be via the sea in large ships. "This is just the beginning. After we assess the situation there, we will go back and let the people of Qatar know how we can help. We are delighted that we are finally able to go and see how we can work together to help relieve this terrible situation in Gaza," said Aiz Al-Qahtani, one of the envoys from Qatar. The Dignity also returned two Palestinians who want to go home to their families, as well as Arabs from other countries who have never been able to visit Palestine as a result of Israel's occupation. In addition to these and the human rights workers, there are two Israelis on board, including a journalist from Israel's Channel 10 TV. Traveling back from Gaza to Cyprus on Tuesday are four Palestinians who have been denied their right to leave, even though they have citizenship from other countries. They hope to rejoin family members they have not seen for years.

See press release at http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=22eb1aaa4bbacdf8937fc7dfad86fd67&offset=

We Do Not Ask Permission from Israel

The Free Gaza Movement would like to correct a few the statements made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a December 11 interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper in which Abbas suggested that our efforts are coordinated with the Israelis and a "silly game" and that we are not really breaking the siege. We do not coordinate any of our actions with the Israelis. Israel has grossly abused its authority as an occupying power by collectively punishing the people of Gaza and denying them basic human rights. So, why do we get in, while other efforts are stopped by the Israeli authorities? Because we remove the "security" pretext. Amongst other things, we publicize our passenger list; we depart from a neutral European country; and we submit to a search by the Cypriot Port Authorities to verify that we are not carrying anything that can be considered a threat to Israel's security. We sail from Cyprus waters, into international waters, directly into Gaza's territorial waters, without entering Israeli waters. Israel realizes that it cannot stop us without using force against us, because we will not be turned around easily. President Abbas' statement that we coordinate with the Israelis was misinformed. However, Abbas was correct when he said that we are not really breaking the siege on Gaza. The Free Gaza Movement will continue to send boats to Gaza to challenge Israel's imprisonment of 1.5 million Palestinians, and we will continue to work for freedom and justice for all of the Palestinian people. We do not need Israel's permission and we will never ask for it. We do need President Abbas, the Arab world, and the entire international community to join us.

The whole press release is here http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=041f02d610102ad412c3f92ec140d2af&offset==

Why are Europeans Silent?

By Mazin Qumsiyeh, http://qumsiyeh.org/.

In Cyprus at our conference "Mediterranean Innovation and Research Coordination Action" and in the streets we talked to many Europeans. I asked why are Europeans silent about the slow genocide in Gaza. And if they do not care about the 1.5 million people of Gaza, are they not concerned about their own environment? The sewage of 1.5 million people is being dumped into the Mediterranean because of the Israeli blockade/siege of Gaza that cuts of electricity to the pumps, and prevents importation of needed supplies. That untreated sewage of 1.5 million people - many sick and malnourished - is pushed by the currents of the Suez and the Nile Delta north to coast of Europe (in addition to Tel Aviv!). Why are they silent? On the positive side, all are mobilized when informed so it tells us that we need to do a better job of informing/educating. And indeed Europeans are mobilizing and Cyprus is a center of that activity. In Cyprus, I was privileged to meet with two individuals involved in the Free Gaza movement which now regularly takes boats challenging the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Activists also joined ships doing fishing off the coast of Gaza. Israel confiscated three of the five Gaza fishing trollies thus cutting the 1.5 ton of fish caught to 0.5 ton! The inspiring struggle continues. Recently, thanks to activist letters, the European Parliament postponed a vote on upgrade of Israel relationship with the EU. But the foreign ministers of Europe, more beholden to imperial and special interests, just voted to go ahead and upgrade ties anyway. We must not let them get away with supporting apartheid. Write to them if you are a European.

Activities of the ISM in Gaza
By Fida Qishta, ISM Gaza Strip Co-ordinator.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM, http://www.palsolidarity.org/) is a Palestinian human rights organization with its main office in the West Bank. A major focus of ISM Gaza Strip's work over the last three or four months has been the fishing accompaniment actions which were a continuation of an action undertaken by the Free Gaza Movement during its first trip to Gaza. Members of subsequent Free Gaza delegations participated in ISM fishing actions. We also helped initiate a broader campaign of support for Palestinian fishermen. Our support for Gazan farmers during this year's olive harvest was at the invitation of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative. This facet of ISM Gaza Strip's work constituted part of ISM Palestine's 2008 Olive Harvest Campaign. We took part in a farmer's demonstration in the "Buffer Zone" organized by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) and attended a conference of Gazan farming associations, where one of the international volunteers spoke about the history of ISM, its aims, principles and current work. ISM Gaza Strip has participated in events organized by the Popular Campaign Against the Siege (PCAS), such as a candlelit demonstration and a protest against the siege at the Erez Crossing. We took part in a demonstration organized by Gazan fishing associations and PNGO, against Israeli restrictions on the Gazan fishing zone and Israeli naval attacks on Gazan fishermen. We also joined a demonstration at the Erez crossing organized by the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, to protest the tightening of the siege, as well as the abduction of Palestinian fishermen and international human rights observers.

Stories from Gazans

"Stories from Gazans" is a section of the Free Gaza website where we collect some individual accounts of people who live in the Gaza Strip. They are mostly in English and also not many yet. We want to show with these stories that there are human beings living there, people who have a right to live and to be happy. Almost half of the population is younger than 18.

