Existential struggle

Now the numbers killed in the indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza exceeded 40,000 registered deaths (72% of them women and children). But the number of deaths could be many folds more (at least ten thousand under the rubble, many thousands died for lack of food or medical care etc). But globally the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. How do they do it and how do we stop it. First simple facts:

-The reasons we have high incidence of hurricanes, floods, and other catastrophe is man made climate change-The reason we are not doing much about climate change is that there are greedy individuals who profit from the trends
-There are no just wars. There are understandable and justified resistance of native people to colonialism
-The uncontrollable fascist Western-created “Jewish state” is beginning to be an irritant to Western Powers who invested hundreds of billions in this pet project of imperialism. Hence, they try to save it from itself and from furthering the genocide that is embarrassing them and exposing western hypocrisy. Hence they are meeting in Qatar. Such efforts are driven more by failures: failure of the 5th strongest army in the world (supported by the US and the UK and France) to defeat a guerrilla force in the besieged and occupied Gaza strip; failure to create a deep Shia-Sunni divide; failure to mobilize the word against Islam; failure to contain the truth of what is happening on the ground; failure to bully their way.. etc.
-Western creations like ISIS/Daesh are now exposed for their agendas and are in retreat in the face of pushback by people of all faiths (Sunni Kurdish, Shia, Christian etc).
- Countries like North Korea, Russia, China, Venezuela and Iran watched what the US did in places like Libya, Syria and Iraq. They watched as western powers did economic sabotage and caused havoc around the world (from blowing up Nord Stream Pipeline to economic strangulation). Instead of successfully bankrupting Russia and China, the US/Israel policies are bankrupting their own states. -Israel is not an asset to the US or to any other country but a liability to the whole world. Zionism is not nationalism, it is a worldwide movement in which Israel is only one of its bases. A world Zionist network created Israel and supports it at the cost of millions of native Arab rights. It is a movement based on manipulation, wars, destruction and genocide GLOBALLY.
-We have wars to distract us from the inequalities and injustices and to make money for a few already very rich people. Zionist Jews dominate these elites (Mirriam Adelson just donated $100 million to the trump campaign and >50% of donations to the Democratic party come from Zionists).
-An axis of resistance against US and Zionist imperialism does exist and does have the support of most of the people globally (e.g. see growth of BDS movement and public surveys and see what countries like Yemen and Lebanon are doing to stem aggression and genocide)
-An axis of collaboration, lies, deceit, and murder does exist and has the support of most of the regimes in the Arab world (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Egypt, Morocco) as well as regimes in Western countries (US, Britain, Australia, France)
-Demography has shifted around the world and thus most regimes move to assert more government controls and less democracy. Laws are enacted to silence any critics. The best tool for governments is to use perceived threats (previously communism, now immigrants, Islam and terrorism). False flag operations have thus gone dramatically up.
-For people to act is no longer a luxury but an existential need to protect our species. The last two decades showed that the schemes of the rich and powerful can delay freedom and damage sustainability. Yet, we the people can and do succeed. People do make a difference. If you think on all positive things in human history, they all happened by people acting positively and challenging status quo or rising up to help those in need. The most important development is that citizens in the West now know the truths including the truth that their systems are managed by moneyed interests and distractions and thus they have no democratic say in government (selecting "lesser of two evils" to give the delusion of "democracy" and "voting").

Apathy is an enemy of progress, action works. We are hopeful because as Howard Zinn once wrote (and I quoted it in my book “
Sharing the Land of Canaan” in 2004):

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

الحل

على مدى السنوات الخمس والأربعين الماضية، كنت ناشطاً في الشوارع وعلى شبكة الإنترنت مع نضال شعبنا من أجل العودة وتقرير المصير في مواجهة نظام استعماري وحشي لا يرحم. قرأت آلاف الكتب وكتبت بعضها بنفسي. قرأت عشرات الآلاف من الأبحاث والأوراق التحليلية (وكتبت مئات منها بنفسي). في الواقع، يمكن وصف مشكلة بلدنا بإيجاز شديد. ويمكن وصف حلها (العلاجات) بإيجاز أيضاً. إن تنفيذ الحل سيكون ممكناً وهو السبيل الوحيد لتجنب حرب عالمية كارثية.

باختصار، لدينا 15 مليون فلسطيني أصلي، وأكثر من 8 ملايين منا أصبحوا لاجئين أو نازحين قسرا (وهذا العدد يتزايد يومياً). حتى الآن قُتل أو هلك أكثر من 250 ألف فلسطيني بسبب سياسات الإبادة الجماعية منذ عام 1948. وأصيب مليون فلسطيني وسجن مليون آخر منذ عام 1948. وقع اليهود الجناة تحت تأثير فكرة تسمى الصهيونية التي تحاول إقناع الناس بأن اليهودية هي جنسية (اليهودية القسطنطينية كما أطلق عليها مارك إليس) وبالتالي فإن اليهود كجماعة ليس لديهم الحق في هذه الأرض القديمة فحسب، بل لديهم حق حصري فيها. تم جمع أكبر عدد ممكن من اليهود من جميع أنحاء العالم للاستيلاء على الأراضي الأصلية بقوة السلاح وقوات جماعات الضغط في جميع أنحاء العالم التي تذهب إلى الحكومات الغربية لتبني هذا المشروع المتمثل في التطهير العرقي والإبادة الجماعية (وتدمير البيئة وكل شيئ!).

إن المشاكل الرئيسية التي واجهت هذا المشروع الاستعماري هي 1) أنه وصل إلى الاستعمار متأخراً بعض الشيء بعد أن فقد الاستعمار جاذبيته (المدينة اللامعة على التل، والأرض الموعودة، والأعراق الأدنى وكل ذلك)، 2) المقاومة العنيدة من قبل السكان المحليين (المسيحيين، المسلمين، البهائيين، الدروز، إلخ) الذين لم يرحلوا ببساطة (انظر كتابي حول هذا الموضوع http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/، و3) صعوبة السيطرة على المعلومات في القرن الحادي والعشرين (على سبيل المثال البث المباشر لأعمال الإبادة الجماعية تنشر على منصات التواصل).

