In this digest: 1) A call to join a large gathering of students, faculty and staff to promote boycott, divestments, and sanctions (BDS) at academic institutions. 2) An action call for the release of our friend and nonviolent activist Mohammed Othman. 3) Why the Goldstone report matters by Richard Falk and a call to action from the US Campaign to End the Occupation, 4) two Jewish songwriters on Palestine, 5) A rough poem I wrote after the Obama-Netanyahu-Abbas meeting titled “We are angry” ACTION 1: This fall from November 20th through the 22nd, students, faculty, and staff from around the country who are engaged in Palestine solidarity activism will converge for a conference on campus Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS). Announcing the 2009 Campus Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Conference at Hampshire College ACTION 2: My friend Mohammad Othman (from Jayyous, a village that lost a lot of its lands to the apartheid wall), was arrested by Israeli authorities when he returned from a trip to Norway. A colleague wrote”It is not the first time, Palestinian human rights defenders are arrested after trips abroad. Muhammad Srour, an eye witness to the killing of Arafat Khawaje, 22, and 20-year-old Mohammed Khawaje, who were both shot on a Gaza solidarity demonstration in Ni’lin on 28th December. He testified in front of the UN Fact Finding Mission on Gaza and, in a clear act of reprisal, he was arrested on his way back. This strategy of arrests complements the overall policy of isolation of the Palestinian people behind checkpoints, walls and razor wire. “More at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36429272741&ref=ts Urge your representatives at consular offices in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem/Ramallah to demand the immediate release of Mohammad Othman. (For your consular contacts, see: http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-in/Israel#11725) and Let the Israeli Embassy in your country know that you are campaigning for Mohammad’s release and for a just and lasting peace based on international law.
Action 3: Read Richard Falk’s “Why the Goldstone report matters” http://intifada-palestine.com/2009/09/21/why-the-goldstone-report-matters/ and then act by going to this link http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2352 Two Jewish song-writers do a song for Palestine and suggest that you donate to charities to support Palestine Video, high def, about 12 minutes long: http://vimeo.com/6630724 We are angry, by Mazin Qumsiyeh
While colonialism can persist Maybe to revive the “peace process” charades to ensure no peace for a few more decades giving the monster created by Western powers time to gobble more of the holy pieces and belch its pleasure in more negotiations devoid of human rights or UN resolutions
We are angry at statistics of oppression 1.5 million uprooted fruiting trees 1.5 million in Gaza besieged Swelling ranks of the disempowered Phosphorous bombs on Gaza showered An apartheid wall that snakes around Running sewage in the streets abound Children barefoot in a refugee camp in 2009!
Others just watch and hope to avoid the glare Others abandoned by their racist masters Others fall for carnal desires as fleeting as the empty goals Others think it safer with the quisling theme
While not sparing children from their plight Those who champion International laws While leaving heavy trails of bloody claws Those who use a religious heritage to support overt racism While defaming anyone who dares to speak out: “anti-semitism”!
And those who with malice and malfeasance Presidents, Pundits, and peasants Large or small petty criminals
And our faith in humanity shrinks And even what we want for ourselves So maybe this final anger motivates …. men and women of all life stages tailor-made therapists for all ages Intellectuals and small farmers Working to plant the blood-soaked lands With cactus, figs, olive trees, and almonds watering hopes and dreams like a growing grape vine tendrils reaching out to free beloved immortal Palestine Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home |