Christmas 2020

Christmas Eve was always speciel. Despite the difficulties we tried to enjoy the night of 24 December 2020 at the nativity square. I spoke live with a US audience (some of my remarks are below). To reflect on this Christmas is to expand on my previous reflections on Christmas in these (un?) holy lands: http://qumsiyeh.org/christmasunderoccupation/ &
http://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/christmas-bethlehem
 

But then we are not just contending with colonial occupation but also a pandemic, see this Poem by Samia Khoury
 
The Little Town of Bethlehem is not celebrating
It was the first to be hit by a virus so invading
Tourists carried it during a flourishing season
Causing a complete lockdown of all the region
 
Easter has gone and now its Christmas time
It’s getting worse and the virus is in its prime
The Christmas tree stands lonely in the square
No choirs or pilgrims, a scene so sad and rare
 
With the news of the vaccine, hope is rising
Holding onto hope for us  is not surprising
Hope has been the secret of our surviving
Despite the occupation ever so brutalizing
 
As we face this monster of a pandemic altogether
The least we can do is to  be kind to each other  
May  the spirit of Christmas continue to prevail
And may  justice,  peace and liberation tip the scale 
 
2020 has been an amazing tumultuous year for us in Bethlehem and the rest of Palestine. Palestine is the bottleneck from which people migrated out of Africa to the rest of the world. It is the western part of the Fertile Crescent where humans first domesticated plants and animals. Hence we are in the cradle of civilization. Jericho just 40 miles away from here is the oldest continuously inhabited town on earth. It is the cradle of languages. Our Canaanitic ancestors invented the alphabet that evolved right here in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to become the Arabic alphabet and the Latin alphabet that you use. The first letter is the aleph, alpha and we are told that God is all encompassing from the first the alpha to the last the omega. Our region is also the cradle of religions. Less than half a mile away down the hill is my village of Beit Sahour, where the shepherds heard the angels sing telling them of the birth of Jesus, the prince of peace. 

The Palestinian Jesus (yes he was born in a countr then called Palestine and has been called Palestine for four millennia) went on to challenge the occupation of his time and the hypocricy of the local and freign “leaders”. We thus recognize Him as the first Palestinian martyr.  This happened right here. Just five miles away is the church of the Holy Sepulchre and the third holiest site in Islam: the Haram Alsharif with the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the rock. Palestine has holy site for Jews, Samaritans, Bahai's and others. We love this diversity. Despite attempts to destroy this diversity and erase our history to bolster a racist chauvenstic state, we the native endogenous people of this land Christians and Muslims and others stay united in our resolve to get to justice, freedom and peace. For that we need support from all people of conscience. This is especially crucial now that corrupt leaders make effort to erase us. Education plays a key part. That is why I came back from the US in 2008 and started the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University (http://palestinenature.org). A vast majority of the Palestinian people is young and they are the future and we are grateful to you as donors of UHLF for helping our students. 

From this holy place where the prince of peace gave humanity hope, let us remember his message of love and kindness. Let us follow in his footsteps. Despite all the oppression of the Israeli occupation and the pandemic and the economy, this place, Bethlehem as you see gives us the courage to work and hope for a better future. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all of you. May the coming year 2021 bring us closer to freedom, justice, and peace.

Work ethic

 The last three days and two nights, my wife Jessie, I, and Zohar (all of us are volunteers) worked and slept at the museum because of the closure. Two others came by yesterday for daytime work by successfully walking through the checkpoints. During food breaks and working in the garden in the stillness of not having too many people around was good for body, mind and spirit. My wife is Chinese (born and lived in Taiwan). I learned so much from her about so many things from inner beauty to work ethics (that you must work hard if you want to succeed and make a difference in your life). When I lived in the US and had a large lab employing many people, I learned that there are differences in work ethic between individuals and cultures. By far the Chinese and Japanese I employed had amazing work ethic. This is a generalization & of course there are people with amazing work ethics everywhere and from every background. My mother raised a row of children born less than two years apart (in my case 11 months apart) while also teaching hard- the first married woman allowed to teach in our region. Growing up, I never found her sitting with other ladies chatting (she was always too busy for that). My uncle Sana Atallah published 12 research papers and finished his PhD age 26.5 (he was killed in a car accident six months later age 27). He was busy 16 – 17 hours a day seven days a week. His master degree advisor Lewis at the AUB was also hard-working. His PhD advisor happened to become my master degree advisor at the University of Connecticut (Prof. Ralph Wetzel) and was a role model for me. I was his last student before he was forced to retire but he kept on going. As a child I admired this. Uncle Sana and my mother were raised in a home that also taught and practiced work ethics. My maternal grandfather and grandmother were amazing diligent industrious people. My grandfather, an orphan from WW 1 rose from zero and built himself on his own with hard work to become teacher, principal, author, philanthropist, attentive father to 8 children and much more.

The people with great work efforts come from all walks of life. I recall how hard my late friend Prof. Edward Said worked (you could also judge this from his writings and teaching loads). On the other spectrum there is also a person named Rami who is a university employee in the maintenance department. His refugee family lives in Aida refugee camp in crowded quarters. He works so hard and has an amazing work ethic. I hired him to work beyond work hours both at home (cleaning, painting etc) and at our Institute (palestinenature.org). There are also many of the farmers we work with (many are women) who get up before dawn to work the farm or workers forced to stand at the Israeli checkpoint at 4 AM to get to their work on time. I could tell you names of hundreds of hard working people I personally know here in Palestine, in the US, and in the 45 countries I visited. Of course I can name thousands who do not have good work ethic (they want jobs and salaries). But I always think people change. People improve. People can and do succeed when they really put their mind to it. While we envy Chinese diligence and work ethic, we can indeed transform our societies IF we focus on transforming ourselves and teaching children to work hard (Einstein said it is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration). It is persistence/resilience.

The Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability has a motto: respect (for ourselves, for others, for nature). The mission includes research, education and conservation (sustainability). Research everything (we publish 1-2 papers per month) then education then we can build sustainable happy societies. We also need to research work ethics and what it means then educate about it then implement it in sustainable ways. I researched Chinese work ethic (and others) and my Chinese wife still educates me. I still lean new things and improve daily. Here is a more academic analysis of Chinese work ethics published in 1985 (even before China’s economy mushroomed) but that I only discovered today - worth reading for ALL of us who want to transform our societies https://www.jstor.org/stable/188906?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents I read everyday before going to bed. Last night I was re(reading) Joseph Cambell (another person with good work ethic) and a wonderful storyteller. I found his book because we moved and consolidated our books to the new museum library and I was putting his book  under the bookshelf  “Self-Improvement”. His amazing way of retelling wonderful myths/stories of the ancients show us not the meaning of life but the meaning of experience of living. Those who experience life at that deep level develop work ethic and will have ability to produce beyond their wildest dreams. They also not coincidentally really learn, contemplate, literally & smell the flowers. This, as Campbell shows us, leads to true spiritual awakening (what we call bliss, nirvana, or true happiness).

Is there any hope for the USA?

When I lived in the US, I occasionally was shocked listening to right wing talk shows like those of Bill ORiley & Sean Hanity or the vulgar non-sense of Howard Stern and Jerry Springer. Holywood movies glorified violence and vilified Arabs and Muslims. Owners of the corporations that ran these media had two agendas: making money and helping Zionism. Now Foxnews owned by Zionist Murdock is even outflanked on the right by Newsmax and One America News (essentially fascist in orientation)! It is vey sad. Palestinian and other Arab Ametricans who were/are visible or tried to do something were targeted. I was one of those. If you want to read a little about this, see http://qumsiyeh.org/thecaseisclosed/ and the below from fellow academic Thomas Nagy who decided to leave the (perhaps hopeless) USA to live abroad in 2003. I left the US in 2008 not because of pressure but because I thought I could serve humanity better in Zionist occupied Palestine than in Zionist occupied USA. In retrospect, that was the best decision of my life. But I still care about the US where I have family and thousands of friends and followers.

The mass movements like Black Lives Matter remind us of the movements in the 1960s that did change the US (after much turmoil). But the establishment gurus learned from these things and are certainly far more entrenched today than say at the time of Nixon and Kissinger. Obama’s first appointment as president elect was for Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, a bigoted Zionist who put Israel interests ahead of US interests. That is why in 8 years, the Obama administration bombed many countries in the Arab world. Biden selection of anti-BLM Zionist VP Kamala Harris and his selection of a Zionist Jewish chief of staff were expected (he could have chosen at least Elizabeth Warren as VP a bit more moderate). Biden  proudly proclaimed himself a Zionist. If he actually assumes office (a 60-70% chance and not just because of Trump but also his health condition) he will be worse than Obama. The moneyed intersts win either way. But the calamity facing the USA today is far worse than when Obama took office. Over 160,000 new infections per day and an economy that is drowning in debt (government, corporate, and individual). The US currency can no longer sustain itself based on the fiction of the strength of the US economy (an economy based on imperial control of world economy that is already dissolving). China and Russia are rising. If you missed it, just last week China led the formation of the largest free trade block on earth (comprising 30+% of the world economy and 16 countries in Asia plus Australia and New Zealand but minus the USA!!). The US paper tiger is still able to twist arms of countries like Bahrain, UAE, and Saudi Arabia but that is only because they are run by brutal uneducated dictators who do not care about the will of the people or even know how to read history to understand its trends. What is needed in the US is a system change so that politics respects the will of the people. The 350 milion US citizens should not be forced by a trigged system to chose “the lesser of two evils”! The majority of citizens would not want the US to remain the “biggest pervayor of violence in the world” (words of Martin Luther LKing Jr). They do not want billions of their tax money going to Israel. Why not give them the right to vote on such things? The 13.5 million Palestinians and 6.2 million Israeli Jews should also be given a fair chance to vote for the form of government they like here in a post apartheid era. I am sure the majority wouldvote for a secular democracy with real checks and balances like the ones found in some northern European countries. Since my last question to readers generated many good responses posted in the comments section at the blog (http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2020/11/questions.html). This one is also left without a definitive answer and I hope readers chime in: how the US can be transformed to be more democratic, more respectful of himan rights, not cozy to dictators and apartheid regimes (like Israel) etc. Do you agree with the below or do you think there is hope? What is the way forward? Either put your comments in teh comment section here or email me. 

