[WCUSP] Fwd: [HumanRights] Weekly compilation: Rachel Corrie, Dahlia Wasfi, WOJ, US Palestinians meet, etc

[yvonne simmons]

--- Mazin Qumsiyeh <qumsi001 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: "Mazin Qumsiyeh" <qumsi001 at hotmail.com>
> To: Mazin.qumsiyeh at lists.riseup.net
> Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:59:17 -0500
> Subject: [HumanRights] Weekly compilation: Rachel
> Corrie, Dahlia Wasfi, WOJ, US Palestinians meet, etc
> 
> (Note: Mailing List Information, including
> unsubscription instructions, is located at the end
> of this message.)
> -------> 
> The challenges facing human rights advocates with
> regards to US/Israeli 
> hegemonic designs in the Middle East are daunting. 
> Our organizational 
> structures and ability to work together must and
> will rise to meet the 
> challenge. It is not easy.  But if it was easy, it
> would have already been 
> done and the struggle would not be as worthwhile. 
> Let us review some 
> sobering reminders (a week after the US vetoed yet
> another (mild) UN 
> resolution regarding Israel).
> 
> First there is the Israeli lobby that many like to
> ignore but like the 800 
> pound gorilla in the room, is really hard to ignore.
>  Here is an article of 
> relevance on how AIPAC is early Building Ties With
> New American Lawmakers
>
http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/editorials/signs20061113_AIPACEatsNewCongressCrittersforLunch.php
> A more detailed analysis of the lobby's influence is
> here: 
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org/thelobby/
> 
> Then there are "Christian" Ziolnists, an important
> factor in countries like 
> Holland, England and the US.  They preach hatred,
> collect money, ignore the 
> message of Jesus (e.g. Sermon on the mount), and
> collect money, support 
> Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Christians
> and Muslims, and collect 
> money.  Here is a link to an article Defining
> Christian Zionism By Donald 
> Wagner
>
http://www.christianzionism.org/articlesN.asp#Wagner02
> and this news story shows how such bigots operate,
> speak while enriching 
> their pockets
>
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/111406/met_6211753.shtml
> 
> The Israeli economy profits from the ignorance of
> many in trhe world.  
> Diamond exports were at nearly $10 billion. 
> Diamonds are merely rocks (not 
> taht rare by the way, there are rarer rocks) culled
> from African land at 
> slave wages and compensations to Africans, cut and
> "polished" mostly in 
> Israel (or by Zionist controlled industry leaders),
> pedaled as valuable 
> items by slick and misleading advertisement
> campaigns (for love, "a diamond 
> is forever"!), and sold at exorbitant prices. Much
> of the profit goes to 
> fund wars, violence, occupation etc (the term "blood
> diamonds" is thus apt 
> description). But diamonds are not the biggest
> Israeli exports.  Most 
> Israeli exports relate to weapons and "security"
> (Israel likes to use the 
> term "high tech industries"). Most of these Israeli
> exposrts are American 
> technology given courtesy of the US taxpayers even
> though they end up 
> competing with US industries.
> 
> In a recent article in Tikkun Magazine, Israeli
> author and activist Dr. Jeff 
> Halper argues that Israel has no interest in
> peaceful resolution but 
> "muddling through" in order to balance continued
> theft of Palestinian land 
> with its "security". 
>
http://tikkun.org/magazine/tik0611/frontpage/responsibility1106
> 
> The Israeli lobby pushed for the wars and sanctions
> on Iraq (see 
>
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/connectingthedotsiraqpalestine/
> ).  What were the 
> consequences of these wars and sanctions? Over 2
> million Iraqis killed in 
> the past 15 years as a direct result. Here is just
> some (graphic) video of 
> what happened in one part of Iraq, Fallujah
>
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1134673789364675735&q=fallujah+hidden&pl=true
> 
> Today we had the last event for the fall leg of the
> Wheels of Justice Bus 
> Tour (http://www.wheelsofjusticetour.org).  I and
> Dr. Dahlia Wasfi were 
> speakers.  Dahlia was born to a Jewish American
> mother and a Muslim Iraqi 
> father in New York. She spent her early childhood in
> Basra. Dr. Wasfi 
> graduated from Swarthmore College in 1993 with a
> B.A. in Biology, and from 
> the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in
> 1997. Her latest trip 
> to Iraq was a 3-month stay during the spring of
> 2006. Watch this powerful 
> testimony of Dr. Dahlia Wasfi before a US
> Congressional Committee in 
> Washington, DC:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELjgVq6GtPA
> She spoke in tour events about the effects of
> sanctions, direct violence, 
> and depleted uranium (also effected US troops with
> increased mortality and 
> increased birth defects in children of vets) but
> most of all she speaks of 
> her own personal story in a way that humanizes
> Iraqis.  She spoke of how 
> Rachel Corrie inspired her to focus her life on
> telling the truth and 
> changing the system.  Dahlia's website,
> http://liberatethis.com includes a 
> wealth of useful information.
