An exciting new project is seeking to employ mature, high calibre professionals to spearhead a worldwide public relations campaign to promote Bethlehem City.

London Coordinator: The applicant should have proven writing and communication skills and be able to use their initiative to approach and build relations with institutions and high profile individuals. A thorough understanding of political realities in Palestine is essential; good relations with Palestine advocacy groups world-wide would be an advantage. The applicant will be able to manage events and volunteers working for the project. The applicant must be able and willing to travel to Palestine occasionally, to work at our offices in Bethlehem.

Head of Media: The applicant should have extensive experience in mainstream media in either the UK or the States, a sound understanding of the political situation in Palestine, excellent research, writing and editing skills, and be willing to move to Bethlehem for at least a year. The applicant will be expected to research stories, write articles for website and printed press, prepare media presentations and be able to perform under pressure and accept a degree of multi-tasking.

Salaries competitive. Depending on qualifications.
Applicants advised to apply urgently.

Call Leila Sansour on 02077304244 mobile: 07814937743
e-mail: leilasansour@yahoo.com

18 July 2005 | URI DAVIS, ILAN PAPPE, and TAMAR YARON | Israel

We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the alarm regarding what may come during and after evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel in 1967, in the event that the evacuation is implemented.

We held back on getting this statement published and circulated, seeking additional feedback from our peers. The publication in Ha`aretz (22 June 2005) quoting statements by General (Reserves) Eival Giladi, the head of the Coordination and Strategy team of the Prime Minister`s Office, motivated us not to delay publication and circulation any further. Confirming our worst fears, General (Res.) Eival Giladi went on record in print and on television to the effect that Israel will act in a very resolute manner in order to prevent terror attacks and [militant] fire while the disengagement is being implemented and that ?If pinpoint response proves insufficient, we may have to use weaponry that causes major collateral damage, including helicopters and planes, with mounting danger to surrounding people.?

We believe that one primary, unstated motive for the determination of the government of the State of Israel to get the Jewish settlers of the Qatif (Katif) settlement block out of the Gaza Strip may be to keep them out of harm`s way when the Israeli government and military possibly trigger an intensified mass attack on the approximately one and a half million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, of whom about half are 1948 Palestine refugees. The scenario could be similar to what has already happened in the past - a tactic that Ariel Sharon has used many times in his military career - i.e., utilizing provocation in order to launch massive attacks.

Following this pattern, we believe that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz are considering to utilize provocation for vicious attacks in the near future on the approximately one and a half million Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip: a possible combination of intensified state terror and mass killing. The Israeli army is not likely to risk the kind of casualties to its soldiers that would be involved in employing ground troops on a large scale in the Gaza Strip. With General Dan Halutz as Chief of Staff they don`t need to. It was General Dan Halutz, in his capacity as Commander of the Israeli Air Force, who authorized the bombing of a civilian Gaza City quarter with a bomb weighing one ton, and then went on record as saying that he sleeps well and that the only thing he feels when ping a bomb is a slight bump of the aircraft.

The initiators of this alarm have been active for many decades in the defence of human rights inside the State of Israel and beyond. We do not have the academic evidence to support our feeling, but given past behavior, ideological leanings and current media spin initiated by the Israeli government and military, we believe that the designs of the State of Israel are clear, and we submit that our educated intuition with matters pertaining to the defence of human rights has been more often correct than otherwise.

We urge all those who share the concern above to add their names to ours and urgently give this alarm as wide a circulation as possible.

Circulating and publishing this text may constitute a significant factor in deterring the Israeli government, thus protecting the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip from this very possible catastrophe and contributing to prevent yet more war crimes from occurring.

Please sign, circulate, and publish this alarm without delay!!!

Patrons: Harold Pinter, Dr. Jane Manning OBE, Anthony Payne,
Supporters: The Corrie Family, Jocelyn Hurndall, Afif Safieh, Palestinian General Delegate to the UK, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jenny Tonge MP, Jeremy Hardy, Miriam Margolyes, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Jewish Socialists’ Group, Just Peace UK, International Solidarity Movement, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Council for Advancement of Arab-British Understanding

Dear Friend,

We are writing to tell you about an exciting new venture: the World Premiere of the cantata ‘The Skies are Weeping’ by Philip Munger. This is to be performed as part of a multicultural concert at the Hackney Empire, London, on November 1st, to commemorate all who have been lost to the Occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The cantata is in memory of Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to stop a Palestinian home from being demolished. The second movement of the work is dedicated to Tom Hurndall, the British peace activist, who was killed whilst protecting Palestinian children. It is the only known major classical piece to have been written about these events, and probably, about the second intifada. We feel the cantata will raise further awareness through its great potential for publicity and reaching a new, uninformed audience.

