An interfaith resource for news and information about the Holy Land.
| Date: | Sunday, June 19, 2022 | ||
| Time: | 12:00pm PT / 3:00pm ET / 10:00pm Palestine | ||
| Location: | On-line, and in person | ||
| Information: | Event information here → | ||
| Tickets: | Free, Registration Required |
By Gary Anderson | Palestine Chronicle | May 19, 2022
“Liberators do not exist. It is the peoples who liberate themselves”.
(Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out, Ramzy Baroud and Ilan Pappé, Clarity Press, 2022)
While only a few are (or have been) elected officials, all are engaged in the newest era of evolution of liberation for all of Palestine, whether in West Bank / Gaza, Israel, or the Diaspora. These voices speak of despair and betrayal when considering their Arab neighbor nations, the actions of their nominal government (Palestine Authority), their representation in the Israeli Knesset, or protection by the United Nations or the international community.
They have learned that the only thing they can count on is themselves, that is the steadfastness (sumud) of the people, not those who purport to be their leadership. The preface begins with a quotation: “Liberators do not exist. It is the peoples who liberate themselves”
So, with that beginning, Ramzy Baroud and Ilan Pappé proceed to illuminate the new era, the Unity Intifada, that was triggered by a concatenation of Israeli actions in the Spring of 2021. In early May 2021, the Israeli Supreme Court was seen as ready to approve the eviction of Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. That same week, Israeli police stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque. Confrontations between Israelis (militant civilians and police) vs. Palestinians led to more than 600 injured persons, mostly Palestinians. Thus far, not much of this was unprecedented.
By Palestine Portal | June 1, 2022
“The urgent call for change from our Palestinian partners compels us to witness in a way that acknowledges new realities and asserts a vision consistent with our long record of engagement in struggles for justice for all people.”
— Reverend Jeff Wright, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
On May 5 an article appeared in Sightings, the twice-weekly publication of the University of Chicago Divinity School, a respected mainline seminary. Titled “Is Israel Practicing Apartheid? American Churches Join the Conversation,” it likely raised some eyebrows. “The issue is on the table for the church in a way it has not been previously,” writes the author, Rev. Jeff Wright. The article, still featured on the homepage, is evidence of another taboo broken — the “A” word and “Israel” appearing in the same sentence.
In this issue of Celebrating Our Global Community we bring you stories from the UK, Africa and the United States further documenting what we named in the October 2021 issue as a “Tipping Point” in the global church movement for Palestine.
Continue reading “Stories of church struggle”
By Orly Noy | +972 | May 26, 2022
What explains the violent Israeli reaction to the sight of the Palestinian flag in the hands of a Palestinian boy in Sheikh Jarrah, or carried by mourners in a funeral procession, or hoisted by students on Nakba Day, or hung on a streetlamp in Huwara?
One of the more absurd moments I have witnessed in my many years of participating in the weekly protests in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah occurred several years ago. A young Palestinian boy, who was holding a small Palestinian flag, was being chased by five Israeli police officers armed to the teeth. One of the officers even climbed on an electricity pole to try and catch the boy, all while the protesters and onlookers laughed out loud.
As I watched this strange scene unfold before me, I asked myself what on earth could cause police officers to debase themselves to the point that they chase after a child, especially after an Israeli court ruled that it was perfectly legal to wave the Palestinian flag. What is it about this flag that drives Israelis out of their minds?
Continue reading “What’s behind Israel’s intensifying war on the Palestinian flag?”
By Layth Hanbali | Huck Magazine | May 26, 2022
…many symptoms of mental ill-health “are a normal reaction to a pathogenic context”. Colonial violence – killing, maiming, incarcerating, and dispossessing Palestinians – is the disease.
— Dr. Samah Jabr, chair of the mental health unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health
Last May, Israel launched a 15-day assault on the Gaza Strip, killing 256 Palestinians, injuring 2,000, and bombing 232 high-rise buildings, forcing over 70,000 to flee their homes. Since then, Israeli violence against Palestinians has not relented. Continuous deterioration in infrastructure due to a blockade by Israel, in place since 2007, has rendered 97 per cent of Gaza’s water undrinkable. Palestinians in Gaza get 12 to 13 hours a day of electricity. 53 per cent of Gazans live under the poverty line. Meanwhile, Israel presses forward with plans to dispossess Palestinians of their homes and land across colonized Palestine, including in the Jordan Valley, Beita, Jerusalem, Masafer Yatta, and the Naqab. Israeli settlers in the West Bank are attacking Palestinians with increasing intensity, with the complete complicity of the Israeli state.
