Author Archives: sherry ann

Forcible removal: the confiscation of solar panels from a Bedouin community (by EA Sandra)

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I received this recent news, as described by the current EAPPI team in East Jerusalem. The posting originally appeared on the EAPPI UK & Ireland blog.

EAPPI UK & Ireland's avatarEAPPI UK & Ireland Blogs

The treatment of Bedouin communities is one of the ‘big issues’ for our work. You can read some key facts about this issue from UNOHCA (the UN agency coordinating humanitarian efforts in occupied Palestine) at the end of this blog.

At around 4pm on April 1, the Jerusalem team received an alert that the Israeli Civil Authority was planning to remove 11 solar panels from the Bedouin community of Khan al Ahmar.

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Political prisoners as leaders on paths to peace

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Think of the political prisoners of our time… one in particular immediately jumps to mind, Nelson Mandela, especially when I hear others ask, “Who is or will be the Mandela in the Palestinian-Israeli situation…?” Mandela, among many other steps on paths to peace, founded The Elders (click here) in 2007. They are “independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights”.

I introduce you to Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and longtime advocate for Palestinian political prisoners. At 1 am on 2 Apr. 2015, her home in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank was raided and she was arrested (click here for info and actions to take). In Nov. 2014, Khalida met with several Canadians including Peter Larson (click here for Peter’s blog posting and a video with Khalida). Peter notes that: “In democratic countries, the arrest of a parliamentarian is a very unusual event. Jarrar’s arrest now brings to 16, the number of Palestinian parliamentarians who are held in Israeli jails.”

After years of advocating for others, the world is invited to advocate for Khalida Jarrar, political prisoner, and for her human rights… as she continues on her path to peace, from inside HaSharon prison in northern Israel (for more info, click here). Click here for an online petition.

How does the word, apartheid, apply to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

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Listen here for a recent, 4-minute interview between Israeli journalist, Gideon Levy, and Canadian, Peter Larson. Peter asks: “Do you think that the word apartheid is legitimately applied to Israel?” See Peter Larson’s recent blog posting here.

And, plan to attend the event in Edmonton on Thurs., 26 Mar. 2015 with Gideon Levy, hosted by the Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and Independent Jewish Voices – Edmonton. More info here.

What news? Local Palestinian Bazaar. Gideon Levy on the Israeli elections.

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To experience a festival of culture, plan to drop into the Palestinian Bazaar on Sat., 14 Mar. 2015 in Edmonton. The event will be hosted by Humanserve International (click here). For details, click here.

Looking for insights about the upcoming Israeli government elections (17 Mar. 2015)? Plan to attend an event on 26 Mar. 2015 in Edmonton with Gideon Levy (click here). While placed in occupied East Jerusalem, in Jan. 2011, I heard him speak about the role of the Israeli media in the Israeli government’s occupation of Palestine (click here).

Trying to understand recent news about Israeli-American and Canadian relations?

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On 3 March 2015, the Israeli government representative, Prime Minister Netanyahu, addressed the United States Congress for the third time. Winston Churchill is the only other international leader to appear before Congress three times. For additional, contextual information about the address, check out this annotated guide – click here and then click on all of the grey-highlighted words for the annotations.

Click here for another resource, TimesWarp. Click here for a website maintained by British journalist, Jonathan Cook, from his base in Nazareth, Israel.

Click here for commentary from Canadians in The Globe and Mail.

And, click here for recent insights about the Canadian government’s relationship with the Israeli government.

Imagining alternatives, beyond a ‘two-state solution’…

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In Canada, we are invited this month to join a thoughtful conversation with Jeff Halper, an Israeli peace and human-rights activist, to imagine alternatives beyond the “two-state solution” in Israel and Palestine.

Jeff Halper standing with the Jerusalem Women in Black - 24 Dec. 2010 - Photo: Sherry Ann

Jeff Halper standing with the Jerusalem Women in Black – 24 Dec. 2010 – Photo: Sherry Ann

Jeff is the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). Click here for a radio interview in Toronto. Click here for a recent blog posting about his time in Ottawa. Click here for his full schedule and here for his schedule in Edmonton on 6 and 7 Feb. 2015.

Walking in the lands we love, without fear

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As we reflect on 2014 and dream into the future, I wish to share two recent blogs from a Canadian Ecumenical Accompanier (EA; click here), Zoë. She provides insight into the beauty of the land in the West Bank and how it is being changed (click here and here).

Her reflections bring to mind the intense joy that I experienced when I visited the tiny village of Yanoun in January 2011 – the place was a salve for my soul, after an intense six weeks in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. Click here for more information about Yanoun and for a slide show of my photos from my visit.

Shortly after my visit to Yanoun, I found a book of poetic prose by Raja Shehadeh, a Palestinian lawyer, Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape. It won the Orwell Prize in 2008. Click here to learn more and to read some excerpts. See his additional commentary from 2009 here.

I share Shehadeh’s lament:

“How unaware many trekkers around the world are of what a luxury it is to be able to walk in the land they love without anger, fear or insecurity, just to be able to walk without political arguments running obsessively through their heads, without the fear of losing what they’ve come to love, without the anxiety that they will be deprived of the right to enjoy it. Simply to walk and savour what nature has to offer, as I was once able to do.” (Shehadeh, 2008, p. 33)

Let this lament be a basis for hope that, together, we might realize that we are collectively responsible for the political-economic conflicts in the world and that we might help to heal with the lands that we love…

 

At the kitchen table, we can begin again…

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“The world begins at a kitchen table.” This is the first part of the first line of Joy Harjo’s poem, Perhaps the World Ends Here (click here and here).

I sought out these poetic words, after I received a notice in my Inbox from Zoë, a Canadian Ecumenical Accompanier (EA) placed in Jayyus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. She posted a photo essay of a cooking lesson with Lina, from earlier today (click here).

Then, I read a recent comment on my blog, a comment from Debbie, the Canadian EA placed in East Jerusalem. She wrote to say that she participated in a recent gathering to consider how Palestinians and Israelis might gather around food and art… to build trust and relationships. (See her full comment by clicking here and then scroll down.)

“The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table.” (Joy Harjo continues…)

“At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.” (Joy Harjo adds…)

We begin, again…

 

Access to learning – Access to understanding

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“This idea of conversation – talking together, reaching mutual understanding, and making meaning together across hierarchies – that’s the work that needs to be done” (Samantha Tan, quoted in Brown, 2003, p. 201).

How will we enable the next generation to engage in meaningful conversation if we restrict opportunities to learn and grow? My question arises as I read a recent posting by two Ecumenical Accompaniers currently placed in East Jerusalem. Debbie (click here) is one of the two EAs and is from Edmonton. Here’s the posting that she wrote with a teammate, Nkosi (click here).

Reference
Brown, Juanita. (2003). The World Café: Shaping our futures through conversations that matter. With David Isaacs and the World Café Community. Foreword by Margaret J. Wheatley. Afterword by Peter Senge. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.

 

What’s going on…

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In a day of remembrance, I pause and ask, “What’s going on…”. (click here)

I am thankful for those who cared so much to take a stand for justice…

Then, open my arms beyond my finger tips to invite the ‘now’ and the seven generations to come to stand, too, for a just peace… War, illegal occupation, and complacency are un-loving ways… (click here and here)…

We can create other, compassionate ways…

We can learn to live together… please, click here…