Within Israeli society, supporters of human rights (and an end to the Israeli government’s occupation of Palestine) are objecting publicly to incitement by right-wing groups. The group “Omdim Beyachad” (Standing Together) organized a rally on 19 Dec. 2015 in Tel Aviv; read more in this article by Haggai Matar (click here).
On Dec. 11, a Canadian citizen was shot in Bethlehem. Her name is Rehab Nazzal and she is a photographer and PhD student at the University of Western Ontario. Please consider this blog and the letter from Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb (click here). Please sign the petition to the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Canadian Foreign Minister and Ambassador Vivian Bercovici, Canadian Ambassador to Israel (click here). See also this article and the article.
Canadian photographer Rehab Nazzal, here shown speaking in Ottawa in 2014, was shot last week in Bethlehem by an Israeli sniper. I ask six questions of Canada’s new Global Affairs Minister, Hon. Stephane Dion. Read my letter here.
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This article was originally posted on blog.eappi.org. I re-blog it here with thanks.
by EA Tone.
This autumn the annual olive harvest takes place despite the escalation of violence in Israel and occupied Palestine. The harvest is an unbroken tradition of land cultivation which has been passed on from one generation to another. However this November brings an olive harvest without trees for local landowner Issa al Shatleh. It is now over three months since the Israeli contractors began clearing the ancient olive groves in the Cremisan valley to make way for the expanding separation wall. EA Tone, recently returned to Europe, writes about the events he witnessed and the stories he heard behind the wall in Bethlehem.
“What will the Nativity church be if there are no Christians left in the area? The stones will be without spirit and soul.” Issa al Shatleh laments.
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Through this posting, my friend, Dawn, offers current insights about life amid the Israeli government’s military occupation of Palestine… (Note to our shared blog subscribers: Thank you for bearing with cross-postings.)
Children’s Playground
Wadi Fukin ~ Occupied Palestine
Photo Credit: Dawn
What do a swing, a slide, and a soccer field have in common? It would seem an obvious question ~ these are all things which provide children a safe place to play and simply be children. But in this Palestinian village, the swing, the slide, and the soccer field all share the same fate ~ They have received stop work orders and may well be demolished should anyone have the audacity to complete these playground projects without the required permits ~ permits which are impossible for Palestinians in this village to obtain under a cruel and inhumane military occupation.
It is a Saturday afternoon and I am invited to join a Methodist delegation to the village of Wadi Fukin (Foquin/Fuqeen) ~ one of the villages our Bethlehem EAPPI team monitored in the fall of 2012 (see earlier post, Between a…
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Some moving insights about life in Palestine these days… Thank you, Jan, for posting them on your blog. Inspired by non-violence and peace…
I have returned to Palestine and am once again working in Hebron with the Hebron International Resources Network (HIRN).
Things are tense these days in all of Palestine. The 48 year Israeli occupation (illegal according to International Humanitarian Law) of Palestine, with even greater repression of human rights over the last several months, has led some young Palestinians to respond violently. Frustrated and desperate, and prohibited from carrying guns, they have resorted to the use of knives as a tool to stab Israeli soldiers and citizens. Israel has responded with what they call “increased security measures,” meaning a further clamp down on Palestinian human rights, a dramatic increase in checkpoints, and what appears to be a “shoot to kill” policy, all of which have served to heighten tensions further. As well, there have been witnessed reports of unarmed Palestinians shot by Israeli soldiers, with a knife later being placed beside…
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Amid the escalating violence, Open House in Ramle (a peace education centre in Ramle, Israel) offers this video from May 2015. The video offers the voices of Israeli and Palestinian youth and their instructors, from their shared time together, known as Masa Masar 2015 – The Journey.
Click here for the video.
Click here for information about Open House.
With thanks to Peter Larson for his posting.
Several hundred delegates of the United Church of Canada, representing congregations from Newfoundland to British Columbia, gathered in Corner Brook, Newfoundland last week at the church’s 42nd General Council, have voted to take steps to strengthen the Church’s support for Palestinian human rights. see more
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This posting originally appeared on the blog that is maintained by the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (www.eappi.org), a programme run by the World Council of Churches.
by the Yanoun team.
On the 31st of July, 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsheh was burned to death in a fatal arson attack on his family home in the Northern West Bank village of Duma. Israelis from a nearby settlement are believed to be behind the attack which saw two Palestinian homes torched by petrol bombs. Ali’s parents and 4-year-old brother survived the attack but were taken to the hospital in a critical condition. Sadly on the 8th of August Saad, Ali’s father, died from third degree burns just one week after his son. Two members of the family are still in a critical condition. The family living in the second house were not at home when the attack happened.
31.07.15 Nablus, Duma. Leaflet dedicated to Ali distributed during funeral ceremony, Photo EAPPI / J. Burkhalter
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Now that we know officially that a Canadian federal election will happen, Peter Larson’s posting is timely; I invite you to read his blog via the links provided. Also, news from Susiya is encouraging, too, as Jewish Voice for Peace today forwarded the following from Rabbis for Human Rights and Free Jerusalem:
“Thanks to the determined struggle led by the residents of Susiya, and the public pressure in which we all took part, we have come to believe that in the coming two weeks, there will not be demolitions in the village. At the same time, we will wait to hear about developments, and when the timing for a decision regarding the village’s future grows nearer, we will renew the public struggle.” (Click here.)
As a federal election looms, Thomas Mulcair and Paul Dewar have taken positions on human rights for Palestinians in the last few weeks that differentiate them from both the Harper Conservatives and the Trudeau Liberals. Their statements are cautious, but positive. They will no doubt attract fierce criticism from the Israel lobby. More.
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A welcome reminder of how Canadians have chosen to participate in the world in the past…and encouragement to move beyond fear to re-engage in peaceful ways with the world, now…
Flora MacDonald, who passed away this week, has been appropriately remembered as a female political pioneer in Canada. Less well known, however, is that she also had a ‘real love and fascination for the Middle East and all of its people’, in the words of Michel de Salaberry, a former Canadian Ambassador and someone who worked closely with her over many years. I asked Mr. de Salaberry to write a few words about Ms. MacDonald’s involvement in the Middle East, including Palestine. See his text below.
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Peacing Stories 