There is no better example than Iran. The Iranian government is not a victim of this, they deserve any revealing coverage that comes their way. It’s a country that thrives on its own people’s blood and by executing people at such a fast rate that it’s difficult to be shocked or even shaken by such news anymore. People hear about it so often that it’s numbing. They hear about it mostly because it’s accessible. U.S and Israeli media report it every day as a strategy to empower itself. It’s a brutal psychological war that uses real lives and real personal stories, real people, to give itself more power. The more it happens, the more they celebrate it. It shows from their energetic coverage of such news. For their convenience, such news helps to divert your attention away from their own crimes and their own dirty games that play a big role in today’s political and human rights crisis across our countries. Protesters shot and killed in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain? Move along people, nothing to see here.

Many of my activist friends in Iran share this same feeling. These governments (also oppressive) taking advantage of these activists who risk their own freedoms to expose these stories and who, as a consequence, have to witness these stories being used against them. We all know that the U.S and Israel, and their allies, have no interest in human rights and in us as human beings. They have an interest in their political and economic status, and to maintain Israel’s role as a superpower in the region, one that also thrives on blood and murder. But the U.S regards that as “necessary crimes” for Israel’s “survival,” though Iran and Syria can claim the same thing. They kill for the survival of their current government and current structure and to protect the current people in power. You can justify anything if you try to and sometimes it would even make sense, it just would never be right. Especially if it means you end up putting even more people in danger than they already were, which is what both the U.S and Israel are doing with its narrow coverage.

Some people ask why others are so focused on Israel when there are crimes happening in their own countries or other neighboring ones. The answer is that coverage of these issues gets in the wrong hands all too often. These are powerful hands who call the shots (literally.) In one instance you still want the entire world to know what crimes your government is committing and in another you don’t want to empower occupying and imperialist forces to use that as justice for their interference. A lot of people feel that the latter is an important struggle because the human rights movements feels incomplete without it.

Unfortunately for us, this will happen regardless of our fight against it. That doesn’t mean we can sit back and watch it happen, but we should expose it and discourage it and even refrain from speaking with certain journalists at certain papers and state our reasons why so that they understand that we’re not going to help their agendas that are in direct competition with ours. And our agenda is the simplest demand that is the hardest to fight for: to be free. Free from tyrannical regimes and free from occupying foreign forces.

1) Video: On Sunday 5 Feb 2012, villagers from Al-Walaja and international supporters went to the area where the Israeli apartheid authorities were still destroying lands to build a wall that will isolate the villagers from their remaining lands and allow for further expansion of the illegal colonies of Gilo and Har Gilo. Already over 90% of the village lands were taken for colonial settler activities in the past 6 decades. The area this short video was taken is just around the oldest tree in Bethlehem district (an olive tree > 3,000 year old).

2) The “Herzliya Conference” just concluded. This is the annual conference that brings the elites of the Israeli military industrial complex together to plot “strategy” in a coastal town named after the founder of Political Zionism Theodor Herzl. This location is on ethnically-cleansed Palestinian land (see for history of the location). Shimon Peres, a war criminal and architect of Israel’s arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction appropriately opened as a key note speaker. There were several sessions that touched on Iran including “Iran: Will Sanctions Work?” and “The Ticking Clock: Dissuading and containing Iran’s strategic ambitions” where war criminals like Danny Ayalon debated whether it is enough to continue to use clandestine terrorist operations in Iran or whether we need to push the US to start another war like they did on Iraq (one million civilians killed so far) on behalf of Israel. There was a session on “Galilee: Setting Priorities for Regional Development” where a number of Jewish Zionists discuss how to transform the Galilee into a Jewish area (without consulting the native inhabitants of the Galilee).

The Galilee and Negev were left with a good number of Palestinians after the ethnic cleansing during the foundation of “Israel”. There were sessions titled things like “Advancing Israel Normalization in the International Community” where efforts to whitewash apartheid are celebrated and plans for new propaganda and lobbying campaigns debated. There were also sessions celebrating the anniversary of the Jewish National Fund or KKL (Keren Keyemeth L’Israel), a group that participated for decades in ethnic cleansing and continues to do so (e.g. in the Negev where Bedouins are being displaced to Judaicize the Negev). Participants were also taken to military bases and training facilities of the apartheid army so that they could visit with the most moral army that caused the largest post-World War II refugee crisis and that has murdered over 25,000 children. There was even some talk about how to get Mahmoud Abbas (whose term has expired long ago) to return to fruitless and endless negotiations. After all, the “Peace process industry” needs to be revived so that more time is allowed for continued rape of Palestine (expanding colonial settlement etc)! In over 20 sessions, not one dealt with what the natives of Palestine (Christians and Muslims) go through or how we feel. To cap the “conference” the Israeli government made announcements of more land confiscation (e.g. 430 dunums in Nahhalin) and more home demolitions (e.g. in Al-Aqaba).

