Advent Reflection: Through the Eyes of Rachel - Christmas in Bethlehem
December 2005
“Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier. Herod’s brutal action fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah:
‘A cry of anguish is heard in Ramah-
weeping and mourning unrestrained,
Rachel weeps for her children,
Refusing to be comforted-
For they are dead.’”
– Matthew 2:16-18
The Church of the Nativity, where it is agreed that the birth of Jesus took place, is right “up the hill” from our apartment here in Bethlehem. The church, which actually houses three churches- Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic, has one special spot marked by a silver fourteen-point star marking the birthplace. People often kneel and pray there, touching and kissing this holy place. I remember the first time I saw it-in the presence of decorative linens, candles and the smell of incense, trying to remember the miracle that took place there-picturing the baby wrapped in common linens, probably light from a fire somewhere in the cave, and the smell of animals nearby. It’s difficult to wrap one’s mind around it all.
What was not so pronounced in my mind during my first visit, was when the guide pointed to the Tomb of the Innocents, holding many skeletons of babies that were found, most likely from the two-year-old and younger children who were killed at the hands of soldiers by the order of King Herod. But living here in Bethlehem, surrounded by the pain and suffering that is the daily reality for people here, this part of the story has taken on new meaning for me.
When I read this passage in Matthew, I consider the feelings of three people-Herod, Rachel, and the reader. What caused Herod to give such a horrendous order was his fury at being outsmarted, preceded by his fear of a new king and his greed for power. He was feeling threatened-so threatened that it resulted in a disregard for lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands of small babies.
Rachel represents all of the mothers who held the lifeless bodies of their babies. Their feelings of anguish run deep and are summed up in one word for me-devastation. I appreciated the way this anguish is described so bluntly in the Scriptures-“weeping and mourning unrestrained”…."refusing to be comforted." Any mother or father could probably sympathize with such feelings.
Then there is the reader. I wonder if many of us who read this part of the story every Christmas, read it somewhat quickly and relatively absent-minded to it’s meaning. Do we tend to view the death of these babies as “collateral damage” in the midst of the Miracle that came to save every human being? Does that justify it for us? The Scripture puts the anguish of Rachel in the context of the prophetic voice of Jeremiah being fulfilled. Perhaps we feel that it was “just meant to be” or perhaps even “all part of God’s plan.”
What would Rachel say to that? Would she yield herself to the idea that the God that she worshiped faithfully, who brought such a miracle of life to Mary, desired for her to experience this nightmare? Would she accept the paradox of the God of miraculous life being the God who simultaneously approved of baby murder? From what I read in the Scripture, I don’t think so.
Rachel has become a role model for me. My inspiration is largely found in the phrase “refusing to be comforted.” In fact, I think that she held so strongly to her belief that God is the God of Life, that when she found herself in the middle of the nightmare, she refused to take any comfort, even during the birth of the Prince of Peace, while she held in her arms the lifeless bodies of her children. She knew that this death was not from God, but a result of the fear, greed and the abused power of man.
And I wonder also, if years later, Jesus himself went to visit some of these women that Rachel represents, and wept with them, understanding that his birth brought them such grief. If Jesus walked through the Church of the Nativity today, where would he spend his time reflecting? If he were walking in Bethlehem now, what would he think of the circumstances? Would he say that the unemployment, the children in poverty, and the destruction of homes are all a part of God’s will?
Ironically, today in Bethlehem you will find many babies the age of three and younger, a result of the forty-day twenty-four hour curfew placed on Bethlehem when Israeli soldiers held it under siege in 2002. Destruction to the Church of the Nativity can still be seen from shelling of the soldiers upon Palestinian men taking refuge inside.
Christmas in Bethlehem has quite a different meaning than past Christmases. I can’t escape the devastating realities around me. I cannot ignore the pain simply because I’m celebrating the birth of Jesus – especially because I’m celebrating the birth of Jesus. Like Rachel, I’m refusing to take comfort when it comes to the devastation. But what I’m holding to more tightly than ever is my belief that God is a God of Life, and that he wills life for all people.
Christi Seidel
Co-Peace Development Worker
Mennonite Central Committee - Palestine
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Saturday, December 24
Advent Reflection: Waiting, Hope, and Action
Advent Reflection: Waiting, Hope, and Action
24 December 2005
Dear Friends,
As this advent season comes to an end, we wanted to share with you the following reflection from a friend with Christian Peacemaker Teams who just arrived in Baghdad. It is a good reminder that although we wait with patience and expectation for the coming of God’s reign—and that for many in this world that sense of expectant waiting continues on long after the Christmas season—our waiting should be characterized by an active engagement in the lives of those around us that embodies that reality today.
Peace to you all this Christmas season.
Timothy and Christi Seidel
Peace Development Workers
Mennonite Central Committee - Palestine
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Advent reflection
December 15, 2005
Waiting, Hope, and Action
By Peggy Gish
It's always hard to wait. It's especially hard now, as we are hoping and waiting for the safe release Jim Loney, Tom Fox, Harmeet Sooden, and Norman Kember, colleagues of ours in the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. They were taken by force in Baghdad on November 26 after attending a meeting with an Iraqi organization to collaborate on documenting the abuses of Iraqi detainees under the Iraqi prison system.
It is hard for their families. It is hard for us not knowing where our four colleagues are, how they are holding up during this time, or when they will be released. We pray, we cry, we wake up in the night feeling tense with worry. We ask God for more faith and trust as we call for their release and work to share the stories of who these men are, of the work of CPT in Iraq and other places of conflict and injustice. We care about these four men, yet we also feel the same urgency for all Iraqis and their families who are suffering fear and pain because their family members have disappeared or been killed or imprisoned.
Advent is a time of waiting and longing for something to happen. Perhaps the time before Jesus was born was a time when people felt the same kind of urgency and cried out for release, wholeness and healing from the oppression or captivity they knew. They, too, had heard God's promises, yet didn't know how it would all turn out. Some were able to keep walking ahead in faith, expectant of God breaking in and working in seemingly impossible situations.
Waiting does not mean being passive. Our calling is to an active waiting. We can act boldly, taking risks, because God is with us giving us hope. Even death, persecutions, or violent forces of power will not separate us from the love of God! If we follow the way of Jesus, we will expect hardships and suffering. We can expect to die, but we don't give up the way of the cross. We may need to cull away the things in our lives that hold us back and weigh us down. We may have to grieve and cry together, and support each other more deeply, but we keep going and working where God leads us.
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24 December 2005
Dear Friends,
As this advent season comes to an end, we wanted to share with you the following reflection from a friend with Christian Peacemaker Teams who just arrived in Baghdad. It is a good reminder that although we wait with patience and expectation for the coming of God’s reign—and that for many in this world that sense of expectant waiting continues on long after the Christmas season—our waiting should be characterized by an active engagement in the lives of those around us that embodies that reality today.
Peace to you all this Christmas season.
Timothy and Christi Seidel
Peace Development Workers
Mennonite Central Committee - Palestine
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Advent reflection
December 15, 2005
Waiting, Hope, and Action
By Peggy Gish
It's always hard to wait. It's especially hard now, as we are hoping and waiting for the safe release Jim Loney, Tom Fox, Harmeet Sooden, and Norman Kember, colleagues of ours in the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. They were taken by force in Baghdad on November 26 after attending a meeting with an Iraqi organization to collaborate on documenting the abuses of Iraqi detainees under the Iraqi prison system.
It is hard for their families. It is hard for us not knowing where our four colleagues are, how they are holding up during this time, or when they will be released. We pray, we cry, we wake up in the night feeling tense with worry. We ask God for more faith and trust as we call for their release and work to share the stories of who these men are, of the work of CPT in Iraq and other places of conflict and injustice. We care about these four men, yet we also feel the same urgency for all Iraqis and their families who are suffering fear and pain because their family members have disappeared or been killed or imprisoned.
Advent is a time of waiting and longing for something to happen. Perhaps the time before Jesus was born was a time when people felt the same kind of urgency and cried out for release, wholeness and healing from the oppression or captivity they knew. They, too, had heard God's promises, yet didn't know how it would all turn out. Some were able to keep walking ahead in faith, expectant of God breaking in and working in seemingly impossible situations.
Waiting does not mean being passive. Our calling is to an active waiting. We can act boldly, taking risks, because God is with us giving us hope. Even death, persecutions, or violent forces of power will not separate us from the love of God! If we follow the way of Jesus, we will expect hardships and suffering. We can expect to die, but we don't give up the way of the cross. We may need to cull away the things in our lives that hold us back and weigh us down. We may have to grieve and cry together, and support each other more deeply, but we keep going and working where God leads us.
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Friday, December 9
MCC Palestine Update #116
MCC Palestine Update #116
9 December 2005
MCC Palestine partners with…
For many years, MCC Palestine has partnered with the YMCA of East Jerusalem (http://www.ej-ymca.org/site/) on a number of projects. The Women’s Training Program is one of these projects in which women from across the occupied West Bank who, upon the completion of a YMCA job training course, receive a loan to implement a small-scale project.
For example, Fadwa Zuraina from Beir ‘Unah near Bethlehem received training in sheep raising. She purchased five goats with the loan she received, which has since increased to fifteen goats. The area of Beir ‘Unah has a special status as it is considered part of the Jerusalem municipality though most of the Palestinians there are West Bank ID holders. This means that they still pay taxes to the Jerusalem municipality but yet are not allowed to build houses in that area nor are they allowed entry into Jerusalem without permission. Instead, the people there are often subject to harassment by the Israeli military with a big portion of their lands confiscated for the construction of the Wall. Fadwa Zuraina is the mother of eight children, five of whom are minors and three who are unemployed young men. Unfortunately, her husband is also unemployed, thus making Fadwa the only provider and this project the main source of income for her family.
Another beneficiary of this program is Su’ad Da’jneh. Su’ad lives in al-‘Azza refugee camp in Bethlehem with her husband and six children. Su’ad participated in the YMCA’s training course in sewing and design. She purchased a sewing machine with the loan she received and started working at home. As a very talented embroider, very creative with new designs, and a highly motivated woman, Su’ad has since become the main designer of the organization that nominated her to take part in the training. As part of her work with this organization, she fills orders for markets as far away as Italy!
MCC Palestine has also partnered for several years with the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ). Currently MCC is supporting a new water management project in the west Bethlehem village of Nahalin. This village, situated in a beautiful landscape, is going to be completely surrounded by the Wall. And as if that is not enough, it is plagued by the large and rapidly growing Israeli colony of Beitar Ilit, butting up against this small village, effectively strangulating it. This project will treat waste from the village and provide treated water to irrigate surrounding flora (like olive trees) addressing two problems for the residents of Nahalin: 1) the problem of water shortage that villagers experience, especially in regards to plant irrigation; and 2) the problem of waste contaminating village water sources (such as springs and wells).
