http://www.mundoarabe.org/theendnaji.jpg

http://www.palestineaidsociety.org/www/najiali.htm

Haunting images of Palestinian Refugees...

Al-Nakba:
Refugees Picture Gallery

http://www.hanini.org/images/40.jpg

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/mideast/interactive/palestinian.gallery/content.2.html

Go to: The Nahr el-Bared camp, pictured here in 1951, in northern Lebanon was one of the first refugee camps for Palestinians after the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East photo by Jack Madvo

Al-Nakba: The Palestinian Dispossession: In 1948 their homes were taken away; today they are still denied their Right of Return!

http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=2030&CategoryId=23

Then and Now

Naji al-Ali's beloved Handhala, child of the Palestinian refugee camps

Ali said his character would always stay a shoeless urchin. "Only when Handhala returns to Palestine will he grow up and exceed the age of 10," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6911815.stm

BBC News: In pictures: The work of Naji al-Ali

YOUR PICTURE GALLERY IS NOW LOADING... Born in Palestine in 1938, he became a refugee at the age of 10 when Israel came into being. Images of Palestinian struggle and suffering dominated his work. Ali said his character would always stay a shoeless urchin. "Only when Handhala returns to Palestine will he grow up and exceed the age of 10," he said. But his creator predicted Handhala would live on after his death. Here 20 years later he is irreverently portrayed on part of Israel's West Bank barrier. Ali died on 29 August 1987, more than a month after being gunned down on a London street by an unknown assassin. Ali used newspaper cartoons to lampoon both Arabs and Israelis, here showing the mesmerising effect of the Israeli-Egypt Camp David deal on Arab leaders. He has been remembered for the haunting images of his own community, the exiled and despairing Palestinians... ... and his sarcastic wit. This character says (read from right to left): "My brother Arab! My brother in Islam! My brother's in Denmark"

How can you drop the key- the only key to a just and lasting peace....

Dear Members of SFGUPS,

All day long I have been in shock- devastated- because I have been thinking about the news concerning your "compromise" for the mural.

How can you betray Handala and all the hard work so many good and gentle people have done to try to get America to understand the very real plight of the Palestinians?

Why do you want to help nasty Zionist propagandists demonize and destroy the cherished icons of the persecuted and impoverished Palestinian refugees?

Millions of Palestinians are refugees- many of them living in stateless hell... how can you ignore their pain, suffering and constant loss as if it doesn't count- but worse how can you brush aside the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948, plus countless resolutions reaffirming the Palestinian refugees' sacred and secular right of return? The Palestinian refugees INALIENABLE right to return to original homes and lands... the heart and soul of true security for all people, regardless of race, color or creed- why do you want to help Zionist ideologues and religious fanatics ethnically cleanse even more Palestinians from their homes and communities? How can you drop the key- the only key to a just and lasting peace.

I regret writing a letter early on supporting the creation of this Mural honoring Edward Said- had I known how you were going to help Zionists taint the most precious symbols of Palestine I would have never lobbied for that mural. I would have never spread the word- I would have never rejoiced at your efforts to remember Palestine... for with your 'compromise' you are doing much more harm than good.

Let that wall be as blank and ugly as that monstrous Israeli built wall that is aggressively pulverizing Palestinian land and rights today- 60 years after Zionist terrorists officially began their cruel campaign to crush and destroy the native non-Jewish population of the Holy Land... Let that wall be as empty as a future where every country on earth can easily elect institutionalized bigotry, targeting innocent people, pushing them out of jobs- denying then full and equal rights because they have been deemed the 'wrong' religion or race and thus are a demographic 'threat'.