Shamelessly, the head of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon addressed this gathering of apartheid leaders. Also Mr. John Baird, foreign minister of Canada (with MP Irwin Cotler) came to claim that Canada supports Apartheid Israel. Mr. Riad Al-Khoury from Jordan came and thus also lent his blessings to apartheid. There was also the Zionist Zoelnick (head of the World Bank) and a few other American Jewish Zionists “discussing” how best to get Israel even more money and arms from our taxes.

I guess I should look on the positive side: that this year, there were less of those “Internationals” willing to show their faces at this circus. But it is a distraction to blame these rich elites but ultimately it is our responsibility to make sure that we end their games of domination, war, and destruction. People are taking on the responsibility of change and each of us can do more to advance peace with justice. The horrific events in Egypt (where 80 people were killed when fans of two football teams collided) also remind us of the worst element of human weaknesses. It then matters a lot what those who disapprove DO.

Unfortunately, many of our closest supporters and even Palestinians themselves do not understand basic issues relating to Palestine and the Israeli apartheid system. Because of these misunderstandings, they make devastating choices including for example supporting the mythical “two state solution”. I will not discuss here why it is mythical and why it is what led us to 20 years suspension of the Palestinian liberation Struggle in return for an industry of negotiations (yes an industry that is profiting some Palestinians who became invested in the status quo (i.e. in the occupation) and addicted to the “security aid” and “humanitarian aid” that comes primarily from the US and Europe (respectively). I already discussed this in detail in my 2004 book “Sharing the Land of Canaan”. But I am also willing to debate anyone in pubic on these issues.

3) Example of action: I wrote to these email addresses the letters below about Brussels Air promoting Israeli apartheid. Please read and if interested to write or take action based on your conscience, then please do. That is how change happens in society: when enough people say enough is enough!

To Brussels Air and Ink Global
wlemmes@brusselsairlines.com
gsciot@brusselsairlines.com
info@btheremag.com
jane.wright@ink-global.com
jenny.mcneely@ink-global.com
Bart.Beirlant@standaard.be

You did not respond to my earlier email (copy below) sent three weeks ago about your January 2012 Brussels Air magazine’s shameless promotion of Israeli apartheid. But then when I returned home from Belgium, I noted that this was not the first time you are promoting Apartheid Israel as a destination. In fact, your web-page which I just checked http://www.btheremag.com starts out with the August 2011 issue promoting Tel Aviv and stolen Palestinian food (Falafel) as if it is an Israeli food “Tasting Tel Aviv: Where Fashion meets Falafel”. So I am now personally boycotting your airline and will be promoting a boycott of your airlines.

Sincerely,
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Earlier email:

Dear Colleagues in Brussels Air and Ink Global

It was my first trip on Brussels Air and it will likely be the last. Your B.There! Airline magazine soured my trip since it promoted apartheid. Imagine if at the height of Apartheid in South Africa, your magazine chose to highlight the white part of the segregated country and promoted it in three distinct locations in one issue, something you do not do for any other of the nearly 200 destinations to normal cities/countries. This is precisely what you did by promoting Apartheid Israel in three locations in your January 2012 issue: On page 14 you promoted “Tel Aviv Art weekend”, on page 50 you promoted a Tel-Aviv “food blog”, and in page 55 you had feature article advertising (free) an Israeli company (Uploads). Brussels Air according to your magazine and website flies to nearly 200 destinations around the world. Yet, I saw most of those not mentioned in this magazine let alone deserving of three free promotional items.

This alone is favoritism but is scandalous when we add the fact that Israel is recognized by people around the world as an apartheid state and there is a worldwide movement for boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (BDS) called for by Palestinian Civil Society.

I realize Brussels Air contracts with a British company to do their magazine and the mistaken bias likely originated with Ink Global. Perhaps in your next magazine you can promote Palestine alternative tourism (www.atg.ps and http://sirajcenter.org/ ) or highlight the way Belgians are traveling to help their fellow human beings like in the upcoming welcome to Palestine Campaign (http://bienvenuepalestine.com/). I would be happy to help.

I have an email list of more than 50,000 activists and depending on your answer to this email, I will write to them to encourage a boycott of this airline. After all, there are other ways to travel without being pelted with free advertisements for apartheid Israel.

Sincerely,

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
Palestinian – American Professor and author currently on speaking tour in Belgium

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4) Sabeel 7th Young Adult Conference. Challenging Oppression, on a Donkey: Christ, Resistance, and Creative Discipleship.
4 -15 July 2012

Hamas, in an official statement, confirmed over the weekend that long-time leader Khaled Meshaal has informed the movement he does not intend to run again for political bureau chief when elections are held in the 55-member shura (consultative) council during the coming months.