‘The Skies are Weeping’ had to be withdrawn from its premiere in Alaska due to safety concerns for the student performers. The composer and soprano had received email and telephone threats. Music can and should deal with controversial topics. We are sure that you will feel that the music should be heard, free from prejudiced attack. In the belief that British society is more tolerant, we are now asking for your help to raise the £15,000 needed to enable the concert to go ahead. Any surplus funds from donations and tickets will be given to the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions and the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme. If the concert has to be cancelled due to lack of funds, your donation will be re-funded.

The concert will also feature Palestinian singer, Shadia Mansour and JfJfP musician, poet and playwright, Michelene Wandor with her ensemble, Siena, who will perform music by the 17th century, Italian, Jewish composer, Salamone Rossi.

For more details, please see http://weepingskies.blogspot.com or email our administrator on skiesareweeping@hotmail.co.uk
Anyone sending donations of over £100 will be listed in the programme, unless they request otherwise, and will be invited to our reception afterwards where they will meet the composer, performers and special guests. Cheques should be made payable to ‘The Skies are Weeping’ project and sent to: ‘The Skies are Weeping’, PO Box 34265, London NW5 2WD

With many thanks,

Deborah Fink
Project Co-ordinator

Zaytoun is in the process of bringing a container of oil to the UK from a new supplier, The Palestine Fair Trade Association. Below is an email regarding this.

‘As for the current shipment we had booked space on vessel leaving on July 17. But I recieved news yesterday that may lead us to cancel and put off for a week. One of the oil containers we set aside for your order increased in acidity to 0.90 We decided to empty what we bottled
from it and not bottle it. So we are contact with other farmers on the waiting list to collect a replacement for this tank. The tank is about 1500 litres. Mahmoud is currently in the field woring on gathering the replacements. It should not be long. I’ll keep you posted.

This is an example where we encounter unexpected cost with fair trade. For example we bought this oil from the farmers for 15 NIS. We had a delay in the order, then change in acidity and we cannot use the oil. We intend to sell it in the local market with the average price of 8 to 9 NIS. For 1500 liter it is quite a loss. But that is the nature of doing business and one of the details that the average consumer doe not necessarily account for. What we put in our bottles is only
premium Natural Extra Virgin. There a lot of Extra Virgin from Italy that are processed. Refined oil where acidity is extracted. The body richness and flavor of the greenish, natural EV we produce is not the same in these oils. This incident also stress to us that we do need to address the strorage issue soon. I started researching this in order to be ready for this up-coming harvest.’ (Investment is needed in stainless steel storage containers so that the farmers can store the oil in a way which keeps the integrity of the oil)

A statement from the Director of Canaan Fair Trade, Palestine.

1- Traditional organic non-irrigated farming. The average Palestinian orchard yield is less than that of irrigated modernized farming or non-irrigated farming in northern Mediterranean countries that gets higher levels of rain. Farmers need higher return on products to support their families because of the smaller yield.

2- Local restriction of movement imposed by the Israeli occupation makes cost involved in collecting oil and other related local deliveries extremely high for oil traders.

3- The high cost Palestinian companies and organizations face doing business internationally directly without Israeli middleman. For example Canaan Fair Trade (CFT) paid over US$9,500 to release a container of empty bottle at the Haifa port coming from Italy. Only $2500 of which were Sea Freight and ground shipping.

4- The High cost of PA bureaucracy. Certificate of origin from Chamber of Commerce requires 4% of invoice, Ministry of Agriculture requires a high percentage of units tested from total units invoiced each test cost 20NIS. The Environmental Health require their own testing and their tests (which are the same) cost 100NIS each.