إن الدعم للمشروع الصهيوني وسبب استمراره لفترة طويلة كان عدة أسباب (ليس بترتيب معين): 1) الدعاية الجيدة التي تم نشرها على نطاق واسع من خلال وسائل الإعلام الغربية الخاضعة لسيطرة جيدة وهوليوود والتي خلقت وهمًا (ثقافة شعبية) بأن إسرائيل ديمقراطية وأنها مخلصة ومفيدة لليهود وأنها تدافع عن نفسها ، 2) شبكة صهيونية عالمية قوية التنظيم على استعداد لفعل أي شيء من أجل تعزيز القضية بما في ذلك الرشوة والابتزاز ولي الذراع بطرق أخرى، 3) سياسة إنشاء ودعم "زعماء" مستبدين عرب ومسلمين على استعداد لدعم المشروع للاحتفاظ بمقاعدهم. لقد تلقت هذه الركائز الثلاث ضربات قوية بسبب المقاومة والإبادة الجماعية المتعمدة والمستمرة الواضحة والصحوة العالمية (بما في ذلك العربية والإسلامية). لكن يبدو أن الركائز صامدة حتى الآن رغم اهتزازها. وفكرتي هي أن الضربات الموجهة إلى هذه الركائز يجب أن تتزايد بشكل كبير لإنهاء هذا الكابوس للبشرية وتجنب حرب عالمية كارثية (حيث سيكون الجميع خاسرين). ما هي المطارق التي تحتاج إلى تعزيز؟

1) المقاومة: بطبيعة الحال، في النضالات الاستعمارية المناهضة للاستعمار، تكون أغلب أشكال المقاومة غير مسلحة وبعضها مسلح. ويعترف القانون الدولي ليس فقط بحق المقاومة بل والالتزام بالمقاومة. وهذا يشمل ضرورة بناء مؤسسات الصمود (المرونة/المقاومة) على الأرض مثل مؤسستنا (palestinenature.org) ومئات المؤسسات الأخرى. وعلى مدى السنوات المائة والخمسين الماضية، ثبت أن قتل المزيد من الفلسطينيين يخلق مقاومة أكثر (وحتى أكثر ذكاءً/إبداعًا) (انظر مرة أخرى كتابي حول هذا الموضوع http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/).

2) الدعم من قبل جميع أصحاب الضمير في جميع أنحاء العالم. وهذا يشمل أشياء مثل المقاطعة وسحب الاستثمارات وفرض العقوبات (انظر bdsmovement.net)، والعمل الإعلامي، والعصيان المدني وغير ذلك.

3) قول الحقيقة: نشر الرواية الحقيقية لما يحدث وتبديد الأساطير والأكاذيب بما في ذلك حول "حق المستعمرين في الدفاع عن أنفسهم"، وطبيعة أنظمة الفصل العنصري، وأساطير "حل الدولتين". وللتعرف على هذه الأساطير، راجع كتابي الصادر عام 2004 http://qumsiyeh.org/sharingthelandofcanaan/

4) تفكيك شبكة دعم الاستعمار. ويشمل هذا فضح كل الأفراد والكيانات التي تدعم الصهيونية بما في ذلك "السلطة الفلسطينية". فقد أنشئت السلطة الفلسطينية بموجب "اتفاقات أوسلو" وكان من المفترض أن تكون مؤقتة لمدة 5 سنوات ولكنها الآن تبلغ من العمر 30 عامًا وقد جعلت "إسرائيل" ناجحة اقتصاديًا ودبلوماسيًا بينما دمرت مجتمعنا ودمرت المقاومة الشعبية بشكل منهجي. وهذا هو الاحتلال الاستعماري الأكثر ربحية في التاريخ. إن تقويض هذا النظام المزور أمر ضروري وكذلك الدفع نحو إنهاء الاستعمار والنضال ضد الفصل العنصري. وهذا أصعب بكثير على المستعمرين التعامل معه. راجع كتب إدوارد سعيد حول هذا الموضوع.

لاحظ أنني لم أضف نقطة خامسة حول الأمم المتحدة أو القوانين أو الاتفاقيات الدولية لأن تنفيذها يعتمد على آليات تستطيع الولايات المتحدة استخدام حق النقض عليها، مما يمنح إسرائيل الحصانة. إن الأمر لا يزال غامضاً بشأن ما إذا كانت مثل هذه الآليات أو حتى التصريحات الصادرة عن منظمات حقوق الإنسان لها فائدة تتجاوز قيمتها في العلاقات العامة. لذا ينبغي أن تكون النقاط الأربع المذكورة أعلاه كافية في تآزرها لضرب الركائز الثلاث المذكورة أعلاه والتي تدعم الاستعمار الصهيوني. هذا هو مسارنا الإنساني الذي يبتعد عن المسار الصهيوني الذي يؤدي إلى فناء العالم ونبوءة نهاية العالم Armageddon التي تحقق ذاتها. لا يزال بوسعنا إنقاذ البشرية ولكن النافذة تضيق لذا يتعين علينا أن نتحرك على وجه السرعة. ونقدر أفكاركم.


أتظن أنك عندمـــا أحـــرقتنــي ورقصت كالشيطان فوق رفاتي
وتركتنـــي للذاريــات تـذرنــي كحلاً لعين الشمس في الفلـوات
أتظـن أنك قـد طــمست هويتي ومحــــوت تاريخي ومعتقـــداتي
عبثا تحاول …. لا فنـــاء لثائر أنــــا كالقيامـــه ذات يـــــوم آت
أنا مثـل عيـسى عــائد وبقــــوة مــن كــل عاصـــفة ألـم شتـاتي
سأعــود أقدم عاشــــق متمــرد سأعـود أعظـم أعظم الثــــورات
سأعود بالتوراة والإنجيـل والــ قـــرآن والتسـبــيح والصـــلواتي
سأعـود بالأديـان ديــناً واحـــداً خــــــال مـــن الأحقـاد والنعرات
رجل من الأخدود ما من عودتي بـد … أنا كل الزمــــــان الآتــي
مهذل الصقور

The path forward

Over the past 45 years, I have been active on the streets and on the internet for our people struggle for return and self-determination in the face of a most brutal and merciless colonial regime. I read thousands of books and wrote a few myself. I read tens of thousands of research and analytical papers (and wrote hundreds myself). The problem of our country can actually be described very briefly. Its solution (remedies) can also be described briefly. Implementing the solution would be doable and is the only way to avoid a catastrophic world war.