Don't let that mural become a farce, a joke mocking all Edward Said's scholarship and dedication to Palestine. If you have to trash Handala to put up the mural then stop- let that mural be blank- a concrete testament to Palestine's dignity and honor- and a refusal to give into Zionist hate mongers and tyrants... Palestine should not be a prison - the whole point should be to be free. Sincerely free- and safe from an ongoing avalanche of home wrecking Apartheid walls and laws.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES:
http://annies-letters.blogspot.com/
http://anniespublishedletters.blogspot.com/

Letter I sent earlier this year supporting the mural:

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Please let the mural paying tribute to Palestine & Edward Said go forward as planned.
Date:	Sat, 17 Feb 2007 05:56:58 -0500
From:	Annie Annab
To:	corrigan@sfsu.edu

Dear President Corrigan,

It has come to my attention that a mural project started by Palestinian students at the San Francisco State University has run into a serious obstacle

And apparently that obstacle is you President Corrigan, as you have decided to listen to Zionist trouble makers rather than the true story of Palestine- and the importance of fully respecting core elements of the Palestinian narrative which includes a firm knowledge of international laws and resolutions including but not limited to U.N Resolution 194 from 1948, the Palestinian refugees inalienable legal, ethical, moral and sacred right of return... Not more forced transfer and crowded concentration camps, but true return to original homes and lands.

The symbols of Palestine have arisen from the people of Palestine, and the people of Palestine are simply human beings who have long been denied full and equal rights in the land of their birth.

There is a poem that is a favorite for many artists and thinkers who believe in true freedom and dignity, not just for Palestine but for all people, no matter what their name or nationality:

Tawfiq Zayyad's poem

ALL I HAVE

I never carried a rifle
On my shoulder
Or pulled a trigger.

All I have
Is a lute’s memory
A brush to paint my dreams,
A bottle of ink.

All I have
Is unshakable faith
And an infinite love
For my people in pain.

A brush to paint my dreams.... Edward Said, the academic, helped many who have no knowledge of Arabic understand Palestine and the Middle East. He helped bring a full spectrum of color and fascinating nuance to the conversation.

Please let the mural paying tribute to Palestine & Edward Said go forward as planned.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

A Palestinian boy stands in front of a mural depicting a Palestinian refugee waving a Palestinian flag on a wall in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2007. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Palestinian doctor paints picture of Gaza under siege ..& more from EI

Book review: The fantasy of hermetic closure

Ali Abunimah
Aug 13, 2007

The image of the separation wall that Israel began building in the occupied West Bank in 2002 has emerged as a trope in literature about Palestine. Its concrete slabs are found on covers of recent books, including Jimmy Carter's Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, Norman Finkelstein's Beyond Chutzpah, Rashid Khalidi's The Iron Wall, Joseph Massad's The Persistence of the Palestinian Question, and Tanya Reinhart's The Roadmap to Nowhere. Ali Abunimah reviews two recent books that take the wall itself as their central subject. [MORE]

Palestinian doctor paints picture of Gaza under siege

Mark Almberg
Aug 13, 2007

Sometimes it's the little things that reveal the horror of oppression most vividly. Dr. Mona El-Farra, speaking in Chicago as part of a 17-city US tour, related how recently a Palestinian woman in the Occupied Territories had gone into labor and was heading to a hospital. "She was about to give birth, but she was detained at an Israeli checkpoint for three hours," El-Farra said. "Amazingly, she eventually got through and was able to deliver her child." Mark Almberg reports on El-Farra's description of the current situation in occupied Palestine, particularly Gaza. [MORE]

Hamas force condemned for political arrests, press restrictions

Report
Aug 13, 2007

On Friday 10 August 2007, the Hamas-affiliated Executive Force (EF) attacked two wedding parties and a civilian demonstration. It also arrested several Fatah members and a cameraman in Beit Hanoun town, northern Gaza Strip. According to investigations by Al Mezan, at approximately 5pm on Friday members of the EF arrested four of Fatah's high ranking members in Beit Hanoun. They were identified as 41-year-old Faris Nai'm, 45-year-old Maher Abu Harbid, 40-year-old Issa Al Mughrabi, and Shihdeh Abu Zreiq. The latter is the headmaster of Hail Abdul Hamid Secondary School. [MORE]

Israel asks EU not to host UN panel on Palestinians' rights..& more from IMEU

A Palestinian woman in traditional dress poses with a piece of pottery at a heritage exhibition in Bethlehem. (Haytham Othman, Maan Images)

Not without Gaza

Yoram Meital, IMEU

Palestinian children run along the seashore at a beach in the Gaza Strip. (Hatem Omar, Maan Images)

Aug 14, 2007

The main 'Achilles heel' inherent in recent peace moves is the assumption that a diplomatic agreement over the future of the West Bank with Abbas and the Salam Fayyad government can be advanced while disregarding developments in the Gaza Strip, which, for the time being, will remain under Hamas control.