======================

Nagy was number 6, I was number 5 on Pipe's list-Mazin

Why I am leaving this Country: Daniel Pipes and the Failure of Democracy in America

by Thomas Nagy

07/30/03

It is instructive to know how the wonderful democracy that the U.S. is exporting through its own very real WMDs actually works. There are worse governments than the US democracy, but surely there are better ones, and US democracy is not worth exporting or imposing on anyone except the most desperate.

It is necessary to give the context to my small, modest insight into the reality of American democracy.

It has to do with Dr. Daniel Pipes. Dr. Daniel Pipes is a rather belligerent fellow who has been wonderfully successful in intimidating the vast majority of US professors into near total silence despite: (1) two major wars that are getting progressively worse (from the official US viewpoint), (2) a threatened nuclear war with North Korea that has the potential of killing us all, down to the cockroaches that have amazing resilience to radiation, and (3) a domestic economic crisis spinning out of control thanks to the insane quest for world dominance and the maniacal looting of the US by the chums of Bush, the First and Bush, the Second.

The case of such a gem of free enterprise as B2's Kenny Boy Lay[1]  of Enron infamy comes readily to mind, but you could point to a great number of other pirates of gangster capitalism who have, quite simply, cheated the American people out of life savings or merely stolen a big chunk of their retirement money.

So one might suspect that all is not well. Indeed.

The good Dr. Pipes identified the six leading university professor villains in the US.  I'm number 6 in a column [2] in the New York Post, a newspaper that is perhaps just a few steps up from pure trash, but one which is widely read and distributed.  I can get it easily here in Washington, D.C. In the column, Pipes falsely accused me, among other things, of providing aid to the Saddam regime.

B2's nomination of Pipes to the U.S. Institute of Peace [3]  is rivaled only by B1's naming of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.

Now here comes my modest insight into how government really works in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Foolishly, I thought this truly bizarre nomination would afford me a chance to clear my name and end or reduce my harassment (Pipes had called for adult supervision for the six evil professors). Since Pipes nomination by B2 required the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, I asked to be a witness in a public hearing. I asked for three minutes and a chance to put documents into evidence that would restore my good name and show the greater suitability of Pipes for the CIAs assassination bureau (I'm sure it has a more noble name) rather than the US Institute for Peace.

At first, I thought, Gosh the system of democracy can work, because I thought I had an agreement with the staff of the ranking member of the Senate[4] Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions[5] , the committee to which Dr. Pipes nomination had been sent, for a 3-minute testimony and a chance to submit documents.

After hearing nothing further from Senator Edward Kennedy[6] 's office for weeks, I discovered that there had been a misunderstanding. Goodbye to any chance of being a witness, goodbye to a chance to submit documents into evidence, goodbye to a chance to clear my name and end the harassment.

That misunderstanding was hard to accept, but it was nothing compared to step 2 of the workings of what baby slayer with sanctions former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called the indispensable democracy.

Committee Chairman Sen. Judd Gregg [7]  (R-NH) decided against a hearing for my accuser, but instead opted for an executive hearing on July 23rd evidently without witnesses or documents. Its now possible that Sen. Gregg's committee and the Senate itself could fly Pipes though to his anointment like a

stealth bomber through radar without any scrutiny. There goes any meaningful advice and consent. Technically, the Senate, using tricks like executive sessions, could give its advice and consent based on no witnesses and no evidence. How democratic! Is this a great country or what?

This is a microcosm of how the greatest and longest lasting democracy in history (etc., etc.) works. If one dare speak of even the possibility of a defect in the operation of Camp X-Ray, or putting Pipes into such a position

of honor and trust, then the totally corrupt committee system of Congress that would make any tyrant blush can block criticism total power, but with the appearance of fairness.

Members of Congress disguise this disastrous blemish by using pompous phrases like, I'd like to thank my distinguished colleague, the Chairman and thank him for allowing me time to speak. The committee chairman may permit other members to speak, but the chairman runs the whole shabby show: agenda, witness list you name it.

The rest of the hypocrites properly worship the chairman in the hope that if they live long enough, they will, one day they become a god (oops, I mean committee chairman). So much for democracyvery sad, very tragic, very disastrous to the people of the US and the world.

So unlike the movies, I don't get my day in court.

Continuing to teach in the US is no longer an option for me, particularly since evidently I will have no chance to clear my name before Congress.

So I am moving to Canada in a few days where I will apply for citizenship and try to rebuild my 20-year university career in a functioning democracy.

I think Canada's secret is simple: a small, peace keeping-oriented military; a small weapons industry; no empire to rule and no countries to conquer. (Sending trigger pullers to Afghanistan was an aberration. Canadian troops die if they must but as peace keepers, not as killers of essentially defenseless people.)

I hope to die in Canada and atone for my stupidity and culpability in paying taxes to the most well-oiled killing machine in history, the United States of America, by teaching peace studies and promoting pacifism, which I think is the only force powerful enough to overcome Americas super weapons.

References

1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/enron/story/0,11337,638645,00.html

2. http://www.danielpipes.org/article/923

3. http://www.usip.org/

4. http://www.senate.gov/%7Elabor/index.html

5. http://www.senate.gov/%7Elabor/index.html

6. http://kennedy.senate.gov/

7. http://www.senate.gov/%7Egregg/

أسئلة وباء

 

كيف نتعامل مع أزمة متصاعدة ونحافظ على سلامتنا العقلية ونساعد الآخرين؟

طالبات في معهد فلسطين للتنوع البيولوجي والاستدامة 

مر ما يقرب من عام منذ بداية هذا الوباء العالمي مع أكثر من 50 مليون مصاب ومات أكثر من مليون. يمكن لكل فرد منا أن يحسب الخسارة الشخصية الاقتصادية والبشرية. دول مثل الهند والبرازيل والولايات المتحدة تضررت بشدة بسبب قيادتها الفاسدة. لكن كل بلد ومنطقة في العالم عانت. هنا في فلسطين كمثال لا تزال معدلات الإصابة بالفيروس في ارتفاع خاصة في غزة. فقد العديد من الفلسطينيين في غزة الأمل وكثير من الشباب حتى ينتحرون. ليس فقط جائحة فيروس بل جائحة العنصرية والاستعمار المنتظم. ينشر الصهاينة الكراهية والانقسام لتعزيز أهدافهم في جميع أنحاء العالم (عبر هوليوود وسيطرتهم على الإعلام) لكن بعضهم بدأوا يشكو في العالم الذي يصنعونه وهل سيكون قابلاً للعيش حتى بالنسبة لأصحاب المليارات. ارتفعت سوق الأسهم التي يراقبها الأغنياء والأقوياء مثل ترامب ونتنياهو بسبب اللقاح المحتمل المفترض. لكن هذا اللقاح ليس رصاصة سحرية. سيكون توزيعه كابوسًا لأنه يتطلب البقاء باردًا جدًا. الفيروس يتطور أيضًا وسيكون هناك فيروسات جديدة.. بصفتي عالم أحياء وعالِم في علم الوراثة الطبية يمكنني أن أخبركم أن هناك عددًا كبيرًا جدًا من البشر والكثير من الفيروسات حولنا تتطور وستنتشر. يعلم الجميع أيضًا أن النظام الاقتصادي الحالي (الرأسمالية / الاستهلاكية) ليس قادرًا على التعامل مع الحقائق الجديدة (الأوبئة ، تغير المناخ ، الحروب الكارثية) ولكنه أيضا في الواقع سببها. ومن هنا يأتي التحدي الذي يواجه عامة الناس: كيف نعيش ونخلق عالمًا أفضل لضمان أن يعيش جيراننا وأصدقائنا وأطفالنا أيضًا حياة كريمة؟

يريد معظم الناس بالطبع البقاء على قيد الحياة كأفراد ومحاولة التكيف بأفضل شكل ممكن في أوقات الأزمات. لقد رأيت أشخاصًا كان لديهم وظائف الآن يتسولون في الشوارع من أجل البقاء أو يغرقون في الديون. الديون آخذة في الارتفاع (فردية ، شركات ، حكومية) في جميع أنحاء العالم. قليلون هم الذين مرتاحين ماديا إما عن طريق استغلال الآخرين (أسميها طفيلية) أو من خلال تعلم الاعتماد على الذات (مثل المجتمعات المتعمدة ، والزراعة لإنتاج طعامنا ، إلخ). هناك دروس للتعلم من السكان الأصليين. حتى في الأماكن التي نسيت طرقها القديمة يمكن إحياءها. على سبيل المثال ، تمكن أسلافنا الكنعانيون وحتى أسلافي منذ 3 أجيال من إعالة أنفسهم بالكامل من الأرض (محيطهم المباشر). هذا حتى عندما يكون الموسم الأخضر سوى 3-4 أشهر في السنة في فلسطين. أنا أعلم أنه قابل للتنفيذ. قمنا بتطوير حديقة مجتمعية وببساطة تقنيات الزراعة المستدامة المستوحاه من الأجداد ننتج 70-80٪ من طعامنا (بما في ذلك للمتطوعين). يتم إنتاج القليل من النفايات. هذا يجلب لنا الرضا والشعور بالسيطرة (مفاتيح لما يسمى السعادة). ومع ذلك هذا ليس كافيًا لأن الناس من حولنا لا يستطيعون الحصول على وظائف لائقة أو إطعام أسرهم أو إعالة أنفسهم أو الشعور بالتمكين ونحن نساعد القليل منهم. الرضا الشخصي حتى عن نجاح الفريق كما هو الحال عندنا  palestinenature.org  لا يزال ناقصًا عندما ينهار نظامنا البيئي. مجموعة صغيرة من الأشجار السليمة لا يمكن أن تعيش على المدى الطويل عندما يتم تدمير بقية الغابة. في هذه الحالة هو حتى بقية النظام البيئي العالمي.