So briefly, we have 15 million indigenous Palestinians, over 8 million of us are intentionally made refugees or displaced people (and that number increases daily). So far over 250,000 Palestinians were killed or perished prematurely thanks to genocidal policies since 1948. A million were injured and another million imprisoned since 1948. The perpetrator Jews fell under the spell of an idea called Zionism that tries to convince people that Jewishness is a nationality (Constantinian Judaism as called by Marc Ellis) and thus that Jews as a collective not only have a right to this ancient land but have an exclusive right to it. Gathering as many Jews as possible from around the world to take over indigenous land was done by force of arms and forces of lobbies around the world that go Western Governments to adopt this project of ethnic cleansing and genocide (and ecoside and scholasticide!).

The main problems faced by this colonial project are 1) that it arrived at colonialism a bit late after colonialism lost its appeal (the shiny city on a hill, promised land, inferior races and all that), 2) A stubborn resistance of the local people (Christian, Muslim, Bahai, Druz etc) who would not simply go away (see my book on this http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/), and 3) difficulty to control information in the 21st century (e.g. live feed of genocidal acts).

The main support for the Zionist project and why it persisted so long were several (not in any particular order): 1) very good hasbara /propaganda disseminated largely through well controlled western corporate media and Hollywood creating an illusion (pop culture) that Israel is a democracy, that it is redemptive and good for Jews, and that it is defending itself against barbarism, 2) A well-oiled Zionist network willing to do anything to advance the cause including bribery, blackmail, and arms twisting in other ways, 3) A policy of creation and support of Arab and Muslim autocratic “leaders” willing to support the project to keep their seats. These three pillars have received significant blows thanks to the obvious intentional and ongoing genocide and a global (including Arab and Muslim awakening). But the pillars for now seem to hold though shaky. My thought is that the pounding at those pillars must increase significantly to end this nightmare for humanity and to avoid a catastrophic world war (where ALL will be losers). What are the hammers pounding that need to be strengthened?

1) Resistance: naturally in colonial anti-colonial struggles, most of the resistance is unarmed and some of it armed. International law recognizes not only a right to resistance but obligation to resist. This includes the imperative of building institutions of sumud (resilience/resistance) on the ground like our own institution (palestinenature.org) and hundreds more. Over the past 150 years, it has been shown that killing more Palestinians creates more (and even smarter/more innovative) resistance (again see my book on this http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/).

2) Support by all people of conscience around the world. This includes things like Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanction (See bdsmovement.net), media work, civil disobedience and more.

3) Truth telling: Putting out the real narrative of what is happening and dispelling the myths and lies including about colonizers “right to defend themselves”, nature of racist apartheid regimes, and the myths of a “two-state solution”. For the latter, see my 2004 book http://qumsiyeh.org/sharingthelandofcanaan/

4) Dismantling the support network of colonialism. This includes exposing al individuals and entities that support Zionism including the “Palestinian Authority” (PA). The PA was created by the “Oslo accords” and supposed to be interim for 5 years but is now 30 year old and had made “Israel” economically and diplomatically successful while destroying our society methodically. This is now the most profitable colonial occupation in history. Undermining this rigged system is an imperative as is pushing for the alternative “decolonization” and anti-apartheid struggle. That is much harder for colonialist to cope with. See books by Edward Said on this.

Note I did not add a fifth point about the UN, International laws or conventions since their implementation depends on mechanisms where the US can and has used veto power on those thus giving Israel impunity. The jury is still out on whether such mechanisms or even statements by human rights organizations have utility beyond their public relations value. The four points above should suffice in synergy to hammer more at the three above listed pillars of Zionist colonial support. This is our human path which is away from the Zionist path which leads to world annihilation and self-fulfilling prophesy of Armageddon. We still can save humanity but the window is closing so we must act urgently. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Finally a poem with translation

أتظن أنك عندمـــا أحـــرقتنــي ورقصت كالشيطان فوق رفاتي
وتركتنـــي للذاريــات تـذرنــي كحلاً لعين الشمس في الفلـوات
أتظـن أنك قـد طــمست هويتي ومحــــوت تاريخي ومعتقـــداتي
عبثا تحاول …. لا فنـــاء لثائر أنــــا كالقيامـــه ذات يـــــوم آت
أنا مثـل عيـسى عــائد وبقــــوة مــن كــل عاصـــفة ألـم شتـاتي
سأعــود أقدم عاشــــق متمــرد سأعـود أعظـم أعظم الثــــورات
سأعود بالتوراة والإنجيـل والــ قـــرآن والتسـبــيح والصـــلواتي
سأعـود بالأديـان ديــناً واحـــداً خــــــال مـــن الأحقـاد والنعرات
رجل من الأخدود ما من عودتي بـد … أنا كل الزمــــــان الآتــي
مهذل الصقور

My rough translation (Poet Mohthel AlSqour)

Do you think that when you burned me And danced like devil over my remains
And left me for thrashers to thrash me Shades to the eyes of the sun in sockets
Do you think you have suppressed my identity And erased my beliefs and my history
In vain you try - no extinguishing a revolutionary I, like the resurrection, one day coming
I am like Jesus coming back strong and from each storm gathers mself
I will come back - oldest revolting lover and back as the gloriest of highest revolutions
I will be back with the Torah, the Injil* and the Quran and the tasbih** and the prayers
I will be back with all religions as one religion devoid of hatred and divisiveness
A man from the trench inevitable my return.. I am all the coming times …

*= new testament
**=glorification of god/supplication

Implosion and rebuilding

 Langston Hughes poem ("Lenox Avenue Mural" in the 1930s)

