Christ at Checkpoint

Israel has been paranoid about people finding out the truth of what it is doing. In an example of this, 55 Harvard students were expelled from Al-Walaja earlier this week (see 1 below). On several occasions when we took delegations to visit Al-Walaja we were harassed.  This included the times when I took a group of Israeli Jews, evangelical Christians, and even diplomatic staff to Al-Walaja.  Some who were sympathetic to Israel did change their views and started to see this as the apartheid system h it is (by International legal definition).  Just today I took some of my Palestinian students to see Al-Walaja and talk to villagers and even do their research projects on the village.  More Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals should come to these struggling villages and see reality. We are happy to show people around and/or put them in touch with the right people and not those who are profiteering from claiming they represent popular resistance.

I do see signs of hope here every day. For example, last week over 600 people (most Christian Evangelicals including renowned evangelical leaders) attended the Christ at the Checkpoint conference in Bethlehem.  “Christ at the Checkpoint,” addressed the issue of how to find hope in the midst of conflict and in short "what would Jesus do?". The conference exceeded all expectations (2).  I was honored to connect with friends but even more encouraged to meet many more new "converts": those who now see that "Christian Zionism" is an oxymoron because one cannot be a true Christian (or Jew for that matter) and be a Zionist(3). Palestinian Christians of various denominations usually do not agree on things (like who gets to clean what part of the Church of Nativity).  But in an unprecedented show of unity all of us agreed on a document called Kairos Palestine (4). This generated a huge outpouring of support from churches throughout the world and now has an Islamic response to it (5).

We also see the hope in the determined spirit of most of my students (at three universities) to go beyond the misery and difficulty of the occupation and colonization.  They challenge their own minds and begin to see that it is only they who can shape their own future despite incredible odds. We saw it in the play by Al-Rowwad theater group in Aida refugee camp, a play called Handala after the inspiring cartoon character of Naji Al-Ali (6).

Meanwhile life here goes in sometimes mundane things and sometimes dramatic issues.  In the mundane for example one could count spending two and a half hour on the checkpoint coming back from teaching at Al-Quds University. We could count the incident where freelance photographer Mati Milstein videotaped Israeli border police tossing a tear gas canister at Palestinian women who were just enjoying a late afternoon chat outside their home.  Mati said "There was no violence in this area, no stone throwing or any kind of organizing by demonstrators. Border Policemen were driving around the area and suddenly on one of their patrols the commander decided to toss a tear gas grenade at the people, for no apparent reason, at least as far as I could see". (7)

In the intermediate level we saw it in the demonstrations in Beit Dajan area where villagers were trying to open the road to the village that was closed by the Israeli occupation army 10 years ago (8). And we see the struggle to allow our people to keep solar panels for their electric use (9).

And in the other end of the spectrum we saw a massacre of 26 Palestinians in four days in Israeli illegal attacks on Gaza.  We also see the life of Palestinian political prisoner Hana Shalabi in danger as she is in her 29^th day of hunger strike to protest the policy of administrative detention.

Final Quote from Zionists who pushed for the $3 trillion war on Iraq as they now try to repeat that episode on Iran: "A critical challenge for this policy option is that, absent a clear Iranian act of aggression, American airstrikes against Iran would be unpopular in the region and throughout the world" (10)

We must maintain our hope and our energy and move towards justice, freedom, and equality and that redemption called for so brilliantly by young South African Mbuyiseni Ndlozi speaking on Palestine (11).

1) Harvard Students expelled from Al-Walaja
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-police-expel-harvard-students-from-palestinian-village-1.418696

2) Christ at the Checkpoint challenges Christian Zionism http://www.christatthecheckpoint.org/
http://www.amin.org/articles.php?t=ENews&id=3840

3) See http://www.christianzionism.org/

4) see the Palestinian Christian call "A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of the Palestinian suffering" http://www.kairospalestine.ps

5) See for example United Methodist response.

