January 2007
Monthly Archive
Wed 31 Jan 2007
An Urgent Appeal to
All Those Concern In The Entire World
From The Children of Rafah & Bait-Hanoun
When words can’t describe, scenes express and speak up … when justice, mercy and humanity are put aside and disregarded nothing can be thought of … when our childhood’s innocence is hurt, no feeling can be explained and when silence lasts long, oppression and injustice will prevail… when we are left homeless under rain and missiles where could be the shelter. When we lack security, we dream of a secure world. When tomorrow becomes dark, we’ll hold a candle to light the tunnel. When we lose our school bags, clothes and toys under rubbles, we will look for “HOPE†and “PEACEâ€.
When we lose everything, our hearts will go on and we’ll look for a friend.
OUR FRIENDS, WE NEED YOUR VOICE …
— Children of Rafah & Bait-Hanoun
November 2006
Written by children under the care of the Association of Woman & Child Development in Rafah, Palestine. Translated at their request by Omar Naqa. Assistant to the Governate of Rafah, Palestine. For a letter by Omar AL-Naqa, Assistant to the Governorate of Rafah, click here. To send children in Rafah and Bait-Hanoun words of encouragment, click here.
Wed 31 Jan 2007
The following is an email between participants in the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project. Omar AL-Naqa is Assistant to the Governorate of Rafah, Palestine. John Harvey is liaison for the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project. They are working together to facilitate efforts to create an official connection between their two communities. Mr. AL-Naqa’s letter was written shortly after the November Israeli incursion into Gaza and the massacres at Beit Hanoun. Due to the destruction of Gaza’s only power plant by the IDF, and civil unrest, further communication has been very difficult. Also, Click here for a letter from the Association of Woman & Child Development in Rafah.
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Dear John,
Sorry for not responding to your letter about the report of Rafah. I have been very ill in deed over the last 10 days. Expect it nearly .For us you ,of course, you know how hard the situation is after all these scenes of blood and Palestinian scattered pieces of meat and bodies. In deed , I like thousands of Palestinians, feel frustrated, desperate and very much alone and mistrust the whole world for being just passive viewers for a nation killed and destroyed in cold blood live on satellite channels and TVs.
(more…)
Wed 31 Jan 2007
There’ve been many words spent but little said with regards to Jimmy Carter’s latest book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” ORSCP’s blog passes along some articles of interest on occasion that we think are worth the read. This one offers some interesting insight into the heated debate around the mere fact that the fomrer U.S. president dared even write the book. M.J. Rosenberg is the Director of Israel Policy Forum’s Washington Policy Center.
By M.J. Rosenberg
Israel Policy forum
Getting together with friends who travel in different circles is a good way to get beyond the usual bubble in which most of us live and hear views different from those of our regular crowd. (more…)
Wed 31 Jan 2007
Christina Jill Granberg is back from Palestine and will give a talk tonight at 7:00 p.m. at St. Michael’s West Side Church (1835 Overhulse Rd. NW.  Jill
will talk about her recent experiences working with Christian Peacemaker Teams ( CPT ) in Palestine in the shadow of the Separation Wall.
CPT activists do very similar actions and work as ISM.
Thu 25 Jan 2007
Friends,
The board of the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project (ORSCP) has applied to the City of Olympia for recognition of formal sister city status between Olympia and Rafah, Palestine. The City Council will make a decision on the matter at the end of February.
(more…)
Wed 17 Jan 2007
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
& The Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project
present
Break the Silence Mural Project: Art and Action
When: Friday, January 26
Where: The Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St NW, Multi-Purpose Room B
Time: 7:30 PM
(more…)
Mon 15 Jan 2007
Sara Roy was a participant of the 2006 Peace Works conference in Olympia, sponsored by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice. This peace appeared in PeaceWork.
Railroad tracks leading to Birkenau, December 1994. Photo: Skip Schiel
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Some months ago I was invited to reflect on my journey as a child of Holocaust survivors. This journey continues and shall continue until the day I die. Though I cannot possibly say everything, it seems especially poignant that I should be addressing this topic at a time when the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is descending so tragically into a moral abyss and when, for me at least, the very essence of Judaism, of what it means to be a Jew, seems to be descending with it.
(more…)
Thu 4 Jan 2007
By Henry Siegman
The Nation
Former President Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, provoked an uproar even before its publication. The reason for the controversy was the book’s title more than its content, for it seemed to suggest that the avatar of democracy in the Middle East may be on its way to creating a political order that resembles South Africa’s apartheid model of discrimination and repression, albeit on ethnic-religious rather than racial grounds.
Since the appearance of the book coincided with the recent Congressional elections, leaders of the Democratic Party went into near panic and fell over one another disassociating themselves from Carter’s book and his criticisms of certain Israeli policies. Indeed, the panic was so intense that so independent-minded a man as Howard Dean, chair of the party, who in the past has had the courage to challenge the conventional wisdom of the party’s establishment on a whole range of issues, joined the herd as well.
(more…)