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

The “Israeli” Knesset voted to deny any possibility of a Palestinian state in Palestine. I read polls indicating most Israelis support the ongoing genocide of our people. I heard Donald Trump (next President of the “USA”) stoke colonial language and defend racist ancestors (who he called “our great ancestors”). The remaining indigenous people of that country, blacks, Hispanics, immigrants and people of conscience all felt the horror of colonial racism that Trump epitomizes. Genocide Joe Biden does not provide an alternative. The Green party does. But in any case, as the US Empire implodes, I am thinking of how such colonial powers (US and Israel) dehumanize their victims and get more cruel in their last days. The biggest current victims of the empire's dehumanization is of course us, the Palestinian people.  It is abundantly clear that oppressors spend an inordinate amount of time and resources to dehumanize their victims. But we humans spend an inordinate amount of time also trying to suppress our own humanity. To dehumanize someone is to deprive them of essential human qualities such as compassion, individuality, love, and social contact. Making a family line up in the sun for hours to cross a checkpoint is a form of dehumanizing. It is dehumanizing to deny food, water, and medical care, to destroy means of livelihood, to take someone's land, to torture prisoners, deprive them of food, and countless other brutal actions that constitute genocide. Ecoside and scholasticide are also part of this and it is happening.  Dehumanizing makes it easier for the colonizers to not feel compassion for their victims as they rob them of their lands and natural resources. In so doing the colonizers thus also dehumanize themselves because they have to desensitize themselves to human suffering. But the victims themselves can also internalize the dehumanization to think of themselves as somehow unworthy or that their life can only gain meaning if they emulate their oppressors and thus become oppressors themselves.  This spiral of dehumanizing can and must be challenged and the obvious way to do it is via our efforts to humanize ourselves and others: show compassion, mercy, love, and connectedness. The struggle is mostly inward and it is our own negativism that must be challenged every day, nay every hour. That is the humanizing struggle that is the hardest struggle of all.

To remind those who may have forgotten, below is the charter of the PLO which was never legally amended (perhaps it should be). Today 8 million of the 15 million Palestinians in the world are refugees or displaced people. Most of us are calling for a democratic election to the Palestine National Council per the charter after which some things can be reconsidered democratically by those representing us (Jews, Christians, Muslims). Some of the things we believe would then be brought up and voted upon include the issue of inclusion of all Jewish (now Israeli) residents of the country who reject Zionism/colonialism and the issue of increased emphasis on popular resistance (see my book http://qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/). Bringing the PNC back to life in a democratic way can ensure modernization, updating, and ultimately success of the mission and goals of the Palestine LIBERATION Organization instead of the current untenable situation hwre a Palestinian authority is disconnected from reality and is irrelevant except in serving the security needs of occupiers. The other option is to create a new PLO that addresses today's main challenge which is the US/Israel intensified efforts not only to liquidate the Palestinian struggle but to liquidate the people of Palestine (genocide) by a most fascist government. We are at a historic moment and the crisis provides an opportunity for renewal now with support of hundreds of millions of people around the world after the genocidal intent of imperial and Zionist forces became as clear as sunlight. Everyone now knows that no durable peace or progress in this area will happen without justice to the Palestinians and ending Zionist racism and creating real democracies. We must agree on tactics and strategy to do this. The alternative is a World War and we all die!

THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL CHARTER
Resolutions of the Palestine National Council, July 1-17, 1968

