Monday, April 23, 2012

[ePalestine] 60 Minutes: Christians of the Holy Land (A MUST VIEW)

Christians of the Holy Land

The exodus from the Holy Land of Palestinian Christians could eventually leave holy cities like Jerusalem and Bethlehem without a local Christian population. Bob Simon reports.


and

60 Minutes Overtime 

The last Christian village in the Holy Land 


Hats off to 60 Minutes,
Sam



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Friday, April 20, 2012

[ePalestine] Watch 60 Minutes this Sunday: "Christians of the Holy Land"

Christians of the Holy Land    

Watch 60 Minutes this Sunday   

Bob Simon reports on the slow exodus from the Holy Land of Palestinian Christians, who say life in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become too difficult. Harry Radliffe is the producer.   

Sunday, 22 April at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on CBS     

For those of you who do not have access to CBS News in your area, you can be certain to watch the story on the CBS website at:


The story will  be posted on Sunday evening after it airs on TV. There will also be an added feature on our online program called “60 Minutes Overtime” at:


You will be able to view a story on Taybeh, also on Sunday evening. 

Rgds,
Sam



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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

[ePalestine] Of Herrings and Elephants: Benny Morris and "Palestinian Rejectionism" (by Daniel Levy)

The Daily Beast  

Of Herrings and Elephants: Benny Morris and "Palestinian Rejectionism"  

by Daniel Levy  

Apr 16, 2012 11:00 AM EDT 

TO READ ARTICLE: http://bit.ly/HESdNz



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Sunday, April 15, 2012

[ePalestine] Same story, different year: Welcome to Palestine – if you can get in

To read my Guardian article from last year when this Israeli airport drama started: http://bit.ly/INSWvL

And if the news from the airport is not enough, see the Israeli occupation in action in the Jordan Valley today: http://bit.ly/HOu6wq

Occupation = Violence, DAILY,
Sam



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Saturday, April 14, 2012

[ePalestine] Palestinians Surprised by GOP Congresswoman (by Daoud Kuttab)

HuffingtonPost.com

Palestinians Surprised by GOP Congresswoman 

By Daoud Kuttab, Palestinian journalist 
Posted: 04/13/2012 6:26 pm 

Easter is celebrated in Jerusalem and surrounding Palestinians cities both religiously and culturally. Children wave beautifully weaved palm leaves on Palm Sunday, Boy Scout-led marches celebrate Sabt el Noor (Holy Fire), when the light comes out of the Church of the Holy Seplechure and is welcomed with marching bands in towns with Palestinian Christian populations such as Ramallah, Bethlehem Zababdeh, Abood and Nablus. 

Christian Palestinians are a dwindling population. Decades of occupation and hopelessness coupled with opportunities to emigrate have resulted in many more Palestinian Christians living outside Palestine than inside. 

Tourism and Christian pilgrimage constitute perhaps the one source of economic survivor for many Christian families. Many things can be taken away, but holy places and archeological sites remain, and if they are in good shape can attract visiting tourists. But most Christian locations outside the major Jerusalem metropolitan area are in shambles. An opportunity to improve some of these sites gave many hope that things would slightly improve for this dwindling population. But alas this hope was shattered by a single U.S. politician. 

Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, conditioned the lifting of the hold with the understanding that the money not be used for assistance in Gaza. She also prohibited the use of USAID funds for road projects in the West Bank, except if directly related to security. 

Finally, and bizarrely, she denied use of funds for trade facilitation, tourism promotion, scholarships for Palestinian students and other aid for Palestinian Authority agencies and ministries. 

It is hard to understand why a U.S. congressperson would put such conditions over and above the recommendations of USAID officials. The USAID money for the reconstruction of Gaza was pledged by Secretary Clinton and does not go to the Hamas-led government, but to the people of Gaza who suffered tremendous hardships during the Israeli war of 2008-09. 