But tellingly, Hamas also said the council may not accept Mr. Meshaal’s stepping down, leaving the door open for him to continue in the post he has held since 1996. Since 2004, due to Israel’s assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin and his successor Abdel-Aziz Rantissi, Mr. Meshaal has been the overall leader of the organization.

The Damascus-based Mr. Meshaal’s threat to stand down stems from a deepening split in Hamas where his leadership, including his efforts to steer the group into a reconciliation with the rival Fatah movement, and other recent signs of relative pragmatism, are being challenged by the increasingly powerful Gaza Hamas leadership, embodied in Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and Hamas founder Mahmoud Zahar.

Saying he does not want to run again may be a recognition by Mr. Meshaal he would not get elected or it may be a ploy to attempt to rally support behind him.

”He wants to know if the Hamas movement wants him to continue,” says Talal Awkal, a Gaza-based columnist for al-Ayyam daily newspaper. In Mr. Awkal’s view, Mr. Meshaal is also keenly aware that in the aftermath of last year’s Arab Spring, which saw the toppling of long-standing dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, he cannot be seen to be clinging to his leadership position indefinitely and he must at least appear ready to step down. ”He has been continuing in his position a long while, at the same time that people everywhere in the Arab world are rising up against those leaders holding onto their authority for a long time.” Mr. Awkal said.

In the event of Mr. Meshaal’s not running, the leading candidates to replace him would be his deputy, Musa Abu Marzouk, Mr. Haniya or Mr. Zahar. Mr. Abu Marzouk would be expected to continue Mr. Meshaal’s efforts to reconcile with Fatah, while the Gaza based leaders could overturn the policy. All of the successors are expected to continue Hamas’s refusal to recognize Israel while perhaps voicing willingness for a conditional truce with it.

The relative strength of the Gaza leadership has increased in recent years, starting with Hamas’s armed takeover of Gaza from Fatah in 2007. With its own de facto government in place there that levies taxes and customs and garners revenues from tunnels through which goods are brought from Egypt, the Hamas leadership in Gaza is no longer dependent on Iranian money channeled through Damascus. Meanwhile, the unrest in Syria and President Bashar Assad’s brutal suppression of it has severely weakened its utility to Meshaal as an ally and made Damascus an unsafe base from which much of the Hamas leadership has relocated. Mr. Meshaal desperately needs another haven.

A reconciliation with the leader of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas could bring his leadership back to the fore and help him achieve another base, possibly in Egypt, a strong backer of Fatah-Hamas unity. But much of the Gaza leadership is opposed to consummating a unity deal with Fatah. ”They don’t want to give up power or have a partner in the control of Gaza,” says Wadie Abu Nassar, head of the Haifa-based International Center for Consultations. Moreover, Gaza Hamas leaders harbor hopes that Mr. Abbas’s rule in the West Bank will collapse and they see no reason in propping up their rival.

Mr. Meshaal, survivor of a 1999 assassination attempt by the Mossad, has also touched off heated opposition from the Gazans through his stress in recent months that the struggle with Israel should be channeled into mass protests in the style of Tunisia and Egypt. Although Mr. Meshaal has not renounced violence, the Gazans see this stress as a betrayal of their venerated ”armed resistance” against Israel.

Inside Fatah, meanwhile, there are concerns that a new Hamas leader would be a negative development. ”Meshaal had a significant role in pursuing reconciliation,” Fatah leader Amin Makboul told the Associated Press. ”We hope his successor takes the same path particularly since there are some forces in Gaza who are not interested in reconciliation.”

The stabbing by three masked men Friday night of Mahmoud Abu Rahma, international affairs director of al-Mezan Human Rights Center, is seen as one of the more serious incidents of internal violence since the Islamic militant group’s armed takeover of Gaza in 2007. Hamas leaders have condemned the attack, which wounded Abu Rahma in the hand, back and leg, and insist it is not related to his criticism, human rights activists counter that the assault is the latest in a series of episodes undermining free expression for which the government bears ultimate responsibility.

”From what we have heard from Mahmoud and al-Mezan and according to the investigations they have made, this is a continuation of the attack on freedom of expression,” said Jaber Wishah, deputy director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR). ”As long as the authority is the responsible body, the full responsibility falls on its shoulders to stop such attacks.”

Abu Rahma had received numerous death threats since January 1. That was when he published an article on the Maan news agency website accusing resistance groups of causing death and injury by deploying and training next to schools and homes, a charge frequently leveled by Israel but until now not publicly voiced by Palestinians.

On January 3, Abu Rahma was roughed up by unarmed men, and on Friday he escaped being stabbed in the chest only because he was able to use his laptop as a shield, his brother Imad said, adding that the assailants shouted at him that he was a ”collaborator” with Israel.