Article 1: Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation.
Article 2: Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit.
Article 3: The Palestinian Arab people possess the legal right to their homeland and have the right to determine their destiny after achieving the liberation of their country in accordance with their wishes and entirely of their own accord and will.
Article 4: The Palestinian identity is a genuine, essential, and inherent characteristic; it is transmitted from parents to children. The Zionist occupation and the dispersal of the Palestinian Arab people, through the disasters which befell them, do not make them lose their Palestinian identity and their membership in the Palestinian community, nor do they negate them.
Article 5: The Palestinians are those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or have stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father - whether inside Palestine or outside it - is also a Palestinian.
Article 6: The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians.
Article 7: That there is a Palestinian community and that it has material, spiritual, and historical connection with Palestine are indisputable facts. It is a national duty to bring up individual Palestinians in an Arab revolutionary manner. All means of information and education must be adopted in order to acquaint the Palestinian with his country in the most profound manner, both spiritual and material, that is possible. He must be prepared for the armed struggle and ready to sacrifice his wealth and his life in order to win back his homeland and bring about its liberation.
Article 8: The phase in their history, through which the Palestinian people are now living, is that of national (watani) struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Thus the conflicts among the Palestinian national forces are secondary, and should be ended for the sake of the basic conflict that exists between the forces of Zionism and of imperialism on the one hand, and the Palestinian Arab people on the other. On this basis the Palestinian masses, regardless of whether they are residing in the national homeland or in diaspora (mahajir) constitute - both their organizations and the individuals - one national front working for the retrieval of Palestine and its liberation through armed struggle.
Article 9: Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. Thus it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle and to work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it. They also assert their right to normal life in Palestine and to exercise their right to self-determination and sovereignty over it.
Article 10: Commando action constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war. This requires its escalation, comprehensiveness, and the mobilization of all the Palestinian popular and educational efforts and their organization and involvement in the armed Palestinian revolution. It also requires the achieving of unity for the national (watani) struggle among the different groupings of the Palestinian people, and between the Palestinian people and the Arab masses, so as to secure the continuation of the revolution, its escalation, and victory.
Article 11: The Palestinians will have three mottoes: national (wataniyya) unity, national (qawmiyya) mobilization, and liberation.
Article 12: The Palestinian people believe in Arab unity. In order to contribute their share toward the attainment of that objective, however, they must, at the present stage of their struggle, safeguard their Palestinian identity and develop their consciousness of that identity, and oppose any plan that may dissolve or impair it.
Article 13: Arab unity and the liberation of Palestine are two complementary objectives, the attainment of either of which facilitates the attainment of the other. Thus, Arab unity leads to the liberation of Palestine, the liberation of Palestine leads to Arab unity; and work toward the realization of one objective proceeds side by side with work toward the realization of the other.
Article 14: The destiny of the Arab nation, and indeed Arab existence itself, depend upon the destiny of the Palestine cause. From this interdependence springs the Arab nation's pursuit of, and striving for, the liberation of Palestine. The people of Palestine play the role of the vanguard in the realization of this sacred (qawmi) goal.
Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation - peoples and governments - with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. Accordingly, the Arab nation must mobilize all its military, human, moral, and spiritual capabilities to participate actively with the Palestinian people in the liberation of Palestine. It must, particularly in the phase of the armed Palestinian revolution, offer and furnish the
Palestinian people with all possible help, and material and human support, and make available to them the means and opportunities that will enable them to continue to carry out their leading role in the armed revolution, until they liberate their homeland.
Article 16: The liberation of Palestine, from a spiritual point of view, will provide the Holy Land with an atmosphere of safety and tranquility, which in turn will safeguard the country's religious sanctuaries and guarantee freedom of worship and of visit to all, without discrimination of race, color, language, or religion. Accordingly, the people of Palestine look to all spiritual forces in the world for support.
Article 17: The liberation of Palestine, from a human point of view, will restore to the Palestinian individual his dignity, pride, and freedom. Accordingly the Palestinian Arab people look forward to the support of all those who believe in the dignity of man and his freedom in the world.
Article 18: The liberation of Palestine, from an international point of view, is a defensive action necessitated by the demands of self-defense. Accordingly the Palestinian people, desirous as they are of the friendship of all people, look to freedom-loving, and peace-loving states for support in order to restore their legitimate rights in Palestine, to re-establish peace and security in the country, and to enable its people to exercise national sovereignty and freedom.
Article 19: The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people and to their natural right in their homeland, and inconsistent with the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, particularly the right to self determination.
Article 20: The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.
Article 21: The Arab Palestinian people, expressing themselves by the armed Palestinian revolution, reject all solutions which are substitutes for the total liberation of Palestine and reject all proposals aiming at the liquidation of the Palestinian problem, or its internationalization.
Article 22: Zionism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist, and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, unity, and progress. Israel is a constant source of threat vis-a-vis peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Since the liberation of Palestine will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence and will contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East, the Palestinian people look for the support of all the progressive and peaceful forces and urge them all, irrespective of their affiliations and beliefs, to offer the Palestinian people all aid and support in their just struggle for the liberation of their homeland.
Article 23: The demand of security and peace, as well as the demand of right and justice, require all states to consider Zionism an illegitimate movement, to outlaw its existence, and to ban its operations, in order that friendly relations among peoples may be preserved, and the loyalty of citizens to their respective homelands safeguarded.
Article 24: The Palestinian people believe in the principles of justice, freedom, sovereignty, self-determination, human dignity, and in the right of all peoples to exercise them.
Article 25: For the realization of the goals of this Charter and its principles, the Palestine Liberation Organization will perform its role in the liberation of Palestine in accordance with the Constitution of this Organization.
Article 26: The Palestine Liberation Organization, representative of the Palestinian revolutionary forces, is responsible for the Palestinian Arab people's movement in its struggle - to retrieve its homeland, liberate and return to it and exercise the right to self-determination in it - in all military, political, and financial fields and also for whatever may be required by the Palestine case on the inter-Arab and international levels.
Article 27: The Palestine Liberation Organization shall cooperate with all Arab states, each according to its potentialities; and will adopt a neutral policy among them in the light of the requirements of the war of liberation; and on this basis it shall not interfere in the internal affairs of any Arab state.
Article 28: The Palestinian Arab people assert the genuineness and independence of their national (wataniyya) revolution and reject all forms of intervention, trusteeship, and subordination.
Article 29: The Palestinian people possess the fundamental and genuine legal right to liberate and retrieve their homeland. The Palestinian people determine their attitude toward all states and forces on the basis of the stands they adopt vis-a-vis to the Palestinian revolution to fulfill the aims of the Palestinian people.
Article 30: Fighters and carriers of arms in the war of liberation are the nucleus of the popular army which will be the protective force for the gains of the Palestinian Arab people.
Article 31: The Organization shall have a flag, an oath of allegiance, and an anthem. All this shall be decided upon in accordance with a special regulation.
Article 32: Regulations, which shall be known as the Constitution of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, shall be annexed to this Charter. It will lay down the manner in which the Organization, and its organs and institutions, shall be constituted; the respective competence of each; and the requirements of its obligation under the Charter.
Article 33: This Charter shall not be amended save by [vote of] a majority of two-thirds of the total membership of the National Congress of the Palestine Liberation Organization [taken] at a special session convened for that purpose.

May he live

I tried to cross into Jerusalem today (where I used to be a high school teacher) and was denied by the apartheid colonizers. My wife too. Our US passports notwithstanding. This is a clear violation of the agreement reached with the US State Department that allowed Israelis to enter the US on a visa waiver program. US citizens are not treated with respect agreed to. Over the weekend we were stopped from doing our field work in the Jordan valley by these apartheid regime forces. This was not the first time. In so many occasions we are harassed and prevented from having any normalcy. In other parts of Palestine, the situation is much worse. In the Gaza Strip alone over the past nine months 186,000 Palestinians were killed by bombing them, by denial of food, water, medicine and by destroying their infrastructure etc. As I am in touch with many families in Gaza by phone I hear horror stories including literally starving to death and if there is a food it is only bread or only rice (no proteins, vegetables, milk, fruits etc.). And what worries me more are families we lost touch with (no phones). The regime tramples our right of religion, right of movement, right of education, essentially our rights of life.

I reflect on these horrors. I reflect on Western (US, Germany, UK, Australia etc) collusion and collaboration with an ongoing genocide and ongoing process of ethnic cleansing. I reflect on hypocrisy and on cowardice. I reflect on racism and hate that left 8 million of us refugees and displaced and the rest squeezed into concentration camps. I reflect on 21,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails being treated worse than any regime ever treated its oppressed people in its prisons. Torture, starvation, amputations, denial of medical care and dozens killed under torture that we know off (but fate of 98% of prisoners unknown since no legal reprentation or visit by Redcross/Redcrescent is allowed). I reflect on the control of western mainstream media that ensures little or no coverage of reality and lots of regurgitation of lies and distortions. I reflect on all of that but I do not get despondent. Why? Because of one thing: resistance. My book "Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of hope and empowerment" summarized over a 120 years of resistance, 14 uprisings (this Gaza Ghetto uprising makes number 15). This includes hundreds of forms of resistance; only tiny minority armed and that is also legal and encouraged by international law.

