Joel Carillet - The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs - September 8, 2007
Reaching the outskirts of Jericho, my vehicle stops for inspection at an Israeli military checkpoint. Once permission to pass is granted, we continue on to the town center of one of the oldest continually inhabited communities in the world. I have come to Jericho to learn more about the town’s small Christian community, comprising mostly Catholics and Orthodox, and to interview its governor, Dr. Sami Musallam, a nominal Lutheran.
At 7:30 p.m. an aide escorted me into a long rectangular office. Across the room a worn-looking man sat behind a desk, with a Palestinian flag to his right and a large framed poster of Jerusalem’s Old City on the wall behind him. I wondered why he appeared so tired. Perhaps it was due to the late hour. Perhaps because 40 years of military occupation will hang heavily on any leader trying to operate within its grip. Or perhaps it is because, even though Jericho holds great potential in terms of agriculture and tourism, the future seems grim.
A native Jerusalemite, Governor Musallam attended what in the 1960s was called Bir Zeit College. After two years he transferred to the American University in Beirut, where he earned a degree in political science. From there he moved to Germany to complete a Ph.D. at the University of Bonn, where he wrote a dissertation exploring the stereotypes of Arabs in the German press. Recalling this period, he said, "There was no separation between being an activist and a student. It was a seamless way of being."
Sunday, 9 September 2007
Report: Israel plundering the Jordan Valley
Adri Nieuwhof - The Electronic Intifada - September 7, 2007
The report "To exist is to Resist, Eye on the Jordan Valley" was recently published by MA'AN Development Center and the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign.
The report "To exist is to Resist, Eye on the Jordan Valley" was recently published by MA'AN Development Center and the Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign.
Saturday, 1 September 2007
Marrickville meets Bethlehem, controversy erupts
Marrickville meets Bethlehem, controversy erupts
Antony Loewenstein August 29th, 2007
Smearing the other
Antony Loewenstein August 31st, 2007
The lengths to which so-called respectable media will go to smear anybody who dares support the Palestinian cause continues unabated.
=============================
Bethlehem Mayor's attack stirs Jewish anger
Steve Creedy, The Australian, August 27, 2007
Response to Steve Creedy's report Bethlehem Mayor's attack stirs Jewish Anger
by Reverend Helen Cox
Response to Steve Creedy's report Bethlehem Mayor's attack stirs Jewish Anger
by Dora McPhee
Response to Steve Creedy's report Bethlehem Mayor's attack stirs Jewish Anger
by Sonja Karkar
Antony Loewenstein August 29th, 2007
Smearing the other
Antony Loewenstein August 31st, 2007
The lengths to which so-called respectable media will go to smear anybody who dares support the Palestinian cause continues unabated.
=============================
Bethlehem Mayor's attack stirs Jewish anger
Steve Creedy, The Australian, August 27, 2007
Response to Steve Creedy's report Bethlehem Mayor's attack stirs Jewish Anger
by Reverend Helen Cox
Response to Steve Creedy's report Bethlehem Mayor's attack stirs Jewish Anger
by Dora McPhee
Response to Steve Creedy's report Bethlehem Mayor's attack stirs Jewish Anger
by Sonja Karkar
Jewish Hebron Market Heir Opposes Settlers
The Jerusalem Post, Tovah Lazaroff, August 26, 2007
The descendent of the Jewish owner of Hebron’s disputed marketplace is left wing, secular and lives in Tel Aviv.
Unlike the Hebron Jews who were forcibly evicted from the marketplace on August 7, retired journalist Haim Hanegbi, 72, does not dream of returning to the city where his family lived for more than 200 years.
There, settlers have placed a large white banner over the empty shops in which they demand: “Return the stolen property.”
They believe that because this marketplace was once owned by Hanegbi’s grandfather, Haim Bejayo, and used by the city’s Jewish community, they have a right to settle the area situated at the entryway to their Avraham Avinu neighborhood.
It’s a claim Hanegbi rejects.
“I have more rights than the settlers and the army,” he told The Jerusalem Post last week.
He wants the marketplace to revert to the Palestinians who made use of it from the 1930s to 1994, when Israel forced them to shut down the shops after Baruch Goldstein, from nearby Kiryat Arba, killed 29 Palestinians as they prayed in a mosque attached to Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs.
For Hanegbi, the issue is greater than the shops that have made headlines over the last month.