http://www.indiegogo.com/Responding-to-a-plea-from-Christians-of-the-Holy-Land and The Justice Committee of the General Assembly Mission Council (of the Presbyterian Church) voted to approve a recommendation to the General Assembly for divestiturehttp://pres-outlook.com/breaking-news/16331-mrti-recommends-targeted-divestment-in-3-companies-for-nonpeaceful-use-of-their-products-in-israel-palestine.html

an Islamic Response to Kairos Palestine http://www.peaceforlife.org/resources/mideast/2012/12-0122-islamicresponsetokairos.html

6) For an early version of the play, see part 1 http://www.alrowwad-acts.ps/etemplate.php?id=153 and part 2 http://www.alrowwad-acts.ps/etemplate.php?id=154

7) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y14vR1xySiU

8) See "After much injustice, Beit Dajan debuts its peaceful resistance" http://palsolidarity.org/2012/03/after-much-injustice-beit-dajan-debuts-its-peaceful-resistance/ and see photos here http://www.activestills.org/image/tid

9) See Palestinians prepare to lose the solar panels that provide a lifeline

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/mar/14/palestinians-prepare-to-lose-solar-panels

10) Kenneth Pollack, et al, Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy toward Iran, pp. 84-85. Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, June 2009 

11) Mbuyiseni Ndlozi - Israeli Apartheid Week, London. 22.2.12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNbZjTlpM6w

Palestinian Political Prisoners

It snowed in Palestine and the heavy rain washed away many things but not human sins.  I thought of the huge amount of water running by friends of mine in Al-Auja near Jericho whow ere prevented from capturibng that water while colonial illegla settlers get all eth water with all eth infrastructure they want.   I watched Israeli children play in the snow in a park built on the ruins of a destroyed Palestinian village.  I thought of the shivering political prisoners in unheated cells hundreds of whom are in administrative detention who do not know when they will be out in any park. Some sacrificed decades for internatioanlly recognized struggle to end colonialism and occupation.  Many joined the hunger strike of administrative detainee Hana Al-Shalaby.   Below are relevant links and material so that we can stand by those freedom lovers.  But first two quick items:

1-Many of you asked about the answers to the test for the course I teach on human rights that I posted earlier to the list. After sending it to over 20 people, I decided to post the questions with suggested answers (but of course much more can be said and discussed) here: http://www.qumsiyeh.org/test1/

2-Muslim and non-Muslim to join Jerusalem solidarity

http://gm2j.com/main/blog/2012/02/29/muslim-and-non-muslim-to-join-jerusalem-solidarity/

(the Zionist movement mobilized to defame the march by claiming it is an Islamist march.  Well, there are many Muslims and also Islamic groups like Hamas that do support the march but also leftist groups and all people who agree that Jerusalem is being slowly transformed and it multiethnic, multireligious character eroded slowly to make it a Jewish Zionist city)

Hana Al-Shalaby entered her 14^th day on hunger strike to protest her unlawful kidnapping and being held in "administrative detention". Profile here http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=161

Video by Sanaa on prisoners

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-ZpCsKwZCY

Israel issues third consecutive detention order against prisoner of conscience Ahmad Qatamesh

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen/israel-issues-third-consecutive-detention-order-against-prisoner-conscience-ahmad

In my book on "Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment" I explained how the women movement in Palestine was very strong in the 1920s and even successfully lobbied the British government to release Palestinian political prisoners. And on May 17, 1936, prisoners in Nur Shams (3 km east of Tulkarem, made into a refugee camp after 1948) declared a strike and confronted the prison guards.  The prison warden, a Mr. Grand ordered soldiers to shoot and one prisoner was killed, several wounded as prisoner shouted in defiance “Martyrdom better than jail”. On 9 Sept 1939, freedom fighters took over Beer Al-Saba' government facilities and released political prisoners from the central jail. Political prisoners in Israeli jails organized themselves into effective committees which carried on collective strikes that were especially potent in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Peaceful demonstrators during the 1987-1991 uprising were fined 500-1000 shekels (about $200-400, almost half a year’s pay at the time) and jailed for 8-12 months (ref).  The ranks of prisoners in Israeli jails swelled to over 20,000 at one point. In September 1988, the Israeli army released the number of detainees it held at 23,600 and torture was common (ref.).  In total over 700,000 Palestinians spent time in Israeli jails. 