May he live (and die) resisting
by Mazin Qumsiyeh

Bulldozers uprooting 2000 year old olive trees
While refugees still to doors they hold the keys
Settlers and soldiers marauding and killing
Of lands and homes they enjoy pillaging
A grandfather laments 7 year old girl, soul of his soul
Colonial partners send money and soldiers to play a role
Chldrens' brains in their fathers hand
While Netanyahu's son on florida beach gets tanned
Bloodied heads tossed far from bodies
Decaying bodies left in destroyed hospitals
While politicians verbal acrobatics belittles
the 2000 pound bombs leveling neighborhood supplied by the USA
while Zionist Blinken pressures ICC and ICJ to stop or delay
A girl insists that she recognized a mother from her hair
But a consumerist world shrugs - we don't care
Soldiers and politicians of a most fascist army threaten and mock
as F35s bombs Nuseirat, Gaza city, Bureij, Rafah... and every block
No safe place in a concentration camp packed by refugees
Being denied food, medicine, fuel, and all amenities
D9 bulldozers, buzzing drones, white phosphorous, fire belts,
moans of death under the rubble and babies flesh melts
to get stock prices of weapon makers soar
while genocide Joe plays the role of a whore
all for Palestine's gas fields to steal
a new Asia-Europe 6 trillion road deal
the Suez replaced by the Ben Gurion Canal
Nile to Euphrates "promised people" cabal
Belt-and-Road initiative replaced
a new empire to be created
Old ones subjugated
Via lobbies dominated
Olive trees destroyed
Pine trees planted
Communities uprooted
Racists validated
A global war initiated
To make the rich richer
and the poor poorer

To all this there is antidote available
Resistance is possible
We resist by insisting on our rights
to return, to live, to eat, to kindle our lights
to hope, to live, to plant our trees
to tend to our vegetables, and our bees
for we believe that to exist
means to resist
and to resist means to live free
like human beings should be
For there is no other path
to avoid the wrath
to live meaningfully
and die peacefully
And when I am dead
Let it be said
here lies a good troublemaker
of actions and ideas a baker
born poor, died poor
helped others in the short tour
in the land of his birth
lived a rich life in resistance
with dogged persistence
the hope alive he kept
for injustice he wept
the path of struggle he travelled
through storms he peddled
may he get his wish to die resisting
as he lived joyfully participating
In life's sorrows
dodging arrows
Not resting
Fully Loving
Meaningfully Living
Peacefully Dying

On Julian Assange
https://youtu.be/PYIyq6tpQ-4
https://youtu.be/GIsaWXVFlf4

Gaza toll could exceed 186,000, Lancet study says
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/8/gaza-toll-could-exceed-186000-lancet-study-says
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

Some zionists are racists and discrete, others are racist and more open about their intentions https://x.com/Kahlissee/status/1809485517483852029

5 more journalists killed in Gaza bringing number of journalists killed by Israeli forces to 158 in 9 months (more than all other countries combined in five years) https://efe.com/en/latest-news/2024-07-06/journalists-in-gaza-tragic-toll-reaches-158-amid-ongoing-conflict/

90 Minutes that shook the Liberals awake . An opinion about the dismal state of affairs of US/Israel empire (with a quote from me)
https://popularresistance.org/90-minutes-that-shook-the-liberals-awake/

Stay Human and keep Palestine alive

Moral test of our time

Why Palestine matters: The most important moral test of our time
[References at end]

This was said 30 years ago: “This is a unique colonialism that we’ve been subjected to where they have no use for us. The best Palestinian for them is either dead or gone. It’s not where they want to exploit us, or that they need to keep us there in the way of Algeria or South Africa as a subclass.” (Edward Said, in The Pen and the Sword: Conversations with Edward Said, by David Barsamian, 1994.)

Day 262 of the murderous and genocidal attacks on Gaza Strip. Over 150,000 Palestinians killed or injured. 80% of buildings destroyed including residential buildings, hospitals, schools, universities, streets, and other infrastructure [R01]. But this genocide is implemented not merely with bombing civilians but with starvation and denial of water, medicine, and all aspects of livability. More people are now dying of diseases and famine than from bombings. The environmental impact of this genocidal war has also been devastating [R02]. In parallel with this, there is an attack here in the West Bank (including Jerusalem) that is no less mean and no less important. I was just in the Jordan valley and the situation is dire: some 3000 Jewish colonial settlers pillaged the land and the natural resources and the population of Palestinians there has shrunk from 350,000 to some 75,000. The armed settlers and soldiers are on a rampage [R03]. The onslaught throughout Palestine not being halted by UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire not by the cases at the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court. Nothing seems to deter this fascist government running this apartheid state. Zionist occupied White House is hosting ICC criminal Gallant and the Zionist-occupied US congress extended an invitation to ICC lunatic criminal Netanyahu to give a speech to a joint session of congress. This is working against US laws and against US interests to serve Zionazi genocide. Imagine inviting Hitler and Himmler as a genocide goes on? Will the US public (taxpayers) rise-up in arms against this?

Will the massive demonstrations happening in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem against the Israeli government make them pause? It is unlikely. Not even the perilous threat of a catastrophic regional war. In the north of Palestine, the Lebanese resistance showed that there is not Israeli target that is off-limits to it [R04]. This time unlike previous wars, Israel cannot destroy Beirut again without Tel Aviv being destroyed. Yet again Netanyahu is unphased. He disbanded his "war cabinet" and feels empowered by the Zionist lobby's hold on the US government [R05].