عندما بدأت في كتابة هذا في ليلة بلا نوم لم أكن متأكدة إلى أين أذهب. لكن بعد ذلك اعتقدت أن الأفضل هو مجرد سؤال القراء عن أفكارهم. هناك الكثير من السلبية في هذا العالم (تبررها حالة عالمنا). هناك القليل من البؤر الإيجابية التي تقوم بأشياء جيدة (ويجب أن نفخر بها). نريد أن نروج لهذه الأخيرة بينما نتعامل بواقعية مع الأولى. يلعب علم النفس دورًا كبيرًا في ذلك كما يدرك أي شخص: لا يمكنك مساعدة نفسك أو مساعدة الآخرين إذا كنت مصابًا بالاكتئاب. شعارنا لمعهد فلسطين للتنوع البيولوجي والاستدامة هو "الاحترام: لأنفسنا وللآخرين ولبيئتنا". هذا ليس سهلا. الكثير منا (بمن فيهم أنا) الذين لا يزالون غير متأكدين من الاتجاه يتوقون لسماع كيف يساعد الأشخاص المختلفون بعضهم البعض لتطوير هذه المستويات الثلاثة من الاحترام. كلنا نتعلم. نحتاج جميعًا إلى دعم معنوي و فكري خاصة في هذه الأوقات الصعبة (الوجودية بالفعل لجنسنا البشري). الإنسان هو كائن اجتماعي. لقد أدى النظام العالمي الرأسمالي (الغربي) إلى تركيزنا بأعداد هائلة في تجمعات سكنية ومدن وأيضا عزلنا من بعض (حتى عن الجيران والعائلة). وتم عزلنا جسديًا وعقليًا وأدى الوباء إلى تفاقم هذه العزلة. كيف نتعامل مع ذلك؟ كيف ندعم بعضنا البعض؟ كيف نتواصل ونتواصل أكثر (عبر الإنترنت)؟ ما هو النظام الاقتصادي والاجتماعي الجديد الذي يجب أن نبنيه ليحل محل النظام المتدهور / الفاشل الذي ورثناه؟ نتوق لسماع رأيكم هنا.

Questions

 How do we individually cope, keep our sanity in a spiraling crisis, and help others?  

 Girls exploring nature at the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability

It is almost a year since the start of this global pandemic with over 50 million who were infected and over one million died from. Everyone of us can count personal loss economic and human. Countries like India, Brazil, and the US were especially hit hard because of their corrupt leadership. But every country and region in the world suffered. Here in Palestine as an example, the viral infection rates are still on the rise especially in Gaza. Many Gaza Palestinians lost hope. Many young people are committing suicide. It is not only a pandemic of a virus but the pandemic of systematic racism and colonialism that spread. While Zionists spread hate and divisiveness to advance its goals around the world (via Hollywood, Bloomberg and Fox News etc), even they are starting to rethink what world are they making and will it be livable even for the billionaires. The stock market watched by the rich and powerful like Trump and Netanyahu went up because of the supposed potential vaccine. But this vaccine is no magic bullet. Its distribution will be a nightmare since it must be shipped on dry ice and stay very cold (freezer facilities of that kind are not found in most areas). The virus is also mutating and there will be new viruses. As a biologist and medical geneticist I can tell you there are simply too many humans and lots of viruses around us evolving.  Everyone also knows that the current economic system (capitalism/consumerism) is not only unable to deal with the new realities (pandemics, climate change, catastrophic wars) BUT IS ACTUALLY THE CAUSE OF THESE. Hence the challenge for common people: how to survive and create a better world to ensure our neighbors, friends, and children also live decent lives? 

Most people of course at the most basic instinct want to survive as individuals and try to adapt as best as they could in times of crisis. I have seen people previously with decent jobs reduced to begging on the streets to survive. Debts are rising (individual, corporate, government) around the world. Few are doing well either by exploiting other people (I call it parasitic) or by having learned self sustenance (like intentional communities, farming to produce our own food etc). There are lessons to learn from indiginous/native people. Even in places that have forgotten their ancient ways, these can be revived. For example our Canaanitic ancestors and even my own ancestors as recent as 3 generations back were able to sustain themselves fully from the land (their immediate surrounding). This even when the green season is but 3-4 months of the year in Palestine.  I know it is doable. We developed a community garden and with few simple (permaculture techniques) we produce >70-80% of our (including volunteer) food. Very little waste is produced. This brings us satisfaction and a sense of control (keys to what is called happiness). Yet this is not sufficient because all around us people are unable to have decent jobs, feed their families, support themselves or feel a sense of empowerment. Personal satisfaction of even creating a team success (as at palestinenature.org) still seems deficient when our ecosystem is falling apart. A small batch of healthy forest cannot really survive long term when the rest of the forest is being destroyed. In this case it is even the rest of the global ecosystem.

As I started to write this on a sleepless night I was not sure where to go with it. But then I thought the best  is merely to ask readers for their thoughts. There is so much negativity in this world (justifiable by the state of our world). There are few positive foci doing good things (and we should be proud of those). We do want to promote the latter while realistically dealing with the former. Psychology plays a great factor in that as anyone realizes: you cannot help yourself, or others if you are depressed. The motto we came up with for our Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability is "Respect: for ourselves, for others, for our environment". This is not easy. Many (including me who are still unsure of direction) would be curious to hear how different people help each other to develop these three levels of respect. We all are learning.  We all need emotional and intellectual feedback/support especially in these difficult (actually existential to our species) times. Homo sapiens is a social species. The (western) capitalist world system while packing us into urban areas (increasing urbanization) has ironically also isolated us in separate compartments/ apartments (physically and mentally). COVID-19 exacerbated this isolation. How do we cope with that? How do we support each other? How do we connect and communicate even more (online)? What is the new economic and social system that we should be building to replace the decaying/failing system we inherited? Please put your thoughts in the comments section of this blog or email me and I will post them.

Lessons on productivity

How do we manage to be productive and efficient while engaged in many projects and constantly getting interruptions?

Being asked this question frequently by students, staff, volunteers and others, let me give my humble personal reflections. First I start by saying that Einstein was right about theory of relativity not just in physics but in life. Efficiency is not a measurable indicator on its own, it is relative. I maybe more or less efficient today than tomorrow (efficiency fluctuates). I am almost certainly relatively more efficient now than 30 or 40 years ago; chalk that to experience and by that I do not mean accumulated knowledge only, but actually learning from mistakes and from periods of inefficiency.

Here I list a few tools that I use to increase ability to do many tasks in shorter period of time so readers may (or may not) find them useful. But what me to advise?

My age (I am 63) means I have made many many mistakes and learned many lessons having worked also in many jobs from menial jobs to being professor at medical schools like Duke and Yale. I have published over 150 scientific papers, over 500 articles, several books and also write a weekly blog on politics and the environment. I have in the past and still now have successfully and simultaneously run several “jobs” (vast majority unpaid), each one of them would keep other people busy. For example in the past 12 months: teaching official university courses, supervising master students and other interns' research, doing my own research and writing (weekly has an output), writing grant proposals, managing over 10 projects in which I was the lead applicant, giving seminars/webinars and workshops (1-3 per week), consulting for local and international organizations, administering an institute for biodiversity and sustainability (including museum of natural history, botanic garden, community garden, and a children's discovery playground), advocating and working for political and human rights, representing institution and/or Palestine in national and international level, serving on the board of local NGOs, engaging in humanitarian/philanthropic work and many more. 

Anyways, based on experience these are some hints which may or may not be useful to others:

-In biological evolution, mutations give the variation upon which natural selection works. In doing tasks in life, learn to mutate your ideas regularly trying different methods and approaches to see which works to achieve results.

-Thinking about some tasks takes more time than doing tasks, so plan it but more importantly just do it (time efficiency.)

-Do not be afraid of pressure and complexity. Take on more work and immerse yourself in it.

-Learn to tune in and tune out based on judgments of value of information. Corollary: focus on important information leading to outputs.

-Talk less, listen more (and take notes) and act even more. Corollary: Productive work is therapeutic.

-Do not reinvent the wheel: read a bit more of what others' experiences in life and learn from them (I read 1-2 hours a day and it is my most productive time.)

-Say yes I can do it and avoid making excuses for it not being done. Corollary: look in the mirror.

-Be flexible but also know what is important. Corollary: can switch brain function to other tasks when needed without losing first task.

-Aim to do tasks as best as you can but do learn from outputs so as to improve in time. Corollary: Tasks worth doing are worth doing well.

-Watch the environment and adapt. Corollary: Discard procedures not working & implement procedures to match needs.