Related stories

The Middle East peace process scam

Beyond the concrete wall

Not only territory, but viability

A visit to the jungle

Israel's settlement project compromises Palestinian state

The Hebron tactic Amira Hass, Haaretz

NEW: Profiles of Palestinian Americans IMEU

A visit to the jungle Akiva Eldar, Haaretz

Israeli army kills four Palestinians in Khan Younis
IMEMC (Aug 14, 2007)

Oslo revisited
Uri Avnery, Middle East Times (Aug 14, 2007)

Israel returns Area B law and order to Palestinian Authority
Haaretz (Aug 14, 2007)

Japan resumes aid to Palestinian Authority
Reuters (Aug 14, 2007)

Israel asks EU not to host UN panel on Palestinians' rights
The Associated Press (Aug 14, 2007)

Hamas boycott criticised in UK
Financial Times (Aug 13, 2007)

Reply to the Arab peace plan now, to advance in the fall
The Daily Star (Aug 13, 2007)

2.5 million euro project to improve Palestinian customs
Maan News (Aug 13, 2007)

Time to talk to Hamas
The Guardian (Aug 13, 2007)

Israeli Media: Settlers in the West Bank deliver a population boom

http://www.imemc.org/article/49883

Tuesday August 14, 2007 12:46 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News & Agencies

An Israeli news website issued a reported on Tuesday stating that the population growth rate of illegal Israeli settlers is twice that of those in Israel.

Israeli settlers in the West Bank - file 2007

According to the online daily Haaretz, ultra-Orthodox setters hold responsibility for half of this annual growth.

The news paper has based the report on figures issued by the Israeli ministry of interior for the year of 2006.

Those ministry numbers show that in the last year, the illegal settlers' population has grown by 5.45 percent, from 260,932 to 275,156. However, when the growth of the ultra-Orthodox setters is excluded the growth rate, it stands at 3.7%.

40,000 ultra-Orthodox setters are living in the illegal settlement of Mode'em Ilit, located near the occupied West Bank city of Jerusalem; this settlement scored the highest population growth per year, at 12.5%.

The second highest was the settlement of Beitar Ilit's, home to 35,000 illegal ultra-Orthodox setters; this settlement scored 10% growth rate per year.

In 10 to 15 years the Israeli ministry of interior predicts that Betar Ilit's settlement population may consist of some 100,000 residents. Currently the settlement has 5,828 occupied housing units, while another 1,102 units are under construction. 5,800 others are being planned. Modi'in Ilit is expected to reach 150,000 setters in the coming years.

According to the International law and Geneva conventions, all West Bank settlements and those surrounding Jerusalem are illegal. The Israeli government is in the process of building an illegal wall to annex those settlements to Israel, meaning that 54% of the West Bank will be annexed to Israeli.

The settlements in the West Bank were built and continue to be built on lands that illegally annexed from Palestinian owners.

Israeli army demolishes animal sheds and farmers’ huts in the Jordan valley

http://www.imemc.org/article/49853.html
Monday August 13, 2007 11:55 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

Israeli army bulldozers on Monday morning demolished Palestinian-owned animal sheds and farmers’ huts in the Jordan valley, located in the eastern part of the West Bank.

Palestinian farmers' huts near Hebron city in the southern West Bank – by CPT 2007

The Israeli army stormed the Al Bak'a valley area, demolishing the huts and sheds, barring farmers from removing their belongings and forcing them to leave, local farmers stated.

The farmers added that they had been living on and working the land for hundreds of years.

The Israeli army justified their actions by stating that the area is a closed military zone and is therefore closed to Palestinian access.