Zionism is not merely what the ideology that devastated our ancient society and culture with ethnic cleansing and genocide but what it has done to a three generations of Jews (both indoctrinated here or abroad) has been equally troubling. The majority have bought into this idea of colonial supremacist Zionism [R06]. This allowed them to directly do or at least financially and publicly support the most atrocious crimes with cruelly, hatred, and dehumanization that no words can do justice to describe [R07]. Thus in so many levels Zionism is not only racist and genocidal but also suicidal [R08]. That is why hundreds of millions around the world including a growing number of Jews are saying that once Palestine is free from the river to the sea, Jews and all humans will be free. It is logical: there should NOT Be a Jewish State, Nor a White State, Nor a Christian State, Nor a Slave-based Confederacy State, Nor an Islamist State, Nor a Master-Race Third Reich State, Nor an Apartheid South African State. We should learn from history that these are genocidal suicidal states. But the stakes are much higher now as the genocide is streamed live and the world is armed to the teeth and technology is such that walls, tanks, and airplanes cannot “win” wars. If you want proof see what Hamas, Houthis in Yemen or Hizbollah are able to do to challenge empire (challenging western governments who spend trillions arming themselves).

Will the growth of the global popular mass movement cause the fall of empire or will the US/ Israel be allowed to continue to drag the world to a final Masada, an apocalypse, an end of the world? [R09]. We can and must win this this quest to end war and impose justice including Palestinian refugee right to return to their homes and lands. They are the few and we are the many!! In my talks around the world including my recent trip to the Australian continent (including Aotearoa) I explained that there is a 50:50 chance we will manage to change the direction of history. The alternative of regional followed by Global war is far too catastrophic to allow to happen. In either case, the empire will lose.

It is worth reiterating Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right."

There are many people doing what is right. One can cite the defections within the empire [R10]. One can only cite the growing campus movements around the world [R11] and the growth in the movement for Boycott, Divestments sections [R12]. We ae moved to accelerate our work as the moment of truth is upon us. "We either live together as fellow human beings or we die together as fools". The Palestine situation provides a moral test of our time but it is far more than that: it is an existential struggle in which people need to choose to be on the side of life not on the side of genocide/suicide.

Or you can read Langston Hughes, "Harlem" :
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

[R01] See for updated reports: https://www.ochaopt.org/ and https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/default.aspx
ICC case: https://www.commondreams.org/news/icc-war-cimes-gaza
The UN Human Rights Council has investigated Israel's war in detail - and the conclusions are DAMNING: "We conclude that Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity... including extermination, internationally directing attacks against civilians... using starvation as a method of war... sexual and gender-based violence..." All those states that touted the Rules Based Order in Ukraine must now act to impose a UNSC-sponsored arms embargo on Israel.
https://twitter.com/tparsi/status/1803434047927902395
An important message about Genocide from the leader of Human Rights Watch
https://x.com/OmarBaddar/status/1794919572426084559

[R02] UNEP: Environmental impact of conflict in Gaza https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/45739/environmental_impact_conflict_Gaza.pdf
Warning about loss of biodiversity in Gaza
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Gaza-Strip-Warnings-About-Destruction-Biodiversity-20240522-0011.html
It is time to seek justice for environmental war crimes
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/5/11/it-is-time-to-seek-justice-for-environmental-war-crimes
and my own paper on environmental impact of war
https://www.palestinenature.org/research/Impact-of-the-Israeli-military-activities-on-the-environment--1-.pdf

[R03] https://www.btselem.org/media/3826

[R04] Hezbollah releases close-up surveillance footage captured recently by its reconnaissance drones, showing sensitive Israeli targets in the north – including Haifa Port, a number of Iron Dome Platforms, and military complexes. https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/1803051154139496797
also there is realligment of powers and enhancement of BRICS+
https://thecradle.co/articles/the-brics-weigh-in-on-palestine

[R05] AIPAC (Israel's lobby) will spend $100 million to interfere in US elections this year!
https://x.com/resist_05/status/1803636065905062065?s=51&t=GU4KuWSGQpVHs-T_Mv4Nxw
Israel lobby gets bills to silence US media and other organizations (enforced by "Secretary of Treasury" who is always selected by the lobby) https://theintercept.com/2024/05/10/terrorism-bill-nonprofit-journalists-israel-hamas/
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/06/14/the-dangerous-anti-semitism-awareness-act/
See also exposure of the lobby on MSNBC https://twitter.com/Jonathan_K_Cook/status/1769857621878612335?s=20
Jill Stein, Green Party calls it like it is: They are destroying the united states
https://youtu.be/15MK_mHOR0Y
https://www.youtube.com/live/MFeYyokgELw
[Donate to her campaign)

[R06] see example from the second largest Jewish population, USA: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/05/21/u-s-jews-have-widely-differing-views-on-israel

[R07] How colonial Israeli regime treats children
https://twitter.com/AdameMedia/status/1801712033207042209
If the world livestreams genocide
https://twitter.com/DoubleDownNews/status/1801529755063202026
Torture is now rampant in Israeli gulags for thousands of Palestinians
https://youtu.be/eB3NJsdDGRI
Whistleblowers describe abuse of Palestinian prisoners
https://www.yahoo.com/news/strapped-down-blindfolded-held-diapers-080008283.html
Poignant Dr. Mads Gilbert https://x.com/drmadsgilbert/status/1781417942514622608
New York Times investigates
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-detention-base.html?unlocked_article_code=1.xk0.su2P.hK5RcGAofAL_&smid=url-share

[R08] Why Zionism is bad for jews too by Alon Mizrahi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAxfRLfUVZQ
https://easternoak.co/maybe-its-time-we-started-talking-about-how-terrible-zionism-is-for-jews-too/
How the Gaza genocide will lead to Israel's collapse https://youtu.be/ly7qO9fGYZA
See also Suicidal empire https://popularresistance.org/suicidal-empire/
Amir Hass in Haaretz: The Destruction, Starvation and Death in Gaza Are Israel’s Defeat
https://israelpalestinenews.org/the-destruction-starvation-and-death-in-gaza-are-israels-defeat/