This is currently only a test project, but if it is successful it has the potential to be an incredibly helpful resource for self-sustainability for such communities across the occupied West Bank cut off and strangulated by the Wall and by further colonization of Palestinian land. To learn more about ongoing construction of the Wall and the expansion of Israeli colonies, please visit ARIJ’s website at http://www.arij.org or visit the Stop the Wall Campaign website at http://www.arij.org/.
A New Entrance to the Bethlehem Reservation
You have heard us talk about this huge, 8-meter or 27-foot high concrete Wall or “separation barrier” that has been has built around Bethlehem and other parts of the West Bank that effectively creates several isolated islands of land or “reservations.” Now, a new and “improved” checkpoint has been built to get in and out of this prison with. It is a huge processing facility. And it just happened with out any notice. An incredible display of the systematic and sterile banality of the evil that pervades (note the tragically ironic reference to Hannah Arendt). We went to meet a colleague visiting from Jordan at the Wall one morning a few weeks ago, to see that where we normally go in and out of the Wall and Bethlehem was now gated shut! We had to then go up to another opening in the Wall where this new checkpoint is positioned, making life even more ridiculous for Palestinians (and everyone else) that can move in and out of Bethlehem.
The new processing facility is huge and we knew it was being prepared; we just did not know when it would be opened (that is how the Israeli military works, do something without prior announcement and hope the world does not notice; unfortunately, it often works). And so, Israel chose Tuesday November 15 to open it up—the same day that Palestinians remember as “Independence” Day, remembering back to 1988 when the Palestinian National Council in exile declared the State of Palestine independent.
Several nights ago, we drove over to the Wall to drop off some friends who were staying in a village right on the other side of the wall. We get to where there should have been an entrance in the Wall, and it was closed. Nothing, completely caged in. It was a pretty disturbing feeling. Fortunately an entrance in the wall opened up for somebody coming through and our friends ran over before they closed it again. (For more on this new development, please see “The Terminal” at http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4303.shtml)
As Christmas approaches, the fear is even more heightened that this new checkpoint will prevent visitors from coming to the birthplace of Jesus (“Pilgrims complain of exhausting security checks at Bethlehem crossing” http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654562.html ; “Bethlehem gets a wall for Christmas” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1878695,00.html ; “Checkpoints, Walls Make Bethlehem an ‘Open-Air Prison,’ Christians Say” http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=9070&CategoryId=5 ; “Security Drives Tourists from Bethlehem” http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=9077&CategoryId=5). In a community that is already devastated from these closures, the continued construction of the Wall and this new checkpoint only contributes to the feelings of forsakenness that the people of this land feel. Several more similar facilities are being built within the West Bank, cutting up the West Bank into several isolated “reservations” or “bantustans” and solidifying Israeli domination over Palestinian life and territory.
But resistance to these forces continues. In an attempt to counter these death-dealing developments, a group here in Bethlehem has begun a campaign called “Open Bethlehem.” “Open Bethlehem was established last May with the aim of defending Bethlehem and confronting the racist separation wall” with the goal “to market Bethlehem as a major tourist destination and to confront Israeli schemes to strike at Bethlehem’s tourism, namely by imposing a tight siege around it and closing off its entrances…Its goal was to remind the world that Bethlehem refuses to live in the shadow of the wall.” (“Bethlehem passport launched to protect city from wall” http://www.palestinenet.org/english/archive2005/nov/week4/261105/report3.htm)
The Advent Candle—A Light in the Darkness
The season of Advent is meant to be a time of somber preparation and yet at the same time filled with joyful expectation and hope. During the service at the Lutheran Christmas Church here in Bethlehem this past Sunday, we sat staring at the two Advent candles that had already been lit hearing the words from the celebrant
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
But sitting in reflection, we also recognized that there were still two candles that were not lit—still more light to be shone, still more darkness to be dispelled…expectation and hope…
We continue to hope that the voices of these Palestinian sisters and brothers that are so often dismissed, silenced, and dehumanized speak loudly to you this Advent season, providing both a meaning and a challenge for your own celebration of the incarnational presence of “God with us” this Christmas season, and that you would all prayerfully reflect on what the incarnation means for you and for all of us who claim to carry the name of “God with us.”
And we would again ask all of you to keep our CPT colleagues being held in Iraq in your thoughts and prayers as well as their families and all of those suffering as a result of these occupations.
Peace to you all,
Timothy and Christi Seidel
Peace Development Workers
Mennonite Central Committee – Palestine
Attachments and Links:
1. Gideon Levy, “The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime,” Haaretz, 9 December 2005
2. Gerald Kaufman , “No peace with Sharon: The Gaza withdrawal has been a veil for continued persecution and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” The Guardian, 7 December 2005
3. Donald Macintyre, “Sharon ‘sees wall as Israel's new border,’” The Independent, 2 December 2005
4. Meron Benvenisti, “In the hope that Jerusalem will wait,” Haaretz, 1 December 2005
5. The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, “The Eastern Wall: Closing the circle of our ghettoization,”28 November 2005
6. Amira Hass, “EU slams Israeli moves in East Jerusalem,” Haaretz, 27 November 2005
7. Chris McGreal, “Sharon rejects land for peace approach, says aide,” The Guardian, 23 November 2005
8. Amira Hass, “The border of the state of Ramallah,” Haaretz, 23 November 2005
9. Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, “The Miserable Occupation on a Miserable Morning,” ICAHD, 21 November 2005
10. Stephanie Koury, “West Bank Road Vs. Peace,” Washington Post, 19 November 2005
11. Rabbis for Human Rights, North America, “Weeping in Jerusalem: Rabbis witness Home Demolitions,” Occupation Magazine Online, 9 November 2005
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Haaretz
The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime
Gideon Levy
9 December 2005
You go to sleep securely in your home. At 1 A.M. you wake up in horror to the sound of a voice on the loudspeaker calling you to go out into the street immediately. After the soldiers instruct you to return home, suddenly a frightening dog enters your apartment, grabs your child, who is sitting on his bed in shock, bites him hard in his leg and drags him down the 20 steps that lead from the second-floor apartment to the street.Can you imagine the nightmare in which the Kassam family found itself last week in the Jenin refugee camp? It's very doubtful. The members of the family didn't believe it either. Their 12-year-old son, Mohammed, who suffers from epilepsy, shouted with fear, until he fainted. His mother grabbed him by the head, so he wouldn’t hit himself on the stairs. His father ran downstairs, helpless, pleading with the soldiers. All the children in the house were shouting in fear. Imagine.Apparently it was "an operational mishap." Maybe the dog, a fighter in the Oketz trained dogs unit of the Israel Defense Forces, overstepped the bounds. Maybe it was a mistaken address. It was certainly an "exceptional case," not "human error," but "canine error." The dog entered the wrong apartment and grabbed the wrong person. It happens to the best of dogs. But anyone who, in the dead of night, sics a dog on a peaceful apartment where children are asleep for the night, cannot plead innocence afterward.
Please read more at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/655552.html
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The Guardian
No peace with Sharon
Gerald Kaufman
7 December 2005
The Gaza withdrawal has been a veil for continued persecution and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
I know the attractive Israeli seaside resort of Netanya well, having stayed several times at my niece's flat there. Not long ago I heard on BBC radio a series of interviews with residents of Netanya, which has in the past suffered a number of terrorist attacks. They rejoiced at how much easier the situation had become following the building of the Israeli separation wall, designed specifically to protect places like Netanya, located at the narrow neck of Israel's pre-1967 border. Two days ago five people were killed in a suicide bombing in Netanya.
All terrorist attacks are unjustifiable atrocities. Five Israelis are the latest victims. Over the past months, 15 Palestinians, two of them children, have been killed by Israeli troops. Their deaths attracted no headlines, but they are dead just the same.
I recently returned from leading the first British parliamentary delegation to the Palestinian Authority. What we saw is never seen by ordinary, decent Israelis, like the citizens of Netanya - who, since they dare not venture into the occupied territories, have no idea of the persecution of Palestinians being carried out in their name.
Last there two years ago, I was appalled at how an already unacceptable situation has deteriorated. There are now more than 600 fixed checkpoints in the tiny Palestinian area, which, with so-called flying checkpoints, make free movement almost impossible. In Bethlehem, which used to be crammed with tourists, we saw just two groups in Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity. The Old City of Nablus, which I knew for a quarter of a century as a hub of commercial activity, is also desolate. Heavily-armed Israeli troops man walls, gates and huts, all preventing Palestinians from moving about.
Please read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1660589,00.html
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The Independent
Sharon 'sees wall as Israel's new border'
Donald Macintyre
2 December 2005
A senior ally of Ariel Sharon has given the most explicit indication yet that the Israeli Prime Minister envisages the 425-mile separation barrier as the border between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
Government spokesmen frequently claim that the barrier was built solely for security reasons and could be removed or rerouted.
But the Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, who is helping prepare the programme of Mr Sharon's new Kadima party, told a legal conference in Caesarea: "One does not have to be a genius to see that the fence will have implications for the future border. This is not the reason it was built, but it could have political implications"…
A member of Israel's Supreme Court, Mishael Cheshin was said by the daily Haaretz to have cited the security arguments used by government lawyers facing challenges to the barrier route and told Ms Livni at the conference: "That is not what you have contended in court."
The high court decided two parts of the barrier should be brought closer to Israel's pre-1967 borders than it had planned. Other sections - especially that which threatens to encircle Jerusalem and cut the occupied Arab east of the city from the West Bank - still present massive stumbling blocks to negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. Haim Ramon, another prominent member of Mr Sharon's new party who deserted from Labour, has already said the section around Jerusalem was built for political rather than merely security reasons.
He said the route "also makes Jerusalem more Jewish", adding: "The safer and more Jewish Jerusalem will be, it can serve as a true capital of the state of Israel."
The Palestinians have made it repeatedly clear that east Jerusalem, seized by Israeli in the 1967 war, must the capital of any future Palestinian state.
Please read more at http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article330677.ece
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Haaretz
In the hope that Jerusalem will wait
Meron Benvenisti
1 December 2005
In East Jerusalem, processes are under way and facts are being established on the ground that will affect the future of Israel-Palestine relations more than any declaration about sticking to the road map or even verbal support for a Palestinian state. According to the writers of the report, "Jerusalem is already one of the trickiest issues on the road to reaching a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. But several inter-linked Israeli policies are reducing the possibility of reaching a final status agreement on Jerusalem that any Palestinian could accept."
The completion of the separation fence; the establishment of the arrangements at the border crossings; the beginning of the earthworks in Area E1 and the accelerated construction in the Jewish settlements surrounding Jerusalem; the cutting off of the Palestinian residents who live on the other side of the fence from the centers of their lives within the city; the increased demolition of "illegal" buildings; the harassment of Palestinian institutions and the disruption of the election races in East Jerusalem - all of these are making a population of about a quarter of a million people into a besieged community in the grip of despair, which is nurturing feelings of anger and revenge.