In his article, Mr. Abu Rahma wrote:”Many citizens fall victim to the continuous negligence of the resistance groups, who show little or no care for people’s life and well being, or worse, fail to take responsibility for shocking acts by their members.Numerous people were injured by live fire coming from resistance group training sites including children, and at least one man lost an eye.”

He added that there is a training site in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya ”that threatens people every day including a girl who was injured inside her school when an explosion occurred in this site.”’

Abu Rahma also criticized the ”misfiring” of rockets aimed at Israel that ”fall on houses and kill [Gaza] civilians”
”Many children have been killed or maimed by explosive devices left in the streets or on farms,” he added. ”And there is the young man who was shot in the legs for daring to criticize a local resistance leader.”.

”Who will protect the people from the wrongful acts of the resistance and government?” Abu Rahma asked.
The assault on Abu Rahma follows a string of attacks against media outlets last year, including an attempt to set fire to the Maan offices in July and an incident in March, during which armed men entered the offices of Reuters and threatened employees with guns. According to Reuters account, the men struck one journalist on the arm with a metal bar and threatened to throw another out the window of the high rise. They took away a video camera apparently after they spotted a reporter filming a demonstration from a building. The group smashed a television set and other equipment before leaving and also seized videotapes from nearby offices of CNN and the Japanese station NHK. Reuters reported that the men said they came from Hamas internal security, but senior Hamas officials condemned the action and denied the group was involved in it.
”We are seeing a silencing of the press,” says Wishah, from PCHR.”These acts cause internal censorship which is even more harmful than external censorship.”

Salah Bardawil, a Hamas legislator, termed the attack against Abu Rahma ”a deplorable act.”

”Any attack on a Palestinian citizen is a crime and an attack on a human rights activist is a bigger crime,” he said. Bardawil stressed, however, that he thought the attack was the work of criminal elements and not political or related to Abu Rahma’s article.

He said Hamas works to uphold freedom of expression ”but on the ground there are some transgressions and we in the legislative council are working to correct this.” Bardawil took issue with Abu Rahma’s assertion that fighters endanger the lives of civilians by positioning themselves close to homes. ”These are the houses of our children and we don’t ever allow any resistance training that endangers civilians,” he said.

There is also a discrimination between the two genders in the international solidarity with the Palestinian cause… I had read a lot about the American, Rachel Corrie, who was killed because of her non-violent struggle in solidarity with Palestinians… But, it’s the first time to know that there is another British activist named Tom Hurndall who was also killed in Palestine in similar circumstances… I don’t know why people remember the feminine sacrifices more than male sacrifices?

I was also happy to read about the non-violent struggle of some Palestinian activists… I liked what I read in the organization, ISM (International Solidarity Movement)… For all of my life I was against the Palestinian movements because of their violent means, that’s why I am impressed by the non-violent Palestinian experience… I want to visit this organization when I visit Palestine and Israel.

I don’t deny that I started to feel big sympathy with Palestinians of the West Bank who are compelled everyday to see the occupying army of Israel in the streets and squares… I felt their feeling when I was compelled to see the occupying army of Tantawi in the streets and squares of Egypt after the coup d’etat of last February.

In the earphone of the MP3 I hear her refreshing voice… Ofra Haza, the fabulous Israeli singer… Singing in Arabic “Ya Helu ya Hali”… Prisons won’t prevent you of what you like, prisons are inside brains of Arabs preventing them from enjoying the art and the literature of Israel although they are theoretically free… I only in need to listen to the crazy Israeli band, Orphaned Land, even though I don’t know how will I see the the female dancer who dances oriental dancing on their songs on the MP3

I heard of the campaign by some Israeli females in solidarity with Aliaa El-Mahdi… You do it from behind my back, you bastards! All that while I’m imprisoned, waaa.

The Egyptian people are very strange… When Sadat presented the peace treaty for referendum, most of the people agreed on the treaty, then they come to think of me as a traitor because I want to apply the treaty in reality! Honestly, I want the referendum on the treaty to be made once again in order to silence the loud-voiced persons who speak on behalf of the people against the treaty, for no reason, but the referendum has to explicit, giving the people the choice between war or peace, because it’s necessary that the people understand that abolishing the treaty means entering a state of war.

Solidarity letters reach me from ordinary Israeli citizens, but it didn’t reach me any kind of solidarity of the Israeli government… The Israeli people remind me of the Egyptian people, a great people ruled by a gang with an extremist minority harms their image.

Speaking of the official solidarity… The German embassy in Egypt was the only one to send me an official for them to visit me in prison, when it was supposed to be that Israelis be the ones to do that, as I was saying on myself “pro-Israel” not “pro-Germany”… But, it’s OK, that’s what is expected of the government of Bibi “Netanyahu”.