In 1938 David Ben-Gurion said: “If I knew that it would be possible to save all the [Jewish] children in Germany by bringing them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to Eretz Israel, then I opt for the second alternative. For we must take into account not only the lives of these children but also the history of the people of Israel." [Tom Segev, The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust, Henry Holt & Co., New York, First Owl Books Edition 2000, p. 28 ]
“Israel Should Be Eliminated, It’s A Genocidal Apartheid Regime” | Miko Peled
https://youtu.be/D0fynI-1MrM
Hamas is winning https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/middle-east-robert-pape

[R09] Israel is dragging the world into darkness
https://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-dragging-world-darkness/47081
Toward the Abyss: United States’ fatal relationship with Israel
https://dlieb10gmailcom.substack.com/p/toward-the-abyss

[R10] DemocracyNow! A resignation following White House lies:
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/5/29/headlines/state_dept_official_resigns_after_us_claims_israel_is_not_obstructing_aid_to_gaza
Action: More resignations from US State Department. Tell the Biden administration to stop partnering in genocide
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-state-department-staffers-quit-genocide?source=MC2

[R11] Shruthi Kumar delivers an important graduation message in Harvard (a university succumbing to Zionist lobby to prevent graduation of 13 students)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap6PqQ9wPYA
Palestinian Harvard Student describes her family suffering in Gaza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJNJqoEDLqc

[R12] For more on BDS actions see BDSmovement.net and here are relevant news
Elbit Systems:
https://action.eko.org/a/ubs-divest-from-elbit-systems
https://x.com/Pal_action/status/1791244062332240064
Abandoning a sinking ship of the Israeli economy, Intel pulls investments
https://bdsmovement.net/news/Intel-Halts-25b-Investment-Israels-Sinking-Economy
In an open letter, a group of self-described Apple workers, former employees, and shareholders are calling on the company to halt donations to nonprofits linked with Israel’s war effort
https://theintercept.com/2024/06/11/apple-donations-idf-israel-gaza-illegal-settlements
How Western Tourism Giants Illegally Enrich Israeli Settlements on Stolen Land
https://scheerpost.com/2024/06/13/how-western-tourism-giants-illegally-enrich-israeli-settlements-on-stolen-land/
Pro-Palestine and climate justice movements converge against Citigroup in New York
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-on-gaza-pro-palestine-climate-justice-movement-converge-citigroup

Inspired

[Please circulate, read (especially last paragraph), and act]

Some of you wondered why you have not heard from us in 11 days. Others signed our email lists and have not heard from us. Jessie and I have been simply overwhelmed with events (2 to 5 events daily plus travel around this southern hemisphere continent). This morning only we had time off (due to an unexpected cancellation) to catch up, enter emails, and write you this note thanks and brief reflection. In our one-month tour of Australia, over 15,000 people heard our message of environmental justice and human rights and our tour of Aotearoa (New Zealand) is just beginning and already had 10 events over the past two days. We and our old and new friends were inspired over the past month from these events:

-Several university encampments where we are inspired by students and faculty who demand their universities disclose any ties to genocide and divest and call for boycotts like we did with South Africa under apartheid. For more on encampments, see https://www.palestineiseverywhere.com/ and here 
-Several rallies like the one in Gadi (aka Sydney) with 10,000 people
-Dozens of lectures at public events like the two events booked solid (300 and 100 people) at the Australian National University (ANU) to many others around the two countries in this continent
-Consultative and welcoming gatherings of activists and aboriginal leadership planning meetings. Here in Aotearoa (aka New Zealand), the Maoris were equally welcoming and inspiring.
-Conferences and conventions like the one of Australia Palestine Action Network and the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
-Many churches and seminaries of various denominations. As a Palestinian Christian, the message resonated of the need for christian communities to take a stand in line with what we Christian communities in the Holy Land have called for which is taking a moral and ethical stand in line with tenets of the faith (see https://www.kairospalestine.ps/ and https://sabeel.org/ )
-Other religious and secular community gatherings sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. I was especially inspired with the dedication of muslim communities from various backgrounds and the Arab communities (Chrisristan, Muslim, others). Their hospitality and kindness helped me feel at home and mitigated my feelings of "homesickness"
-Meeting with parliamentarians. Even during my brief visits over two days, I noted Zionist lobbyists who were not happy to see a Palestinian with a Kufiya in the parliament building. Outside activists organized a rally in front of the parliament building in commemoration of the ongoing Nakba. One MP from the labor party broke rank with her ruling party to say the truth (that it is a genocide and needs to stop). Other MPs show promise.
-Talks at high schools (the kids are amazing)
-Meeting with Rotarian Clubs (I am president of Rotary Club Bethlehem) to tell them of our humanitarian work and look for joint efforts
-Meetings and talks at Botanic Gardens, seed banks, museums and other institutions doing similar work to ours (see palestinenature.org)

-Media appearances (Social, TV, radio, newspapers, websites): Examples

https://www.youtube.com/live/ylnlldgLUys (St Mary’s Church/Anglican Cathedral Parnell)
https://www.greenleft.org.au/video/green-left-show-36-genocide-and-ecocide-gaza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adLuM2NTFqs
https://greenleftonline.podbean.com/e/genocide-and-ecocide-in-gaza-green-left-show-36/
https://youtu.be/I6wu0pn0zps?si=ywg8VCYNP2yoL-uu
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-ta62f-1e88ac4d

We had positive vibes in every one of these engagements and also grew ourselves with knowledge, new friends (thousands), and energy (spiritual and mental and physical- good food for heart, spirit and even stomach) and we thank all hosts and organizers for exceptional arrangements. We really feel the world changing but we must work hardeer to stop the genocide and decolonize globally. For me and Jessie, onward to more cities and then back to our beloved Palestine which we miss so much and then resume our volunteer and humanitarian work there. To support our collective work in Palestine (which has global reach), PLEASE
1) See and act on our call for partnership
2) Volunteer (remotely or on site)
3) Donate 

Stay Human and keep Palestine alive

Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://palestinenature.org
facebook pages
Personal https://www.facebook.com/mazin.qumsiyeh.9
Institute https://www.facebook.com/PIBS.PMNH