This population - which is discriminated against in the allocation of municipal budgets, cut off from its natural environment and holy sites, prevented from make use of land resources for construction, whose per capita income amounts to one-fifth of that of the Jewish population - cannot be considered a good neighbor to the Jewish community, with which it shares the city, its streets and workshops. Indeed, it is those who trumpet the "unity" of the city who should be fighting against the discrimination, the oppression and the siege; but the xenophobia that borders on racism, fear and flocking to demagogues and witch doctors are causing the establishment of a divided and violent population in Jerusalem, and the reports that expose this bleak reality are greeted with yawning boredom…
The illusion of "a continuation of the disengagement" - which must not be disturbed - is acting as a shield that is absorbing any criticism and is enabling the creation of a consensus behind which all the elements that define themselves as a liberal "center" are coalescing and defending a regime of discrimination and oppression.
Please read more at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/652262.html
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The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
The Eastern Wall: Closing the circle of our ghettoization
28 November 28th, 2005
More than a year has passed since the Occupation Forces declared the first section of the Apartheid Wall - running from Zaboba near Jenin to Masha in the Qalqiliya district - complete. Today rapid construction marks the second phase of the project surrounding Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron. Meanwhile, away from public attention, the Occupation has started the third phase of the Wall project and begun annexing and ethnically cleansing the Jordan Valley. Under the official title of “development”, the Jordan Valley has become a “Major Governmental Project” for settlement expansion. The result has been the destruction of Palestinian land, fresh house demolitions, and the expulsion of Palestinian Bedouins. This week the Occupation closed two of the four “terminals” that control Palestinian movement in or out of the Valley and begun the isolation of northern areas. In the South, “flying checkpoints” make any presence of Palestinians without Israeli permit – including landowners, Bedouins or family members – impossible…
While the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem takes away the urban and commercial center of Palestinian life, the annexation and isolation of the Jordan Valley is aimed at depriving Palestinians from the bulk of their land, water resources, agricultural and cattle production.
In the face of this reality, the frenzied debates on whether the world has found in new Labor leader Peretz a “peace dove” within the Zionist camp - to promise once again a “Palestinian state” - seem outlandish. They serve to avert the worlds attention from the current conquest of Palestinian land, a process that has always been carried out with a fervent rampage be it Labor or Likud administrations, and to sooth the urgent Palestinian calls to isolate Apartheid Israel. At this stage, a two state solution theoretically might be controversial; practically it is simply an impossible aim to achieve. Negotiations for statehood without borders, its capital and land are a deception towards our own people and the rest of the world.
Please read more at http://stopthewall.org/analysisandfeatures/1042.shtml
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Haaretz
EU slams Israeli moves in East Jerusalem
Amira Hass
27 November 2005
Europe must resume ministerial-level meetings with representatives of the Palestinian Authority in East Jerusalem, as part of other political meetings that should be held there, a new European Union report recommends.
The publication of the report, prepared by European heads of mission in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, was initially delayed, as Aluf Benn reported in Haaretz on November 23.
The report, a copy of which has been obtained by Haaretz, states that "Israeli policies are reducing the possibility of reaching a final status agreement on Jerusalem that any Palestinian could accept."
The report also concludes that Israel is striving to reduce the Palestinian population in Jerusalem. But the report is mainly a detailed summary of Israeli actions in Jerusalem: expanding settlements, housing settlers in Palestinian neighborhoods, continued construction of the separation wall/fence, limiting Palestinian construction, etc. Most of the information has previously appeared in the Israeli press.
The Palestinians, the end of the report states, "fear that Israel will `get away with it,' under the cover of disengagement." Israel's actions in Jerusalem also contravene both its road map commitments and international law.
The report reiterates the European position that annexation of East Jerusalem is illegal, and any construction there is illegal, therefore they are careful to define what Israel considers "neighborhoods" as illegal settlements (such as Gilo, Pisgat Ze'ev, Ramot and French Hill).
Please read more at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/650154.html
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The Guardian
Sharon rejects land for peace approach, says aide
Chris McGreal
23 November 2005
Ariel Sharon no longer regards big compromises over land as being crucial to setting up an independent Palestinian state, says one of the Israeli prime minister's closest political advisers.
The day after Mr Sharon broke from the ruling Likud party to launch a new political movement ahead of a general election on March 28, the adviser, Eyal Arad, said the Israeli leadership had repudiated the central belief of years of negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - that giving up land would buy peace.
Mr Arad, the prime minister's strategic policy adviser who was among those who urged the leader to quit Likud, said that Mr Sharon considered the 1993 Oslo accords, which sought peace based on Israel surrendering the territories occupied in 1967, as failed and discredited. Mr Arad said the Israeli leadership had interpreted the US-led "road map" for peace as laying out an alternative philosophy of "security for independence", meaning a "total end of the terrorist war" in return for a "Palestinian national home" but not necessarily based on the 1967 borders.
Palestinian officials described Mr Arad's view as an attempt to assert that Israel's efforts to impose de facto borders, using the West Bank barrier and settlement expansion, were not jeopardising peace. It was also in line with Mr Sharon's contention that the core of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians was not the occupation but Islamic terrorism.
Please read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1648629,00.html
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Haaretz
The border of the state of Ramallah
Amira Hass,
23 November 2005
In contrast to the "big bangs," or the election of MK Amir Peretz as Labor Party chairman and the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from the Likud, the establishment of the southern border of the state of Ramallah is happening with nary a whimper.
Like the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it is a unilateral Israeli move. Unlike the disengagement from Gaza, it is totally unilateral: There are no negotiations, and there is no involvement by the World Bank and quartet envoy James Wolfensohn to determine the transit arrangements.
The gradualness in the unilateral process of the establishment of the state of Ramallah makes each stage imperceptible, invisible and, in effect, trivial…
Until further notice, West Bank inhabitants are allowed to go through this crossing point on foot. South of the roadblock, they enter taxis that will take them to their homes, so near and yet so far, over winding and secondary roads. Only Palestinians who are residents of Jerusalem can go through this crossing point, either on foot or in a vehicle (after a long wait). The concrete blocks that were positioned there initially have given way gradually to a monstrosity, the construction of which is now being completed: continuous watchtowers of reinforced concrete that purport to be an international "terminal" - a roofed structure, barbed wire that stretches from west to east and from north to south, separating kinfolk, separating people who until not long ago were neighbors who popped over to borrow sugar or play backgammon. All deep inside the West Bank.
Unlike the unilateral disengagement from Gaza, Jewish settlements are not being evacuated from inside the area of the state of Ramallah. The disengagement from Gaza respects the Green Line. But the establishment of the Qalandiyah and Bitunia as "international" crossing points in the heart of the occupied West Bank entails the de facto annexation to Israel of a fat strip of territory from Modi'in to the Jewish settlements of Geva-Adam and Psagot. It means Israel is scoffing at and disregarding any international decision in the matter of a solution to the conflict. But Europe and America, which have signed these decisions, are behaving as though this were rain.
Please read more at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/648788.html
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Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
The Miserable Occupation on a Miserable Morning
ICAHD staff
21 November 2005
Yesterday, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD) received information that the Israeli government was planning on demolishing houses in Anata, Beit Hanina and Silwan. Although the demolition of Palestinian homes was supposed to end with the first phase of the Road Map, Israel insists disingenuously that we are only in a "pre-Road Map" phase – even though the Road Map was initiated in mid-2003. This means, in Israel's interpretation, that the Palestinians must carry out all their responsibilities under Phase 1 and even Phase 2 (reform the Palestinian Authority, end violence, etc.), while Israel is free to pursue its goals of strengthening its hold on the Occupied Territories without any interference whatsoever – a clear violation of the principle of "mutuality" that underlies the Road Map Process.
Indeed, for Israel, house demolitions are merely "business as usual." The Jerusalem Municipality has a million and a half unused shekels ($300,000) in the demolition line of its annual budget. Whatever is left at the beginning of the year is lost. Since such an amount pays for about 70 demolitions, the Municipality is under pressure to demolish as many homes as possible in the next month and a half. Add to this the policy of demolishing Palestinian homes situated too close to the route of the Wall. This was one of the reasons given for demolishing the homes in Anata – even though the Wall has not yet been built.
Please read more at http://www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu=5&submenu=1&item=283
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Washington Post
West Bank Road Vs. Peace
Stephanie Koury
19 November 2005
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's brokering of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on border crossings into the Gaza Strip is a good step for the economic development of Gaza and a positive sign of American engagement in the peace process. But the real test for the U.S. administration's commitment to this peace process isn't the Gaza Strip -- it's Israel's settlement expansion and its separation plan for the West Bank.
After a shooting attack on Israeli settlers in the West Bank last month, Israel responded by banning Palestinian movement in private vehicles on main roads in the West Bank. The United States called for lifting of these restrictions but has failed to grasp their implications as a sign of how Israel plans to separate itself from a Palestinian state and how this separation will affect Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts on security reforms.
The restriction on Palestinian use of West Bank roads shows how Israel plans to separate Palestinians from Israeli settlers while maintaining many settlements scattered throughout the occupied West Bank. In September 2004, Israel launched a roads-and-tunnels plan consisting of approximately 24 tunnels and 56 roads that will shift Palestinian traffic away from Israeli settlements and off settler roads.
Under this plan, Israel's 410,000 settlers will enjoy the use of main roads and good highways, while many of the roads or tunnels planned for the 2.2 million Palestinians will be narrow and indirect and will traverse hilly areas -- making them ill suited for building an economically viable Palestinian state. The plan enables Israel to remove checkpoints and thus claim that it is improving the lives of the Palestinians, even as it tightens the noose around Palestinian areas and diminishes the land remaining for a future state.
Please read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/18/AR2005111802317.html
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Occupation Magazine Online
Weeping in Jerusalem: Rabbis witness Home Demolitions
Rabbis for Human Rights, North America
Six rabbis and a cantor spent last week in Jerusalem on a rabbinic mission to rebuild the home of the Dari family in Issawiyeh. While in Jerusalem we not only started rebuilding the Dari home but we also were eyewitnesses to the demolition of a Palestinian home. It was a shocking and transformative experience. Please read Rabbi Ellen Lippmann`s letter about our experience which appears below and take action clicking here.
Jerusalem November 9, 2005
I have been weeping all week here in Jerusalem, first as I stood on the site of a home demolished two years ago and again as I stood in the rubble of a home demolished as we watched. I am here as a member of the RHR Mission to rebuild the home of the Dari family and to learn about the Israeli home demolition policy and the work of RHR in Israel. But now, having witnessed the destruction of Israel`s home demolition policy, I am really writing you to ask, no urge, you to write to the U.S. Secretary of State, to ask her to use her influence to end this discriminatory policy. This policy is a great threat to the security of the Israelis, as well as violating all I and so many of you hold dear about Israel and Judaism.
