Salem-News.com Palestine articles Page 41

`One Day Ramallah Will Rise Up`

We still do not know what progress John Kerry has made in his effort to negotiate Palestine and Israel into a semblance of peace.

(CHICAGO) - “One Day Ramallah Will Rise Up” is the title of a current column by the provocative Ha’aretz writer, Gideon Levy. During this same week, Uri Avnery, another Israeli provocateur, entitled his Gush Shalom column, “The Human Spring”.

He sees, and clearly feels, the presence of a “hidden mechanism” pushing the world forward in this post-Arab Spring period.

The Enemy WIthin

Make this Holy Month of Ramadan a month of passive resistance against all our enemies. Inside and out. Make it a Ramadan to remember. Ramadan Kareem.

(LONDON) - Ramadan is upon us when all true Muslims cleanse their bodies and souls by fasting, praying, meditating and bringing the best of themselves to the fore.

I wish that this Ramadan would be the month that will bring an end to the bloodshed and suffering of Muslim Arabs from North Africa to the Arabian Gulf and beyond. But the indications that this is not going to happen any day soon are there for all to see.

Poll Highlights Palestinians` Mistrust of Kerry, Netanyahu and Even Abbas

“We’re against any process that’s called a peace process, not just against resuming negotiations. Negotiations give Israel a fig leaf to continue its process of colonization..." - activist for Palestine

(TEL AVIV Ha'aretz) - They’re opposed, but don’t really care − that, in essence, is the Palestinian stance on resuming negotiations with Israel along the lines proposed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

But it seems Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cares more about upsetting America than he does about the public’s views.

Quo vadis, Palestine?

... as PLO prepares to get bogged down (again) in bogus US-Israel negotiations

(LONDON) - The Palestinian embassy in London has just issued a rare media briefing. It asks "WHAT IS NEEDED FOR THE RESUMPTION OF CREDIBLE NEGOTIATIONS?" and tries to explain the Palestinian position.

It says the Palestine Liberation Organization (which represents the Palestinian people to the outside world) has done everything it can to further the political process, from agreeing to a state on a tiny 22% of historical Palestine to the recent reaffirmation of the Arab Peace Initiative.

Human Rights: More Encouraging News

Millions of Egyptians are now saying: we do not want an Islamist government supported by the West and that serves in US/Israeli interests.

(BETHLEHEM) - Last week I shared some good news and asked if any readers could share their good news.

Here are just a few examples of responses which remind us that millions of candles are lit in a sea of darkness:*

Her World is Mine

All of the militarization in the world combined can not overpower the love of a child, and a nation.

(LONDON) - Nahida's writings often get me right in the heart. Each examines the plight of an endless military occupation through the perspective of a Palestinian woman who was pulled from her homeland as a young girl while the 1967 war raged.

Her unique way of using photographs and words to cleverly bring a wonderful element of artful treatment to each new piece resonates with both sadness and hope, tragic loss and heart pounding joy.

No Shame on Pennsylvania Ave...
The White House Threatens To End Aid if Palestine Joins the ICC

The White House and its allies are not pleased by prospects for an eventful next few years at the ICC.

(BEIRUT) - Fatou Bom Bensouda, the Gambian-born deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), was never Washington’s first choice to succeed the inveterately self-promoting elitist ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

And it is doubtful that key Obama administration officials have changed their minds this week given Ms. Bensouda’s impassioned invitation Thursday to Palestine, urging its accession to the Rome Statute and the ICC

APN to Kerry: Don`t Give Up on Mideast Peace

APN is the sister organization of Shalom Achshav, Israel's preeminent peace movement.

(WASHINGTON DC) - As Secretary of State John Kerry heads to the region in his ongoing efforts to re-launch Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Americans for Peace Now (APN) today called on the country’s top diplomat to hold on to his sense of urgency and persevere.

APN also reiterated today its call on Jewish community leaders to publicly and vocally express support for Kerry’s mission and to commit to help him secure the peace that Israelis and Palestinians want and deserve.

Hezbollah`s Palestinian Problem... and Vice Versa

Syrian government forces claim that Hamas has even trained Syrian rebels in the manufacture and use of home-made rockets.

(BEIRUT) - Many Lebanese and Syrian supporters of the region's Resistance culture, increasingly led by Hezbollah, are chastising, for a number of reasons, their former Islamist ally Hamas.

Pillorying them with accusations that the latter are ingrates who are creating a host of problems for Hezbollah and its support for the Syrian regime, during the continuing crisis.

What We Focus: on Good or Bad News

The road is clearer than ever: reconstitute the PLO on democratic grounds and let the people decide how and when to return to a liberation struggle. The people demand no less.

(BETHLEHEM) - One can choose to focus on bad news or good news. What we focus on determines our outlook on life.

Good news 1: Over 250 million people watched and anticipated the last episode of the season for the TV show "Arab Idol" and the winner for this season was 23 year old Palestinian Mohammad Assaf from Gaza whose patriotic songs, beautiful voice, and self confidence made millions spend the money to text message their vote.