Days before I was imprisoned, I wrote that I wanted to visit Israel, but their embassy refused to give me a visa… In reality, this is part of the truth, the first part of the truth is that before January revolution, there was an agreement with one of the Israeli activists who would have given me an official invitation from a minister of Likud, but after I read that the this minister participated in activists hostile to our revolution, I sent a message to this activist telling him not to send the invitation because I won’t accept that I go to Israel with an invitation from someone who stood against our revolution… Sometimes I ask myself: Was this stance of mine the reason of the was of the unpleasant treatment from the Israeli official since then?

I also sometimes ask myself: Did the Israeli not want me to enter Israel so that to preserve their relation with the Egyptian regime as I was saying? Or, they don’t want me to see Israel on its reality and change my idea about it? I won’t know the answer except after I see with my eyes.

Several years ago, a Palestinian activist from Gaza sent me an e-mail, telling me about his activism… He was joined with a group of teachers in Gaza, who were making researches on the effect of the Israeli gases on the psychology of children in Gaza, and they were taking foreign funds for long years, then the foreign fund, the business and the gifts were cut, then he sent me asking if I was able to help him in a source of foreign fund… I sent him a message, telling him that Palestinian children don’t need researches to be written on paper. Palestinian children need the Israeli gases to stop, and that won’t happen except with your recognition for Israel and entering a peace treaty with it… But, you are like that, you are like the doctor who wants his patient to always keep being ill, in order for the patient to always keep paying the bill of the medical check… Of course, after that, this fellow struggler didn’t answer me again.

I learned that “Yaakov Amitai” was hired as an ambassador to Egypt instead of “Yitzhak Levanon”… I’m happy with the departure of Levanon, the man who contributed in many political crises between the two nations… I don’t know anything about Yaakov Amitai and I’m pessimistic with the choices of Avigdor Lieberman, but I hope that he would be able to fix the relation between the two nations… My advices to him: You are an ambassador of Israel in Egypt, not an ambassador of Likud government for the military council; your role is to bring the peoples closer together, not that you preserve some ink on paper called the peace treaty. The peoples are more important than paper, Mr ambassador.

I really wonder of Hamas claims that it would throw Israel in the sea… I don’t know how a movement which doesn’t even own air force, how would it be able to enter a equivalent war? Not that it would win the war… Minds at rest already!

I think that the two peoples, the Palestinians and the Israelis, need to appreciate the value of “non-violence” and I think that this became easier after the Arab Spring… Likud needs to forget the saying “that the Arabs only understand force”, Hamas and its allies need to understand that they can achieve gains through non-violence, more than the gains that they achieve by their fake missiles (that if there are any gains).

I’m sad that Palestinians lost their round of recognition in the Security Council… The source of my sadness is that this loss will cause more frustration to the Palestinians, this would drive them to more violence… Also, if this step succeeded, this would encourage the Palestinians to follow the non-violent means, and this is in the interest of peace… In my opinion, Israel came out losing by the position of the Security Council.

My tutor Amin El-Mahdi, after reading my article “Why am I pro-Israel”, told me that it’s necessary to speak about disadvantages and advantages, in order to be fair and objective in my evaluation… This is what I tried to do in my article “Why Don’t we Also be Peaceful with Israel”, “Yes to Peace for Egypt before it is for Israel” and in this article “Establishing a Palestinian State is in the Interest of Israel”… The respect of the writer for himself (even if he was imprisoned) is more important than anything else in the world.

Maikel Nabil Sanad
El-Marg prison – prison hospital
2011/12/8

Related articles:
* Why am I pro-Israel
* Why Don’t we Also be Peaceful with Israel
* Yes to Peace for Egypt
* Establishing a Palestinian State is in the Interest of Israel

I have set up an e-petition urging the British Government to recognize the Genocide inflicted upon the Kurdish population by the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

If we get 100,000 signatures than they will debate this cause in the British Parliament, thus please sign and pass on your petition.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/25526

I would like to thank you all for the support and for being a friend to Kurdistan.

Laween Atroshi

What is your answer for the Middle East?

I would use Arab and Western capital and know how to build a Green Industrial Zone in Rafah, Gaza; where Gaza, Egypt and Israel converge, and where 300,000 Jews, Christians and Muslims would show up to work on a daily basis.

Why Rafah in particular? Isn’t that a tough neighborhood, to say the least?

Rafah is the “wild west” of the Middle East. But because it’s such a tough place, is why you want to build it there. Like Frank Sinatra sang about New York City, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere…”

Why a Green Industrial Zone? Why not a plain old, run-of-the-mill industrial zone?

Because we’re not just building an industrial zone. We’re building a new model for the Middle East, a model for positive change in that troubled region. We want to inspire a sense of hope, and deliver on that promise with jobs: jobs which grow our economies, jobs which protect the environment, and jobs which help weaken the hold of extremist thinking. By focusing the project on the environment, and by working to improve the human condition, on issues such as clean water, food production, healthcare and green energy, we are more likely to garner worldwide attention and additional investment dollars. As such, we could replicate the project throughout the Middle East, in a bid to revitalize the entire region with jobs. What begins as a single solitary project could well blossom into a movement for change.