Please read more at http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=9855
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9 December 2005
MCC Palestine partners with…
For many years, MCC Palestine has partnered with the YMCA of East Jerusalem (http://www.ej-ymca.org/site/) on a number of projects. The Women’s Training Program is one of these projects in which women from across the occupied West Bank who, upon the completion of a YMCA job training course, receive a loan to implement a small-scale project.
For example, Fadwa Zuraina from Beir ‘Unah near Bethlehem received training in sheep raising. She purchased five goats with the loan she received, which has since increased to fifteen goats. The area of Beir ‘Unah has a special status as it is considered part of the Jerusalem municipality though most of the Palestinians there are West Bank ID holders. This means that they still pay taxes to the Jerusalem municipality but yet are not allowed to build houses in that area nor are they allowed entry into Jerusalem without permission. Instead, the people there are often subject to harassment by the Israeli military with a big portion of their lands confiscated for the construction of the Wall. Fadwa Zuraina is the mother of eight children, five of whom are minors and three who are unemployed young men. Unfortunately, her husband is also unemployed, thus making Fadwa the only provider and this project the main source of income for her family.
Another beneficiary of this program is Su’ad Da’jneh. Su’ad lives in al-‘Azza refugee camp in Bethlehem with her husband and six children. Su’ad participated in the YMCA’s training course in sewing and design. She purchased a sewing machine with the loan she received and started working at home. As a very talented embroider, very creative with new designs, and a highly motivated woman, Su’ad has since become the main designer of the organization that nominated her to take part in the training. As part of her work with this organization, she fills orders for markets as far away as Italy!
MCC Palestine has also partnered for several years with the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ). Currently MCC is supporting a new water management project in the west Bethlehem village of Nahalin. This village, situated in a beautiful landscape, is going to be completely surrounded by the Wall. And as if that is not enough, it is plagued by the large and rapidly growing Israeli colony of Beitar Ilit, butting up against this small village, effectively strangulating it. This project will treat waste from the village and provide treated water to irrigate surrounding flora (like olive trees) addressing two problems for the residents of Nahalin: 1) the problem of water shortage that villagers experience, especially in regards to plant irrigation; and 2) the problem of waste contaminating village water sources (such as springs and wells).
This is currently only a test project, but if it is successful it has the potential to be an incredibly helpful resource for self-sustainability for such communities across the occupied West Bank cut off and strangulated by the Wall and by further colonization of Palestinian land. To learn more about ongoing construction of the Wall and the expansion of Israeli colonies, please visit ARIJ’s website at http://www.arij.org or visit the Stop the Wall Campaign website at http://www.arij.org/.
A New Entrance to the Bethlehem Reservation
You have heard us talk about this huge, 8-meter or 27-foot high concrete Wall or “separation barrier” that has been has built around Bethlehem and other parts of the West Bank that effectively creates several isolated islands of land or “reservations.” Now, a new and “improved” checkpoint has been built to get in and out of this prison with. It is a huge processing facility. And it just happened with out any notice. An incredible display of the systematic and sterile banality of the evil that pervades (note the tragically ironic reference to Hannah Arendt). We went to meet a colleague visiting from Jordan at the Wall one morning a few weeks ago, to see that where we normally go in and out of the Wall and Bethlehem was now gated shut! We had to then go up to another opening in the Wall where this new checkpoint is positioned, making life even more ridiculous for Palestinians (and everyone else) that can move in and out of Bethlehem.
The new processing facility is huge and we knew it was being prepared; we just did not know when it would be opened (that is how the Israeli military works, do something without prior announcement and hope the world does not notice; unfortunately, it often works). And so, Israel chose Tuesday November 15 to open it up—the same day that Palestinians remember as “Independence” Day, remembering back to 1988 when the Palestinian National Council in exile declared the State of Palestine independent.
Several nights ago, we drove over to the Wall to drop off some friends who were staying in a village right on the other side of the wall. We get to where there should have been an entrance in the Wall, and it was closed. Nothing, completely caged in. It was a pretty disturbing feeling. Fortunately an entrance in the wall opened up for somebody coming through and our friends ran over before they closed it again. (For more on this new development, please see “The Terminal” at http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4303.shtml)
As Christmas approaches, the fear is even more heightened that this new checkpoint will prevent visitors from coming to the birthplace of Jesus (“Pilgrims complain of exhausting security checks at Bethlehem crossing” http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/654562.html ; “Bethlehem gets a wall for Christmas” http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1878695,00.html ; “Checkpoints, Walls Make Bethlehem an ‘Open-Air Prison,’ Christians Say” http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=9070&CategoryId=5 ; “Security Drives Tourists from Bethlehem” http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=9077&CategoryId=5). In a community that is already devastated from these closures, the continued construction of the Wall and this new checkpoint only contributes to the feelings of forsakenness that the people of this land feel. Several more similar facilities are being built within the West Bank, cutting up the West Bank into several isolated “reservations” or “bantustans” and solidifying Israeli domination over Palestinian life and territory.
But resistance to these forces continues. In an attempt to counter these death-dealing developments, a group here in Bethlehem has begun a campaign called “Open Bethlehem.” “Open Bethlehem was established last May with the aim of defending Bethlehem and confronting the racist separation wall” with the goal “to market Bethlehem as a major tourist destination and to confront Israeli schemes to strike at Bethlehem’s tourism, namely by imposing a tight siege around it and closing off its entrances…Its goal was to remind the world that Bethlehem refuses to live in the shadow of the wall.” (“Bethlehem passport launched to protect city from wall” http://www.palestinenet.org/english/archive2005/nov/week4/261105/report3.htm)
The Advent Candle—A Light in the Darkness
The season of Advent is meant to be a time of somber preparation and yet at the same time filled with joyful expectation and hope. During the service at the Lutheran Christmas Church here in Bethlehem this past Sunday, we sat staring at the two Advent candles that had already been lit hearing the words from the celebrant
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
But sitting in reflection, we also recognized that there were still two candles that were not lit—still more light to be shone, still more darkness to be dispelled…expectation and hope…
We continue to hope that the voices of these Palestinian sisters and brothers that are so often dismissed, silenced, and dehumanized speak loudly to you this Advent season, providing both a meaning and a challenge for your own celebration of the incarnational presence of “God with us” this Christmas season, and that you would all prayerfully reflect on what the incarnation means for you and for all of us who claim to carry the name of “God with us.”
And we would again ask all of you to keep our CPT colleagues being held in Iraq in your thoughts and prayers as well as their families and all of those suffering as a result of these occupations.
Peace to you all,
Timothy and Christi Seidel
Peace Development Workers
Mennonite Central Committee – Palestine
Attachments and Links:
1. Gideon Levy, “The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime,” Haaretz, 9 December 2005
2. Gerald Kaufman , “No peace with Sharon: The Gaza withdrawal has been a veil for continued persecution and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” The Guardian, 7 December 2005
3. Donald Macintyre, “Sharon ‘sees wall as Israel's new border,’” The Independent, 2 December 2005
4. Meron Benvenisti, “In the hope that Jerusalem will wait,” Haaretz, 1 December 2005
5. The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, “The Eastern Wall: Closing the circle of our ghettoization,”28 November 2005
6. Amira Hass, “EU slams Israeli moves in East Jerusalem,” Haaretz, 27 November 2005
7. Chris McGreal, “Sharon rejects land for peace approach, says aide,” The Guardian, 23 November 2005
8. Amira Hass, “The border of the state of Ramallah,” Haaretz, 23 November 2005
9. Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, “The Miserable Occupation on a Miserable Morning,” ICAHD, 21 November 2005
10. Stephanie Koury, “West Bank Road Vs. Peace,” Washington Post, 19 November 2005
11. Rabbis for Human Rights, North America, “Weeping in Jerusalem: Rabbis witness Home Demolitions,” Occupation Magazine Online, 9 November 2005
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Haaretz
The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime
Gideon Levy
9 December 2005
You go to sleep securely in your home. At 1 A.M. you wake up in horror to the sound of a voice on the loudspeaker calling you to go out into the street immediately. After the soldiers instruct you to return home, suddenly a frightening dog enters your apartment, grabs your child, who is sitting on his bed in shock, bites him hard in his leg and drags him down the 20 steps that lead from the second-floor apartment to the street.Can you imagine the nightmare in which the Kassam family found itself last week in the Jenin refugee camp? It's very doubtful. The members of the family didn't believe it either. Their 12-year-old son, Mohammed, who suffers from epilepsy, shouted with fear, until he fainted. His mother grabbed him by the head, so he wouldn’t hit himself on the stairs. His father ran downstairs, helpless, pleading with the soldiers. All the children in the house were shouting in fear. Imagine.Apparently it was "an operational mishap." Maybe the dog, a fighter in the Oketz trained dogs unit of the Israel Defense Forces, overstepped the bounds. Maybe it was a mistaken address. It was certainly an "exceptional case," not "human error," but "canine error." The dog entered the wrong apartment and grabbed the wrong person. It happens to the best of dogs. But anyone who, in the dead of night, sics a dog on a peaceful apartment where children are asleep for the night, cannot plead innocence afterward.
Please read more at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/655552.html
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The Guardian
No peace with Sharon
Gerald Kaufman
7 December 2005
The Gaza withdrawal has been a veil for continued persecution and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
I know the attractive Israeli seaside resort of Netanya well, having stayed several times at my niece's flat there. Not long ago I heard on BBC radio a series of interviews with residents of Netanya, which has in the past suffered a number of terrorist attacks. They rejoiced at how much easier the situation had become following the building of the Israeli separation wall, designed specifically to protect places like Netanya, located at the narrow neck of Israel's pre-1967 border. Two days ago five people were killed in a suicide bombing in Netanya.
All terrorist attacks are unjustifiable atrocities. Five Israelis are the latest victims. Over the past months, 15 Palestinians, two of them children, have been killed by Israeli troops. Their deaths attracted no headlines, but they are dead just the same.
I recently returned from leading the first British parliamentary delegation to the Palestinian Authority. What we saw is never seen by ordinary, decent Israelis, like the citizens of Netanya - who, since they dare not venture into the occupied territories, have no idea of the persecution of Palestinians being carried out in their name.
Last there two years ago, I was appalled at how an already unacceptable situation has deteriorated. There are now more than 600 fixed checkpoints in the tiny Palestinian area, which, with so-called flying checkpoints, make free movement almost impossible. In Bethlehem, which used to be crammed with tourists, we saw just two groups in Manger Square and the Church of the Nativity. The Old City of Nablus, which I knew for a quarter of a century as a hub of commercial activity, is also desolate. Heavily-armed Israeli troops man walls, gates and huts, all preventing Palestinians from moving about.
