The International Center of Bethlehem Cordially invite you to attend the opening of the Art Exhibition

?Celebrating the life of Palestinian Women?
by British artist Paula Cox

At Al-Kahf Gallery
Dar Annadwa Arts & Crafts Center
Paul VI str.,
Madbassa Square,
Bethlehem
Tel. 02-2770047 Fax: 02-2770048

The exhibition will run until October 31.

This describes the environmental devastation created by the Israeli
Occupation, the IDF and the settlers.

Wednesday, 28 September 2005

http://earthfirstjournal.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=11

DEAR SETTLERS
August 27th, 2005
by Uri Avnery
Gush Shalom

Dear Settlers –

“Dear” in the most literal sense.

At long last it must be spelled out, without hypocritical pity, without “if” and “but”.

We have paid billions of shekels in order to settle you in the Gaza Strip. We have paid billions to keep you there, and most of you have lived there at our expense. We paid billions to defend you, and dozens of soldiers, male and female, lost their lives doing this. Now we are paying billions (Eight? Ten? Twelve?) to get you out of there and pay you generous compensation.

But all this is not enough. Again you are shouting. Again you are being robbed. Again we owe you much, much more. Whole stretches of the country, preferably on the sea-shore, to be especially reserved for you, so that you can resettle “as whole communities”. So that you can live separately. So that you can have your own separate schools. So that you can draw government salaries as employees of the local council, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Defense.

I don’t know whether the Guinness Book of Records awards a title for champions of impertinence, cheek, impudence - in short, good old Jewish chutzpah. If so, you should win it hands down. In the past we only owed each of you a luxury villa for next to nothing, as well as a source of livelihood, land and water, now it seems we owe you everything. It is your right to help yourselves from the money needed for the sick, the elderly, the handicapped, the children, the unemployed. Because you are the best of the best. Because you are holding on to the beard of the Messiah. Because you were personally chosen by God.

I might have some sympathy for your plight, if you had uttered one word of compassion for the inhabitants of the 1500 Palestinian homes that were destroyed because of you, a greater number than all the homes of the settlers that are being destroyed now. If you had expressed any compassion for the children that were evicted from their homes within half an hour, without compensation, without hotels and psychologists. For the thousands of trees uprooted in order to supply you with “security”.

As the good Rabbi Hillel said 2000 years ago, when he saw the skull floating down the river: “Because you have drowned others, you were drowned”"

And please remember: the bill is not being paid by “the State”, an anonymous body, but by me and the Israeli readers of this column, out of our own pockets.

From Gush Shalom: http://zope.gushshalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1125184690

There is a talk at the LSE on Monday 10 October - “Can Free Trade Promote Development or is Fair Trade the Answer? Speakers are Harriet Lamb (exec of Fairtrade foundation), Alex Singleton (president of Globalization institute) and Tony Venables (Prof of international economics at LSE and recently appointed chief economist at UK dept. of International Development) Chaired by Jude Howell.

It is at Old Theatre, Old Building, LSE - free, no tickets required. Can call 020 7955 6043 for more details.

We now have a new section zaytoun.org/gaza/ with a fact sheet and selected reports examining in detail what The Gaza disengagement means for the Palestinian and places it in its context.

Gaza is a tiny strip of land, a mere 5 miles by 25 miles. It houses 1.3 million Palestinian’s in overcrowded refuge camps with poverty levels similar to sub saharan Africa. Gaza is entirly dependent on the outside world for it’s economic survival. The Israeli pullout from Gaza has left it economically stranded due to its isolation from the rest of the world.

Israel controls its airspace and has closed off the airport. There is no connection with the West Bank and the borders with Egypt are closed. The seaport is closed. The Gaza disengagement effectivly means that Palestinians have been isolated from the outside world and left stranded in poverty and an acute housing crisis. Post Gaza disengagement they now live in a slightly bigger open air prison.

November 1st, 7.45

The Skies are Weeping .

In memory of all the lives lost during the occupation of Gaza and the West
Bank.

Introduced by Cindy Corrie

World Premiere The Skies Are Weeping. Cantata for soprano, chamber choir and
percussion ensemble, Op 75 by Philip Munger, in memoriam Rachel Corrie,
peace activist in Gaza. Original US premiere cancelled after threats were
received by principals involved.
UK Premiere The Singer of Wind and Rain - A setting of Five Palestinian
lyrics by Gregory Youtz

Traditional Palestinian dance and music performed by the Dabka group
Al-Hurriyya. Israeli, Palestinian & Yemenite songs woven into jazz
compositions, performed by Tsivi Sharett and the TS Ensemble

Peter Crockford Conductor
Deborah Fink Soprano
Dominic Saunders Piano
Coro Cervantes
The London Percussion Ensemble

Tickets: £17.50, £15.50, £13.50, £10
Hackney Empire, Mare Street, E8 1EJ
Box Office: 020 8985 2424

With grants from Arts Council England and the Holst Foundation

For more information, go to: http://weepingskies.blogspot.com or email
skiesareweeping@hotmail.co.uk.

A report byThe Palestinian Human rights centre in Gaza

Israel is removing 8,500 settlers from the Gaza Strip, corresponding to only 2 percent of the total settler population (425,000) currently living in the Occupied Palestinian Terroteries, including East Jerusalem, and this year alone Israel is building housing for 30,000 more settlers in the West Bank. The removal of settlers from Gaza must be viewed within this broader context of ongoing settler activity in the West Bank.

The reports represent a few of the many incidents recorded by PCHR’s fieldworkers since the ‘disengagement’ process began, showing some of the suffering and hardships imposed on Palestinian civilians during this time.

The full report can be read here

Join defendants at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court (Near Uxbridge Tube) for breakfast on the first day of their trial and support the campaign to sever military, economic, cultural and academic ties with Israel while the occupation of Palestine continues.

Following the ruling of the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Israel’s building of a wall on Palestinian land was illegal, activists from London and Brighton successfully blockaded the main Carmel-Agrexco depot in the UK. This prevented tens of thousands of pounds worth of agricultural produce from reaching its destination on British supermarket shelves.

Carmel is the main brand for Israeli agricultural exports and the company is 50 per cent owned by the Israeli state. It exports goods from settlements in the West Bank and Gaza in violation of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

The action at the depot led to the arrest of seven activists who had d-locked themselves across the gates and prevented access to lorries. They have all been charged with aggravated trespass: the prevention of lawful activity. Their defence will challenge the legality of Carmel-Agrexco’s trade in the UK and is hoped to act as a springboard for the whole boycott campaign.

We invite you and your organisations to join us on the opening day of the trial, Monday 5th September at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, for a Palestinian breakfast in support of the defendants, in support of the boycott campaign and in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle to end the occupation.

For further information please contact thewallmustfall@hotmail.com