-Stay humble, keep your eyes on the ball (serving society and nature). Corollary: we are all dispensable but we can serve and make a difference. [lighting a candle is better than cursing the darkness]

- Know that team work, helping others and helping your society is enlightened self-interest as opposed to selfishness. Corollary: at death beds people do not regret not having fancier cars, more salaries, or fatter bank accounts--- they regret not helping others, not spending time with loved ones, etc. (non material things that can’t be bought). I came to this world poor and want to die poor.

-Make lists and tick out the ones done. Corollary: Learn skills of prioritizing but retain that flexibility to reorder.

-Develop passion and interest in your work (or seek other work). Corollary: you are most inefficient at jobs you do not like, so learn to like them.

-Organize your thoughts, your home, your desk, and your files in your computer

-Record interruptions and then create a program to address them (whether self-generated or imposed from others).

-Hang around successful people and learn from the way they operate. Corollary that is not contradictory: help others who want to learn from you but adjust your time investment according to judgement of their progress or lack thereof.

-Time is your most important (and non-renewable) commodity. Measure and economize its use. Make a schedule with deadlines for tasks.

-Be kind and compassionate to all starting with yourself. Corollary: Develop respect: for ourselves, for others, for nature)

-Keep hope alive and never ever give up.

For other lessons learned not relating to tasking, see http://qumsiyeh.org/lessonslearned/

Stati Uniti finiranno come impero

Trump vincerà e gli Stati Uniti finiranno come impero. Molti di noi l'hanno fatto l'avevo previsto qualche tempo fa, ma la velocità del decadimento è sbalorditiva. È non correlato al fatto che un cittadino statunitense su 50 ha COVID-19 con oltre 207.000 morti finora e una persona muore ogni minuto a causa del virus (www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/). Non è solo che gli Stati Uniti hanno 27 dollari trilioni di debito pubblico (nazionale) (in gran parte verso paesi come la Cina e Giappone) e più o meno la stessa cosa nei debiti aziendali e personali. [il valore del dollaro USA probabilmente crollerà all'inizio del 2021]. Non è solo questo hanno il più alto tasso di incarcerazione nel mondo con milioni di loro cittadini dietro le sbarre. È anche che il sistema politico dava l'illusione della democrazia (democratici e repubblicani che si scambiano i seggi e posizioni) mentre attori chiave (sistema di riserva federale di ricchi banchieri e lobby come la lobby sionista-israeliana) hanno effettivamente truccato il sistema. Quel sistema ora sta crollando e il paese si muove verso il fascismo totale o la guerra civile. Sempre più persone ora si rendono conto che il il cosiddetto “sistema giudiziario” è davvero disfunzionale e serve i ricchi e i potenti. Questo è vero per i tribunali di livello inferiore che condannano gli individui neri a pene dure mentre esonerano gli assassini razzisti bianchi, è vero per i tribunali di livello medio che consentono la corruzione (ad esempio da parte di persone ricche come Trump, Sheldon Adelson, Haim Saban, Roger Stone, Les Wexner, Robert Maxwell) è vero persino per la corte suprema (che ha permesso a Bush di diventare presidente e lo farà ora lasciando che Trump ottenga un secondo mandato). Nonostante i teatri dell'assurdo (come il il folle raduno USA / Israele / Bahrain / Emirati Arabi Uniti alla Casa Bianca) il nuovo ordine mondiale non sta andando come precedentemente pianificato. I piani dei sionisti neocon degli anni '90 ora sembrano sogni irrealizzabili; garantire il regno e le strategie che hanno predetto un evento come l'11 settembre 2001 li aiuterebbe a garantire un “nuovo secolo americano”, tutti i piani dall'invasione dell'Iraq ecc. hanno fallito. Mentre il re senile dei sauditi Mentre il senile re dei sauditi ha cercato in modo incoerente di leggere un testo preparato per lui che attaccava l'Iran e il suo figlio assassino si godeva alcol e donne sui suoi 100 milioni di yacht, i ministri degli esteri di Iran e Russia parlavano di sfidare gli Stati Uniti (ad esempio sulla loro guerra economica illegale contro Iran e Siria), interconnettendo le loro economie, attraverso la cooperazione militare e altro ancora. E mentre Trump parlava all'ONU cercando di trasferire la colpa della sua incompetenza alla Cina, funzionari cinesi agivano per costruire accordi multilaterali con i paesi compresi Russia, Iran, Siria, ecc. presi di mira. I tempi stanno cambiando. Ma Trump vincerà le elezioni e questo non farà che accelerare la fine del potere degli Stati Uniti. Ecco perché vincerà (in ordine di importanza): La lobby sionista vuole che vinca le elezioni per finire i suoi successi rafforzando Israele (e la lobby è al di sopra della legge) e il corteggiamento di Biden nei confronti della lobby non farà che minare qualsiasi residua illusione dei progressisti imbrogliati dalla DNC, Trump e la sua cerchia ristretta faranno qualsiasi cosa compreso l'avvio di una guerra se necessario (Iran, Venezuela) per vincere queste elezioni (guadagnano profumatamente), al pubblico americano non è permesso ascoltare ciò che accade (CNN e CNBC non dicono loro i fatti) e il pubblico può essere manipolato dai media mainstream e dai social media per votare il male minore basandosi sulla propaganda della paura (centinaia di milioni spesi per pubblicità), il Partito Democratico è corrotto e ha lavorato a stretto contatto con i repubblicani per non dare voce ad alcuni (ad esempio partiti verdi e libertari) o a persone come Bernie Sanders o alle quattro decenti politiche democratiche soprannominate “la squadra”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Squad_(United_States_Congress). Questo non va bene per gli Stati Uniti e molti piangeranno la fine di questo impero. Mentre io non piangerò la fine dell'impero, mi sento triste per l'aspetto economico privazioni che arriveranno nei prossimi anni in una terra in cui ho vissuto da oltre due decenni e che amo (le persone, la natura, ecc.). Vorrei che il dolore sia minimo per loro e che sopravvenga una ricostruzione migliore e rapida dai modi più sostenibili ed equi. Il principale pericolo dopo le elezioni sarà quello di una guerra globale perché quella militare è l'unica carta rimasta a questa élite in decadenza (ma sarà una guerra persa e sarà anche la fine dell'umanità). La questione della fine dell'apartheid israelo/sionista (in Palestina) rimane il tallone d'Achille che dimostra l'ipocrisia occidentale proprio come avvenuto per l'apartheid sudafricano negli anni '80. Comunque, gli Stati Uniti sono finiti come impero e il codazzo di loro soci corrotti dai prezzolati del golfo a Netanyahu a Bolsonaro (del Brasile) a Modi (dell'India) lo seguiranno presto. Ma non rallegriamoci, reinventiamo un mondo di cooperazione multilaterale, sostenibilità e uguaglianza, dobbiamo lavorare sodo per raggiungerlo.

End of empire

Trump will win and the US is finished as an empire. Many of us had predicted this a while back but the speed of the decay is stunning. It is not related to the fact that one in 50 US citizens has COVID-19 with over 207,000 deaths so far and one person dying every minute from the virus (www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/). It is not just that the US has $27 trillion in government (national) debt (much of it to countries like China and Japan) and about the same in corporate and personal debts. [the value of the US dollar will likely collapse early in 2021]. It is not just that they have the highest incarceration rate in the world with millions of their citizens behind bars. It is also that the political system had the illusion of democracy (democrats and republicans exchanging seats and positions) while key actors (Federal reserve system of rich bankers and lobbies like the Zionist-Israeli lobby) actually rigged the system. That system is now breaking down and the country moves towards outright fascism or civil war. More and more people also now increasingly realize that the so-called “justice system” is really dysfunctional and serves the rich and powerful. This is true from lower level courts that sentence black individuals to harsh sentences while exonerating white racist killers, to mid level system that allows corruption to go on (e.g. by rich people like Trump, Sheldon Adelson, Haim Saban, Roger Stone, Les Wexner, Robert Maxwell) to even the supreme court (that let Bush become president and will now let Trump get a second term). The theatres of the absurd (like the lunatic US/Israel/Bahrain/UAE gathering at the white house) notwithstanding, the new world order is not turning out the way it was planned. The neocon Zionists of the 1990s plans now look like pipe dreams; securing the realm and strategies that predicted an event like 11 Sept 2001 would help them to secure a “new American Century”, the pre planned invasion of Iraq etc have all backfired. While the senile king of Saudi Arabia incoherently tried to read a text prepared for him attacking Iran and his murderous son was enjoying booze and women on his 100 million yacht, foreign ministers of Iran and Russie where defying the US (e.g. on the illegal economic war on Iran and Syria), interlinking their economies, military cooperation and more. And when Trump was speaking to the UN trying to shift the blame for his incompetence to China, Chinese officials were building multilateral arrangements with countries including targeted Russia, Iran, Syria, etc. Times are indeed changing. But Trump will win the elections and this will only accelerate the demise of the US power. Here is why he will win (in order of importance): 1) the Zionist lobby wants him to win elections to complete successes in bolstering Israel (and ensure the lobby is above the law and beyond scruting)-- Biden’s courting of the lobby will only undermine any remnant of illusion progressives, 2) Trump and his inner circle will do anything including starting a war if need be (Iran, Venezuela) to win this election (they profit handsomely), 3) the American public is not allowed to hear all facts and the public can be manipulated by mainstream media and social media to vote for lesser of two evils based on fear propaganda (hundreds of millions spent on advertisements), 4) the Democrat party is corrupt and worked hand in glove with republicans against allowing people voices (e.g. Green and Liberterian parties) and even people like Bernie Sanders and the four decent democratic women politicians dubbed the squad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Squad_(United_States_Congress) . This is not good for the USA and many will mourn the demise of this empire. While I do not mourn the demise of the empire, I do feel sad for the economic deprivations that will come in the next few years in a land that I lived in for over two decades and that I love (people, nature, etc). I would wish for the pain to be minimal and for better and quicker rebuilding in a far more sustainable and equitable way. The main danger after the election is of a global war because the military might is the only card left for that decaying elites (but that is a lose-lose war and humanity will also be finished). The issue of ending Israeli/Zionist Aparrtheid (in Palestine) remains the achilles heel that exposes Western Hypocricy just like support for South African Apartheid provided that in the 1980s. Anywa, the US is finished as an empire and its corrupt associates/tails from the prices of the gulf to Netanyahu to Bolsonaro (of Brazil) to Modi (of India) will follow soon. But let us not rejoice, let us and we need to reimagine a world of multilateral cooperation, sustainability and equality and work extra hard to achieve it.