Please read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1660589,00.html
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The Independent
Sharon 'sees wall as Israel's new border'
Donald Macintyre
2 December 2005
A senior ally of Ariel Sharon has given the most explicit indication yet that the Israeli Prime Minister envisages the 425-mile separation barrier as the border between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
Government spokesmen frequently claim that the barrier was built solely for security reasons and could be removed or rerouted.
But the Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, who is helping prepare the programme of Mr Sharon's new Kadima party, told a legal conference in Caesarea: "One does not have to be a genius to see that the fence will have implications for the future border. This is not the reason it was built, but it could have political implications"…
A member of Israel's Supreme Court, Mishael Cheshin was said by the daily Haaretz to have cited the security arguments used by government lawyers facing challenges to the barrier route and told Ms Livni at the conference: "That is not what you have contended in court."
The high court decided two parts of the barrier should be brought closer to Israel's pre-1967 borders than it had planned. Other sections - especially that which threatens to encircle Jerusalem and cut the occupied Arab east of the city from the West Bank - still present massive stumbling blocks to negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. Haim Ramon, another prominent member of Mr Sharon's new party who deserted from Labour, has already said the section around Jerusalem was built for political rather than merely security reasons.
He said the route "also makes Jerusalem more Jewish", adding: "The safer and more Jewish Jerusalem will be, it can serve as a true capital of the state of Israel."
The Palestinians have made it repeatedly clear that east Jerusalem, seized by Israeli in the 1967 war, must the capital of any future Palestinian state.
Please read more at http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article330677.ece
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Haaretz
In the hope that Jerusalem will wait
Meron Benvenisti
1 December 2005
In East Jerusalem, processes are under way and facts are being established on the ground that will affect the future of Israel-Palestine relations more than any declaration about sticking to the road map or even verbal support for a Palestinian state. According to the writers of the report, "Jerusalem is already one of the trickiest issues on the road to reaching a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. But several inter-linked Israeli policies are reducing the possibility of reaching a final status agreement on Jerusalem that any Palestinian could accept."
The completion of the separation fence; the establishment of the arrangements at the border crossings; the beginning of the earthworks in Area E1 and the accelerated construction in the Jewish settlements surrounding Jerusalem; the cutting off of the Palestinian residents who live on the other side of the fence from the centers of their lives within the city; the increased demolition of "illegal" buildings; the harassment of Palestinian institutions and the disruption of the election races in East Jerusalem - all of these are making a population of about a quarter of a million people into a besieged community in the grip of despair, which is nurturing feelings of anger and revenge.
This population - which is discriminated against in the allocation of municipal budgets, cut off from its natural environment and holy sites, prevented from make use of land resources for construction, whose per capita income amounts to one-fifth of that of the Jewish population - cannot be considered a good neighbor to the Jewish community, with which it shares the city, its streets and workshops. Indeed, it is those who trumpet the "unity" of the city who should be fighting against the discrimination, the oppression and the siege; but the xenophobia that borders on racism, fear and flocking to demagogues and witch doctors are causing the establishment of a divided and violent population in Jerusalem, and the reports that expose this bleak reality are greeted with yawning boredom…
The illusion of "a continuation of the disengagement" - which must not be disturbed - is acting as a shield that is absorbing any criticism and is enabling the creation of a consensus behind which all the elements that define themselves as a liberal "center" are coalescing and defending a regime of discrimination and oppression.
Please read more at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/652262.html
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The Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
The Eastern Wall: Closing the circle of our ghettoization
28 November 28th, 2005
More than a year has passed since the Occupation Forces declared the first section of the Apartheid Wall - running from Zaboba near Jenin to Masha in the Qalqiliya district - complete. Today rapid construction marks the second phase of the project surrounding Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron. Meanwhile, away from public attention, the Occupation has started the third phase of the Wall project and begun annexing and ethnically cleansing the Jordan Valley. Under the official title of “development”, the Jordan Valley has become a “Major Governmental Project” for settlement expansion. The result has been the destruction of Palestinian land, fresh house demolitions, and the expulsion of Palestinian Bedouins. This week the Occupation closed two of the four “terminals” that control Palestinian movement in or out of the Valley and begun the isolation of northern areas. In the South, “flying checkpoints” make any presence of Palestinians without Israeli permit – including landowners, Bedouins or family members – impossible…
While the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem takes away the urban and commercial center of Palestinian life, the annexation and isolation of the Jordan Valley is aimed at depriving Palestinians from the bulk of their land, water resources, agricultural and cattle production.
In the face of this reality, the frenzied debates on whether the world has found in new Labor leader Peretz a “peace dove” within the Zionist camp - to promise once again a “Palestinian state” - seem outlandish. They serve to avert the worlds attention from the current conquest of Palestinian land, a process that has always been carried out with a fervent rampage be it Labor or Likud administrations, and to sooth the urgent Palestinian calls to isolate Apartheid Israel. At this stage, a two state solution theoretically might be controversial; practically it is simply an impossible aim to achieve. Negotiations for statehood without borders, its capital and land are a deception towards our own people and the rest of the world.
Please read more at http://stopthewall.org/analysisandfeatures/1042.shtml
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Haaretz
EU slams Israeli moves in East Jerusalem
Amira Hass
27 November 2005
Europe must resume ministerial-level meetings with representatives of the Palestinian Authority in East Jerusalem, as part of other political meetings that should be held there, a new European Union report recommends.
The publication of the report, prepared by European heads of mission in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, was initially delayed, as Aluf Benn reported in Haaretz on November 23.
The report, a copy of which has been obtained by Haaretz, states that "Israeli policies are reducing the possibility of reaching a final status agreement on Jerusalem that any Palestinian could accept."
The report also concludes that Israel is striving to reduce the Palestinian population in Jerusalem. But the report is mainly a detailed summary of Israeli actions in Jerusalem: expanding settlements, housing settlers in Palestinian neighborhoods, continued construction of the separation wall/fence, limiting Palestinian construction, etc. Most of the information has previously appeared in the Israeli press.
The Palestinians, the end of the report states, "fear that Israel will `get away with it,' under the cover of disengagement." Israel's actions in Jerusalem also contravene both its road map commitments and international law.
The report reiterates the European position that annexation of East Jerusalem is illegal, and any construction there is illegal, therefore they are careful to define what Israel considers "neighborhoods" as illegal settlements (such as Gilo, Pisgat Ze'ev, Ramot and French Hill).
Please read more at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/650154.html
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The Guardian
Sharon rejects land for peace approach, says aide
Chris McGreal
23 November 2005
Ariel Sharon no longer regards big compromises over land as being crucial to setting up an independent Palestinian state, says one of the Israeli prime minister's closest political advisers.
The day after Mr Sharon broke from the ruling Likud party to launch a new political movement ahead of a general election on March 28, the adviser, Eyal Arad, said the Israeli leadership had repudiated the central belief of years of negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - that giving up land would buy peace.
Mr Arad, the prime minister's strategic policy adviser who was among those who urged the leader to quit Likud, said that Mr Sharon considered the 1993 Oslo accords, which sought peace based on Israel surrendering the territories occupied in 1967, as failed and discredited. Mr Arad said the Israeli leadership had interpreted the US-led "road map" for peace as laying out an alternative philosophy of "security for independence", meaning a "total end of the terrorist war" in return for a "Palestinian national home" but not necessarily based on the 1967 borders.
Palestinian officials described Mr Arad's view as an attempt to assert that Israel's efforts to impose de facto borders, using the West Bank barrier and settlement expansion, were not jeopardising peace. It was also in line with Mr Sharon's contention that the core of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians was not the occupation but Islamic terrorism.
Please read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1648629,00.html
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Haaretz
The border of the state of Ramallah
Amira Hass,
23 November 2005
In contrast to the "big bangs," or the election of MK Amir Peretz as Labor Party chairman and the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from the Likud, the establishment of the southern border of the state of Ramallah is happening with nary a whimper.
Like the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it is a unilateral Israeli move. Unlike the disengagement from Gaza, it is totally unilateral: There are no negotiations, and there is no involvement by the World Bank and quartet envoy James Wolfensohn to determine the transit arrangements.
The gradualness in the unilateral process of the establishment of the state of Ramallah makes each stage imperceptible, invisible and, in effect, trivial…
Until further notice, West Bank inhabitants are allowed to go through this crossing point on foot. South of the roadblock, they enter taxis that will take them to their homes, so near and yet so far, over winding and secondary roads. Only Palestinians who are residents of Jerusalem can go through this crossing point, either on foot or in a vehicle (after a long wait). The concrete blocks that were positioned there initially have given way gradually to a monstrosity, the construction of which is now being completed: continuous watchtowers of reinforced concrete that purport to be an international "terminal" - a roofed structure, barbed wire that stretches from west to east and from north to south, separating kinfolk, separating people who until not long ago were neighbors who popped over to borrow sugar or play backgammon. All deep inside the West Bank.
Unlike the unilateral disengagement from Gaza, Jewish settlements are not being evacuated from inside the area of the state of Ramallah. The disengagement from Gaza respects the Green Line. But the establishment of the Qalandiyah and Bitunia as "international" crossing points in the heart of the occupied West Bank entails the de facto annexation to Israel of a fat strip of territory from Modi'in to the Jewish settlements of Geva-Adam and Psagot. It means Israel is scoffing at and disregarding any international decision in the matter of a solution to the conflict. But Europe and America, which have signed these decisions, are behaving as though this were rain.
Please read more at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/648788.html
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Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
The Miserable Occupation on a Miserable Morning
ICAHD staff
21 November 2005
Yesterday, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD) received information that the Israeli government was planning on demolishing houses in Anata, Beit Hanina and Silwan. Although the demolition of Palestinian homes was supposed to end with the first phase of the Road Map, Israel insists disingenuously that we are only in a "pre-Road Map" phase – even though the Road Map was initiated in mid-2003. This means, in Israel's interpretation, that the Palestinians must carry out all their responsibilities under Phase 1 and even Phase 2 (reform the Palestinian Authority, end violence, etc.), while Israel is free to pursue its goals of strengthening its hold on the Occupied Territories without any interference whatsoever – a clear violation of the principle of "mutuality" that underlies the Road Map Process.
Indeed, for Israel, house demolitions are merely "business as usual." The Jerusalem Municipality has a million and a half unused shekels ($300,000) in the demolition line of its annual budget. Whatever is left at the beginning of the year is lost. Since such an amount pays for about 70 demolitions, the Municipality is under pressure to demolish as many homes as possible in the next month and a half. Add to this the policy of demolishing Palestinian homes situated too close to the route of the Wall. This was one of the reasons given for demolishing the homes in Anata – even though the Wall has not yet been built.
Please read more at http://www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu=5&submenu=1&item=283
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Washington Post
West Bank Road Vs. Peace
Stephanie Koury
19 November 2005
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's brokering of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on border crossings into the Gaza Strip is a good step for the economic development of Gaza and a positive sign of American engagement in the peace process. But the real test for the U.S. administration's commitment to this peace process isn't the Gaza Strip -- it's Israel's settlement expansion and its separation plan for the West Bank.