How about Hamas? Wouldn’t they just blow up the place?

Even Hamas needs to create jobs. It’s one thing to get elected. It’s quite another to govern. As Hamas, or the Muslim Brotherhood, undertake to govern, and as they take note of what is happening on the Arab street even as we speak, they may come to the realization that job creation is in their interest as they attempt to consolidate political power. Therefore, while they may not agree to peace, they may agree to protect our Green Industrial Zone, as a way of inspiring the man on the street, and delivering on that promise with jobs.

What makes you think that wealthy Arabs and Westerners would likely invest in such a venture?

For the first time, in a long time, Arab, Israeli and Western leaders are facing some very common existential threats, namely, the prospect of a nuclear Iran, and the fury of the man on the street. These common existential threats, what we call a mosaic of mutual self-interest, could be leveraged into a strategic/economic alliance between the Arab states, Israel, the U.S., and Europe, with two purposes in mind: to provide security in the region, and to use Arab and Western capital and knowhow to revitalize the region with jobs. Millions of Western jobs could also be created in the process as we open up a new market for our goods and services.

Where would you get the green technology to run a Green Industrial Zone?

As it happens, counties like Israel offer quite a bit in this regard. My friend in the Technion, for example, just invested a way of engineering fruits and vegetables that are draught resistant and that use 70% less water. Imagine the possibilities for feeding people in places like the Middle East and Africa. And Israel would likely cooperate because she would much prefer to see positive change occurring in the Middle East, so that an already tough neighborhood does not become even more so.

Where would you find the workers with the necessary skills to handle green jobs?

We would build a vocational school, as part of our Green Industrial Zone, to train young workers, and to equip them with the necessary skills. We would also invest in female entrepreneurs and promote women’s rights.

Why women in particular?

Empower Muslim women in ways that they deem appropriate, and you will have changed the face of the Middle East. Who are women? They are the givers of life and the caretakers of life, and as such are uniquely qualified to reconstitute their societies consistent with a Vision of Hope.

Do you really believe that a new model of this sort is even possible?

Maybe, maybe not. However, some of the key players in the Middle East are quickly running out of good options. They may choose to join in, not because they necessarily love one another, or because they want peace, or because they want a better world for their children. No, none of that crap. They may join in because they’re running out of options, as the old model that has been put in place is falling apart. The writing is on the wall for all the business and political leaders in the Middle East. We see the energy in the hearts and minds of young people. We either find a way to marshal that energy and point it in a positive direction, or it will all explode in our collective faces.

How long will it all take?

A new Middle East may take generations to pull off. However, the plans for the industrial zone in Rafah already exist. A wealthy industrialist in Israel, Stef Wertheimer, already drew them up, and was ready to break ground, when the second Intifada broke out in the year 2000, and the plans were scrapped. We could use those plans, put some serious capital behind them, and launch the project immediately by with Caterpillar tractors showing up to clear the land. Even this first step would inspire a sense of hope, and would buy us time to effectuate positive chance gradually, as opposed to dealing with revolutionary change on our doorsteps.

A Green Industrial Zone in a wild and crazy place like Rafah will resonate with hope, and will deliver on that promise with jobs. It will be the model which answers the three greatest questions of our time: How do we grow our economies? How do we protect the environment? And how do we weaken the hold of extremist thinking? As such, it will capture the world’s imagination and be replicated in a bid to revitalize the entire region with jobs and personal freedoms. It will restore the rich legacy of Arab pride and dignity. It will bring stability where chaos now reigns. And it will point to a place where, for a change, everybody wins.

Even though I enjoy my own company, your comments would be greatly welcomed. You are also welcome to visit us at www.sellingavisionofhope.org for more information.

The 6 to 5 ruling late Wednesday comes after months of the court being under unprecedented attack from legislators in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party for—in their view—being too liberal and interventionist on human rights issues.

Citing security concerns, the justices upheld a 2003 provision that has led to draconian limits on family reunification and is believed to have prevented thousands of West Bank Palestinians from living with their spouses inside Israel. The provision was passed at the height of the second intifada uprising, when attacks on Israeli targets were frequent. It was later expanded to include spouses from enemy states such as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.

”Human rights are not a prescription for national suicide,” wrote Asher Grunis, who is about to become president of the court, in his opinion. Mr. Grunis argued that striking down the law would bring about the entry of thousands of Palestinian spouses and that the state could not take the risk that some would engage in terrorism and cause loss of life.
Human rights groups argue that Israeli law grants all citizens the right to family life and equality and that few Palestinian spouses have been involved in violence. But upholding those rights goes against the current mood in the Knesset and public, explained liberal legislator Nitzan Horowitz. ”There is an ill wind blowing from the Knesset and the judges are influenced by the harsh public atmosphere,” he said.

