Choice Between Extremists

EU citizens: Ask your governments and EMPs to suspend EU-Israel Association Agreement and stand up for human rights in 2013!

Wall Flowers, Bansy art in West Bank

(BETHLEHEM) - Just got back to Palestine after a trip to Berlin for a workshop exchanging experiences on issues of popular resistance in different countries (Egypt, Nepal, Palestine etc.) and evolution of forms of resistance. I regretted being outside the country when the action happened called Gate of the Sun (the village was attacked again the day before I came back and emptied).

We did discuss this action in our workshop and offered ideas on better messaging, better media work, and better strategies. We must follow it up with additional actions including ending the so called security cooperation with Israel (where Palestinians act as subcontractors for the occupation), growing the BDS movement (http://bdsmovement.net), and leading to total civil disobedience and removal of the barriers to freedom (physical and metaphysical). Freedom is not given by occupiers, it is taken with hard work and sacrifices.

Request: If any individual has good fundraising experience and can help some worthy Palestinian nongovernmental organizations raise funds, please contact me. One of the NGOs is also willing to host the volunteer here (lodging and some of the expenses but not airline tickets). BTW, the recent floods in the north of the West Bank left many people devastated.

You can read in the following about various important developments and actions relating to human rights. I draw your attention especially to two Israeli documentaries gaining notoriety despite the frustration of the Israeli government, a book of post-Zionist Jewish recollections, Israeli election choice between extremists, two action calls and more.

A new letter from Palestine Freedom Riders (I am proud to be one of
those 6) to help with the boycott campaign
http://www.stl-psc.org/?p=389

Two Israeli documentaries up for Oscars this year but the apartheid
state apparatus is NOT happy
http://www.salon.com/2013/01/16/israel_confronts_its_image_problem/

Brilliant book: ‘Beyond Tribal Loyalties’ — new volume spotlights
awakenings of 25 Jewish activists
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/01/loyalties-spotlights-awakenings.html

Israel’s Palestinians are not a minority: Like Canada’s First Peoples,
the Palestinians’ nationhood cannot be measured in numbers. By Amira
Haas http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/israel-s-palestinians-are-not-a-minority.premium-1.494166

Israeli elections: A choice between extremists
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/02/06/694017/-Israeli-elections-a-choice-between-extremists

ACTION CALLS

Time For Justice – A call from Palestine to EU citizens: Ask your
governments and EMPs to suspend EU-Israel Association Agreement and
stand up for human rights in 2013!
http://palsolidarity.org/timeforjustice/

-From Palestinian Committee, Stuttgart to German Nationals: Act to end
ethnic cleansing and destruction in the Negev by the racist “Jewish
National Fund”
http://palaestinakomitee-stuttgart.de/ (available material in three languages)

Mazin Qumsiyeh,
Professor, Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities
Chairman, Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People
http://qumsiyeh.org
_______________________________________________
HumanRights newsletter
http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/mailman/listinfo/humanrights

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD - Popular Committee to Defend Ush Ghrab (PCDUG) "A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home. Mazin has been an Associate Professor of Genetics; Director, Cytogenetics Laboratory at Yale University School of Medicine since 1999. He previously held a similar position at Duke University. Professor Qumsiyeh has authored over 110 scientific papers in areas of mammalogy, biology, and medicine including mammalian biology and evolution, clinical genetics, and cancer research. He has published over 100 letters to the editor and 30 op-ed pieces in International, national, regional and local papers on issues ranging from politics to environmental issues. His appearances in national media included the Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, CNBC, C-Span, and ABC, among others. He is the founder and president of the Holy Land Conservation Foundation and ex-President of the Middle East Genetics Association, and Prof. Qumsiyeh won the Jallow activism award from the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee in 1998. He is author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and just published “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.” Visit Mazin Qumsiyeh's amazing and informative Website to learn more: qumsiyeh.org.