بين المهازل والأعمال‎

 

إذا بالفعل مهتمة الفصائل بالمقاومة الشعبية بمطنها قرائة متابي المقاومة الشعبية في فلسطين (نشر مؤسسة واطن – راماللة) أو على الأقل بحثي بعنوان دروس من المقاومة في فلسطين الى الربيع العربي (جزء من الربيع العربي من منظور حفوق الإنسان ) ويمكن تحميله هنا https://www.palestinenature.org/research/B31.-Durous.pdf  فالدروس مهمة لأن العقبات أمام المفاومة الشعبية الناجحة لا تزال متواجدة. والرجاء بعد أن تقرأ ما أسفل أن تعطي رأيك مثلا هل هذا الوقت المناسب للدفع بقوة باتجاه الرجوع لميثاق المنظمة لدولة واحدة؟

 

أنا من العمر بما يكفي لأشهد فلسطين تختنق ببطء على مدى العقود  شهدت الكثير وعملت أبحاث وكتبت كتبًا عنها بما فيها فساد القادة العرب وغدرهم منذ أمد بعيد. هذا الشهر وتواريخه المختارة بدقة من توقيع اتفاقيات العار في البيت الأبيض (بدءا من أوسلو وآخرها مهزلة توقيع البحرين والإمارات والحبل عالجرار) بالتزامن مع ذكرى مجزرة صبرا وشاتيلا وذكرى المحاولة الأولى للاستيلاء على حائط البراق 1928 (أدت لهبة شعبية – الإنتفاضة الخامسة) وبداية اثورة 1936 وبداية انتفاضة 1987 وأيلول الأسود 1970. تخبرني والدتي البالغة من العمر 88 عامًا (التي سبقت شهادة ميلادها الفلسطينية هذه الدولة العنصرية) أن العالم سيستمر في التغيير بطرق جيدة وسيئة (تتذكر صديقتها هيا بلبيسي التي استشهدت في دير ياسين على يد العصابات الصهيونية). وجهها الهادئ المتجعد يؤكد لي أن السلام ليس وجهة ... السلام هو الطريق. أنا ممتن لأنني وعائلتي وملايين آخرين من أجيال عديدة نبقى أوفياء لضميرنا ونقاوم الاستبداد والظلم  ولا ننضم إلى صفوف المنافقين و "صانعي الصفقات" في عالمنا . إن رؤية الكثير من الأشخاص الطيبين يفعلون الشيء الصحيح هو بحد ذاته انتصار رائع.

 

هل يجوز لـ 7.5 مليون فلسطيني أن يظلوا لاجئين حتى في الوقت الذي يتم فيه دعم الطغاة ويطلق على مجرمي الحرب اسم صانعي "السلام"؟ لماذا يعتقد أكثر من نصف الجمهور الأمريكي أن ترامب كاذب ولكن لا يتحىوا أكاذيبه حول دولة الفصل العنصري؟ أكاذيب مثل صنع السلام بين الدول (التي لم تكن في حالة حرب أبدًا وكانت دائمًا في نفس المعسكر تقاتل حقوق تقرير المصير في فلسطين واليمن وسوريا ومصر وغيرها). أكاذيب مثل أن إسرائيل تريد السلام عندما يمكن بسهولة معرفة أن هذا أربح احتلال بالتاريخ. أكاذيب مثل الفلسطينيين ليسوا على استعداد للتنازل أو قبول مبادرات السلام عندما قبلت قيادتنا "إسرائيل" على 78٪ من فلسطين وكانت على استعداد لتسوية تشمل دولة منزوعة السلاح على 22٪ من الأرض وحتى بدون عودة اللاجئين. أكاذيب مثل أن الولايات المتحدة كانت تقدم الكثير من الأموال للفلسطينيين الذين عاملوا الولايات المتحدة بعد ذلك بعدم احترام (يتم تمويل الولايات المتحدة حول العالم لتعزيز المصالح الأمريكية الإمبريالية بما في ذلك في هذه الحالة مساعدة إسرائيل). أكاذيب مثل مساواة مقاومة الاستعمار بـ "الإرهاب" أو "معاداة السامية" وإدراج جميع الجماعات التي تناضل من أجل تقرير المصير والحرية في العالم العربي وخارجه على أنها إرهابية. أو الانخراط في حرب اقتصادية ضد دول مثل فنزويلا وإيران لمجرد دعم حق تقرير المصير. كانت الحقيقة الوحيدة التي قالها ترامب في لحظة غير مكتوبة (زلة) عندما صرح بأن الولايات المتحدة في الشرق الأوسط ليس من أجل النفط ولكن لمساعدة إسرائيل ولهذا السبب تم توجيه معظم جهود وزارة الخارجية الأمريكية إلى تعزيز الهيمنة الاقتصادية والسياسية الصهيونية في جميع أنحاء العالم (على سبيل المثال ابتزاز السودان وإخبارهم أنه سيتم إبقائهم عن قائمة الدول التي "ترعى الإرهاب "إلا إذا طبعوا مع إسرائيل).

 

المهزلة أن نرى الصهيوني اليهودي وولف بليتسر من CNN وهو يعمل مقابلة مع اليهودي الصهيوني جاريد كوشنر. مهزلة أن نسمع المستعمر فريدمان ينظر عن القيادة الفلسطيني. ومهزلة أن نتنياهوا يستلم مفتاح للبيت الأبيض (طبعا للإرسال رسالة للفلسطينيين حول مفاتيحهم!)  نرى ممثلي البحرين والإمارات يبتسموا مثل الحمقى بينما يقول نتنياهو وترامب علانية أن القدس يمكن أن يزورها المسلمون (تحت الاحتلال الإسرائيلي غير القانوني) إلى الأبد وهم يعلمون أن الملايين من المسلمين والمسيحيين الفلسطينيين الأصليين لا يمكنهم زيارة قدسهم ومقدساتهم. مهزلة أن نتنياهو يقول صراحة إن القوة ما أوصلتهم إلى هذه المرحلة وستحقق المزيد. كم من الدول العربية سيتم نهبها وإفقارها بعد الإمارات والبحرين؟ (يقول ترامب 5 قريبا). وهل سيكون مصير هؤلاء القادة (بما فيهم من آل سعود) مختلفًا عن أولئك الذين سبقوهم في العمل لصالح إسرائيل؟ يمكنك الإنضمام إلى جانب الطغاة ومجرمي الحرب (ملوك الخليج + نتنياهو + ترامب) الذين يشنون حربًا على الإنسانية وتقرير المصير والعدالة أو تجد البديل لك من خلال العمل من أجل الإنسانية وتقرير المصير والعدالة. التاريخ سيحكم. قد يكون قوس الكون الأخلاقي طويلاً ولكنه ينحني نحو العدالة. الكرة في ملعبنا ومن المهزلة أن تبقى قيادتنا تحت المستوى المطلوب في هذه المرحلة التاريخية.

 

أنا كبير في السن بما يكفي لأذكر الحياة والعمل لفلسطين عندما عشت في الولايات المتحدة (على الرغم من العنصرية والتمييز هناك أيضًا) وكيف تركت ذلك للعودة إلى فلسطين (عودة من أرض محتلة إلى أخرى) عام 2008. كل حياتي تدعوني للأمل. طبعا أتمنى مزيد من الصبر على الأشياء التي لا أستطيع تغييرها والشجاعة لتغيير الأشياء التي يمكنني تغييرها (على سبيل المثال من خلال عملنا في الزراعة والبيئة والتأثير بشكل خاص على الشباب – أنظر https://youtu.be/uMQ9Rs85CjQ ) والحكمة لمعرفة الفرق. ولكن لا زلت أشعر أنني وجميعنا مقصرين في حق فلسطين – أمنا الكنعانية. يا ريت أسمع من القراء رأيهم. مثلا هل هذا الوقت المناسب للدفع بقوة باتجاه الرجوع لميثاق المنظمة لدولة واحدة؟

أ.د. مازن قمصية 

جامعة بيت لحم

Old enough

I am old enough to have been able to see Palestine slowly strangulated over the past few decades, with us natives who trace ancestry thousands of years here kicked out or squeezed into cantons/open air prisons like Gaza and Bethlehem. Old enough to have researched events even before I was born and wrote books about them (like Sykes-Picot, Balfour-Cambon, Gawler, Hertzle and more). I am old enough to have personally witnessed Arab leaders’ corruption and treachery. I am old enough to personally witness rampant racism from white European Jews who think they are entitled to steal our land because they belong to the Jewish “people” (actually Judaism like Christianity is a religion for many people of diverse backgrounds). I am old enough to have worked with hundreds of decent Jews and tens of thousands of decent Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Atheists, etc towards peace and justice. I am old enough that when dates are chosen for treasonous signings like yesterday at the White House (now the name fits because it emphasized white rule), I can immediately link why 15 September (squarely in the middle of anniversaries of the Sabra and Shatila massacres and of the signing of the sell-out Oslo Accords). I am old enough to reminisce over a good life I lived in the US (despite racism and discrimination there also) and how I gave all of that up to return to Palestine under the thumb f the Zionists. From one Israeli occupied territory to another and back!. I am old enough to have patience for the things I can’t change, courage to change those I can (e.g. via our work in agriculture and the environment and influencing especially youth), and wisdom to know the difference. My 88-year-old mother (whose Birth Certificate in PALESTINE predates this Jewish state) tells me the world will continue to change in good and bad ways (yes she remembers her friend Haya Balbisi who was massacred in Deir Yassin by Zionists who became “leaders”). Her calm wrinkled face emphasizes to me that peace is not a destination… peace is the way. I am grateful that my family and I and millions of others of many generations remain true to our conscience and care for fellow human beings, resist tyranny and injustice, and do not join the ranks of the hypocrite dictators and “deal makers” of our world. Seeing so many good people do the right thing is itself a marvelous victory.