The court decision makes life more precarious for couples already living in Israel in which one partner comes from the West Bank. In recent years, the Israeli interior ministry allowed West Bank spouses to stay if they were males over 35 or females over 25 and not considered a security threat. These spouses are not allowed to work or even drive, and have to renew their permits every few months.

The gnawing fear now is that in the wake of the supreme court decision, the spouses’ permits will not be renewed.”This would separate our family into two parts,” said Tayseer Khatib, an Israeli Arab anthropology professor whose wife, Lana, comes from the West Bank city of Jenin. ”I will take responsibility for the kids if we have to separate. Lana will go to Jenin and I will stay in Acre with the kids.” The two fell in love when Tayseer conducted academic research in Jenin and met Lana, who moved to Acre six years ago. They have a four year old boy, Adnan and a three year old girl, Yusra. Tayseer says his leaving Acre to join Lana in Jenin would be out of the question, since he does not want to repeat the events of 1948, when thousands of Palestinians fled Acre under Jewish military pressure at Israel’s establishment.

A dissenting justice, Edmund Levy, warned that upholding the law was a negative turning point in the history of Israeli democracy.

According to the court ruling, about 135,000 Palestinians were granted Israeli citizenship through marriage between 1994 and 2002. Twenty percent of Israel’s citizens are Arabs, descendants of Palestinians who did not flee or were not expelled during Israel’s establishment in 1948. They frequently intermarry with Palestinians from the West Bank.

We native Christian and Muslim Palestinians remember that Jesus, the Aramaic speaking Palestinian born in this town spoke truth to powers and asked us to be a “light unto the world”. Join us in working for Peace and Justice this Christmas and the New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ALL

Cartoons for Christmas showing what Palestinians (Christians and Muslims) are thinking about -
From the PLO:

From ARIJ:

Data/Report on Bethlehem geopolitical status.

If you still want to make a year-end donation, I encourage you to do so to one of the many deserving Palestinian Charities in Palestine or to groups that do good work for Palestine abroad and have presence in the streets of your country (not ones that merely hold conventions).

PROGRAM

Friday 23/12/2011
18:00 – 21:00 Shepherds’ Nights Festival, Greek Catholic School, Beit Sahour (include Wajd Musical Band –Tunes for Peace Group, Baqoun Troupe for Palestinian Popular Heritage, and more)

Saturday Dec 24:
8:00 Orientation for Internationals about the advocacy work (Palestinian Center for Rapprochement)
10:00 Nativity Square – Christmas Card Distributtion to Tourist
16:00 – 20:00 Shepherds’ Nights Festival, Greek Catholic School (include Keefak Hey Band, Roni Rock, Children Show & Gifts, Sheibat Band – Rock and Roll)

- December 1908: Palestinian villagers of Kafr Kama (near Tiberias) tried to reclaim land taken unfairly by the “Jewish Colonisation Association” (yes that was its actual name).

- 9 December 1917, British forces marched into Jerusalem to begin over three decades of repressive occupation that devastated the country and left an apartheid system in its wake.

- 14 December 1920: Third Congress of the Arab Executive Committee meets in Haifa and declares opposition to the Balfour Declaration and to Zionist plans for Palestine.

- December 1921: The Jewish Zionist Herbert Samuel appointed by the British as a “High Commissioner” of Palestine makes decrees allowing transfer of native Arab land ownership to the European Zionist movement.

- 7-17 December 1931: general Islamic conference held in Jerusalem attended by 145 key Islamic scholars and leaders from 22 countries.

- 13 December 1931: leaders of the previous organisation Al-Arabiya Al-Fatat and supporters of independence were mobilised and 50 of them met in the home of Awni Abd Hadi and drafted an Arab nationalist covenant. This document re-emphasised the regional Arab context for the struggle for Palestine as a joint effort against imperialism )this movement evolved later in 1933to form Hizb Al-Istiqlal).

- 9 December 1935: Palestinian strategy meetings and popular gatherings were held to commemorate the anniversary of the British occupation recognized as the beginning stirrings of the intifada/uprising of 1936-1939.

- December 1936: Michel Mitri, the most recognised Palestinian labour leader of the period, was assassinated by Zionist forces. He had dared to challenge the monopoly/hegemony of the Histadrut (Zionist labour federation) and always believed in popular resistance activities (non-violent).

- 2-4 December 1947: Three-day Palestinian general strike to reject the unfair conditions of a partition resolution at the UN which allocated 55% of the land to Jews who constituted less than a third of the population and were mostly new migrants (many illegal).