Israel radio reported on an open hunger strike by prisoners in the prison camps of Jenin, Ramallah and Nablus who demanded improvement in their deplorable detention conditions (ref).  90 prisoners in the Ansar 2 jail in Gaza engaged in an open hunger strike to protest the deplorable condition especially during the harsh winter season (ref.).

In 13 prisons, prisoners from all factions rejected food and water starting on 26 September 1992 (ref.).  These collective actions forged solidarity and raised political consciousness of all who participated

Al-Ansar prison in South Lebanon, where thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese political prisoners were held by Israeli occupation forces, showed incredible acts of resistance and resilience ranging from hunger strikes to refusal to obey orders to writing (ref.). On December 6, 1998 (and during President Clinton’s visit), over 2000 political prisoners engaged in a hunger strike to press for their release.

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails started a hunger strike that lasted from 15 August to 2 September 2004.   During this time, the Israeli authorities tried various methods from persuasion to threats to beatings to break the strike and 13 UN agencies operating in the occupied areas expressed their concern (ref.). 

Outside the prisons, Palestinians and internationals protested and worked diligently to spread the word about the prisoners’ demands and their plight.  It started with the prisoners families, many of whom joined the hunger strike.  Crowds assembled August 16, 2004 outside local offices of the Red Cross and marched to the Gaza headquarters of the United Nations where they delivered a letter addressed to Secretary General Kofi Annan, calling for him to apply pressure on Israel and improve conditions for the prisoners. They demonstrated again in the thousands two days later (ref.).  The Palestinian National Authority, Palestinians inside the Green Line, and the International Solidarity Movement called for hunger strikes outside the prisons (ref.).  The strike slowly gained strength. Then Israel's Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi stated: "Israel will not give in to their demands. They can starve for a day, a month, even starve to death, as far as I am concerned" (ref.) but eventually gave in recognized some basic humanitarian rights the prisoners were entitled to. 

Palestinian female political prisoners in Telmud Prison were mistreated and on November 28, 2004 their spokeswomen who complained about the mistreatment was beaten and punished.  When others complained, the prisoners were all punished.  They engaged in a hunger strike (ref.). Prisoners continued to use hunger strikes to protest ill treatment and draw attention to their plight.  For example on February 16, 2006 Jamal AlSarahin died in prison.  He was a 37 year old “Administrative detainee” (never charged or brought to trial) who had been detained for 8 months prior and badly mistreated.  Prisoners declared a one day hunger strike (ref. ) and on 11 March 2006, a sit-down strike in front of the ICRC in Hebron was held to demand better treatment for prisoners

On 27 June 2006, 1,200 Palestinian political prisoners in the Negev Desert launched a hunger strike to protest the arbitrary and oppressive practices of the prison administration. In total over 700,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli jails and the latest statistics showed that 11,000 are still held according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society (ref.)

By 2009, Palestinians in Israeli prisons were able to achieve a number of successes by nonviolent struggle and civil disobedience including wearing regular cloths (no orange uniforms), access to news, reasonable visitation rights, better access to health care.  But the Prison Administration continues to chip away at those rights (ref.).

The sacrifices of prisoners were highly appreciated: “Prison became a rite of initiation, so much so that if one had not been imprisoned, his or her loyalty might be questioned, and prison records earned by the young replaced the stature once enjoyed by the elders.” (ref.).  But more importantly prison built common bonds and strengthened social cohesion and resistance under occupation.  One ex-prisoner stated: "Like any human community, there are contradictions, but there is a common thread in the experience in prison that gives us strength, a common goal, a common purpose. We are joined together in struggle, so our shared experiences only make us stronger" (ref.).

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

http://qumsiyeh.org

Biology of Peace

Chapter in Book on Why Peace, edited by Mark Guttman see http://www.why-peace.com/

[This book is an exploration of aggression, and of the evolutionary (and revolutionary) process to peace. Through the insights of men and women, from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives, Why Peace presents stories of wars, invasions, and political repressions—down to the most basic levels of authoritarianism…]

Biology of Peace by Mazin Qumsiyeh

Text also posted here http://www.qumsiyeh.org/biologyofpeace/ 

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches biology and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke and Yale Universities. He is now president of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and serves on the board of Al-Rowwad Children Theater in Aida Refugee Camp. His main interest is media activism and public education. He has published over 200 letters to the editor and 200 op-ed pieces and been interviewed on TV and radio extensively (local, national and international). Mazin has published several books, including Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle and Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment.