He is among a group of 27 descendants of the original Jewish community who believe the government should evacuate all 800 Jewish settlers from Hebron.
“We have to throw them out of Hebron down to the last one,” said Hanegbi.
==============================
Descendants of Hebron’s Jews Say Settlers Don’t Represent Them
WRMEA, 1997
Children and grandchildren of Jews who lived in Hebron before 1948 met with Arab officials in Hebron on Nov. 10 and expressed their solidarity with the estimated 120,000 Arabs who live there. During a meeting with Hebron Mayor Mustafa Natshe, the group’s spokesman, Yosef Ben Yacov Ben Ezra, accused the 450 fanatical settlers in the West Bank city of “smearing the name of the Jews of Hebron” and “harming our relations with our Palestinian neighbors.”
Another member of the group, Haim Hanegbi, whose grandfather was rabbi of the Jewish community in Hebron in 1932, declared that “authentic Hebron Jews have nothing to do with the fanatic settlers who are anti-Arab and anti-peace....We, the Jews of Hebron, declare that only through the people of Hebron, the municipal council and a future Palestinian state, will we be able to recover our rights and reclaim our property in Hebron,” Hanegbi said.
The descendent of the Jewish owner of Hebron’s disputed marketplace is left wing, secular and lives in Tel Aviv.
Unlike the Hebron Jews who were forcibly evicted from the marketplace on August 7, retired journalist Haim Hanegbi, 72, does not dream of returning to the city where his family lived for more than 200 years.
There, settlers have placed a large white banner over the empty shops in which they demand: “Return the stolen property.”
They believe that because this marketplace was once owned by Hanegbi’s grandfather, Haim Bejayo, and used by the city’s Jewish community, they have a right to settle the area situated at the entryway to their Avraham Avinu neighborhood.
It’s a claim Hanegbi rejects.
“I have more rights than the settlers and the army,” he told The Jerusalem Post last week.
He wants the marketplace to revert to the Palestinians who made use of it from the 1930s to 1994, when Israel forced them to shut down the shops after Baruch Goldstein, from nearby Kiryat Arba, killed 29 Palestinians as they prayed in a mosque attached to Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs.
For Hanegbi, the issue is greater than the shops that have made headlines over the last month.
He is among a group of 27 descendants of the original Jewish community who believe the government should evacuate all 800 Jewish settlers from Hebron.
“We have to throw them out of Hebron down to the last one,” said Hanegbi.
==============================
Descendants of Hebron’s Jews Say Settlers Don’t Represent Them
WRMEA, 1997
Children and grandchildren of Jews who lived in Hebron before 1948 met with Arab officials in Hebron on Nov. 10 and expressed their solidarity with the estimated 120,000 Arabs who live there. During a meeting with Hebron Mayor Mustafa Natshe, the group’s spokesman, Yosef Ben Yacov Ben Ezra, accused the 450 fanatical settlers in the West Bank city of “smearing the name of the Jews of Hebron” and “harming our relations with our Palestinian neighbors.”
Another member of the group, Haim Hanegbi, whose grandfather was rabbi of the Jewish community in Hebron in 1932, declared that “authentic Hebron Jews have nothing to do with the fanatic settlers who are anti-Arab and anti-peace....We, the Jews of Hebron, declare that only through the people of Hebron, the municipal council and a future Palestinian state, will we be able to recover our rights and reclaim our property in Hebron,” Hanegbi said.
Remembering Raul Hilberg
Remembering Raul Hilberg
by Norman G. Finkelstein 08.15.2007
In his last interview Hilberg also sharply criticized Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians, which, I suspect, couldn't have been easy for him. (His daughter lives in Jerusalem.)
======================
Is There a New Anti-Semitism? A Conversation with Raul Hilberg
05.21.2007 Logos Journal
Would you like to be an Arab citizen in Israel? Think of the doors that are closed. You may eat better and have a better income than if you lived in a slum in Cairo. The great irony is that the economic condition of Israeli Arabs is considerably better than the proletariat in some other Arab countries, but a person needs something more. A person needs a feeling of dignity. Think of the security check points. It is a life that certainly something ought to be done about it in one way or another. This particular battle cannot be fought forever. It cannot be. The Israelis will tire of it. The Israelis will simply tire of mistrusting people. It is not possible to go on this way forever.
by Norman G. Finkelstein 08.15.2007
In his last interview Hilberg also sharply criticized Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians, which, I suspect, couldn't have been easy for him. (His daughter lives in Jerusalem.)