- 31 December 1947: Zionist forces massacred 60 villagers in Balad Al-Sheikh (Haifa district). Dozens of villages were “cleansed” in this December wave. Massacres were committed in Al-Tira, Haifa, Balad el-Sheikh, Yehiday, Khisas, and Qazaza. Between December 1st 1947 and May 14, 1948 (the date, the Zionists unilaterally declared their state), over half of the Palestinian refugee population was created. Thus, half of the 530 village and towns were ethnically cleansed while the area was still supposedly under British rule and protection (another British government treachery).

- 1 December 1948: The (British appointed) King of Jordan convened a conference in Jericho of unelected Palestinian elites who were to profit from agreeing to his annexation of what became known as the West Bank of Jordan. Later, the Jordanian monarch and his British Army commander turned the Negev and the Galilee over to Israel to allow the further expansion of the nascent state. The ancient name of Palestine was thus erased on both sides of what was to be called the Green Line (the armistice line)

- 2 December 1961: Arab students at the Hebrew University convened and established the Arab Jewish Committee ‘to end the military rule’ (the few remaining Palestinians inside the new state of Israel were under military rule from 1948-1966).

- December 1975: Israeli occupation forces raid Al-Qassaba area of Nablus killing nonviolent protesters.

- December 1986: Israeli soldiers chase students inside Birzeit university and used live ammunition, killing two and injuring twelve students.

- December 1987: demonstrations throughout Palestine and dozens of civilians (most under 18) were murdered.

- 13 December 1988: Arafat addressed the UNGA meeting in Geneva and stated that all parties should live in peace and security ‘including the state of Palestine, Israel, and other neighbours’.

- 15 December 1988: The Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People (PCR) issued an invitation to Internationals (including Israelis) to Beit Sahour to help break the siege and curfew. This was the beginnings of what evolved into the International Solidarity Movement.

- mid-December 1992: Israel took the unprecedented step of ordering the deportation to Lebanon of 416 Palestinians (an act contrary to international law). They stayed near the border in tents provided by the Red Cross and resisted the deportation.

I could go on but as can be seen December is as any other period in history brings up both sad memories of atrocities as well as memories of resilience and persistence and resistance of ordinary people. As we look to 2012, we hope that what is left of December will see more of the latter actions. There is a genuine popular resistance movement in the Arab world. But, as happened previously there are those who try to profit from other people’s work by posing only for the cameras or in conference rooms or worse yet engage in destroying the resistance while speaking about it in positive terms. There is a counter-revolutionary movement by forces allied with the US, with the apartheid regime (otherwise known as Israel), and with the cleptocracy (otherwise known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). There is an effort (which I think and hope will fail) to co-opt these revolutions. Some in the West (goaded on by Israeli lobbies) now speak openly of “allowing” Islamic forces to take over and in return insist that each new government ignores its people’s wishes and continue to support (or even increase) its support of Israel and allow “Free Market” businesses to continue to get rich people richer and poor people poorer. Libyan elites indeed were very open about this as are some opposition forces in Syria blessed by the US. The recent interview with a Mr. Ghalyoun of the Syrian opposition that appeared on the pages of the Wall Street Journal is an indication of such co-opted individuals. But we are hearing more rational voices from Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Libya and elsewhere that is against dictatorships and for real democracy (which means isolating racist apartheid regimes). We must support all these people and demand real democracy.

Let there be no mistake about it, hundreds of millions of dollars are being mobilized and intelligence services and diplomatic and business “teams” are very busy shuttling back and forth to ensure this outcome. There is also a game of regional interests and some groups watching their own interests (Iran, Hezbollah, Turkey etc.). There are also dirty games of divide and conquer and false-flag operations. In all this mayhem, better awareness and education are critical. People who do not become aware and engage in serious work will go extinct (or at least continue to be impoverished) in the wild foggy jungle.

Palestinian Center for Human Rights: PLO’s Refusal to Pursue Accountability at UN Exhibits Disregard for Victims of Gaza Conflict.

From Occupation to “Occupy”: The Israelification of American Domestic Security” By Max Blumenthal:

Given the amount of training the NYPD and so many other police forces have received from Israel’s military-intelligence apparatus, and the profuse levels of gratitude American police chiefs have expressed to their Israeli mentors, it is worth asking how much Israeli instruction has influenced the way the police have attempted to suppress the Occupy movement, and how much it will inform police repression of future upsurges of street protest. But already, the Israelification of American law enforcement appears to have intensified police hostility towards the civilian population, blurring the lines between protesters, common criminals, and terrorists.

As an example of what Max is talking about, here is an example of a good peaceful action met with US police Brutality.

And [Israeli Apartheid] “Law Enforcement” Destroys Prayer House, Homes, School – Just Because They’re for Arabs.

Action for California people.

UN assembly passes 6 resolutions on Mideast conflict
“Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and United States voted against each of the resolutions.” [All other >180 countries voted for them with few abstentions]

*Taken from the book “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of hope and empowerment” where you can find references/citation.

Mazin Qumsiyeh
A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home