Reflections are still important. Is it alright for 7.5 million Palestinians to remain refugees even as dictators are propped and war criminals called “peace” makers? Why do more than half the American public think Trump is pathological liar but then do not challenge his lies about the apartheid state of Israel? Lies like making peace between countries (who have never been at war and have ALWAYS been in the same camp fighting rights of people to self determination in Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Egypt and more). Lies like Israel wants peace when Zionist elites are profiting to the tune of $15 billion/year from endless colonial occupation (see Shir Hever’s books and writings on the economy of the occupation). Lies like the Palestinians are not willing to compromise or accept peace gestures when our leadership accepted “Israel” on 78% of Palestine and was willing to settle for a rump demilitarized state on 22% of the land. (and why is international law and countless UN resolutions considered irrelevant). Lies like the “Jewish state” is democratic when they actually have dozens of laws that discriminate against non-Jews even in the areas within the green line (see https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/7771) and hundreds of other racist discriminatory laws against us Palestinians living in the occupied areas beyond the green line http://orders.arij.org/searchMONo.php ). Lies like the US was giving lots of money for the Palestinians who then treated the US with disrespect (US funding around the world is done in advancing US government interests including in this case helping Israel control the occupied areas). Lies like equating resistance to colonialism with “terrorism” or “anti-semitism” (or if Jewish “self-hatred”!!) and listing essentially all groups fighting for self-determination and freedom in the Arab world and beyond as terrorists. Or engaging in economic warfare against countries like Venezuela and Iran simply for supporting right of self-determination.

The only truth spoken by Trump was in an unscripted moment (a lapse of judgement on his part) when he stated that the US is in the Middle East not for oil but to help Israel (that comment was totally ignored in Zionist controlled CNN, FoxNews etc)! Indeed that is why the US government gave them hundreds of billions, why most of the effort of state department is directed at promoting Zionist economic and political hegemony around the world (e.g. extorting Sudan now telling them that they would be removed from states “sponsoring terrorism” only if they normalize with Israel). Why are taxpayer money being siphoned off to benefit a state that deliberately attacked a US ship in International water (see http://www.gtr5.com/ ).

It is surreal to watch Jewish Zionist advocate Wolf Blitzer interview Jewish Zionist advocate Jared Kushner. It is surreal to see US media ignore the demonstrations outside the White House during the premature “celebration” of victory over the Palestinians (many of the demonstrators were Orthodox anti-Zionist Jews). It is surreal to see the boozing womanizers from Bahrain and UAE smirk like morons as Netanyahu and Trump say openly that Jerusalem can be visited by Muslims (under Israel’s illegal occupation for perpetuity) when they know that millions of native Palestinian Muslims and Christians cannot visit their holy places in Jerusalem. Surreal that Netanyahu openly says that Israel power is so far out-reaching that it got them to this stage and will get them much more. How many Arab states will be pillaged and impoverished now beyond the UAE and Bahrain? (Trump says 5-6 more soon). And will the fate of these new Israeli human puppets be any different than those that preceded them working for Israel (killed, dead, living in shame now in Lebanon or elsewhere, forgotten)? The surreal situation was foreseen by many of us who wrote and educated about these things for decades. It is not satisfying and rather sad that we predicted these scenes decades earlier (for example when the so called “Oslo accords” were signed that allowed the PLO to recognize Israel but Israel did not recognize Palestine). Well now the lines are drawn. I again ask: Is it alright for 7.5 million Palestinians to remain refugees even as dictators are propped and war criminals called “peace” makers? Why can’t we get all 6 million Jews who live here plus the 13 million Palestinians to simply vote on what form of governance they want? You can join the side of murdering dictators and war criminals (monarchs of the Gulf + Netanyahu + Trump) who are waging war on humanity, self-determination, and justice or you find your alternative by WORKING for humanity, self-determination and justice. We must stand with the oppressed people of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere. Millions are standing with us against these tyrants. History will judge. The arc of the moral universe may be long but it bends towards justice. La Luta Continua.

Truths

 George Orwell said “in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” So let us all tell the truth:

-The Western governments have never really cared about human rights or democracy. They propped dictators, toppled democratically elected governments (like in Iran in 1953 and Chile in 1970), and engagedin policies that killed many millions of innocent people. They support murdering genocidal pyromaniacs like the rulers of the “UAE” and “Saudi Arabia” and ”Israel”. They label as terrorists any genuine resistance movements (in fact how vicious the attacks from racists are on a country or a people tells us precisely how honorable those being attacked are!). 

-Palestine is just a physical base for Zionism to conquer the Arab world and much beyond. The Zionists actually speak openly of how we will be their servants and they our masters. All the data is there for people to study and investigate. And as time went by, they made it impossible to criticize Zionism or Israel and even increasingly “illegal” to do so. Again, it is an assault on free speech and democracy in countries such as Germany, France and the UK that claims the mantle of human rights.

-Colonial-Native struggles end in one of three scenarios: a) Algerian model (nearly 2 million killed, 1 million colonizers and their descendents left the country), b) genocide of natives (USA, Australia), c) coexistence in one country of descendents of colonizers and of native people (the rest of the world >140 countries). There is no fourth scenario. Palestine will not be an exception. It is the last struggle and prolonged only because of the resourcefulness and wealth of Zionists and the weakness of their adversaries with collusion of corrupt dictators. But Zionists and all those collusionists’ regimes need to decide on which of the three outcomes they want. Prolonging it is not helpful to them. The number of Palestinains today is 13 million (12 times what we were in 1917 when the Balfour and Cambon declarations were made in support of Zionism). Impoverished natives reproduce more than economically empowered minorities and the world will eventually democratize or die.

-Those who engaged in exploitation and destruction in the past century (Belgium in the Congo, British in Afriua and Asia, US in Cambodia and Vietnam etc.) largely got away with it because the world was fragmented. Now, the world is far too crowded and us far too connected such taht military might no longer can be used effectively to dictate things without repercussions. Hence the last attempts at this were failures (US in Iraq, Israel in Gaza and Lebanon, US client states attack on Syria and Yemen). This gives hope.

-Whether the PLO leadership of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas signed the Oslo accords out of ignorance or knowing its criminality, staying with it for three decades knowing how much of a charade it was and doing so to keep their positions is indeed criminal behavior. And for the remainder of Palestinain body politics, acquiescence is collusion. Why none of these so-called leaders is willing to admit that this horrific delusion of apartheid couched as “peace process” was a second catastrophe/nakba at par with 1948/1949 nakba.

-The so-called Arab league since Jamal AbdelNasser died in 1970 (perhaps assassinated) serves as a tool for US/Israeli of oppression and imperialism. The gulf monarchies in particular used to tremble at the speeches of AbdelNasser. Now they even get away with murdering and dismembering an opposition journalist in their own embassy in Turkey. They get away with committing genocide in Yemen and occupying it to give Israel bases in the Island of Socotra. They get away with funding Israeli apartheid and destruction of their own religious heritage. They impoverish their people, and are happy to give hundreds of billions of dollars to enrich coffers of imperialists and Zionists as long as those allow them to keep oppressing people.

-The fault is not merely in our “leaders” who put short term financial profit ahead of people and planetary survival. That would be easy to remedy if it was. The fault is in us for keeping these “leaders” in power. Clapping for them, facilitating their dominion over us, playing along with their games of divide and conquer (fear mongering) and overall abandoning our own dignity. We must believe in ourselves and our people (something elite politicians do not want us to do). That is how we get rid of colonialism (including Zionism), pandemics, the environmental nakba (catastrophe) and the risk of nuclear war.

-Yet, the growth of the BDS movement and of people’s support for Palestinian human rights miraculously continues to grow. If I look at the number of attendees to webinars I am invited to speak to (2-3/week) and growth of networks and actions, the conclusion is inevitable: Palestine cannot and will not be liquidated. The question is where each of us stands: the side of Biden, Trump, Netanyahu and ilk, or the side of native people. If we were to tackle climate change, threats of nuclear war, global pandemics, and much more, we should reconnect to native people and empower them. Being on the wrong side here is existential. 

The ultimate bit of truth is as Martin Luther King said: we either live together as fellow human beings or die together as fools. A “win” of business deals to control the world’s wealth will ultimately mean we either wake up and reverse this or we ALL die as a species. We are afterall 7.5 billion people and they are a tiny minority who hope to run the world to their short term advantage but will cause long-term catastrophe (extinction as a species). Their children can have billions or they can have a livable world but not both.