5- Fair Trade needs to afford to pay fair wages to people working on the ground in a fluctuating business environment (by the we are not anywhere near that yet. But we do hope to get there. The only full time employees we are affording to keep are two. The rest are casual workers when we have orders, and I or other Palestine Fair Trade Association (PFTA) officers do not take any compensation)

6- Non-supported Palestinian farmer in competition with mostly subsidized industry in Europe and the States.

7- Above all of this is produced by CFT competes even on price if compared to similar quality oils.

Today?s horrific events in London demand an active response from the movements for peace and justice.

Justice Not Vengeance and Voices in the Wilderness UK are proposing that anti-war and other groups around the UK hold silent vigils in their town centres at some point over this weekend (in Hastings, a vigil is being held in front of the town hall at 6pm on Friday), on the following themes (please amend as you see fit):

****************

SOLIDARITY with those who are suffering directly as a result of the London atrocities ? and all those who have suffered violence in the course of the ?war on terror?

We stand silently to remember those who have lost their lives, those who have been injured, and those who have been bereaved by the terrorist attacks in London. We also remember all those who have died as a result of violence in the course of the ?war on terror? - in the United
States, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Indonesia, in Spain, and elsewhere.

SOLIDARITY with those who are now threatened with a violent backlash

We stand silently to express our determination to defend the Muslim community, Arab communities, and other groups who face abuse and violent attacks in the wake of these outrages in London. We condemn all attempts to hold Islam itself responsible for the attacks in London or for any other acts of terrorism.

COMMITMENT to true security and justice

We are determined to resist military retaliation against other nations, believing that military action undermines our security rather than strengthening it.

We resolve to resist repressive legislation which deepens grievances rather than building justice and reconcilation.

****

Wednesday 6th July at 6.45pm at The Riverside Cinema, Hammersmith

A Stone?s Throw Away
Line Halvorsen, Norway, 2003, 52 min.

Intimate portrait of a group of young Palestinian boys from the Dheisheh refugee camp who amuse themselves by throwing stones at Israeli tanks. A stark insight into the breeding of resentment and violence in a new generation of Palestinian men.

Checkpoint
Yoav Shamir, Israel, 2003, 80 min.

Joris Ivens Award IDFA 2003 (Best Feature doc) Winner Hot Docs 2004 (Best Feature doc)

Multi award-winning documentary conveying the grueling reality of Israeli occupation through a series of encounters between heavily armed Israeli soldiers and humiliated Palestinians, at military checkpoints. The impression is one of an endless situation, in which people on both sides are forced into positions that leave little room for human dignity.

see www.dochouse.org for more information.

The Israeli Occupational Forces have arbitrarily declared the Mas’ha gate to be a ?seasonal?
gate, and informed villagers that the gate will be closed for 6 months. This is the first time that such a thing has happened. And, if the 6 month closure is indeed implemented, farmers will be prevented from going to harvest their olives, since the harvest period is mainly during October
and November.

The present closure additionally prevents farmers from tending their vegetable crops, plowing the grounds around their almond trees and olive groves, and shepherds from grazing their flocks. Farmers are told to use the ?other? gate, but this is fictive advise. The ?other gate? is some 11
kilometers away (nearly 7 miles) and in an area that one needs a permit to get there. Most farmers do not have the necessary permit, nor would be allowed to have one. And the distance makes it almost impossible, particularly for the older men. They not only have to cover the distance to the gate, but then many have to walk back on the other side of the fence to get to their fields.

Mas?ha, prior to being closed off by the fence in September 2003, had 6200 dunams of land; of these only 500 dunams remain within the fence. In other words, within the fence are the built-up areas (residential and business), while all the agricultural lands are on the other side of the fence.

Please protest this closure and demand that farmers be allowed to go to their lands.

Please protest by phone and/or fax:

1. DCO Qalqilya: Phone: 050 623 4034; Fax 09 792 2331 [from abroad +972
50 623 4034; fax +972 9 792 2331]

2. Civil Administration Spokesperson: Phone: 050 623 4081; Fax: 02 997
7341 [from abroad +972 50 623 4081; Fax +972 2 997 7341]

3. IDF (i.e., IOF) Spokesperson: Phone 03 6080 220; Fax 03 6080 343 [from
abroad +972 3 6080 220; fax +972 3 6080 343]