Another Voice: RAISE YOUR VOICE PALESTINE!

ANOTHER VOICE
October 28, 2007
For Immediate Release

*** C O N C E R T ***

RAISE YOUR VOICE PALESTINE!

[RAMALLAH] Palestinian grassroots activists and organizations will hold a free outdoor concert on Wednesday, October 31, calling for a just peace based on respect for human rights and international law. The concert will bring Palestinian folklore together with rap, and poetry together with politics, as Palestinians raise their voices for freedom, justice and unity. Artists who are contributing their talents to this event include Reem Talhami, Jamil Al-Sayeh, DAM, Boikutt (Ramallah Underground), the Al Awda Dabkeh Troupe, Yalalan and more. In addition, words from the Bishop Attallah Hanna, the Refugee Right to Return Coalition, the Bil’in Popular Committee, and the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment Campaign.

Two weeks ago the U.S.-based group OneVoice was forced to cancel planned simultaneous concerts in Jericho and Tel Aviv after a widespread Palestinian campaign to boycott the event because of the group’s problematic pillars and deceptive operations. Since they were forced to cancel, OneVoice has been attempting to discredit Palestinian voices, labeling as “extremists” those who criticize OneVoice’s platform for negotiations, a platform that equates the occupier with the occupied and completely neglects the framework of international law.

On Wednesday, October 31, Palestinian voices will come together to declare that our basic rights will not be compromised. We will not accept normalization while Israel continues to arrest our sons and daughters, steal our land and water resources, build settlements, construct the wall, demolish our homes, and push us into smaller and smaller cantons. Any negotiations and peace efforts must be premised on equality, respect for human rights, and the implementation of international law. Peace, not Apartheid!

The concert will start at 5:00 p.m. at the Orthodox Club

For more information, please contact:

Huwaida Arraf: +972-547-473-308 / +970-599-130-426
Natasha Aruri: +970-599-794-761
http://www.anothervoice-palestine.org
info@anothervoice-palestine.org

13 Palestinians arrested in Al-Mazra’a Al-Qibliya

** Update **
On October 31st, the Israeli army invaded Al-Mazra’a Al-Qibliya and arrested eight more people. It seems they are to be charged with exactly the same crimes the three British women formerly imprisoned were charged with. Those allegations proved to be false and the women released. More information will come as it is known.

October 27th 2007

Last night between 1am and 3am the Israeli army raided the West bank towns of Abu Shukheidim and Al-Mazra’a Al-Qibliya arresting 13 Palestinians on allegations of criminal damage and being at an illegal demonstration, they are now in Binyamin police station. In what is clearly collective punishment, the arrested include the head of the Al-Mazra’a Al-Qibliya council, a village council member and three minors. The raids follow a demonstration on Friday against the illegal annexation of agricultural lands by settlers.

The villages are surrounded by a group of settlements collectively known as Talmund B, who have illegally confiscated 14,000 dunums of Palestinian land for agricultural purposes, including 500 dunums in the last three months. Despite local Palestinians contesting the confiscation in court, the settlers have been planting grape trees in a bid to claim the land through facts on the ground.

An armed settler disturbed a protest against the land confiscation in August and settler harassment continued at Friday’s protest. Live ammunition was used by settlers against the non-violent demonstration. Two nights ago 30 to 40 adult settlers threw rocks at the village for about an hour, breaking a solar panel in the process. Last night’s arrests show how the army has chosen to ignore settler violence while collectively punishing local Palestinians for exercising their right to protest the confiscation of their property.

The arrests come the day after the release of three female British peace activists, aged 45, 60 and 62, who were held by the Israeli police on false charges of criminal damage after being present at the demonstrations on Friday . Israeli police attempted to deport them, and sent all three to the Ministry of the Interior where their case was thrown out.

While the three British women were released due to the false nature of the allegations, it is feared the prejudice inherent in the Israeli court system will ensure the Palestinians face jail time and fines, even if the allegations prove to be false.

