Madison Rafah Journal

Dion Nissenbaum and Cliff Churgin, McClatchy Newspapers, Dec. 24, 2007

BETHLEHEM, West Bank — For generations, the Holy Land Arts Museum has been selling carved olive wood manger scenes to thousands of religious pilgrims looking for souvenirs from the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ.

This year, the small Bethlehem shop decided that it was time to update the traditional Christmas scene.

Gone is the olive wood manger shielding the baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In its place, looming over the angelic family, are an Israeli watchtower and three towering sections of an adjoining wall.

The modern day creche, said Holy Land Arts Museum manager Jack Giacaman, is a reminder that this holy Christian city remains largely isolated from the outside world by Israel’s 25-foot-tall concrete walls, part of Israel’s separation barrier. (Read on …)

7 pm at Escape Java Joint, 916 Williamson Street, Madison

January 13: Refugees of the Nakba: Then and Now
Films: “Sands of Sorrow” (1950)
Excerpts from “Until When…” (2004)

January 27: The Occupation Understood
“Occupation 101″ (2006)

February 10: The Wall: Final Borders of Apartheid?
“The Israeli Wall in Palestinian Lands” (2004)
“Building the Wall at Abu Dis” (2006)
“Endless Checkpoints” (2006)
(Read on …)

Scott Ritter, Antiwar.com, December 17, 2007

I have for some time now publicly articulated my sympathy and support for the state of Israel, even while criticizing those cases that I believed constituted poor judgment and bad policy. My stance was based upon my past experiences with Israel, which began indirectly in 1990-1991 when I was involved in counter-SCUD activities during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and continued in a much more direct fashion as a weapons inspector with the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), charged with disarming Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

As a weapons inspector I made numerous visits to Israel for the purpose of coordinating with the Israeli intelligence community on matters pertaining to Iraqi WMD. I was greatly impressed not only with the professionalism of the Israeli intelligence services, but also with the Israeli people and society. During my time in Israel, I was witness to numerous horrific events, including several terrorist bombings and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The resilience of the people of Israel in absorbing these blows yet continuing to live life to its fullest was remarkable, and worthy of admiration.

As a firsthand witness to the remarkable vigor of the Israeli state and its people, and as someone who considers himself to be their friend, it saddens me to see just how poorly the current Israeli government returns this friendship, not to me personally, but to my country, the United States of America. The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has embarked on policies that are questionable at best when one examines them from a purely Israeli standpoint; they are nothing less than a betrayal of the United States when examined from a broader perspective.

The insidious manner in which the current Israeli government has manipulated the domestic political machinery of the United States to produce support for its policies constitutes nothing less than direct interference in the governance of a sovereign state. The degree to which the current Israeli government has succeeded in this regard can be tracked not only by the words and actions of the administration of President George W. Bush and the American Congress, but also by the extent to which a pro-Israel lexicon has taken hold within the mainstream media of the United States. Witness the pro-Israel bias displayed when discussing the situation in southern Lebanon, the air strike in Syria, or the Iranian situation, and the retarding of any effort toward a responsible discussion of anything dealing with Israel becomes apparent.

One would expect such efforts to shape the domestic public opinion of a state deemed hostile, but when the target of these Israeli actions is its ostensible best friend, one must begin to question whether or not the friendship is a one-way street. And if this is indeed the case, then perhaps it is time for the United States to reconsider its decades-old policy of strategic partnership with Israel. (Read on …)

“No amount of reading, attending lectures or watching films can convey an accurate understanding of the ‘facts on the ground’, which are crucial to any program of advocacy.” — ICAHD

Dear Members and Friends of MRSCP,

Have you been thinking about visiting Palestine? If so, check out these upcoming opportunities to do just that…in particular I call your attention to the upcoming March delegation of Interfaith Peace Builders, which is being co-led by Wisconsin’s own Cathy Sultan of Eau Claire.

To get more information or to apply to any of these, please use the links to contact them directly. (For spring tours, deadlines may be approaching so act now.)

If you are in southern Wisconsin and are seriously considering participating in any of these visits, feel free to contact MRSCP because we may be interested in working with you on pre- and post-tour briefings and report-backs, as well as efforts to subsidize the cost of the trip. In the case of Interfaith Peace Builders, we are currently in posession of a large quantity of their tour promotion materials which would be available for your use.