======================
Is There a New Anti-Semitism? A Conversation with Raul Hilberg
05.21.2007 Logos Journal
Would you like to be an Arab citizen in Israel? Think of the doors that are closed. You may eat better and have a better income than if you lived in a slum in Cairo. The great irony is that the economic condition of Israeli Arabs is considerably better than the proletariat in some other Arab countries, but a person needs something more. A person needs a feeling of dignity. Think of the security check points. It is a life that certainly something ought to be done about it in one way or another. This particular battle cannot be fought forever. It cannot be. The Israelis will tire of it. The Israelis will simply tire of mistrusting people. It is not possible to go on this way forever.
The Guardian censors Jonathan Cook
Jonathan Cook
Unfortunately, and with no little irony, the editors at Comment is Free excised the last part of my article, in which I discussed my own experiences, even if briefly given the length restrictions on articles. Exceptionally, therefore, I am archiving the submitted article rather than the published one.
Unfortunately, and with no little irony, the editors at Comment is Free excised the last part of my article, in which I discussed my own experiences, even if briefly given the length restrictions on articles. Exceptionally, therefore, I am archiving the submitted article rather than the published one.
Bethlehem finds a Sydney sister city
Sydney Morning Herald August 31, 2007 - 10:19PM
Marrickville, in Sydney's inner-west, is now officially the sister city of Bethlehem.
The mayor of Marrickville, Morris Hanna, and his Bethlehem counterpart Dr Victor Batarseh signed a sister city agreement at a civic reception at the Petersham council chambers.
The ceremony was the culmination of a two-day visit to Marrickville by Mr Batarseh, his wife Marcelle, fellow Bethlehem councillor Anton Salman, Father Amjad Sabbara and Issa Al Hihi, a citizen of the city.
During their visit, the delegation met with Marrickville councillors and toured the local area.
"Our sister cities program is aimed at increasing international understanding and fostering world peace by furthering international communication and exchange at the person-to-person level through city-to-city affiliations," Mr Hanna said.
Mr Hanna said the relationship with Bethlehem was an appropriate one because both cities were multicultural, while Palestinian residents had made a valuable contribution to the Marrickville area.
The cities also had language in common, he said, as Arabic has been identified as one of the top five non-English languages spoken in the Marrickville area.
Marrickville and Bethlehem councils agreed to twin the two cities in 2000 and a memorandum of understanding on the issue had been in place since then.
The political situation within the region had prevented earlier signing of the agreement.
Marrickville is already a sister city to Funchal in Portugal, Keelung in Taiwan, Kos in Greece, Larnaca in Cyprus, Safita in Syria and to 6th October City in Egypt.
It joins Milan and Assisi in Italy, Cologne in Germany, Athens in Greece, Glasgow in Scotland and many others as sister cities of Bethlehem.
© 2007 AAP
Marrickville, in Sydney's inner-west, is now officially the sister city of Bethlehem.
The mayor of Marrickville, Morris Hanna, and his Bethlehem counterpart Dr Victor Batarseh signed a sister city agreement at a civic reception at the Petersham council chambers.
The ceremony was the culmination of a two-day visit to Marrickville by Mr Batarseh, his wife Marcelle, fellow Bethlehem councillor Anton Salman, Father Amjad Sabbara and Issa Al Hihi, a citizen of the city.
During their visit, the delegation met with Marrickville councillors and toured the local area.
"Our sister cities program is aimed at increasing international understanding and fostering world peace by furthering international communication and exchange at the person-to-person level through city-to-city affiliations," Mr Hanna said.
Mr Hanna said the relationship with Bethlehem was an appropriate one because both cities were multicultural, while Palestinian residents had made a valuable contribution to the Marrickville area.
The cities also had language in common, he said, as Arabic has been identified as one of the top five non-English languages spoken in the Marrickville area.
Marrickville and Bethlehem councils agreed to twin the two cities in 2000 and a memorandum of understanding on the issue had been in place since then.
The political situation within the region had prevented earlier signing of the agreement.
Marrickville is already a sister city to Funchal in Portugal, Keelung in Taiwan, Kos in Greece, Larnaca in Cyprus, Safita in Syria and to 6th October City in Egypt.
It joins Milan and Assisi in Italy, Cologne in Germany, Athens in Greece, Glasgow in Scotland and many others as sister cities of Bethlehem.
© 2007 AAP
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