Brighton-Tubas Fellowship: Life in the women’s prison

Two days ago I attended a peaceful demonstration of villagers against the theft of their land by villagers. I found my self assaulted and ‘arrested’ by a settler with the acquiescence of the Isreali army, lied to by the Israeli police, dumped in the punishment block of the women’s prison, driven for miles to the Ministry of the Interior deportation centre, and eventually released because I had done nothing wrong. What would they have done to me if I was Palestinian?

Over the last week I have seen the heartache on the faces of the families of many Palestinian prisoners and the hollow looks in the eyes of those who have been incarcerated, as they have told me their stories of humiliation and degradation. Sitting in a prison cell, with no way of contacting the outside world, I began to grasp the enormity of what they had been telling me.

I know without a doubt that the Police and prison guards were being a little careful with us as internationals who had insisted on our right to contact our Consulate, to have legal representation, and to not sign the endless documents they put before us in Hebrew. But I still experienced the fear of sitting in a filthy dirty cell, not knowing how long I was going to be there. Then a young Palestinian woman in the cell next to us struck up a conversation. She had been sitting in cells for the last 2 years. Her youngest brother was shot by Israeli soldiers when he was 12, and all her other brothers were in prison. We knew our friends on the outside would be constantly worrying about us. What must her mother be going through? Her friend further down the block, and graduate of Beir Zeit University, had been there for 7 years. How had they survived this ordeal, and still had the energy to welcome us, and reassure us?

We thought it would be reasonable to expect such things as water, exercise, medical help, sleep and a phone call to the outside world. How wrong could we be? By the time we had gone 18 hours without water, having asked many, many times, we were given ‘water’ that was in fact orange squash that looked more like a urine sample sitting in our water bottle in the cell. When we questioned this the guards told us that there is no cold water supply in the prison and the prisoners never, ever get water. Soon afterwards we were told that we should be ready to ‘go out’ when it was our turn for the 1 hour of exercise we were entitled to in every 24 hours. We were quite excited at the prospect at leaving our cell until we saw that we would spend our precious hour in a hot concrete yard 20 x 25ft. We tried some stretches and walking around in circles, but found our motivation was quickly waning after a day of enforced sitting around doing nothing and not being able to sleep.

As we were in the ‘punishment’ block all the women around us were in solitary confinement. An Israeli woman nearby was clearly distressed by her situation. She must have used every ounce of energy she had to shout, scream, bang on her door with whatever she could find and cry endlessly. I was really worried that she would hurt herself, but the prison guards felt that ambling up to her cell and shouting at her intermittently was the appropriate response to this. As a result we had only 2 hrs respite when i assume she slept in the early hours of the morning. All the other prisoners were tired and stressed and shouting at her and each other through their cell doors. In the middle of all this racket the young women in the cell next to us sat at her cell door and sang the most beautiful song imaginable and I strained to listen to her and cut out all the noise around me to claim a few minutes of sanity. For this I have to thank her. When we hadn’t heard from our friend from Beir Zeit for some time we asked if she had left and were told that she was sleeping. Had she really had to get used to these torturous conditions to such an extent that she could now sleep through this constant noise?

As I had been told that we were arrested for 24 hours from 1.30pm on Friday I assumed that by 1.30pm on Saturday I would have to be released or go to court. Nothing is so simple. We were given different information by each prison guard that came along and felt a call to our solicitor was needed, so we asked for this. The reply: Yes, we were entitled to make a phone call but we needed a card. Could we buy a card with the money they had taken off us? No, they do not sell them.

Eventually they came to collect us at 7pm. They gave us our bags, then out came the handcuffs and shackles to be locked around our ankles. Did they really think we would try to run surrounded by police men and women with two guns each?

Throughout our time there the prison guards were nasty, uncooperative and sadistic without exception. I assume they will have developed their skill at treating people like animals in the two years they will have served in the army, and have been honing them ever since.

Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek of Sabeel defamed in Boston Globe – by two op-ed’s

The combination of opeds: one from Jeff Jacoby and the other from CAMERA says more about the Globe than either of the slanderous pieces written.

Tactics are the usual:
Criticism of Israel or it’s brutal and illegal and immoral policies is anti-Semitic….. But both of these opeds are particularly disgusting.

Please write and call the Globe to demand some balance and scrutiny in their editorial section. An apology or a full oped by Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek is also in order.

GLOBE CONTACT INFO:
Letters to Editor: letter@globe.com
Ombudsman: ombud@globe.com
Phone to leave a message, 617.929.3022.
Marjorie Pritchard, Oped Editor, 617.929.3041

Sabeel Purpose Statement

Sabeel is an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians. Inspired by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, this liberation theology seeks to deepen the faith of Palestinian Christians, to promote unity among them toward social action. Sabeel strives to develop a spirituality based on love, justice, peace, nonviolence, liberation and reconciliation for the different national and faith communities. The word “Sabeel” is Arabic for ‘the way‘ and also a ‘channel‘ or ‘spring‘ of life-giving water.

Sabeel also works to promote a more accurate international awareness regarding the identity, presence and witness of Palestinian Christians as well as their contemporary concerns. It encourages individuals and groups from around the world to work for a just, comprehensive and enduring peace informed by truth and empowered by prayer and action.

The op-eds can be read here:

Hate at the altar
By Dexter Van Zile | October 25, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/25/hate_at_the_altar/

Criticism gone too far
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | October 21, 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/21/criticism_gone_too_far/

SAMPLE LETTERS WRITTEN

1
CAMERA, Jacoby, and the ADL, apologists for Israel ’s brutal policies towards the Palestinians, viciously attack Sabeel, the international peace group initiated by Palestinian Christians that opposes the Israeli occupation of Palestine , and its founder, Rev. Naim Ateek. As usual, they designate critics of the Israeli government’s 60-year oppression of the Palestinians as anti-Semitic. End of discussion.

What makes them particularly apoplectic this week is that Sabeel is holding a weekend conference at the Old South Church , titled “The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel” . Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who knows something about apartheid, is delivering the keynote address.

Rather than dealing directly with the issues raised by the Occupation and Israel ’s abuses of international law and human rights, these defenders of Israel ’s military government obfuscate Israel ’s crimes by focusing on Ateek’s use of religious metaphors, likening them to racist symbols and blaming Jews for killing Christ.

Sabeel says that Israel dominates the Palestinians by taking their land and pushing the owners into enclaves where they have no power or self-determination over their lives. Nelson Mandela and other leaders have made the analogy with apartheid in South Africa , and some say the conditions are even worse in Occupied Palestine today. This is not anti-Semitism; it is reality.

2
To the Editors:
I understand that under the principles of freedom of the press a newspaper has the right to print and offer opinion as it wishes. But I would hope that a paper that is often referred to as Boston’s “paper of record” would attempt to offer balance in reporting the major issues of our times. However, in reporting on the issue of Israel/Palestine that has hardly been the case. It is not enough that you have a regular columnist, Jeff Jacoby constantly pressing Israel’s positions (there is no comparable columnist arguing the Palestinian side or criticizing Israel), but now you offer an op-ed article to an organization with the Orwellian name of Committee for Accuracy in the Media , an organization which systematically cherry picks quotes taken out of context to attack people and organizations as they have done with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theolgy Center, rather than simply challenging positions and ideologies. I suggest that the Globe review the investigative report that Columbia University published repudiating the CAMERA/David Project’s smear campaign against Professor Joseph Massoud before it offers them another chance to carry on such similar attacks against others.

Why will the Globe not print op-ed articles or letters presenting an opposing position instead of just reiterating one side of the issue. A balanced approach to reporting would have dictated that Sabeel or Old South Church would have been offered an op-ed piece since they were attacked by Jacoby, rather than offering an echo from CAMERA.