The Israeli army has increased attacks on Palestinian farmers in the Jordan valley over the past year in light of plans to construct the illegal Wall in the area. The construction of the wall will rob Palestinians in the area of land and water resources, leaving local residents imprisoned inside one 64 West Bank cantons with no source of income.

Gaza could become completely reliant on aid, warns UN

Date: 14 Aug 2007

Source: World Vision

Gaza could become completely reliant on aid, warns UN - WV meero submission

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/MKOC-763DR2?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=ACOS-635PFR
The Gazan economy continues to deteriorate, as border crossings remain closed. Israel tightened control of Gaza's borders nearly two months ago after the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from ruling party Fatah in fierce clashes in mid-June.

The United Nations has warned that Gaza risks becoming entirely dependent upon aid within a matter of months or even weeks if the present border closures remain in place.

"People fear an even sharper economic decline and a possible worsening in the security situation," said Charles Clayton, World Vision Jerusalem's National Director. "World Vision continues to keep a close watch on the situation in Gaza and is prepared to respond if conditions deteriorate further".

"Our work in Gaza is continuing, but the border closures are straining both our projects and our staff," Allyn Dhynes, World Vision Jerusalem Advocacy Manager.

Over 80 % of Gaza's 1.8 million residents are already reliant on food aid.

Hundreds of factories, unable to import raw materials, have been forced to close. And more than 90% of the construction industry has closed down, reports the UN.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas publicly refused to hold talks with rival Hamas, saying there would be no dialogue until Hamas returned control of Gaza.

US-sponsored Middle East peace talks are scheduled to take place later this year. But analysts are warning that Israeli-Palestinian peace cannot come without a unified Palestinian position. A power-sharing arrangement between Fatah and Hamas is a prerequisite for sustainable peace, reports the International Crisis Group.

"...Olmert's office said on Sunday "a decision will be made shortly" on whether to remove some of the hundreds of roadblocks that impede Palestinian travel in the West Bank.

Western diplomats said Olmert intended to ease travel restrictions in the West Bank in phases, starting with a small number of roadblocks in less sensitive areas.

Israel has promised to remove roadblocks in the past. But many of the promised changes were either never made or quickly reversed."

Israel may delay plan on removing West Bank barriers

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070814/wl_nm/palestinians_israel_dc;_ylt=Agb7.wPR_GYV.FO9tozbmwYE1vAI

Israel eyes barring of land sale to non-Jews- Washington Times

Israel eyes barring of land sale to non-Jews

By Joshua Mitnick
August 14, 2007

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070814/FOREIGN/108140028/1001

TEL AVIV — Israel's parliament is weighing a law that would reserve almost one-seventh of the nation's land area for Jewish ownership, touching off a heated debate over whether the plan undermines Israel's democracy or is essential to preserve its Jewish character.

The land, comprising almost 1,000 square miles scattered around Israel, is owned by the Jewish National Fund — a public trust set up by the Zionist movement a century ago to purchase tracts in Palestine for Jewish settlement.

For nearly five decades, JNF land has been made available for purchase through the government-run Israel Lands Authority, which has given the JNF nearly half the seats on its board and honored the fund's policy of selling only to Jews...[more]

In Gaza, Even a Hospital Is a Battlefield- NYTimes on PBS's “Gaza E.R.” (tonight)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/arts/television/14genz.html?ref=middleeast

Television Review | 'Gaza E.R.'

In Gaza, Even a Hospital Is a Battlefield

Olly Lambert/BBC

Mahmoud al Bahtety, 12, who sells tea at the Shifa Hospital.

By NEIL GENZLINGER

Published: August 14, 2007

Like a lot of documentaries, “Gaza E.R.,” tonight on PBS’s “Wide Angle” series, makes a grim subject a little more palatable by occasionally tossing in some humanism via a likable character who provides perspective and comic relief. It is a mark of how messed up things are in the Middle East that this character, the one who’s supposed to give us hope, ends up delivering the most dismaying comment in the film...[more]

Let some light shine on Arab world's progress By Rami G. Khouri

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.arabworld14aug14,0,7206998.story

Let some light shine on Arab world's progress

By Rami G. Khouri

August 14, 2007

BEIRUT - I had a very unusual experience recently as I was going through my pleasant early morning routine while sitting in my easy chair on our balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea: reading the newspapers, drinking coffee, listening to the BBC radio news. The unusual thing was that there was not a single item about the Middle East on the BBC radio news.