As for us common people, it is time to "revolt against the machine" as the old song used to say OR we will all not survive (even our oppressors will die with us).   

الحقيقة

 

قال جورج أورويل "في زمن الخداع العالمي ، قول الحقيقة هو عمل ثوري". لذلك دعونا جميعًا نقول الحقيقة:

- لم تهتم الحكومات الغربية أبدًا بحقوق الإنسان أو الديمقراطية. بل دعموا الديكتاتوريين وأسقطوا الحكومات المنتخبة ديمقراطياً (كما في إيران عام 1953 وتشيلي عام 1970) ، وانخرطوا في سياسات قتلت ملايين الأبرياء. إنهم يؤيدون أنظمة الإبادة الجماعية مثل حكام "الإمارات" و "السعودية" و "إسرائيل" ويصفون أي حركات مقاومة حقيقية بالإرهابيين (في الواقع مدى شراسة الهجمات على بلد ما أوشخص ما من قبلهم (وأبواقهم مثل قناة العربية) يخبرنا على وجه التحديد بمدى شرف من يتعرضون للهجوم

- فلسطين هي مجرد قاعدة للصهيونية لغزو العالم العربي وما أبعد. يتحدث الصهاينة في الواقع بصراحة عن الكيفية التي سنكون بها خدامهم وهم أسيادنا. جميع البيانات متوفرة للناس للدراسة والتحقيق. وبمرور الوقت وتخاذ الكثيرين جعلوا من المستحيل وحتى "غير القانوني" انتقاد الصهيونية أو إسرائيل. الهجوم على حرية التعبير والديمقراطية في دول مثل ألمانيا وفرنسا والمملكة المتحدة أمثلة من دول تدعي الخحريات وحقوق الإنسان.

- تنتهي صراعات المستعمرين مع السكان الأصليين في واحد من ثلاثة سيناريوهات: أ) النموذج الجزائري (ما يقرب من 2 مليون شهيد و مليون مستعمر وأحفادهم غادروا البلاد) ، ب) الإبادة الجماعية للسكان الأصليين (الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية ، أستراليا) ، ج) التعايش في بلد واحد لأحفاد المستعمرين والسكان الأصليين (بقية العالم > 140 دولة). لا يوجد سيناريو رابع. فلسطين لن تكون استثناء. إنه النضال الأخير والممتد إلا بسبب قوة الصهاينة وثرواتهم بل لضعفنا. لكن الصهاينة وجميع الأنظمة المتواطئة في حاجة إلى تحديد أي من النتائج الثلاث يريدون. إطالة الأمر لا يفيدهم. يبلغ عدد الفلسطينيين اليوم 13 مليون (12 ضعف ما كنا عليه في عام 1917 عندما صدر وعد بلفور ووعد كامبون دعما للصهيونية). السكان الأصليون الفقراء يتكاثرون أكثر من لو كانو في وضع اقتصادي حسن وهذه معضلة الإستعمار.

- أولئك الذين انخرطوا في الاستغلال والدمار في القرن الماضي (بلجيكا في الكونغو ، والبريطانيون في أفريقيا وآسيا ، والولايات المتحدة في كمبوديا وفيتنام ، إلخ) أفلتوا إلى حد كبير بسبب تجزئة العالم. الآن أصبح العالم مزدحمًا للغاية  وأصبح من غير الممكن استخدام مثل هذه القوات العسكرية بشكل فعال لإملاء الأمور دون تداعيات. ومن هنا كانت إخفاقات محاولات حديثة مثل حرب الولايات المتحدة على العراق وإسرائيل على غزة ولبنان ودول عميلة للولايات المتحدة على سوريا واليمن). هذا يعطي الأمل.

- ما إذا كانت منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية بقيادة ياسر عرفات ومحمود عباس وقّعت على اتفاقات أوسلو عن جهل أو معرفة لإجرامها فإن البقاء معها لمدة ثلاثة عقود للحفاظ على مواقفهم هو سلوك إجرامي بحق الشعوب. بالنسبة لما تبقى من الجسد الفلسطيني فإن الإذعان هو تواطؤ بالجرائم. لماذا لا يقوم أي من هؤلاء القادة المزعومين  للاعتراف بأن هذا الوهم الرهيب للفصل العنصري المصاغ على أنه "سلام" كان نكبة ثانية على قدم المساواة مع نكبة 1948/1949.

- ما تسمى بالجامعة العربية ومنذ وفاة جمال عبد الناصر عام 1970 (ربما اغتيل) هي أداة للقمع والإمبريالية الأمريكية / الإسرائيلية. ممالك الخليج على وجه الخصوص كانت ترتجف من خطب عبد الناصر. الآن يفلتوا من قتل وتقطيع صحفي معارض في سفارتهم في تركيا ودعم الإمبريالية والصهيونية علنبا. يرتكبوا إبادة جماعية في اليمن ويحتلوها لمنح إسرائيل قواعد في جزيرة سقطرى. يفقرون شعوبهم ويسعدون بتقديم مئات المليارات من الدولارات لإثراء خزائن الإمبرياليين والصهاينة طالما تسمح لهم بمواصلة اضطهاد الناس.

- الخطأ ليس فقط في "قادتنا" (سيكون من السهل علاجه إذا كان كذلك) . هم وضعوا الربح المالي قصير الأجل قبل الناس وبقاء الكوكب. بل إن الخطأ فينا لإبقاء هؤلاء "القادة" في السلطة. مشكلتنا التصفيق لهم (شعبنا سحيجة بنسبة عالية) وتسهيل سيطرتهم علينا والقبول بسياسات فرق تسد (ترويج الخوف مثلا بين السنة والشيعة) والتخلي عن كرامتنا بشكل عام. يجب أن نؤمن بأنفسنا وبشعبنا (وهو أمر لا تريدنا النخبة السياسية أن نفعله). هذه هي الطريقة التي نتخلص بها من الاستعمار (بما في ذلك الصهيونية) والأوبئة مثل الكورونا والنكبة البيئية (الكارثة) وخطر الحرب النووية.

 

- ومع ذلك بأعجوبة  يستمر نمو حركة المقاطعة BDS ودعم الناس لحقوق الإنسان الفلسطين. إذا نظرت إلى عدد الحاضرين في الندوات عبر الإنترنت التي تمت دعوتي للتحدث معهم (2-3  ندوات أسبوعيا) ونمو الشبكات والإجراءات المضادة فإن الاستنتاج لا مفر منه: لا يمكن تصفية فلسطين ولن يتم ذلك. السؤال هو أين يقف كل واحد منا: جانب بايدن وترامب ونتنياهو وأمثاله ، أو جانب السكان الأصليين. إذا أردنا معالجة تغير المناخ ، وتهديدات الحرب النووية ، والأوبئة العالمية ، وأكثر من ذلك بكثير ، يجب علينا إعادة الاتصال بالسكان الأصليين وتمكينهم. أن تكون في الجانب الخطأ هنا أمر وجودي.

الجزء النهائي من الحقيقة كما قال مارتن لوثر كينج: إما أن نعيش معًا كأخوة في البشرية أو نموت معًا كأغبياء. "الفوز" بصفقات تجارية للسيطرة على ثروة العالم سيعني في النهاية إما أن نستيقظ ونغير هذا الواقع أو نندثر جميعا. نحن 7.5 مليار وهم أقلية صغيرة يأملون في إدارة العالم لمصلحتهم على المدى القصير ولكنهم سيسببون كارثة طويلة الأمد (انقراض كنوع). يمكن أن يكون لأطفالهم المليارات أو يمكن لأطفالهم الحصول على عالم صالح للعيش ولكن ليس كلاهما.

بالنسبة لنا عامة الناس فقد حان وقت "الثورة على الآلة" كما تقول الأغنية القديمة

12 years

I returned to Palestine in 2008 (after a quarter of a century in the US) and it is good to reflect on these 12 years. Below this is the message from August 2008 explaining why I came back and what I had planned to do here. Much of course happened in 12 years good and bad (and that is the nature of life). Sadly, I witnessed two Israeli large attacks on Gaza and persistent daily attacks on life of Palestinians. I witnessed wars inspired by the US on Libya, Yemen, and Syria and toppling a dictator in Egypt to be replaced by an elected government which in turn gets toppled by another dictator. I witnessed 60 million Americans electing Trump to be president while the rest learned nothing from democratic establishment propping crooked Hillary “we came [to libya] we conqured” Clinton. They will still vote for the lesser of two evils. I witnessed locally home demolitions, ethnic cleansing, and de-development with Western complicity and hypocricy. I lost 19 friends who were killed by the occupation forces. I myself was harassed and detained/arrested many times. I witnessed and participated in civil disobedience and civil resistance and wrote a book on popular resistance. My students and I research environmental justice issues and wrote many research papers. We helped many needy families. And we are now struggling as pandemic picks up here in besieged Palestine.

I have split my time between working on human rights issues for Palestinains and working for the environment. These are not mutually exclusive as there is significant overlap. There are issues of colonizer assaults oin the environment and environmental justice. There are issues of human sustainability and food security (dependent on the environment). Ofcourse where and how we act evolves and changes in time. In those 12 years, I learned that our struggle as indigineous people in Palestine is connected to the struggle of indigenous people everywhere. I also learned that since the wealthy elites have no future for themselves without a healthy planet and a healthy planet depends us indigineous people, the elites must learn to listen to us.