Continue reading ” Israeli violence is central to Palestine’s mental health crisis”
By Mitchell Plitnick | Mondoweiss | May 26, 2022
The case against Israel in Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing is strong.
More than two weeks have passed since Israeli soldiers shot and killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh and, much to Israel’s chagrin, the issue is not fading into the background, as it usually does when Palestinians die at Israel’s hands.
Had Shireen been killed by the military of any other country, a thorough, transparent, and honest investigation would be virtually automatic. She was a Palestinian citizen of the United States. Yet, as we have seen in the past, the odds are against the U.S. undertaking an investigation let alone carrying one out that is independent and impartial.
Continue reading “Pressure builds on Biden to investigate Israel over Abu Akleh killing”
By Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) | May 16, 2022
Freedom of the press must be protected, and the killing of journalists, especially when they are plainly distinguishable by their press vests, represents a clear violation of international law.
On Wednesday, May 11, Shireen Abu Akleh, a high-profile Palestinian-American journalist, was shot and killed while covering a raid conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the West Bank city of Jenin. Abu Akleh was wearing protective gear prominently marked with the English word “PRESS” when she was shot. Ali Samoudi, another journalist with Abu Akleh, was shot in the back during the same attack. Samoudi said the group of journalists Abu Akleh worked with that day had made Israeli forces aware they were present to cover the incursion. He also stated that in the attack, one bullet missed, the next one struck him in the back, and the next shot hit Abu Akleh. She was taken to the hospital soon thereafter and pronounced dead.
Continue reading “Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) Condemns the Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh”
| Date: | Wednesday, May 18, 2022 | ||
| Time: | 10am PT / 12pm CT / 1pm Et | ||
| Location: | On-line | ||
| Information: | Event information here → | ||
| Tickets: | Free |
The panel includes two prominent voices for justice, both of whom have recently published insightful commentary on this subject of Ukraine and Palestine.
NADA ELIA is a prominent Palestinian activist and speaker, a widely published author and political analyst, and an award-winning academic on subjects concerning global affairs and ethnic studies.
EDO KONRAD is Editor-in-Chief of +972 Magazine, one of Israel’s leading publications for groundbreaking activist reporting that challenges the current realities of apartheid, occupation and colonialism.
UMKR’s Communications Director, M. Theresa Basile, will be the moderator for this discussion.
By Josef Federman | Associated Press | May 13, 2022
“It seems her voice isn’t silent,”
— Givara Budeiri, Al Jazeera correspondent
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli riot police on Friday pushed and beat pallbearers at the funeral for slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, causing them to briefly drop the casket in a shocking start to a procession that turned into perhaps the largest display of Palestinian nationalism in Jerusalem in a generation.
The scenes of violence were likely to add to the sense of grief and outrage across the Arab world that has followed the death of Abu Akleh, who witnesses say was killed by Israeli troops Wednesday during a raid in the occupied West Bank. They also illustrated the deep sensitivities over east Jerusalem — which is claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians and has sparked repeated rounds of violence.
Continue reading “Israeli police beat pallbearers at journalist’s funeral”
By Amy Goodman | Democracy Now | May 11, 2022
“Her killing is not an isolated incident. This has been happening for a long time: Israeli attacks against media workers, especially Palestinians, and the relative impunity under which they operate.”
— Dalia Hatuqa, journalist
Israeli forces have shot and killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran Palestinian American journalist working for Al Jazeera, as she covered an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp early Wednesday morning. Video released by Al Jazeera shows Abu Akleh was wearing a press uniform when she was shot in the head by what the network says was a single round fired by an Israeli sniper. “She gave voice to the struggles of Palestinians over a career spanning nearly three decades,” says journalist Dalia Hatuqa, remembering her friend and colleague. “Her killing is not an isolated incident. This has been happening for a long time: Israeli attacks against media workers, especially Palestinians, and the relative impunity under which they operate.”
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