3
To the Editor

In reading “Hate at the Altar” Globe 10/25/07 I don’t get any indication that Israel is actually occupying land – in addition to it’s own state – that doesn’t belong to itself. I also don’t learn anything about the nature of that occupation – or for how long it’s been going on.

I agree with the writer that “…Jews as Christ killers has contributed to untold violence and hostility toward Jewish people.” and, I say, can never be tolerated or justified, and Israel is occupying land not it’s own, and that cannot be tolerated or justified.

We need to be as clear as possible about what the issues are, and work together to create a world of fairness and justice – where we stop killing each other!

4
Dear Editor

I want to address the vile piece in the Globe today “Hate at the Altar” by Dexter Van Zile. This is not an oped, this is slander. Combined with the usual slander from Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby on Oct. 21, I can only assume that this represents the point of view of the Boston Globe. You have chosen to attack not just the Rev. Dr Ateek and Sabeel but you are attacking all Christians suffering under Israeli occupation. You have also chosen to offend Christians everywhere who disagree with the horrendous policies of the state of Israel and you have chosen to offend Black Americans.

To misuse of the image of the noose by Mr. Zile was particularly disgusting and offensive to anyone who understand its meaning and symbolism. Blacks who suffered the noose were oppressed as slaves by white landowners, overlords and later by racist organizations such as the KKK.

Palestinians are the oppressed in this case.; oppressed by the state of Israel with the full support of the US. Maybe the Globe or Mr. Zile could explain how exactly Israelis are oppressed by Palestinians. If anything, the noose is much more symbolic of Israeli tanks, roadblocks, checkpoints and settlements which strangle the life out of Palestinians.

The Globe continues to disappoint on this issue.

Brighton-Tubas Fellowship: Three British nationals go to trial after non-violent demonstration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Brighton-Tubas Fellowship:

For more info contact Tom Hayes on 00447846506710 or Ann on 0522354477

***Update, after being sent to the Ministry of the Interior to begin the process of deportation, the three women were released.

Three British women, Kate Harrison, Caroline Bailey and Sarah Cobham representing the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity group, were arrested during a non-violent protest at Al Mazra’a al Qibilya in the West Bank on Friday 26th October and will appear at 7pm this evening in the Jerusalem Peace Court, located in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem.

The women, aged 45, 60 and 62, who are facing deportation, are being charged this evening with “participating in an illegal demonstration“, “damaging a barbed wire fence” belonging to settlers erected on Palestinian land and uprooting settler owned grape vines planted illegally on Palestinian land.

The women, two of whom are members of Amnesty International, did not actively participate in the demonstration but intended to act as observers. They were arrested as the protesters retreated under live fire.

Members of a ten person delegation to Palestine organised by the Brighton-Tubas Friendship and Solidarity Group joined a demonstration in Al Mazra’a al Qibliya in the occupied West Bank today. Al Mazra’a is surrounded by seven illegal Israel settlements known collectively as Talmund B.

The settlements have been steadily expanding. In the last few years they have expropriated 14,000 dunums of Palestinian land (4 dunums= 1 acre) and uprooted Palestinian olive trees.

The settlement also monopolises water resources in the area. Settlements like Talmund B are illegal under international law. However, the Israeli state encourages the growth of settlements by subsidising colonisers who move to the occupied territories.

Three months ago a further 500 dunums were confiscated from the village and were planted with grape vines.

The Brighton group joined the villagers in marching to the confiscated land. They reached the area where a barbed wire fence marked the boundary of the stolen land. Approximately 50 people crossed the fence and started to remove the grape vines from the land. Also the pipes that take the stolen water were partially destroyed.

As the demonstrators entered the land settlers fired live ammunition at them. Soldiers also fired live ammunition. No warning was given. The group included old people and many young children.

The villagers told the remaining members of the Brighton group that it was because of their presence that no-one was killed.