See the "Stories from Gazans" page at http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?language=EN&module=stories

Quote of the Week

"Israel is acting as if it has something to hide, as I suspect it does. I condemn human rights abuses regardless of who commits them or what their history may be. I urge Israel both to respect human rights and to allow international observers to verify that they are doing so." - Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, http://www.billwilsonmsp.org/.

Text of Motion S3M-03116 Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (Scottish National Party): Israel's Detention of UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights - "That the Parliament notes reports of the detention of Professor Richard Falk, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, thereby denying him access to the Palestinian territories and Israel; further notes that reportedly this is partly in response to his claim that Israel's blockade of the Palestinian coastal territory of Gaza was a "Holocaust in the making", that Israel has previously denied access to Archbishop Desmond Tutu while he was on a UN fact-finding mission in Gaza and that it has deported human rights observers accompanying Gazan fishermen, and considers that if Israel were not guilty of human rights abuses in Palestine then it would welcome human rights observers and that denying them access only lends credence to warnings about the direction of its policies."

The Newsletter of the Free Gaza Movement and the website http://www.freegaza.org/ present news and background info on the nonviolent Free Gaza Movement and their action to break the siege of Gaza and Palestine. This issue was edited by Anis Hamadeh in Mainz, anis at anis-online.de.

German translation at http://www.anis-online.de/2/freegaza/newsletter/03.htm#dt ; Subscription over the "Friends of Gaza" Newslist at https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/gazafriends, contact to Free Gaza: friendsofgaza at gmail.com. Updated Free Gaza media clippings at http://www.freegaza.org/uploads/media/free_gaza_in_the_media.pdf. For general Palestine daily news visit http://www.theheadlines.org/

Celebrities further disassociate with settlement financier

Press release, Adalah-NY, 21 December 2008

Protesters chant outside of Lev Leviev's Madison Ave. store in New York City, 20 December 2008. (Adalah-NY)

Thirty human rights carolers braved the cold and ice on 20 December to serenade Manhattan's holiday shoppers with a call, for the second year, to boycott the jewelry store and companies of Israeli settlement-builder and diamond mogul Lev Leviev. Leviev's Madison Avenue store has been the site of 12 protests since it opened in mid-November 2007, and protests against his businesses have spread to London, Dubai and the West Bank villages where he is building settlements. Additionally, during the past year the UN children's agency UNICEF and the Oxfam coalition have renounced Leviev, major Hollywood stars have distanced themselves from him, and the governments of United Kingdom and Dubai are under pressure to boycott Leviev's businesses.

The carolers, from the New York-based human rights coalition Adalah-NY and other groups, were accompanied in singing and chanting by a percussion section from the Rude Mechanical Orchestra. Hundreds of copies of the comic "Who is Lev Leviev?" were given to passersby, many of whom stopped to hear the parody holiday songs while carrying shopping bags from Madison Avenue's most exclusive shops.

The most vigorously sung of today's eleven parody holiday carols included the following refrain, to the tune of "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel:"

Oh, boycott, boycott, boycott, don't buy Leviev today;
Funds crimes with all those profits, who needs diamonds anyway.

The carolers noted that their musical wish for Leviev, first expressed a year ago during holiday caroling, had been granted, as they again sang to the tune of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas:"

We wish you a loss of business, we wish you a loss of business, we wish you a loss of business, and a poor fiscal year;
Apartheid is how Leviev gets rich, screwing workers and Angolans throughout the year.

Riham Barhgouti from Adalah-NY explained, "During the last year, the value of Leviev's company Africa-Israel has plunged dramatically, imperiling his worldwide business empire, and Leviev's image has been badly tarnished by media attention to his companies' settlement construction in violation of international law, as well as his human rights violations in Angola and Namibia. In the new year, we wish that Leviev and all human rights violators will again receive appropriate rewards for their actions."

In the most recent blow to Leviev's reputation, on 19 December Adalah-NY announced that, following complaints by at least four major Hollywood stars whose photos were posted on Leviev's website, Leviev staff removed the entire celebrities photo section from his website www.leviev.com this week. The removal of the photos came after Adalah-NY and Jews Against the Occupation-NYC sent letters to and spoke with representatives for Salma Hayek, Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, Andie MacDowell, Lucy Liu, Whitney Houston and Sharon Stone, all of whose names and photos, apparently wearing Leviev jewelry, were featured in a celebrities section of Leviev's website.

Leviev's companies Africa Israel and Leader have recently built Jewish-only homes on Palestinian land in the Israeli settlements of Zufim, Mattityahu East, Har Homa and Maale Adumim, impoverishing Palestinian communities like Bilin and Jayyous and violating international law. Leviev also funds the settlement organization the Land Redemption Fund. In Angola, Leviev's close partnership in the diamond trade with President Dos Santos supports a corrupt government. In December, the Israeli financial journal Globes published an exposé of Leviev's serious rights abuses and failure to fully comply with the Kimberley Process in Angola. And in Namibia, Leviev recently fired around 200 striking diamond polishers, some of whom were already struggling to survive on less than $2/day. In New York, Leviev's real estate ventures in partnership with Shaya Boymelgreen have been associated with the displacement of lower- and middle-income families, prompting community and labor groups to organize against them.


Related Links
Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East
BY TOPIC: Boycott, divestment and sanctions