I do not exaggerate when I say that it may be the first time in around 36 years of regular listening that the morning bulletin did not carry Middle East news. Jerry, my water turtle, seems to have picked up on the fact as well, for he was particularly athletic that morning - perhaps because of the refreshing change of not having to listen day in and day out to the news that dominates the Middle East: violent wars, terrorism, assassinations, kidnappings, refugees, civil strife, stalemated governments, invasions, hostage-taking, beheadings, militias, sanctions, regime changes, military occupations, armed resistance, illegal immigrants, religious fanaticism, corruption, police states, rigged elections, human rights abuses, stressed economies, presidents for life, and many other such depressing phenomena.

I wondered whether consumers of mainstream radio, television and newspaper news around the world, who primarily receive a diet of depressing and violent news about our region, are receiving an accurate picture of the realities of my Arab society and other Middle Eastern lands. I was able to contrast this Western news-anchored view of a troubled Middle East with the personal experiences of two graduate-student friends of our sons who came to the Middle East for a two-week vacation this month...[more]

A village makes its own protest ...& more from IMEU

Palestinian children have their faces painted during a festival in the Old City of Hebron. (Maan Images)

A village makes its own protest

Nora Barrows-Friedman, Inter Press Service, Aug 13, 2007

This article was originally published by the Inter Press Service and is republished with the author's permission.

Giant concrete slabs form part of Israel's separation barrier, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. (Moti Milrod, Maan Images)

Amidst acres of twisting olive trees in front of the Israeli apartheid fence, eight protesters in a weekly non-violent demonstration were injured and three arrested on Friday when Israeli occupation soldiers fired rounds of tear gas, smoke bombs, sound grenades and rubber bullets at the crowd in the West Bank village of Bili'in.

Five Palestinian children and a paramedic were also wounded as over one hundred protesters, including village residents, Israeli activists and international campaigners took part in a weekly demonstration that has been planned every Friday for more than two years.

Villagers first initiated the weekly demonstration in February 2005 when Israeli military forces began uprooting trees and leveling the terraced hillsides in preparation for the fence, an electrified and barbed-wired structure around the village severing hundreds of acres of agricultural land away from Bili'in farmers.

That land is now annexed to the wall which surrounds the Israeli settlement colony Modi'in Illit, housing approximately 33,000 Jewish-only settlers, making it the largest settlement colony in the occupied West Bank.

As the group of protesters descended down the hillside towards the fence, nearly a dozen Israeli soldiers waited under olive trees in front of several armoured vehicles. Within minutes, the soldiers fired rounds of sound grenades and tear gas canisters at the protesters.

The crowd dispersed away from the soldiers, and turned around back up the hill, as the soldiers continued firing tear gas into the nearby trees. Some protesters remained behind, including some children who threw stones at the soldiers.

Related stories Beyond the concrete wall A questionable death The Middle East peace process scam Israel's settlement project compromises Palestinian state Under the guise of security: Routing the separation barrier

At that point, the Israeli soldiers began firing rubber-coated steel bullets that pierce and burn the skin, but when fired at close range can prove fatal.

"Every week, I come here," a 19-year-old resident of Bili'in, who wanted his name withheld, told IPS. "When we come, the soldiers stop us and they use the gas, sound bombs and the rubber bullets. They use many kinds of weapons to stop the people, and the gas makes the people here very sick. There are many health problems now. And the (Israeli) settlers have shot us and beat us when we try to go to our land on the other side of the wall."

In June of 2004, the International Court of Justice declared that "the construction and its associated regime was contrary to international law...Israel is under obligation to cease construction and dismantle the wall...Israel should compensate owners of land seized to construct the barrier and those harmed by the barrier...(and) all states are under obligation not to recognise the situation, and ensure Israel's compliance with international law."