After a shooting attack on Israeli settlers in the West Bank last month, Israel responded by banning Palestinian movement in private vehicles on main roads in the West Bank. The United States called for lifting of these restrictions but has failed to grasp their implications as a sign of how Israel plans to separate itself from a Palestinian state and how this separation will affect Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts on security reforms.
The restriction on Palestinian use of West Bank roads shows how Israel plans to separate Palestinians from Israeli settlers while maintaining many settlements scattered throughout the occupied West Bank. In September 2004, Israel launched a roads-and-tunnels plan consisting of approximately 24 tunnels and 56 roads that will shift Palestinian traffic away from Israeli settlements and off settler roads.
Under this plan, Israel's 410,000 settlers will enjoy the use of main roads and good highways, while many of the roads or tunnels planned for the 2.2 million Palestinians will be narrow and indirect and will traverse hilly areas -- making them ill suited for building an economically viable Palestinian state. The plan enables Israel to remove checkpoints and thus claim that it is improving the lives of the Palestinians, even as it tightens the noose around Palestinian areas and diminishes the land remaining for a future state.
Please read more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/18/AR2005111802317.html
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Occupation Magazine Online
Weeping in Jerusalem: Rabbis witness Home Demolitions
Rabbis for Human Rights, North America
Six rabbis and a cantor spent last week in Jerusalem on a rabbinic mission to rebuild the home of the Dari family in Issawiyeh. While in Jerusalem we not only started rebuilding the Dari home but we also were eyewitnesses to the demolition of a Palestinian home. It was a shocking and transformative experience. Please read Rabbi Ellen Lippmann`s letter about our experience which appears below and take action clicking here.
Jerusalem November 9, 2005
I have been weeping all week here in Jerusalem, first as I stood on the site of a home demolished two years ago and again as I stood in the rubble of a home demolished as we watched. I am here as a member of the RHR Mission to rebuild the home of the Dari family and to learn about the Israeli home demolition policy and the work of RHR in Israel. But now, having witnessed the destruction of Israel`s home demolition policy, I am really writing you to ask, no urge, you to write to the U.S. Secretary of State, to ask her to use her influence to end this discriminatory policy. This policy is a great threat to the security of the Israelis, as well as violating all I and so many of you hold dear about Israel and Judaism.
Please read more at http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=9855
________________________________
Thursday, December 1
MCC Palestine Prayer Request - 1 December 2005
MCC Palestine Prayer Request
1 December 2005
Dear Friends,
Please find below information on the recent abduction of foreign workers in Iraq this week. In particular, four members from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)—an organization that we are close to and that we know many of you are as well—were abducted Sunday in Baghdad. Voices from Islamic communities in Iraq as well as from Muslims and Christians here in Palestine have spoken out for the release of these workers. We seldom bring these issues to the fore in sharing with you all about the situation here. But with the linkages between CPT in Palestine and Iraq being so strong and with the unfortunate linkages between the occupation in Palestine and the occupation in Iraq, we felt the need to share this with you all. Indeed it is due to such linkages that so many Palestinians are speaking out against these abductions.
We would ask that you would share this news with friends, family, and your church communities, and keep these individuals and their families in your thoughts and prayers today as you do the people of both Palestine and Iraq.
Peace,
Timothy and Christi Seidel
Peace Development Workers
Mennonite Central Committee – Palestine
__________________________________
http://www.cpt.org/
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2206.shtml
Jesus said: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
Matthew 5: 44 (NIV)
URGENT: Update on Four Missing CPT Members in Iraq
Press Release, Christian Peacemaker Teams
29 November 2005
CPTNet Nov 30, 2005, 1 am (Baghdad)
"Update on Missing Persons in Iraq"
We were very saddened to see the images of our loved ones on Al Jazeera television recently. We were disturbed by seeing the video and believe that repeated showing of it will endanger the lives of our friends. We are deeply disturbed by their abduction. We pray that those who hold them will be merciful and that they will be released soon. We want so much to see their faces in our home again, and we want them to know how much we love them, how much we miss them, and how anxious and concerned we are by what is happening to them.We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. government due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has worked for the rights of Iraqi prisoners who have been illegally detained and abused by the U.S. government. We were the first people to publicly denounce the torture of Iraqi people at the hands of U.S. forces, long before the western media admitted what was happening at Abu Ghraib. We are some of the few internationals left in Iraq who are telling the truth about what is happening to the Iraqi people We hope that we can continue to do this work and we pray for the speedy release of our beloved teammates.
"We are very worried about our four friends. We fear that whoever is holding them has made a mistake. Norman, Tom, James and Harmeet are four men who came to Iraq to work for peace and explain their opposition to the occupation. They are not spies."
- CPT Iraq Team
We can confirm the identities of those who are being held as follows:
Tom Fox, age 54, is from Clearbrook, Virginia and is a dedicated father of two children. For the past two years, Mr. Fox has worked with CPT in partnership with Iraqi human rights organizations to promote peace. Mr. Fox has been faithful in the observance of Quaker practice for 22 years. While in Iraq, he sought a more complete understanding of Islamic cultural richness. He is committed to telling the truth to U.S. citizens about the horrors of war and its effects on ordinary Iraqi civilians and families as a result of U.S. policies and practices.Mr. Fox is an accomplished musician. He plays the bass clarinet and the recorder and he loves to cook. He has also worked as a professional grocer. Mr. Fox devotes much of his time to working with children. He has served as an adult leader of youth programs and worked at a Quaker camp for youth. He has facilitated young people's participation in opposing war and violence. Mr. Fox is a quiet and peaceful man, respectful of everyone, who believes that "there is that of God in every person" which is why work for peace is so important to him.
Norman Kember, age 74, is from London, England.He and his wife of 45 years have two married daughters and a 3-year old grandson. He has been a pacifist all his life beginning with his work in a hospital instead of National Service at age 18. Before his retirement he was a professor teaching medical students at St Bartholemew's Hospital in London. He is well-known as a peace activist, and has been involved in several peace groups. For the past 10 years he has volunteered with a local program providing free food to the homeless. He likes walking, birdwatching, and writing humorous songs and sketches. In his younger days he enjoyed mountaineering.
James Loney, 41, is a community worker from Toronto, Canada. He has been a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams since August 2000, and is currently the Program Coordinator for CPT Canada. On previous visits to Iraq, his work focused on taking testimonies from families of detainees for CPT's report on detainee abuse, and making recommendations for securing basic legal rights. James was leading the November 2005 delegation in Iraq when he went missing.James is a peace activist, writer, trained mediator, and works actively with two Toronto community conflict resolution services. He has spent many years working to provide housing and support for homeless people.In a personal statement from James to CPT, he writes: "I believe that our actions as a people of peace must be an expression of hope for everyone. My hope in practising non-violence is that I can be a conduit for the transformative power of God's love acting upon me as much as I hope it will act upon others around me."
Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32 is a Canadian electrical engineer. He is studying for a masters degree in English literature in Auckland University in New Zealand to prepare for a teaching career. He enjoys art, is active in squash and worked part time as a local squash coach. His family describes him as peaceful and fun-loving and he is known to be passionate about the plight of the underprivileged around the globe. He works tirelessly in his spare time to educate and help others.
Statement of Conviction
In a "Statement of Conviction," the long-term Team members stated that they "are aware of the many risks both Iraqis and internationals currently face," and affirmed that the risks did not outweigh their purpose in remaining. They express the hope that "in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening non-violently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation."
Christian Peacemaker Teams has been present in Iraq since October 2002, providing first-hand, independent reports from the region, working with detainees of both United States and Iraqi forces, and training others in non-violent intervention and human rights documentation. Iraqi friends and human rights workers have welcomed the team as a nonviolent, independent presence. CPT teams host regular delegations of committed peace and human rights activists to conflict zones, who join teams in working with civilians to document abuses and develop nonviolent alternatives to armed conflict. The CPT Iraq Team has hosted a total of 120 people on sixteen delegations over the last three years.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is a violence reduction program. Teams of trained peacemakers work in areas of lethal conflict around the world. In addition to the Iraq Team, teams of CPT workers are currently serving in Barrancabermeja, Colombia; Hebron and At-Tuwani, Palestine; Kenora, Ontario, Canada; and on the Mexico-United States border.
Project Overview
CPT in Iraq: Shifting Sands for Peacemakers
Click here for an overview of CPT program work in Iraq.
Contact
CPT Iraq in Baghdad: 07901-339-537
CPT in Canada: Doug Pritchard 416-423-5525
__________________________________
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2208.shtml
Statement about kidnapped CPT members by Palestinian political parties (Arabic & English)
Statement, Various Palestinian factions
30 November 2005
Following the abduction of four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq, Palestinian political factions gathered in Hebron to issue a statement in Arabic about their experiences of seeing the CPT working in Palestine, and their personal knowledge of the three kidnapped members and their important work on behalf of the Palestinian people. Original Arabic version provided by CPT Hebron. English translation by the Electronic Intifada, posted for informational purposes.
In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful"O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done."-The Holy Qur'an, 49:6The Islamic and National forces in the governorate of Hebron/Palestine express their deep regret for the kidnapping of four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Iraq.The Islamic and National forces in the governorate of Hebron/Palestine have had long experience confronting Israeli crimes and violations with the CPT since 1995, and wish to confirm that the members of this group have had and still have a major role in confronting Israeli crimes and violations, and in the protection of the property and the lives of the Palestinian citizens.More than once they placed themselves in front of the occupation's tanks, and they confronted Israeli occupation bulldozers with their bodies defending Palestinians' homes against destruction. They accompanied our children when they were threatened and attacked by Israeli settlers on their way to and from their schools. Because of what they were doing, the CPT members were subjected to arrest, beating and pursuit by the Israeli soldiers and settlers in more than one location in Palestine. Many of them were denied entry to Palestine, or deported by the occupation authorities because of their activities in confronting the occupation.We appeal to our brothers in the resistance and all those with alert consciences in Iraq, with whom we consider ourselves to be in the same trench confronting American aggression and occupation, to instantly and quickly release the four kidnapped persons (two Canadians, one Briton and one American) from CPT, in appreciation for their role in standing beside and supporting our Palestinian people and all the Arab and Islamic peoples.Freedom for the Iraqi and Palestinian people.Shame and disgrace on the Zionist and American occupation.
The Islamic and National Forces in the Governorate of Hebron:Islamic Resistance Movement/HamasPalestine People's PartyDemocratic Front for the Liberation of PalestineDemocratic Union of Palestine/FadaFatahPopular Front for the Liberation of PalestinePalestinian Liberation FrontPalestinian Popular Struggle Front
Hebron, 29 November 2005
__________________________________
http://www.cpt.org/hebron/hebron.php
Hebron: Palestinians offer their help to gain freedom for kidnapped CPTers
On 30 November 2005 the National and Islamic Forces in Hebron held a press conference to ask for the release of four CPTers being held by an Iraqi armed group. They released a joint statement expressing their "sorrow at the kidnapping of four of the peace advocates from the CPT in Iraq."
