From the Holy Land, not just about it, by our trusted Christ following friend Mazin Qumsiyeh, who spends his life there, and calls himself “A Bedouin in cyberspace”- CEC
[HumanRights] Think big.. dreams do come true (& invitation)
We just celebrated Easter in the Holy Land and we look with anticipation to
Ramadan. While many of us are not religious, we do recognize the value of
these “traditions” to social fabric in our society. Tradition and culture
actually has much more nuance and mix than meets the eye. Easter is Ishtar
and fertility holiday and Passover is not a historical event but based on
earlier mythologies of Gods and redemption. *Tomorrow/Tuesday at 10 AM we
invite you to the opening of our cultural heritage exhibition
(ethnography) at the Palestine Museum of Natural History (location here
palkestinenature.org/visit <http://palkestinenature.org/v
on this exhibit project funded by the BritishCouncil’s Cultural Protection
Fund, in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport, see https//www.palestinenature.org
<http://www.palestinenature.or
If you can’t join us donate and support
Staff and volunteers worked over the holidays. Some work every single day
to achieve what would otherwise be an impossible dream: to build positively
an institute for biodiversity and sustainability in the middle of an area
of mayhem, greed, ecocide and genocide. A dream to join hands and shape the
future we want instead of merely complaining about the present and past
circumstances. If you will it, it can happen. Dreams only come true with
hard COLLABORATIVE work (not petty selfishness so easily seen in political
leaders around the world). Our motto is respect: for ourselves, for others,
and for nature. A short video of our earlier activities (before this new
exhibit and the many other projects we worked on) is here:
https://youtu.be/BPhFLOsEIM0 (8000 views so far).
In response to my easter message, a student said that Jesus was not born in
Palestine but in Israel and that he was Jewish .
1) Palestine (geographic name used for nearly 4000 years*) was used at the
time of Jesus’ birth under Roman rule. There was no “Israel” then. There
was Judea and Philistia (geographic parts of Palestine) . But Jesus was not
Judaic, He was Nazarene (GALILEE). Geography is why even Israel Academy of
Sciences publishes book series Fauna Palestina and Flora Palestina (not
Israeliana!).
2) Jesus was a follower of the mosaic law (law of Moses and Abraham at the
time). That is not being “Jewish” since that designation as a religious one
only came in the fourth century AD (after the writing of the Talmud).
Samaritans who lived in Samaria (now Nablus) for example even today would
be insulted if you call them Jewish (even though they follow/ed the Torah).
But even if you assume a religion why are Christians not called Jews if
Jesus is called a Jew by religion. Jesus was neither Judaic by geography
(he was Nazarene) nor Jew or Samaritan by religion (though he was a
follower of the Mosaic law). *If you want more info I suggest this book
“Palestine: A four thousand year history”
https://www.goodreads.com/book
Readers and some media outlets asked me to comment on the pledge of Arab
countries to support the Palestinian authority via $100 million in funds
every month. Here are my thoughts: The Palestinian authority was created
by the faulty process of Oslo negotiations. The Israeli plan for this was a
permanant self-rule that can act as (unpaid) subcontractor for the
occupation (ala “Vichy government ” of France under the Nazi occupation).
For the PLO leadership thought it is an interim 5 years arrangement leading
to statehood (this was naive at best and complicit at worst). Here we are
26 years later and the PLO assets of over $1 billion were turned to a debt
of >$4.1 billion (on the Pal Authority) and settlers went from 150,000 to
over 900,000 and land access to Palestinian shrunch significantly (not to
mention wa;lls nd restrictions and home demolitions etc). This context is
important to understand that even the Arab countries do give $100 million a
month (unlikely since previous pledges were not met), it will do little to
correct the structural problem of a captive Vichy economy under
occupation/colonization. What is needed is to dissolve the PA, recreate the
PLO and get liberation first. This will happen anyway because bandaids on
severed main artery will not solve the problem of need for radical surgery!
This is important: Court rules that anti-boycott laws violate US
Constitution
https://www.aclutx.org/en/pres
Join Israelis calling for the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes
and lands (per international law)
https://mailchi.mp/c7294310ffb
May 15 marks the anniversary of the Nakba. In this petition, Global Kairos
for Justice, a partner of Kairos Palestine, asks to the world to support
its call to action, to sign the petition
https://www.gopetition.com/pet
Ronnie Kasrils, a leading Jewish anti-apartheid activist who subsequently
served as a South African government minister, offers a very well-informed
perspective on yesterday’s and today’s apartheid states.
https://www.theguardian.com/co
My no is still no – Norm Lowry http://normanlowry.blogspot.co
“We have assumed the name of peacemakers, but we have been, by and large,
unwilling to pay any significant price. And because we want peace with
half a hear and half a life and will, the war, of course, continues,
because the waging of war, by its nature is total—but the waging of peace,
by our own cowardice, is partial. So a whole will and a whole heart and a
whole national life bent toward war prevail over the velleities of peace.”
—Dan Berrigan
Stay Human and come visit us in Palestine
Mazin Qumsiyeh