Israel has said it will not accept the non-binding judgment, and has continued to construct the wall which upon completion will stretch 703 km around the West Bank, oftentimes cutting deep across the Green Line - the internationally-recognised borders demarcated between Israel and Jordan in 1949.

Israel has stated that the purpose of the wall is to prevent suicide bomb attacks, but critics maintain that the underlying intention is to annex as much land as possible to the expanding Israeli settlement colonies inside the occupied West Bank.

Many small farming villages such as Bili'in, which are dependent on agricultural exports to both local and wider communities, have been extremely vulnerable to both economic and social decay after the building of the Israeli wall.

"If we look at the wall, which has confiscated some of the main resources for the Palestinian villagers -- namely, the fertile land and the underground water tables -- the economic and social structures in the Palestinian areas are changing very rapidly," Jamal Jumaa, coordinator with the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign in Ramallah told IPS.

"Right now, 51 villages have been isolated from their agricultural land, and farmers who have been farming their land for generations are now having to find work in nearby cities or elsewhere. This has changed the society in general from agricultural-based to industrial-based.

"Behind the wall, Israel creates industrial zones. So you have Palestinians losing their land because of the wall and the settlements, then being forced to find work, becoming cheap labour for Israeli industry."

Non-violent protests against the encroaching apartheid wall have become a regular and daily occurrence across the West Bank, but in Bili'in, international activists too have maintained a visible presence at the weekly protests.

"The Israelis are trying to push how far they can go," an elderly British-born U.S. citizen who has joined the protesters told IPS. "And we have to say, 'You've gone too far already.' So we have to protest. And they are hoping the world will keep quiet. And people coming from all over the world here are showing that we won't keep quiet. I'm from England, but I live in America where my tax dollars are paying for that (tear) gas that just attacked me. So I'm paying for that. It's an outrage."

The 19-year-old said the Israeli military "hoped we would stop protesting and move out, but by doing these protests, we prove to them that we will stay here in our village."

The Hebron tactic Amira Hass, Haaretz

NEW: Profiles of Palestinian Americans IMEU

A visit to the jungle Akiva Eldar, Haaretz

Hamas boycott criticised in UK
Financial Times (Aug 13, 2007)

Reply to the Arab peace plan now, to advance in the fall
The Daily Star (Aug 13, 2007)

2.5 million euro project to improve Palestinian customs
Maan News (Aug 13, 2007)

Time to talk to Hamas
The Guardian (Aug 13, 2007)

Israeli forces seize 20 Palestinians in the West Bank
Maan News (Aug 13, 2007)

Palestinian girl paralyzed by missile fights to receive care in Israel
The Associated Press (Aug 12, 2007)

No to evacuation
Gideon Levy, Haaretz (Aug 12, 2007)

Number of checkpoints in Bethlehem increasing
Maan News (Aug 12, 2007)

Israeli High Court bars Gazans from studying in West Bank
Haaretz (Aug 11, 2007)

umkahlil: Ragged Little Boys and Keys Scare San Francisco Zionists

umkahlil: Ragged Little Boys and Keys Scare San Francisco Zionists

Wanna know how to scare a Zionist?

Show them a picture of a ragged little refugee boy or an old woman holding a key to her property.

This seems to have sent San Francisco advocates for a Jews privileged and Jews preferred Palestine into a tizzy and unfortunately San Francico State University's General Union of Palestine Students gave in to Zionist pressure after a two year battle to scrap Naji Al Ali's famous ten year old refugee Handala holding a key as part of an Edward Said mural.

Shame on the students. Better to scrap the mural altogether than to foolishly compromise with those who have stolen Palestine. Now you let them hijack enduring symbols of Palestinian justice and give them their own twisted definitions?
...[LETTER TO SFGUPS]

[AL-AWDA] This Saturday Aug. 18 Palestine Picnic Day! Irvine, California

from Zahi Damuni:

[Please Forward Widely!]

The warm sun, fresh cut grass, the smell of hummus and barbecue kebab. . .

It's the First Annual Palestine Picnic Day!