The first speaker was Sheikh Najib Al Ja'abri, who hosted the press conference at the Ali Baka'a Mosque in the Haret e-Sheikh neighborhood of Hebron. He spoke of his warm sense of working together with CPTers over the years. The second speaker was Abdul 'Alim Dana of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, followed by Fahmi Shahin, Coordinator of the National and Islamic Forces in Hebron, representing the Palestine People's Party.
Naim Daour, Public Relations Director for Hebron University, talked about repeated closures of the university and CPT's work to help to re-open the university. "Sometimes it is hard to tell who is working for us and who is against us, but really Christian Peacemaker Teams helps us - whoever is holding the CPTers has made a mistake." Fariel Abu Haikal, Headmistress of Qurtuba Girls' School, emphasized the difference between CPTers and the American government. "Saif al-Haq ('Sword of Justice,' the Iraqi armed group holding the CPTers) I don't know, but these problems in Iraq, they come from George Bush. He is the problem, not CPT." She described the accompaniment that CPTers have provided for teachers and students at her school, who are often assaulted by Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement of Beit Hadassah.
The last Palestinian to speak was Jamal Miqbal of Beit Ummar. Jamal and his family live in the shadow of the Israeli settlement of Karme Tzur, and the Israeli military issued a demolition order on their home. Many CPTers have stayed at their home, both in tense times when the Miqbals feared that the bulldozer would come, and in more relaxed seasons.
At the conclusion of the press conference, CPTers read this message:
"We are very worried about our four friends. We fear that whoever is holding them has made a mistake. They are four men who went to Iraq to work for peace. They oppose the occupation. They are not spies."
CPT Hebron feels deep gratitude for the efforts of these speakers, and for the organizers who worked so hard on behalf of the CPTers taken hostage in Iraq. As the participants left, one after another stopped to express their sympathy, and their hope that the hostages will soon be free.
__________________________________
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_hostages_4;_ylt=AhBkP7KrRQmvLY5UCwNglmjlWMcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA--
Sunni Group Seeks Release of Five Hostages
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press WriterWed Nov 30, 5:00 PM ET
An influential Sunni clerical group called Wednesday for the release of five Westerners taken hostage in a grim revival of the kidnappings that shook Iraq last year, saying they should be freed on humanitarian grounds.
The Association of Muslim Scholars is believed to have contacts with some Sunni insurgent groups and has helped mediate the releases of other captives in Iraq.
The five include four aid workers from the group Christian Peacemaker Teams — Tom Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, Va.; Norman Kember, 74, of London; and James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, of Canada — and German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff, 43.
The association said freeing Osthoff would recognize Germany's "positive" stand toward Iraq. Germany strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Osthoff and her Iraqi driver were seized Friday and were later pictured in a videotape blindfolded on a floor, with militants armed with a rocket-propelled grenade standing beside them.
In the northern city of Mosul, the head of the regional antiquities department, Muzahem Mahmoud al-Zawbai, said he warned authorities Osthoff was not safe and that he could not be responsible for her security due to insurgent activity. It was unclear if the authorities relayed the warning to Osthoff, who was working to renovate an historic house.
Stephan Kroll, an archaeologist at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian University, where Osthoff studied, said she had told colleagues she was worried "something could happen to her."
Osthoff said she had been "stopped and held" on several occasions by unidentified groups seeking money, Kroll said. "She said she always got away because she could speak Arabic and because she told them she was on a humanitarian mission."
Kroll said Osthoff left the institute in 1991 without completing her master's degree and had "very limited expertise" as an archaeologist. He said he doubted reports that antiquities smugglers could have kidnapped her because she was disturbing their work.
University staff and friends pleaded with Osthoff not to go back to Iraq, but "she never listened. She went her own way," Kroll said. "She thought it was her mission to help the people."
The statement from the Muslim clerics said Osthoff was married to an Iraqi Muslim, "who is a member of the Shammar tribe from Mosul." The tribe, one of Iraq's largest, includes Shiites as well as Sunni clans. Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer is a senior Shammar figure.
The kidnappers have threatened to kill Osthoff and her driver unless Germany halts contacts with the Iraqi government. German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed in a speech before parliament Wednesday that her government would "not let ourselves be blackmailed" by militants.
Germany's ZDF television broadcast pictures of German Ambassador Bernd Erbel meeting with the Association of Muslim Scholars on Monday in Baghdad.
The ZDF report said there were indications the kidnappers were Sunnis linked to the former ruling Baath party, but did not identify the source of its information.
The four Christian aid workers were taken captive Saturday and appeared in a video broadcast Tuesday by Al-Jazeera television. A previously unknown group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade claimed they were spies.
The aid group they belonged to dismissed the allegation.
"These accusations are made routinely in these cases, without evidence of any kind and simply a justification for holding foreign nationals," Robin Buyers, a coordinator for Christian Peacemaker Teams, said Wednesday.
In urging the men's release, the Association of Muslim Scholars said freeing them would recognize their "good efforts in helping those in need."
Iraqi police suspect the kidnappings may be part of an insurgent plan to sow disorder ahead of Dec. 15 elections, but U.S. officials have refused to speculate about the motive.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday there was "no information to suggest that these (abductions) are connected."
"Our embassy officials are working closely with Iraqi officials and officials from other missions whose citizens are being held to locate and secure the release of these individuals," he said.
Some security experts believe the spate of kidnappings may be due to lax security. Although many foreigners were taken hostage last year, abductions tapered off after the fall of the insurgent bastion Fallujah to a U.S.-led assault in November 2004.
"It depends on availability of victims for kidnapping. People might have lowered their guards," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corp. in Washington.
Insurgents may also be mixing up their tactics to draw attention, turning to kidnappings after an intense period of car bombings and suicide attacks, he said.
"Kidnappings of Iraqis have continued and never stopped," and the latest snatching of Westerners "may be the result of carelessness" in security, agreed Joost Hiltermann of International Crisis Group based in Amman, Jordan.
Another terrorism expert, Evan F. Kohlman, said the abductors may be seeking ransom.
"These are not hardcore insurgent groups," he said. "The more publicity they get about kidnapping, the better chance to make money."
__
Associated Press writers Stephen Graham in Berlin; Maggie Michael in Cairo, Egypt; Rob Gillies in Toronto; and Sindbad Ahmed in Mosul contributed to this report.
__________________________________
1 December 2005
Dear Friends,
Please find below information on the recent abduction of foreign workers in Iraq this week. In particular, four members from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT)—an organization that we are close to and that we know many of you are as well—were abducted Sunday in Baghdad. Voices from Islamic communities in Iraq as well as from Muslims and Christians here in Palestine have spoken out for the release of these workers. We seldom bring these issues to the fore in sharing with you all about the situation here. But with the linkages between CPT in Palestine and Iraq being so strong and with the unfortunate linkages between the occupation in Palestine and the occupation in Iraq, we felt the need to share this with you all. Indeed it is due to such linkages that so many Palestinians are speaking out against these abductions.
We would ask that you would share this news with friends, family, and your church communities, and keep these individuals and their families in your thoughts and prayers today as you do the people of both Palestine and Iraq.
Peace,
Timothy and Christi Seidel
Peace Development Workers
Mennonite Central Committee – Palestine
__________________________________
http://www.cpt.org/
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2206.shtml
Jesus said: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
Matthew 5: 44 (NIV)
URGENT: Update on Four Missing CPT Members in Iraq
Press Release, Christian Peacemaker Teams
29 November 2005
CPTNet Nov 30, 2005, 1 am (Baghdad)
"Update on Missing Persons in Iraq"
We were very saddened to see the images of our loved ones on Al Jazeera television recently. We were disturbed by seeing the video and believe that repeated showing of it will endanger the lives of our friends. We are deeply disturbed by their abduction. We pray that those who hold them will be merciful and that they will be released soon. We want so much to see their faces in our home again, and we want them to know how much we love them, how much we miss them, and how anxious and concerned we are by what is happening to them.We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. government due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people. Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has worked for the rights of Iraqi prisoners who have been illegally detained and abused by the U.S. government. We were the first people to publicly denounce the torture of Iraqi people at the hands of U.S. forces, long before the western media admitted what was happening at Abu Ghraib. We are some of the few internationals left in Iraq who are telling the truth about what is happening to the Iraqi people We hope that we can continue to do this work and we pray for the speedy release of our beloved teammates.
"We are very worried about our four friends. We fear that whoever is holding them has made a mistake. Norman, Tom, James and Harmeet are four men who came to Iraq to work for peace and explain their opposition to the occupation. They are not spies."
- CPT Iraq Team
We can confirm the identities of those who are being held as follows:
Tom Fox, age 54, is from Clearbrook, Virginia and is a dedicated father of two children. For the past two years, Mr. Fox has worked with CPT in partnership with Iraqi human rights organizations to promote peace. Mr. Fox has been faithful in the observance of Quaker practice for 22 years. While in Iraq, he sought a more complete understanding of Islamic cultural richness. He is committed to telling the truth to U.S. citizens about the horrors of war and its effects on ordinary Iraqi civilians and families as a result of U.S. policies and practices.Mr. Fox is an accomplished musician. He plays the bass clarinet and the recorder and he loves to cook. He has also worked as a professional grocer. Mr. Fox devotes much of his time to working with children. He has served as an adult leader of youth programs and worked at a Quaker camp for youth. He has facilitated young people's participation in opposing war and violence. Mr. Fox is a quiet and peaceful man, respectful of everyone, who believes that "there is that of God in every person" which is why work for peace is so important to him.
Norman Kember, age 74, is from London, England.He and his wife of 45 years have two married daughters and a 3-year old grandson. He has been a pacifist all his life beginning with his work in a hospital instead of National Service at age 18. Before his retirement he was a professor teaching medical students at St Bartholemew's Hospital in London. He is well-known as a peace activist, and has been involved in several peace groups. For the past 10 years he has volunteered with a local program providing free food to the homeless. He likes walking, birdwatching, and writing humorous songs and sketches. In his younger days he enjoyed mountaineering.
James Loney, 41, is a community worker from Toronto, Canada. He has been a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams since August 2000, and is currently the Program Coordinator for CPT Canada. On previous visits to Iraq, his work focused on taking testimonies from families of detainees for CPT's report on detainee abuse, and making recommendations for securing basic legal rights. James was leading the November 2005 delegation in Iraq when he went missing.James is a peace activist, writer, trained mediator, and works actively with two Toronto community conflict resolution services. He has spent many years working to provide housing and support for homeless people.In a personal statement from James to CPT, he writes: "I believe that our actions as a people of peace must be an expression of hope for everyone. My hope in practising non-violence is that I can be a conduit for the transformative power of God's love acting upon me as much as I hope it will act upon others around me."
Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32 is a Canadian electrical engineer. He is studying for a masters degree in English literature in Auckland University in New Zealand to prepare for a teaching career. He enjoys art, is active in squash and worked part time as a local squash coach. His family describes him as peaceful and fun-loving and he is known to be passionate about the plight of the underprivileged around the globe. He works tirelessly in his spare time to educate and help others.
Statement of Conviction
In a "Statement of Conviction," the long-term Team members stated that they "are aware of the many risks both Iraqis and internationals currently face," and affirmed that the risks did not outweigh their purpose in remaining. They express the hope that "in loving both friends and enemies and by intervening non-violently to aid those who are systematically oppressed, we can contribute in some small way to transforming this volatile situation."
Christian Peacemaker Teams has been present in Iraq since October 2002, providing first-hand, independent reports from the region, working with detainees of both United States and Iraqi forces, and training others in non-violent intervention and human rights documentation. Iraqi friends and human rights workers have welcomed the team as a nonviolent, independent presence. CPT teams host regular delegations of committed peace and human rights activists to conflict zones, who join teams in working with civilians to document abuses and develop nonviolent alternatives to armed conflict. The CPT Iraq Team has hosted a total of 120 people on sixteen delegations over the last three years.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is a violence reduction program. Teams of trained peacemakers work in areas of lethal conflict around the world. In addition to the Iraq Team, teams of CPT workers are currently serving in Barrancabermeja, Colombia; Hebron and At-Tuwani, Palestine; Kenora, Ontario, Canada; and on the Mexico-United States border.
Project Overview
CPT in Iraq: Shifting Sands for Peacemakers
Click here for an overview of CPT program work in Iraq.
Contact
CPT Iraq in Baghdad: 07901-339-537
CPT in Canada: Doug Pritchard 416-423-5525
__________________________________
http://electroniciraq.net/news/2208.shtml
Statement about kidnapped CPT members by Palestinian political parties (Arabic & English)
Statement, Various Palestinian factions
30 November 2005
Following the abduction of four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq, Palestinian political factions gathered in Hebron to issue a statement in Arabic about their experiences of seeing the CPT working in Palestine, and their personal knowledge of the three kidnapped members and their important work on behalf of the Palestinian people. Original Arabic version provided by CPT Hebron. English translation by the Electronic Intifada, posted for informational purposes.
In the name of God, the Compassionate and Merciful"O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done."-The Holy Qur'an, 49:6The Islamic and National forces in the governorate of Hebron/Palestine express their deep regret for the kidnapping of four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) in Iraq.The Islamic and National forces in the governorate of Hebron/Palestine have had long experience confronting Israeli crimes and violations with the CPT since 1995, and wish to confirm that the members of this group have had and still have a major role in confronting Israeli crimes and violations, and in the protection of the property and the lives of the Palestinian citizens.More than once they placed themselves in front of the occupation's tanks, and they confronted Israeli occupation bulldozers with their bodies defending Palestinians' homes against destruction. They accompanied our children when they were threatened and attacked by Israeli settlers on their way to and from their schools. Because of what they were doing, the CPT members were subjected to arrest, beating and pursuit by the Israeli soldiers and settlers in more than one location in Palestine. Many of them were denied entry to Palestine, or deported by the occupation authorities because of their activities in confronting the occupation.We appeal to our brothers in the resistance and all those with alert consciences in Iraq, with whom we consider ourselves to be in the same trench confronting American aggression and occupation, to instantly and quickly release the four kidnapped persons (two Canadians, one Briton and one American) from CPT, in appreciation for their role in standing beside and supporting our Palestinian people and all the Arab and Islamic peoples.Freedom for the Iraqi and Palestinian people.Shame and disgrace on the Zionist and American occupation.
The Islamic and National Forces in the Governorate of Hebron:Islamic Resistance Movement/HamasPalestine People's PartyDemocratic Front for the Liberation of PalestineDemocratic Union of Palestine/FadaFatahPopular Front for the Liberation of PalestinePalestinian Liberation FrontPalestinian Popular Struggle Front
Hebron, 29 November 2005
__________________________________
http://www.cpt.org/hebron/hebron.php
Hebron: Palestinians offer their help to gain freedom for kidnapped CPTers
On 30 November 2005 the National and Islamic Forces in Hebron held a press conference to ask for the release of four CPTers being held by an Iraqi armed group. They released a joint statement expressing their "sorrow at the kidnapping of four of the peace advocates from the CPT in Iraq."
The first speaker was Sheikh Najib Al Ja'abri, who hosted the press conference at the Ali Baka'a Mosque in the Haret e-Sheikh neighborhood of Hebron. He spoke of his warm sense of working together with CPTers over the years. The second speaker was Abdul 'Alim Dana of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, followed by Fahmi Shahin, Coordinator of the National and Islamic Forces in Hebron, representing the Palestine People's Party.
Naim Daour, Public Relations Director for Hebron University, talked about repeated closures of the university and CPT's work to help to re-open the university. "Sometimes it is hard to tell who is working for us and who is against us, but really Christian Peacemaker Teams helps us - whoever is holding the CPTers has made a mistake." Fariel Abu Haikal, Headmistress of Qurtuba Girls' School, emphasized the difference between CPTers and the American government. "Saif al-Haq ('Sword of Justice,' the Iraqi armed group holding the CPTers) I don't know, but these problems in Iraq, they come from George Bush. He is the problem, not CPT." She described the accompaniment that CPTers have provided for teachers and students at her school, who are often assaulted by Israeli settlers from the nearby settlement of Beit Hadassah.
The last Palestinian to speak was Jamal Miqbal of Beit Ummar. Jamal and his family live in the shadow of the Israeli settlement of Karme Tzur, and the Israeli military issued a demolition order on their home. Many CPTers have stayed at their home, both in tense times when the Miqbals feared that the bulldozer would come, and in more relaxed seasons.
At the conclusion of the press conference, CPTers read this message:
"We are very worried about our four friends. We fear that whoever is holding them has made a mistake. They are four men who went to Iraq to work for peace. They oppose the occupation. They are not spies."
CPT Hebron feels deep gratitude for the efforts of these speakers, and for the organizers who worked so hard on behalf of the CPTers taken hostage in Iraq. As the participants left, one after another stopped to express their sympathy, and their hope that the hostages will soon be free.
__________________________________
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_hostages_4;_ylt=AhBkP7KrRQmvLY5UCwNglmjlWMcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5bGVna3NhBHNlYwNzc3JlbA--
Sunni Group Seeks Release of Five Hostages
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press WriterWed Nov 30, 5:00 PM ET
An influential Sunni clerical group called Wednesday for the release of five Westerners taken hostage in a grim revival of the kidnappings that shook Iraq last year, saying they should be freed on humanitarian grounds.
The Association of Muslim Scholars is believed to have contacts with some Sunni insurgent groups and has helped mediate the releases of other captives in Iraq.
The five include four aid workers from the group Christian Peacemaker Teams — Tom Fox, 54, of Clearbrook, Va.; Norman Kember, 74, of London; and James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, of Canada — and German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff, 43.
The association said freeing Osthoff would recognize Germany's "positive" stand toward Iraq. Germany strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Osthoff and her Iraqi driver were seized Friday and were later pictured in a videotape blindfolded on a floor, with militants armed with a rocket-propelled grenade standing beside them.
In the northern city of Mosul, the head of the regional antiquities department, Muzahem Mahmoud al-Zawbai, said he warned authorities Osthoff was not safe and that he could not be responsible for her security due to insurgent activity. It was unclear if the authorities relayed the warning to Osthoff, who was working to renovate an historic house.
Stephan Kroll, an archaeologist at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian University, where Osthoff studied, said she had told colleagues she was worried "something could happen to her."
Osthoff said she had been "stopped and held" on several occasions by unidentified groups seeking money, Kroll said. "She said she always got away because she could speak Arabic and because she told them she was on a humanitarian mission."
Kroll said Osthoff left the institute in 1991 without completing her master's degree and had "very limited expertise" as an archaeologist. He said he doubted reports that antiquities smugglers could have kidnapped her because she was disturbing their work.
University staff and friends pleaded with Osthoff not to go back to Iraq, but "she never listened. She went her own way," Kroll said. "She thought it was her mission to help the people."
The statement from the Muslim clerics said Osthoff was married to an Iraqi Muslim, "who is a member of the Shammar tribe from Mosul." The tribe, one of Iraq's largest, includes Shiites as well as Sunni clans. Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer is a senior Shammar figure.
The kidnappers have threatened to kill Osthoff and her driver unless Germany halts contacts with the Iraqi government. German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed in a speech before parliament Wednesday that her government would "not let ourselves be blackmailed" by militants.
Germany's ZDF television broadcast pictures of German Ambassador Bernd Erbel meeting with the Association of Muslim Scholars on Monday in Baghdad.
The ZDF report said there were indications the kidnappers were Sunnis linked to the former ruling Baath party, but did not identify the source of its information.
The four Christian aid workers were taken captive Saturday and appeared in a video broadcast Tuesday by Al-Jazeera television. A previously unknown group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade claimed they were spies.
The aid group they belonged to dismissed the allegation.
"These accusations are made routinely in these cases, without evidence of any kind and simply a justification for holding foreign nationals," Robin Buyers, a coordinator for Christian Peacemaker Teams, said Wednesday.
In urging the men's release, the Association of Muslim Scholars said freeing them would recognize their "good efforts in helping those in need."
Iraqi police suspect the kidnappings may be part of an insurgent plan to sow disorder ahead of Dec. 15 elections, but U.S. officials have refused to speculate about the motive.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday there was "no information to suggest that these (abductions) are connected."
"Our embassy officials are working closely with Iraqi officials and officials from other missions whose citizens are being held to locate and secure the release of these individuals," he said.
Some security experts believe the spate of kidnappings may be due to lax security. Although many foreigners were taken hostage last year, abductions tapered off after the fall of the insurgent bastion Fallujah to a U.S.-led assault in November 2004.
"It depends on availability of victims for kidnapping. People might have lowered their guards," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the RAND Corp. in Washington.
Insurgents may also be mixing up their tactics to draw attention, turning to kidnappings after an intense period of car bombings and suicide attacks, he said.
"Kidnappings of Iraqis have continued and never stopped," and the latest snatching of Westerners "may be the result of carelessness" in security, agreed Joost Hiltermann of International Crisis Group based in Amman, Jordan.
Another terrorism expert, Evan F. Kohlman, said the abductors may be seeking ransom.
"These are not hardcore insurgent groups," he said. "The more publicity they get about kidnapping, the better chance to make money."
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Associated Press writers Stephen Graham in Berlin; Maggie Michael in Cairo, Egypt; Rob Gillies in Toronto; and Sindbad Ahmed in Mosul contributed to this report.
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