> 
> Talking about Rachel Corrie, I think people need to
> go see the play My Name 
> is Rachel Corrie
> (http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/?p=47) which is
> playing 
> at Minetta Lane Theater in New York.  We have a few
> extra tickets (from the 
> bus trip from CT to NY) so email me if you are in CT
> and NY and are 
> interested in buying these tickets.
> 
> In a later email report, I will give you a glimpse
> of the wonderful people 
> we met along the bus tour in the past two weeks.  We
> had great receptions 
> from high schools, classes at colleges, public
> presentations and informal 
> discussions.  People are more hungry for facts than
> ever before.  The 
> corporate media outfits under heavy Zionist
> influence are pushing to 
> lengthen this devastating war. See "Operation Last
> Resort-The New Media 
> Offensive to Prolong the Iraq War" By Norman Solomon
> 
> http://www.counterpunch.org/solomon11162006.html
> 
> I just finished reading Carter's new book
> "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid".  
> Ofcourse there are far better books on this question
> but Carter brings in a 
> presidential level visibility to the subject of
> Israeli Apartheid. Here is 
> Carter in a revealing interview about the book with
> the Jewish Daily Forward
>
http://www.forward.com/articles/carter-discusses-new-book-on-israel-and-the-middle/
> (action item: ask supermarkets, bookstores and other
> places where books are 
> sold to get copies).
> 
> Finally, below is a declaration from us Palestinians
> living in America who 
> met in Cleveland over the last weekend in a
> preparatory meeing for a large 
> popular conference of Palestinians to be held in
> Chicago in 2008 (the 60th 
> anniversary of the Nakba). If you are Palestinian
> living in the US, let us 
> know to get involved.
> 
> There is so much work being done all around the
> world, and so much work yet 
> to do. We must intensify our efforts.  As Howard
> Zinn also said: you can't 
> be neutral on a moving train (corollary: silence is
> complicity).
> 
> In solidarity,
> 
> Mazin
> http://qumsiyeh.org
> http://www.wheelsofjusticetour.org
> 
> The Cleveland Declaration and Summary of Meeting
> 
> Activists and organizers from the Palestinian
> community in the US with 
> diverse political backgrounds, geographical
> locations, and organizational 
> affiliations met in Cleveland, OH Nov 10-12, 2006 in
> follow up to the 
> initial meeting held in Detroit on June 23, 2006.
> 
> We, the participants, had grave concerns about: a)
> the recent escalation of 
> massacres and other war crimes committed in Beit
> Hannoun and other areas of 
> occupied Palestine, b) the plight of Palestinian
> refugees in Iraq as well as 
> the suffering of all people in Iraq under US/British
> occupation, c) the 
> recent atrocities committed by Israel in Lebanon,
> and d) the US government 
> veto of yet another UN Security Council that
> attempted to hold Israel 
> accountable for persistent severe Human Rights
> violations, war crimes, and 
> crimes against humanity.
> 
> In these historic times, the participants reiterated
> their commitments to 
> affirm our Palestinian narrative and assert our
> rights to:
>  
> -- Self-determination and equality for the
> Palestinian people
> -- Return of the Palestinian refugees to their
> original homes, lands, 
> properties and villages (a natural right supported
> by international law and 
> UN Resolution 194)
> -- End of Zionist occupation and colonization of
> Palestine, including 
> Jerusalem
> 
> After a weekend of intense deliberation,
> brainstorming, and strategizing the 
> participants have decided and committed to:
> 
> 1) Convene and build a popular Palestinian national
> conference in Chicago in 
> Summer 2008 in order to empower our community, unify
> our voice, and affirm 
> the right of Palestinians in the Shatat (exile) to
> participate fully in 
> shaping our joint destiny. We established various
> committees to carry on the 
> functions needed for this.
> 
> 2) Holding a larger preparatory meeting in 2007 that
> would further empower 
> and build support among all our community members
> and organizations.
> 
> 3) Continue empowering our community by exchanging
> projects, ideas, and 
> campaigns done by the many local and national
> organizations and build upon 
> them by providing fora for communication and
> positive collaboration.
> 
> We are calling on fellow Palestinians in the US to
> join us as we empower our 
> community (individuals and organizations) and build
> for the Palestine 
> National conference reflecting the will of ALL
> Palestinians in America. We 
> believe strongly that our community can and must
> rise to the challenges 
> facing us, as they do in Palestine.
> 
> Preparatory Committee for the US Popular Palestinian
> National Conference
> 
>
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