I grew up under Israeli occupation, a brutal military occupation accompanied by “colonization” (land theft). My family suffered, though not as much as other Palestinian families. It is hard to describe how much the occupation invades every aspect of one's life here: from eating and drinking to education and from healthcare to travel, from economy to freedom of religion. The antithesis of all of this repression, violence, occupation, colonization and war is, of course, peace. I was thus captivated by peace as a concept, a dream, a hope. Sometimes I was thinking of peace in terms of a state of external calm and lack of disturbance. In other times, I thought peace was related to freedom from repression. Now, I think of peace as being an inner peace, that only comes from acting on what we believe and freeing our minds of the bondage acquired from external sources.

In the Buddhist traditions, we are asked to seek, to have “joyful participation in the sorrows of this world.” I was reminded of this when I was held on July 27, 2011, along with some Israeli and Palestinian activists, in the Israeli military compound at Atarot. This was after being attacked by Israeli soldiers for participation in a peaceful demonstration in the village of Al-Walaja. This beautiful village in the West Bank is slowly being depopulated of its last remaining citizens. Simple and beautiful slogans is hard to apply here, as a wall will encircle the remaining houses of the village, cutting the inhabitants off from their livelihood and forcing them to leave.

How can we even begin to comprehend the sorrow that has engulfed the land of Canaan in the past few decades? The sorrows of the native inhabitants are so horrendous that it sometimes seems unreal. Of 11 million Palestinians in the world, 7 million are refugees or displaced people. The 5.5 million natives who remain inside the country (many displaced) are restricted now to shrinking concentration areas, amounting to only 8.3 percent of the historic land of Palestine.

According to the latest survey of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, some 26.2 percent of families live in poverty and 14.1 percent live in deep poverty, for a total of 40.3 percent living in poverty or deep poverty in the West Bank and Gaza. The situation in Gaza is worse than in the West Bank with 1.5 million people, most of them refugees squeezed in an arid part of Palestine, besieged, blockaded and denied even basic living necessities. This, the worst post-WWII horror inflicted on a people, indeed portends so much suffering. So how can we have personal peace, let alone joyful participation, when we suffer so much?

On a personal level, I have lost many colleagues and friends. Just in the last year alone, I have lost friends who practiced nonviolence and strove to peace: Juliano Mer Khamis, Vittorio Arrigi, Bassem and his sister Jawaher Abu Rahma. I lost many other friends and relatives to illnesses that seem to be increasing in our population. Cancer and heart disease have claimed the lives of many of those: my two brothers-in-law and four dear friends and fellow activists. All such losses certainly make deep scars that reach to the soul. Even routine difficulties in life stir us and disturb us, leaving us a little further from peace. So how can we aspire to peace while our own souls are still far from peace? I believe our internal turmoil is mainly due to a lack of understanding of human nature and the trajectories of history.

To understand humans and what drives us, we have to understand our biology, especially our early development. I taught developmental biology and researched how things could go wrong in early development. We all start as a zygote, a single cell which is the result of the union of the sperm nucleus with the egg nucleus inside the cytoplasm of the egg. That primal cytoplasm is a soup containing codes for proteins that allow the early embryo to get its initial organizational structure, even before the code in the nucleus of the zygote starts to shape the future of the individual. In a sense then, we all depend far more on “stuff” we get from our mothers than stuff we get from our fathers. In developmental biology we know that axis formation (having three dimensions: anterior-posterior, dorsal-ventral, left and right) comes from the cytoplasm of the egg from our mothers. In essence, without that initial material we get from our mother, we would simply be a round blob.

But the miracle of developmental biology is that the joining of 23 chromosomes from the sperm with 23 chromosomes from the egg make one nucleus. There are already endless genetic possibilities for those maternal and paternal chromosomes. This is because the process of producing sperm and eggs, called meiosis, not only reduces the chromosomes by half (from 46 to 23), but creates myriad opportunities for having very different sets of genetic variation, through recombination and chromosome segregation. That is why no two sperm and no two eggs are the same. That is why no two siblings are the same (except of course identical twins, which come from the same zygote).