Below you will first find a chronological list of 2008 tours followed by a listing by group. ALL of these are very worthwhile. (Read on …)

International Committee of the Red Cross, 13 Dec 2007

Throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in the Gaza Strip as well as the West Bank, Palestinians continuously face hardship in simply going about their lives; they are prevented from doing what makes up the daily fabric of most people’s existence. An ICRC report.

“To be a Palestinian means to face limits in every aspect of life. We are blocked everywhere: we lose our jobs, we cannot travel freely, we are separated from our families. To be a Palestinian means to be deprived of many things that to others are normal.”
Mohammed, a Jerusalemite

Occupied

Throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in the Gaza Strip as well as in the West Bank, Palestinians continuously face hardship in simply going about their lives; they are prevented from doing what makes up the daily fabric of most people’s existence. The Palestinian territories face a deep human crisis, where millions of people are denied their human dignity. Not once in a while, but every day.

Nothing is predictable for Palestinians. Rules can change from one day to the next without notice or explanation. They live in an arbitrary environment, continuously adapting to circumstances they cannot influence and that increasingly reduce the range of their possibilities. (Read on …)

Ed O’Loughlin, Sunday Herald, December 8, 2007

Gaza — FOR three weeks, seven-month-old Mohammed Abu Amra has been lying in Gaza’s main paediatric hospital, suffering from immune deficiency and suspected cystic fibrosis.

His doctors do not have the drug they need to relieve his symptoms, which include fever and distressed breathing, racking his thin ribs at almost twice the healthy rate of breaths per minute.

Nor does any hospital in the sealed-off Gaza Strip have the equipment or expertise needed to clinically diagnose Mohammed’s condition. For eight days his doctors have been waiting for a reply to their request to transfer the baby to a hospital in Israel. If it is not granted, they say, he will probably die.

“Because of the Israeli siege the number of patients who can travel is very limited,” says paediatrician Dr Ahmed Shakat, standing over the child’s bed in Gaza’s al-Nasser hospital.

“In the past it took one day to transfer an urgent patient to Israel. Now I need maybe five, maybe 10, if it happens at all. The Israelis say it’s because of security, but it means urgent cases can die. In the past we could have transferred him also to Egypt, but now that border is closed because of the siege.” (Read on …)

Owen Fay, Al Jazeera, DECEMBER 01, 2007

Gaza — It is only a few days since the talk was of the prospects for peace and renewed hope for the future of Palestinians.

But for a generation of Palestinian children, things may only be getting worse.

In the streets of Gaza, isolated by the Palestinian government and much of the world, growing numbers of children are being sent out to work.

With 70 per cent of people in Gaza living below the poverty line, children are being forced to take on the role of provider for their struggling families.

Statistics show that seven per cent of children in Palestine, where 52 per cent of the population are under the age of 18, are now working

Child mechanic (Read on …)

Donald Macintyre, The Independent, 08 December 2007

Shajaia, Gaza — It’s not surprising the buyers at yesterday’s weekly donkey market here were looking over their prospective purchases with care. They opened the jaws of the tolerant beasts to examine their teeth, and test-drove them, harnessed to a cart, out of the crowded yard to gauge their pulling power.

“You need to make sure that it doesn’t kick people with its back legs, that it’s strong and that the colour of the coat is all right,” said Saber Dabour, 25. He had just bought a donkey for 410 Jordanian dinars, or just under £290.

For, while working donkeys have been bought and sold in Gaza since before Samson pulled down the Philistines’ temple, it is a long time since they have been as valuable as they are now. Prices have risen, according to the traders, by up to 60 per cent since Israel closed off the enclave after Hamas’s enforced takeover of the Strip almost six months ago.

Yet despite that – and, he says, that the donkey feed has also gone up from five to 15 shekels (£1.95) a day since June – Mr Sabour has decided it makes sense to sell his car and buy the creature instead. The unemployed Mr Dabour has sold his car and now intends to use a donkey and cart to sell cucumbers, onions and other vegetables door to door. “There are no jobs here, so I am going to create my own work,” he said.

Pointing out that vehicle spare parts have dried up since the closure, Mr Dabour added: “A donkey doesn’t need tyres, it doesn’t need spare parts, and it doesn’t need gasoline.” (Read on …)