Road construction and trade facilitating projects in the West Bank fit perfectly within the two-state solution, which the entire world, including Israel's prime minister, supports. By opposing such projects, the Republican congresswoman goes against U.S. and international policies. 

But perhaps the most perplexing decision by the Florida congresswoman is her opposition to promoting Christian tourism to the Holy Land. According to a request for proposals (RFP294- 2011-204) published by USAID last year, the American government was looking for contractors able to help rebuild a number of Christian sites in the occupied West Bank: 

* Burqeen church near Jenin, a Christian sanctuary dating to the early Byzantine era. The current structure dates to the 12th century. 

* Sabastia/Samria. The biblical capital of the Northern Kingdom of (Ancient) Israel, the current ruins date from the Roman period. 

* Tell Balata Archaeological Park in Nablus, which is listed as an archeological biblical site. It's the site of the Canaanite and biblical city of Shechem. 

* Jacob's well, reputed to be the site of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman. The site is also associated with the biblical patriarchs. 

* Shepherd's field in Beit Sahour, which is a Christian site near Bethlehem 

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen's actions put her outside the positions of Catholic and Protestant leaders, who have made numerous public declarations in support of the Christian Palestinian community. Promoting tourism and pilgrims' visits to Christian sites in the Holy Land is something most Americans surely support. 

A hint of that might be found in reviewing the politician's donor base. Campaign finance records show that her top campaign contributor is Irving Moskowitz, the retired Florida businessman who is developing a controversial apartment project -- intended exclusively and discriminatory for Jews -- in occupied East Jerusalem's Shepherd Hotel. 

In the U.S., as in most democratic countries, foreign policy is made by the executive branch. It is irrational that a Republican congresswoman, supported by a radical donor, can single-handedly oppose the will of the American people represented by the full plenary of congress and the executive branch of the U.S. government. 

The full Congress voted last summer on the entire aid package to the Palestinians. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen is the sticking point, and her restriction on the aid bill is damaging U.S. policy. Worse, she has taken a position that harms Christian Palestinians as well as American Christians who might want to visit the sites to which she is denying reconstruction funds. 




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Thursday, April 12, 2012

[ePalestine] NYT: Don't Give Up on Mideast Peace (By JIMMY CARTER)

New York Times

April 12, 2012 
Don't Give Up on Mideast Peace 
By JIMMY CARTER 

The current focus of leaders in Washington and Jerusalem on Iran has obscured the near- death of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and the inevitable catastrophe toward which Israel is now moving. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have been establishing more and more settlements in Palestine on confiscated land. While they profess their support for a "two-state solution," their actions all aim to create a "Greater Israel," from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. Washington has voiced opposition to these steps, but has not made any strong efforts to prevent them. 

Since 1967, the consensus in the international community and among the majority of Israelis has been that there would be two political entities, with Israelis returning to their pre-1967 borders except for some small land swaps along the border. The Camp David Accords of 1978, accepted by Israel, called for the withdrawal of political and military forces from the occupied territories, and President George W. Bush specifically endorsed a Palestinian nation in this area. As late as May 2009, President Obama accepted this concept as the basis for peace. This strategy has been abandoned as Israel tightens its control over the West Bank and East Jerusalem, now populated by more than 2.5 million Palestinian Muslims and Christians. 

There is a profound difference between "two-states" and "one-state." The former contemplates two nations with citizens living side by side in peace under terms to be negotiated between leaders of the two principal parties. Other world leaders have almost universally acknowledged that strong help and influence of the United States will be necessary, and all the Arab nations have offered to support such an agreement. 

In the case of the "one-state" outcome, if granted the full rights of citizenship, Palestinians would play a major role in the new nation with a possible majority in the future. If deprived of these rights as inferior and second-class dwellers on the land, this will be a system of apartheid that will not be accepted by the international community. 