Come join The Arab community of Southern California!

WHEN: SATURDAY AUGUST 18, 2007,
Start: 11:00 am - Food: 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
WHERE: WILLIAM MASON REGIONAL PARK - Shelter #1
18712 University Drive
IRVINE, CA 92612

Suggested donation: $10 Adults, $5 Children 12 and under

Picnic menu includes: Hot-off-the-grill beef and chicken kabab, hummus, salad, beverages, Arabic coffee, fruit and more!

Volleyball, Soccer, Backgammon, Face Painting and Games for Kids, Adult Raffle and Kids Raffle, and more!

Come spend a nice summer afternoon and evening with the Arab community and our friends!

All welcome!

Please advertise, call and invite your friends!

Download, print and distribute our FLYER

Hosted by various community organizations in Southern California including Al-Awda Los Angeles/Orange County, Al-Awda San Diego, Al-Awda Riverside, The Palestinian American Women's Association, and The National Council of Arab Americans.

For further information, contact: 619-980-0677 or 760-685-3243

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
Tel: 760-685-3243
E-mail: info@al-awdacal.org
WWW: http://al-awdacal.org

---------------------------------
Save the Date!
Sixth Annual International Al Awda Convention
On The Sixtieth Year of Al Nakba
Anaheim, Southern California
May 16-18, 2008
http://al-awda.org
---------------------------------

Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Become an Al-Awda Sustainer:
Monthly: http://al-awda.org/sustainers.html
Annually: http://al-awda.org/sustainers2.html

__._,_.___

Beyond the concrete wall...& more from IMEU

Palestinian students at Bethlehem University, in the West Bank, act out a traditional Palestinian wedding. (Fadi Tanas, Maan Images)

Beyond the concrete wall

Yigal Sarna, Ynet News, Aug 12, 2007

A Palestinian girl rides her bicycle near her home and the Israeli separation wall in the West Bank city of Qalqilia. (Maan Images)

In Nadem's backyard there's a large shadow of an old eucalyptus tree that draws its water from the underground pipes of the crowded refugee camp of Deheishe, as well as from the sewer and old wells. Dates grow nearby, and purple grapes fall from the grapevine that has climbed to the roof.

Yet inside the house, there has been no water for two weeks. The camp's water supply was disconnected and the pipes were empty, Nadem tells me. Those who could afford to pay NIS 300 (roughly $70) ordered a tanker that filled the water tanks placed on the roof for the frequent periods of shortage.

There was drinking water, but no water for bathing. At the height of the heatwave, which was also suffered by Israelis despite our many air-conditioners and large quantities of water, there was not even one drop of water in the camp's faucets.

I didn't know about it, and Nadem didn't tell me about it on the phone. It only became apparent when I went to visit Deheishe, like a concealed secret of the poor, or the hidden distress of a neighbor in your building, where you don't know what's happening beyond your walls.

What do I know of the distress of people near me, in Israel? Distress is like an epidemic that spreads secretly. Many of those afflicted with it are silent. Scared to talk, as if this discovery will lead to ostracism.

Related stories Psychosocial causes for factional war It's not just the occupation A birth in prison A nation occupied FAQ on the 1967 war

I see distress within the Green Line here and there during my travels around the country. Here and there, something also makes it to the newspaper. Yet what happens there, beyond the wall that rises between us and the neighbors in Bethlehem – this is completely hidden from view.

For two weeks, at the height of the heatwave, there was no water in the faucets. If you tried to turn on the faucets, all you heard was a gurgling sound. Big deal. They should drink flavored bottled water.

Nadem says they went out to protest over the water. All the thirsty people and those desperate for a shower set tires on fire and yelled "We want to shower" and "We want to drink," while hurling stones at police officers. Only after the last demonstration, suddenly the water was back.

A weak flow, as always, because of a regular malfunction in the old water system, or because there's no money, or because a pump broke down, or perhaps the water sources were depleted. Because all of us, them and us, pump from the same springs and underground water reservoirs, only we pump 10 times as much, because we are in control.

To read the full article please visit Ynet News.