The first cell divides to become 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 cells. That early embryo implants itself on the uterine wall and the interdigitation of embryonic and maternal tissue forms a placenta. This remarkable structure is where nutrients are supplied to the embryo, and oxygen and CO2 are exchanged. Many embryos are lost along the way because they have genetic codes that affect these developmental processes. Some 15-20 percent of recognized pregnancies end-up spontaneously aborted (a natural selection process). Harmful mutations are the price that our species pays for possibilities of useful mutations. Mutations are the natural substances upon which natural selection operates. Useful mutations survive and travel to the next generation. That simple idea (developed and spread by Charles Darwin) revolutionized our understanding of biology and in turn has advanced a wide range of fields, from environmental research to medical studies.

The embryo developing in the uterus is, of course, subject to its environment. Both harmful and beneficial stimuli shape its very existence and future. That is why pregnant mothers are told to stay away from harmful materials (alcohol, tobacco and other drugs) and maintain a good diet. (Many Palestinian mothers delivered babies with blindness in the few years following the Nakba of 1948, because of vitamin E deficiencies in the refugee camps.) Some scientific studies also suggest a child’s brain development may be susceptible to nutritional food and toxin-free air and the absence of other harmful things. There are data that show that even music and the mother’s good mood influences the mental capacity and development of the child she is carrying. Needless to say, women in war zones do not produce the healthiest babies. This is why the impact of a military occupation is not just on the adults and children around but on future generations.

After birth, education from society may create tribalistic racist notions (e.g., Nazi Germany… or Israel today). Challenging these notions of superiority and striving for common good is possible, but it requires shedding some of the educational baggage that nationalistic and militaristic societies use to saturate young minds. At one level, this is more difficult today than in the past: Modern warfare is much bloodier than ancient warfare, but it is conducted from a distance.

Soldiers no longer come home to wash off the blood of their enemies from their clothes and swords. They come home with images of the tools that they have used to destroy enemies from a distance. The faces of their enemies are not familiar to them, only outlines in gun sights or on computer screens. The facial distortions and agonized screams of those killed do not reach the killers. Some of these killers like to pretend they do not imagine these things. They want to cling to the elements of their humanity. They may go back home, and even help an old lady cross the street or pass a candy to a child. But deep in their psyches, these killers know that they have destroyed a human being just like them, with flesh and blood, with feelings, with people who loved him or her.

On the other hand, the development of the internet and of methods of social communication allow a closeness of the human family in new and incredibly positive ways that promote social transformation towards peace and human rights. From the organizing against the World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund in Seattle, to Tunisia and Egypt, people are finding their voice. Here in Palestine, we have had a vibrant activist community for decades. Increasingly, Israeli and international activists join hands with native Palestinians in our struggle for peace with justice.

After 20 years of fruitless negotiations between colonizer and colonized, occupier and occupied, even Palestinian elites have come around to see the power of the people. Engaging in international diplomacy while doing popular resistance is seen as critical in increasing the pressure to arrive at a just resolution. If the Israeli government remains intransigent and continues to build colonial settlements on Palestinian lands, the only remaining option will become adopted by more and more people: a push for a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine. That outcome may already have been guaranteed by the relentless expansionist Zionist project. By making a two-state option impossible and forcing us into close contacts, we (Palestinians and Israelis) are developing joint strategies to work for peace, even as walls are erected on our land.

What is remarkable is that humans of different backgrounds are coming to regard peace as personal, and to regard politicians as “behind the times.” All humans have behaviors that trace back to our ancestral primates. From sex to feeding to self-protection to ambition to control of space, we as a species are driven by these deep-rooted innate behaviors. To what extent we can control our behavior in a positive fashion determines our humanity. Governments endeavor to maintain the status quo of control over individuals and the manipulation of conflicts for their benefits. Yet, the achievements by individuals working together towards freedom, peace, and self-government are a testimony to the power that resides in us.

