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Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people: Human Rights Newsletter from Mazin Qumsiyeh

This is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people as
declared by the United Nations general assembly ! But locally people see so
little solidarity and Israel continues to violate basic human rights with
impunity. For the past week, we mourned ten more young Palestinians killed,
and we saw home demolitions, we saw the continued horrific siege of Gaza,
we saw health and religious rights violated daily, and we saw roads blocked
to traffic (getting from one Palestinian area to another is becoming
impossible). I just returned from Hebron to Bethlehem, a distance that
should take no more than half an hour. It took more than five hours because
of closures etc. It is a police apartheid state that makes sure we do not
have a normal functioning life.  we watched as Turkey shot down a Russian
airplane over Syrian territory (and lied about the issue since there is no
way, they could have provided warning in the few seconds that the airplane
moved across that tiny jetting Turkish territory), we watched as Russia
provided evidence of convoys of stolen Syrian oil traveling to Turkey and
funding Daesh/ISIS, we shared on facebook videos of horrors committed by
deluded human beings against other human beings, continued to see French
government go down the same deluded path that the US government did after
11 September 2001, and continued to suffer from tear gas and other weapons
used against us by Israeli occupation forces

Amid the horrors, at Bethlehem University, we welcomed Professor Zuhair Amr
who is helping us in research areas on biodiversity, we worked at the
museum and botanical garden, we continued our teaching (though students may
miss some classes), we received more donation of time and resources from
kind people, I gave a talk at an environmental conference about importance
of research in environmental and health fields, we met great new people
including award winning book writers and artists, and we continued to have
“joyful participation in the sorrows of this world”. To light a candle in
this darkness keeps us sane.

For those in Palestine: You are invited to a workshop at the Palestine
Museum of Natural History (http://www.palestinenature.org/visit/ ) 3-6 PM
Wednesday. Prof. Zuhair Amr and Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh leading discussions
and practical training on areas of biodiversity and environmental
conservation. Reservations required 02-2773553 or email
info@palestinenature.org
For those who cannot attend, please donate to keep these activities going:
http://www.palestinenature.org/support-us/

For all, please continue and expand your work in boycotts, divestment, and
sanctions (BDS), a movement that is accelerating the arrival of peace with
justice. Here is a good report by the American Anthropological Association
that is very well done which can be adapted to push for BDS in others
groups.
American Anthropological Association Report
http://s3.amazonaws.com/rdcms-aaa/files/production/public/FileDownloads/151001-AAA-Task-Force-Israel-Palestine.pdf

Prominent Artists Endorse the Cultural Boycott of Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMM0AZ9eWA

Mazin Qumsiyeh
Professor and Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://palestinenature.org

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