As former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in 1999, "Every attempt to keep hold of this area as one political entity leads, necessarily, to either a nondemocratic or a non-Jewish state. Because if the Palestinians vote, then it is a binational state, and if they don't vote it is an apartheid state." Eight years later, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that if the two-state solution collapsed, Israel would "face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights, and as soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished." 

During my last conversation with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before his stroke, he discussed with approval the "small land swaps" along the 1967 border. His proposal was that Israeli settlers living near Jerusalem should remain, with Palestinians given a land corridor to connect the West Bank and Gaza, on which a highway and railroad could be established. He had earlier said that the "occupation" of Palestinian territories was "a terrible thing for Israel and for the Palestinians and can't continue endlessly." 

Shaul Mofaz, the new leader of Israel's Kadima party, said recently, "The greatest threat to the state of Israel is not nuclear Iran," but that Israel might one day cease to be a Jewish state, because Palestinians could outvote Jews. "So it is in Israel's interest that a Palestinian state be created." 

The people are already greatly mixed. About 20 percent of Israeli citizens are Palestinians, although living under severe restrictions. The number of Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories has grown from about 5,000 when I left office in 1981 to about 525,000. 

However, the overall region is changing. Past efforts by Egypt, the Carter Center and others to bring about reconciliation among Palestinian factions, leading to another democratic election, have been frustrated by differences among them, exacerbated by opposition from Israel and the United States and acquiescence from former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The newly elected leaders in Egypt are determined to use their influence to reconcile Fatah and Hamas and press for a final status agreement including peace with Israel. With international support, such an agreement is entirely possible. 

It is heartening to realize that 'peace in the Middle East," based on the two-state solution, is still feasible — but not for much longer. 

Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States, is founder of the Carter Center, which works to advance peace and health worldwide. 




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[ePalestine] Israel must understand it cannot be like America (By Amira Hass)

Ha'aretz

Published 01:02 11.04.12

Israel must understand it cannot be like America

For the sake of hegemony, Israel is mortgaging the well-being of its children and the lives of its grandchildren, together with the well-being and lives of children and grandchildren throughout the region.

By Amira Hass


Amira has my utmost respect,
Sam



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Sunday, April 08, 2012

[ePalestine] Salon: The “NGOs” that spooked Egypt

Salon

Saturday, Apr 7, 2012

The “NGOs” that spooked Egypt   

History shows that the country is right to regard some U.S.-backed aid organizations warily 

By Steve Weissman and Frank Browning 

"Like it or not, this is how Washington plays the game, and the wholesale meddling will continue unless and until the Egyptians truly decide they would rather run their own country their own way." 




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Saturday, April 07, 2012

[ePalestine] MA’AN Development Center: Parallel Realties in the Jordan Valley (NEW REPORT)

MA’AN Development Center 

"Parallel Realties: Israeli Settlements and Palestinian Communities in the Jordan Valley."    

MA’AN has recently completed its newest publication entitled "Parallel Realties: Israeli Settlements and Palestinian Communities in the Jordan Valley." This factsheet describes in detail how and why Israeli settlers and Palestinians live in the Jordan Valley. It documents the incentives that Israeli settlers receive in order to move to the Jordan Valley settlements, while at the same time documenting how Israel is attempting to entice Jordan Valley Palestinians to leave the Jordan Valley through an oppression occupational regime. Furthermore, there are specific case studies involved where services and rights are put side by side to highlight the stark contrast that is a direct result of Israel’s policies in the Jordan Valley. 

To download PDF report and view stunning photos that contrast life in the Jordan Valley click here:


The Valley is occupied, Jerusalem is occupied, Gaza is occupied, only our minds remain free,
Sam



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Thursday, April 05, 2012

[ePalestine] Foreign Policy: Dear Abu Mazen: End This Farce (BY YOSSI BEILIN)

Foreign Policy

Dear Abu Mazen: End This Farce

An open letter to the Palestinian leader.

BY YOSSI BEILIN | APRIL 4, 2012

To read online: bit.ly/HRG9b




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