We learned from the civil rights movement in the US, from ending apartheid in South Africa, from the freedoms achieved in Eastern Europe, and from the Arab Spring. I believe the main reason this world functions (and the main reason we remain optimistic) is that good people are everywhere, endeavoring toward inner peace and extending it by deeds to achieve peace in our societies. This happens despite the push-back from governments who are happy with the status quo. Without this “people power,” we would have endless wars and endless repression and injustice. With it and with human cultural evolution speeding up, we indeed look forward to a day when no human life is lost in useless wars and conflicts, and all individuals are free from state aggression. It is up to us to work to accelerate the trend in history.

Corruption vs Dignity

A friend asked how activists keep going when so many people engage in corruption, stealing, lying, cheating, and harming others.  Here in Palestine, there are plenty of people who do these things and they are both Israelis and Palestinians.  Occasionally we also have the visiting Western politicians but that only adds marginally to these negative acidic waves that are destroying lives and livelihoods in their wake.  We could write books about all these negative things.  We could tell stories of humanitarian aid that ends in pockets of corrupt individuals (in both governmental and non-governmental settings).  I was sad once to even find out that money we raised for medical relief was used for promoting an individual political ambition. I was sad to find that one of the highest ranking Palestinian officials worked hard to destroy the will of resistance and then claimed that the absence of resistance is a validation of endless negotiations (begging and pleading for crumbs).  There are few books written about these things.  One for example is "Globalized Palestine: The National Sell-Out of a Homeland" By Khalil Nakhleh which is now out in English.* I read the Arabic version of this when it came out and I think it is a must read for everyone who want to understand how the Oslo accords and what followed sold out Palestine for money, corporations and made some Palestinians very wealthy with villas, fancy cars etc. The book also touches on how this system corrupted many Palestinians.  This subject needs deeper exploration and many more books but a few brief comments here are warranted. 

Let me start by saying that I use Palestine and Palestinians as examples for this not because we have more corruption than say Israelis or Egyptians but for two reasons:

1) I am more knowledgeable about this particular subject and writing about what we know best makes it more personal and gives us better insights as to weaknesses and strengths of humans.

2) We are under an existential threat: a colonial power that is interested in eliminating our presence from the land.  Most of our land is taken already (we are reduced to use of 8.3% of our homeland and these are disjointed cantons).  Most of our people are refugees or displaced people (7 million of 11 million).  Most of our economy (agriculture, natural resources, and tourism) was usurped by the colonizers.  The pressures on us are thus tremendous.  Strengths are critical and weaknesses are amplified and used by our colonizers to their advantage.  Without addressing weaknesses (not necessarily removing all of them but reducing them), it is hard to envision the final push to end the injustice and bring a durable peace.

Every hour here I am reminded of what the prophets of old days realized with contemplation and deep thought: that each human being is a battle field. From individuals who cheat, those who take foreign aid money to serve their own selfish interest, those who lie, those who misuse authority, countless employed and not doing much for an income that they cling to etc.

There is war is within each human mind: between evil and good, between love and hate, between tribalism and humanity, between corruption and dignity. Those who slid down the wrong path can be salvaged but it takes much harder work on their part than those who stayed true to their better-selves. The Buddha realized this is not an unnatural conflict but that it is part of who we are.  Only by deep meditation and reflection, he realized that it is possible to maintain a balance in favor of the goodness.  Only by this very deep reflection (in many religions this is called prayer), are we able to let go of the carnal desires and go higher in levels of understanding, empathy, and compassion for fellow human beings. Addiction to greed and selfishness (in the case of some also tribalism) must be challenged with firm kindness and without malice or hate. 

This is not to say we do not need revolution; we actually desperately need it.  But we must start with a revolution in our minds to get rid of all the nonsense that was put there by parents, teachers, clergy, and society.  This revolution should be about dignity and restoring self-respect.  Without liberating our minds from all those self-imposed chains in the form of internalized colonization, we will never be able to gain liberty.  It will be harder here in the Middle East than it was in Europe in the Middle Ages.  This is because religious doctrines (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are more entrenched and because there are much Western interference (Started with Sykes-Picot and Balfour/Cambon).  Natural evolution to unlock creativity and human potential here is hard but not impossible. We are confident that eventually we will succeed because the trend in humanity is intermarriage, cultural mixing, separation of religion from state, and global connectedness. Our individual job is to accelerate this trend by openly promoting dignity and self-respect as the best antidotes to greed and corruption.   