For many years we have been active and I had no problem sleeping despite bad new all around us. Action is the best antidote to despair. Recently my own initiatives and actions seem not enough to keep my sanity even those that have tangible results (like founding and volunteering at the Palestine Institute for biodiversity and sustainability that we now employ 9 people and publish on, educate about, and conserve our environment). We witness Israeli bombing of Gaza and Lebanon, home demolitions, persistent human rights violations in Palestine, Yemen, and Syria (e.g. Turkey occupation forces cutting water to 1.3 million people in Hasaka). We also witness the US descending into a fascist state with people having to choose lesser of two evils as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Here are two other examples of news that keeps me awake:

-At least six COVID-19 cases outside of quarantine confirmed in two days: Al Mezan warns of a potential human catastrophe in Gaza after Israel tightens its closure and bans fuel entry http://www.mezan.org/en/post/23788

-The UAE ruler worked against the interests of his and all people to succumb to US dictates (made by the Israel lobby) and killes people and occupies their lands in Yemen and now turns it over to build the Israeli empire. Israel to have bases in Socotra, Yemen an island of unique habitat that is already under significant pressure fro the UAE’s military occupation: https://southfront.org/uae-israel-plan-to-create-intelligence-bases-on-socotra-island/

-Some 6 million US and 3 million Brazilians infected with Covid-19 while their presidents are merely happy to get richer and serve Zionist masters.

-What the media ignores about the UN report on Biodiversity (the need to empower indigineous communities)

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/biodiversity-un-report-indigenous-worldview/

But in the end, I and my wife and the volunteers around us accomplished even more than what was predicted 12 years ago (below), I met hundreds of people who made a difference in my life. Some were maryred, some injured, some died of natural causes (e.g. our friend Qavi who helped so many Palestinians and wanted to die and be buried in Palestine). We gave thousands of talks and built an email list of tens of thousands.  We built institutions and we helped hundreds of young people. And indeed we had “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world.”

PS The achievemnts for 2019 just for this one project are posted at 

https://www.palestinenature.org/about-us/final-annual-report.pdf

=========

Leaving the US For Palestine (August 2008)

After such knowledge; what forgiveness?
Think now
History has many cunning passages,
Contrived corridors
And issue, deceives with wispering ambitions
Guides us by vanities.
Think now
She gives when our attention is distracted
And what she gives, she gives with such supple confusion
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
T. S. Elliot

I graduated from Jordan University with a Bachelor degree at age 21 and then taught in Palestinian Schools (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho).  In those year and a half as a middle and high school teacher (Jan 78-June 79) I worked very hard at two jobs (extra teaching at private school in Jerusalem) so as to save money for higher education. I saved enough for the airline tickets and an extra $1500 for the first few months in America. I came to the US in August 1979 to pursue higher education and ended up making it a home while maintaining a home in Palestine.  Since then I got my doctorate, medical boards in genetics, and served on faculties at the University of Tennessee, Duke, and Yale Universities.  I published over 130 scientific papers and three books. Here I also met first my wife, built a family, made thousands of friends, and chose to become a citizen. Thus, my journey in the US was wonderful and highly successful.   Much of my activism was driven here by the desire to improve this country (e.g. stop it from committing war crimes and crimes against humanity).  I strongly believe that unless all of us work together to change US foreign policy (a policy shaped by Zionist lobbies), we are all doomed.  We see that millions of US citizens are also concerned about the way this foreign policy is damaging our economy and reputation around the world. I think it must (and it will) change.  There are many good signs (e.g. the books of Carter and Mearsheimer and Walt became best sellers). Yet, today with the new laws that shred constitutional protections, government intrusion on every sphere of life, the US has been more Israelized.   These things, restrictions on students coming from the Arab world, and the war economy in America (that devastated higher education here) makes a repeat of my story much more difficult if not impossible. My own journey has not been easy.  Racist Zionists tried to block us at every corner and racism in a society shaped by Hollywood films that villify Arabs is rampant.  Some take their positions  at institutions of higher education and at funding agencies (e.g. March of Dimes, National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health) as a license to advance their racist ideologies.  This situation continues although I did notice that in the past 12-15 years things have become more opened up.  This is a function of a) numbers: Zionist ranks are dwindling and populations of all other people in the US are growing, b) the internet opening up the dialogues and increasing exposure to the truth, and c) more Arab and Muslim Americans taking on their civic responsibilities and asserting their rights and their responsibilities in this society. But perhaps it is always a struggle anyway.  

But the difficulties I faced (including a major health issue) are nothing compared to what other Palestinians face under occupation or in exile (e.g. in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria).  I consider my challenges/difficulties in life as blessings.  I would not want them changed if I had the power to change them. Difficulties in life make us who we are and help us improve.  In this I am thankful even to those self-declared enemies and protagonists who sometimes succeeded in what they aimed to do and sometimes failed but always provided me with good lessons.  So perhaps a tinge of me wants more difficulties.  I look back with nostalgia at my upbringing under Israeli occupation.  I look with nostalgia at the time I was teaching in the West Bank.  I talk to my elderly diabetic mother every week and she tells me stories of what is going on on the ground.  Her stories include things like people dying because of being prevented from going to health clinics, students denied the right to go to school, lands confiscated, children shot in the back of the head, extra-judicial executions, further acts of ethnic cleansing, and more. I also go to Palestine every year and I see the apartheid system getting worse.  Walls surrounding towns and villages, US weapons that killed or maimed friends and colleagues, economic strangulation, and much more.  But both mother and I see so much good work being done by good people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Thus, every year when I go visit Palestine, I cannot wait to come back even though life there gets worse (checkpoints, the violence of the occupation, the economic deterioration).  My last visit was of July last year.  The hate I witnessed from settlers, from occupation soldiers, and yes from some natives was so thick in the air and permeated everything.  The racism, the segregation, the apartheid walls... and all the other things I occasionally share with you through this cyberspace.  BUT, there is also lots of love.  Love is not usually expressed in words in Palestine. Even among family members it is rare to hear the words "I love you".  Love is expressed at a far more meaningful sense in caring, asking how your health is, offering food, hospitality, offering your clothing and what little you have etc.  These are acts of love.

In the US, I witness acts of love perhaps two or three times a day in person (I see many more on the emails and other news sources).  In Palestine, in my last visit, I witnessed acts of love in the dozens in some days.  In one day of a nonviolent demonstration in Bilin and then in the Hospital where Ibrahim Bornat was taken after being shot, I witnessed hundreds of acts of love.  They came not just from Palestinians but from Internationals and even Israelis who were with us. In the US, writing a letter to the editor or demonstrating in front of a congressman's office are acts of resistance (and yes love). In Palestine, teaching a child to read, eating, drinking, breathing living, and everything we do in life there are acts of resistance (and love).  This is because that is not what the colonial Zionist movement wants (they want us all out to create a more uniform "Jewish state" that is cleansed "nichsayon").

Of course without the US support of Israel, Israel can't survive as a colonial power.  That is why work in the US has been and must continue to be a center of focus.  We simply must change US policy in the Middle East (if nothing else than to save the US from economic collapse!). Work must be done both in Palestine and outside of Palestine.  Indeed that is part of the reason why I have not relocated to Palestine earlier. There is something indeed about fate and destiny.

I also have a home in Connecticut and will maintain that for the time being. It is our destiny as Palestinians to be so conflicted and separated.  I have relatives in 40+ countries. I have friends and colleagues in over 100 countries.  So I guess, the world is my home. The corner of it that received a lot of oppression deserves a lot of attention/activism.  

Activism for human rights is not only a duty but it is one of the most rewarding things to have done myself (marriage, having a son, writing books are others). Activism falls truly under the category of enlightened self interest which is what philosphers and sages of old have encouraged us to practice. So in that sense I am still going to be doing acts similar to here.  My focus will shift though.  I will be doing somethings:

- Teaching at Bethlehem University (a new masters program in Biotechnology, course in human molecular genetics)
- Working on environmental/conservation issues (see http://www.qumsiyeh.org/nature/ )[we ended up establishing a large institute now employing 10 people and dozens of volunteers- palestinenature.org]
- Building a laboratory for clinical genetics that employs Palestinian graduates
- Doing other activities that create job opportunities (see for example by going to http://www.pcr.ps/ and click on outsourcing Palestine project at right)
- Writing more books (the next one on my agenda to complete is on history, theory, and practice of Palestinian non-violent resistance over the past 128 years)
- Giving help where I can (my dream is to start a "food not bombs" chapter)
- Continue the never-ending work to improve myself and fight the demons within.
- Having fun!

And as our newly departed poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote: "I long for my mother's bread, and my mother's coffee, and her touch. Childhood memories grow up in me Day after day. I must be worthy of my life. At the hour of my death, worthy of the tears of my mother.”
I have a home in Beit Sahour, a lovely town despite the colonial occupation.  Please look at these two videos of my hometown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-D2jy1knHs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXFd48-W7JQ

It also seemed the right time on the 60th anniversary of the Nakba (the ethnic cleansing of Palestine) to focus more on helping in Palestine while still maintaining a base in the US.

With humility and serenity, I will try to be positive, productive and helpful as one of millions struggling under occupation/colonization.  My regular email messages may slow down or get way shorter.  These emails will also undergo a change away from posting things from secondary sources.  Since I will be on the ground more, I will report more of what I observe in Palestine and occasional suggestions for unique and inspiring actions for peace with justice we can all support.

If I slighted any of you, I apologize.  I want to thank all of you for your kind support (especially those who took the time to act on action calls).  I also want to thank those in Connecticut who helped make the state a great place to live.  You all will be in my thoughts always.

If you ever want to take a trip to Palestine, please drop me a note and come visit!

In the meantime, stay tuned and best of Love to all.

Mazin Qumsiyeh

PS: Lessons I try to remember about life (most learned from mistakes :-)
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/lessonslearned/