*See http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3635&ed=203&edid=203

Jewish Roots of Islam’s Extremism by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat

http://ashraf62.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/jewish-roots-of-islams-extremism/

(Here I must say that the myths of the Bible about exodus and promised lands etc are repeated in Christian and Muslim Books and many take them as literal/historical not as metaphorical mythologies as they really are.)

Israel panel okays bill calling for tax exemption to 'Zionist' donations

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-panel-okays-bill-calling-for-tax-exemption-to-zionist-donations-1.412472

(tax exempt for land theft, colonization, repression, ethnic cleansing)

Report: Under Attack: Golani Brigade's war on the Palestinian population of Al-Khalil (Hebron)

http://www.cpt.org/underattack

US Admits: Terror groups attacking Iran are linked to Israel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXCIiQA3nnM

The Italian Movement For Boycott, Divestment And Sanctions (BDS) Against Israel Gains Strength http://www.countercurrents.org/westbrook020212.htm

Youth Conference and more

Items in today's email: Video of the event today at Al-Walaja (three arrested but subsequently released), Comments on the just concluded Herzliya conference, action item to do for Brussels Air, Youth Conference in Palestine in July, and more.

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

http://youtu.be/XZ7Wn9KY4bI

---------------------

2) The "Herzliya Conference" just concluded.  This is the annual conference that brings the elites of the Israeli military industrial complex together to plot "strategy" in a coastal town named after the founder of Political Zionism Theodor Herzl. This location is on ethnically-cleansed Palestinian land (see for history of the location: http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jaffa/Abu-Kishk/index.html).  Shimon Peres, a war criminal and architect of Israel's arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction appropriately opened as a key note speaker.  There were several sessions that touched on Iran including "Iran: Will Sanctions Work?" and "The Ticking Clock: Dissuading and containing Iran's strategic ambitions" where war criminals like Danny Ayalon debated whether it is enough to continue to use clandestine terrorist operations in Iran or whether we need to push the US to start another war like they did on Iraq (one million civilians killed so far) on behalf of Israel.  There was a session on "Galilee: Setting Priorities for Regional Development" where a number of Jewish Zionists discuss how to transform the Galilee into a Jewish area (without consulting the native inhabitants of the Galilee). The Galilee and Negev were left with a good number of Palestinians after the ethnic cleansing during the foundation of "Israel". There were sessions titled things like "Advancing Israel Normalization in the International Community" where efforts to whitewash apartheid are celebrated and plans for new propaganda and lobbying campaigns debated. There were also sessions celebrating the anniversary of the Jewish National Fund or KKL (Keren Keyemeth L'Israel), a group that participated for decades in ethnic cleansing and continues to do so (e.g. in the Negev where Bedouins are being displaced to Judaicize the Negev). Participants were also taken to military bases and training facilities of the apartheid army so that they could visit with the most moral army that caused the largest post-World War II refugee crisis and that has murdered over 25,000 children. There was even some talk about how to get Mahmoud Abbas (whose term has expired long ago) to return to fruitless and endless negotiations. After all, the "Peace process industry" needs to be revived so that more time is allowed for continued rape of Palestine (expanding colonial settlement etc)!  In over 20 sessions, not one dealt with what the natives of Palestine (Christians and Muslims) go through or how we feel.  To cap the "conference" the Israeli government made announcements of more land confiscation (e.g. 430 dunums in Nahhalin) and more home demolitions (e.g. in Al-Aqaba).

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

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

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

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

To Brussels Air and Ink Global

wlemmes@brusselsairlines.com  

gsciot@brusselsairlines.com

info@btheremag.com
jane.wright@ink-global.com
jenny.mcneely@ink-global.com
Bart.Beirlant@standaard.be

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

Sincerely,

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Dear Colleagues in Brussels Air and Ink Global

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

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

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

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

Sincerely,

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD

Palestinian – American Professor and author currently on speaking tour in Belgium

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

4 -15 July 2012 http://www.sabeel.org/events.php?eventid=229

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5) With Jack Lew's appointment, Jewish community again has a White House address By Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraph Agency
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/01/10/3091107/with-jack-lews-appointment-community-once-again-has-a-white-house-address

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6) Mark Dubowitz, Jewish head of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, commends Obama for "shot across the bow"

http://blogs.jta.org/politics/#reactions-to-obamas-picking-jack-lew-orthodox-jew
(The "Foundation for Defense of Democracies" agenda is to fight for change only in countries deemed unfriendly to Israeli apartheid or US imperial tendencies but countries like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and Jordan are not to be touched by these hypocritical groups)

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7) And there is also the so called "National Endowment For Democracy"

http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1-/10643-finito-with-putin-the-shady-national-endowment-for-democracy-a-the-prime-agenda.html

New Israeli weapon used in Al-Walaja

Ramadan kareem to all Muslims!

Items for today include a story about the demonstration yesterday in Al-Walaja where Israeli occupation forces apparently used an experimental weapon, links to CNN videos exposing the money grubbing fake "terrorism expert" Walid Shoebat (who was disavowed by his family in my village of Beit Sahour), and a request for financial donations to aid a Palestinian girl through the Harford Catholic Worker group. In other news is a spreading discontent among Israelis about their countries policies that make the rich richer, and the poor poorer (and no it is not merely a "housing protest").  And in Syria, Bashar Asad forces killed 150 protesters in one day, a record.  It seems that rising revolutions will not be stopped by promises of reform and lying politicians anywhere in the world.

Arrests, experimental weapons, and live ammunition for peaceful demonstrators: Al-Walaja popular committee reports that a demonstration against the wall happened yesterday 31 July 2011 at 9 AM with participation by dozens of locals, internationals, and Israelis.  The occupation forces fired tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition.  Injuries were reported.  Most disturbing was that the Israeli soldiers used a new type of canisters that released an unknown substance in the air.  The canisters were cylindrical and black (similar in shape but slightly smaller than stun grenades and produced no sounds).  Israeli soldiers carefully removed the two objects from the field using gloves on one and a piece of cardboard on the other (clearly not wanting any remnants left in the field for these experimental weapons).  They also tried to find and confiscate any video or photo evidence. One Palestinian youth was arrested as were three Israeli and two International activists http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9A5_11x_Iw&feature=related. The two Internationals are from the PEDAL group.  The European PEDAL group, a group of cyclists who traveled on bicycles from London to Palestine to link struggles of communities along their path, struggles that range from economic justice to migrant workers’ rights to freedom from occupation and colonization (www.100daystopalestine.org).  Some people asked to see a picture of the oldest tree in the area that is threatened (like descendants of its planters) by the wall in Al-Walaja.  Here it is on Palestine Remembered http://www.palestineremembered.com/Jerusalem/al-Walaja/Picture36498.html

(look around that site for lots of information on Palestine).

Another request: The girl with Cochlear implants hopefully will have specialized evaluation soon.  But now I turn to you for help for another girl.  Marwa Al-Sharif went to Connecticut 10 years ago (August 2001) to have an Israeli bullet removed from her head.  While the operation was successful, some side effects remained including a strange detrimental effect on development of her teeth. Marwa had done well in school since returning to Palestine and just graduated from high school but really requires expensive dental surgeries on all her teeth. We need your donation towards this work which is estimated to cost NIS18,000 (Euro3,800 or US$5,500.)  The Hartford Catholic Worker (a nonprofit which helped bring Marwa to the US in 2001) is collecting donations which will be transferred directly to the Palestinian dentist for the work.  Please donate by going directly to http://hartfordcatholicworker.org/about/   and indicate on your donations that it is for "Marwa's Dentistry Work". For detail on her story, visit http://www.qumsiyeh.org/marwa/

CNN exposes Walid Shoebat, a fake terrorism expert (he claimed he is an ex-terrorist which is a lie and he rakes in hundreds of thousands from this scam). Watch this:

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzkrhZldvko

Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Tzz51VYXg