Some of the news in Palestine Today

I've been reading through the news and here's some of the stuff I found. It's all in english so folks can read it. I found things on the financial things going on, fighting between jews and arabs, martyrdom, and more. All this in one day of news. Heavy on my heart.

Israeli settlers cut olive tress in West Bank
Please wait ... West Bank, October 13, 2008 (Ramattan) – Israeli settlers on Monday cut more than 20 olive trees in the West Bank village of Gith, Palestinian farmers said. Jews from the settlement of Havat Gilad attacked Olive farms in several Cities of West Bank in the season of olive harvest.

Israeli seals West Bank Please wait ... Jerusalem. October 13, 2008 (Ramattan) – Israel security forces announced on Sunday night sealing off West Bank from Monday until midnight October 21, restricting the movement of Palestinian in the West Bank cities.

Security tight in riot-torn Acre

A number of houses in Acre have been torched in the riots

Hundreds of Israeli police officers have been deployed to the northern city of Acre after four days of violence between Arabs and Jews.

Overnight Jewish and Arab demonstrators threw stones at each other, before being dispersed by the security forces.

On Sunday the normally busy Old City was reported to be almost empty.

More than 50 people have been arrested since Wednesday when an Israeli-Arab man was assaulted for driving his car during the Jewish Yom Kippur holy day.

Just married and determined to die

Umm Anas was at the centre of a highly-staged event, but she was far from a cipher

There is a ceasefire in Gaza, but the BBC has found evidence of militant groups preparing for a return to violence. One group, Islamic Jihad, is training female suicide bombers.

Middle East correspondent Paul Wood went to meet a Palestinian woman who volunteered.

Palestinian PM Fayyad: ‘We Are at a Crossroads’ ‘Two-state Solution Teetering under Weight of Half Million Settlers’

October 13, 2008 - Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told a group of prominent American Palestinians in Washington on Sunday night that “we are at a crossroads" that could either lead to either "a bumpy road to peace" or the other way as "the two-state solution is teetering under the weight of 170 (illegal Jewish colonial) settlements and almost half a million settlers. And the time for a two-state solution is running out," Claude Salhani of the Middle East Times reported.

International support to PA may be decreased due to global crisis

Ramallah / PNN – The Ramallah government headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is expressing concerns over the global financial crisis beyond price increases and a poor exchange rate. After decades of occupation the Palestinian economy relies heavily on aid for projects in infrastructure, including schools and security, but the Ministry of Planning said this week that funding outside parties may not top the priorities of donor countries who are themselves in trouble.

Threat to Islamic heritage of Jerusalem reaches critical juncture

Jerusalem / PNN - Incurring into Al Aqsa Mosque during a Jewish holiday was a dangerous attempt to link the Israeli agenda to the Muslim holy site. During the Yom Kippur holiday, as threats were levied against the Mosque, throngs of Jewish worshippers descended. Just days later a synagogue opened meters away from Al Aqsa. Dr. Hassan Khater, Secretary General of the Islamic – Christian Front for the Defense of Jerusalem, says a particularly dangerous period has been entered.

Things my father never told me A.K.A. Ramallah living A.K.A. A Palestinian wedding 1

It's 11:30am.
(downtown at night)
I wander about, walking from near the Municipal building by my Aunts house, to downtown near the circle and the lion in the center of the street. Right in front of me is a place called Stars & Bucks and it makes me laugh every time I see it.

Women and men mull about as a mans voice echoes through the stone streets from the Mosque a few block away. It's time to hear the call to prayer. There aren't many children in sight since they are still in school. Shop keepers yell out for potential buyers.

"Khamsa Shekel! Araba Shekel!"

They hold candy, koosa, hummus. They hold dreams, wishes, and far off desires.



My father never told me that Palestinian weddings are layered like cakes or onions or mountainous landscape, winding and lasting and going until the morning comes. The bride and groom wind down their new road together, a step at a time to be placed on a seat before the rest of us. Only women and children are allowed to be near the bride and groom for all this time, unless much later, when pictures and posing are introduced and every family member must bring a bit of gold, 4 kisses and a smile to the new bride and her groom.

My father never told me of the traditional wear women dress in. The colorful hijabs, the layers of gold upon their chests, their arms, their hands, their heads. Colors of bright blues and greens and yellows and reds. These women with their darkened eye lashes and red lips, thick white foundation on their cheeks and a twist of their hips. The dance they dance with their arms and hips hits beats to drums in the music. We watch, we clap, we laugh, we dance. So goes it at a Palestinian wedding.

Uncle Nasser

My Uncle Nasser is 43. He smokes like a chimney night and day. He's one of my father's younger brothers. He has 6 children ranging from 13-2 and his wife, Maha, 34, is tired and run down but loves being a wife and mother.
His face is always round and happy, even when he's mad. The eyebrows are what gives the mood away. The older he's gotten, the more he looks like my father. Same round face. Same mustache. Same round cheeks. Same chestnut wavy hair cut short. Same pretty eyes and long lashes. Same hearty laugh and jiggle of the belly when he laughs.

They were very much like brothers in their mannerisms and their looks.

His children Ola, Ala, Amer, Hibah, Tasneem and Mohammad are the perfect combination of Uncle Nasser and Aunt Maha. His daughters Ola, Hibah and Tasneem look very much alike and look a lot like my Uncle Thaer's daughters (he's the youngest of my dad's siblings). The older boys Ala and Amer look a lot like our other cousins sons looked when they were young boys. The baby Mohammad looks a lot like my dad looked as a toddler.

Like in my Aunt Haifa's smile, I see the length of my brothers lashes, the roundness in my sisters cheeks, the heartiness of my laugh, in my uncle. And when I see those things in him, I also see them in my father and it helps me to be closer to him.

Oct 6th: Inti Bait Firas

My Aunt Haifa, who is one of my father's older sisters, gave me several pictures of my father from when he was a teenager. In my entire life, I've only seen 2 pictures of my dad from his younger years that I can remember. One from when he was about 5 and the other from when he was around 16 or 17. Neither one was very clear. In this one, I look even more like him. It made me cry to see all these pictures and how happy he looked in so many of them. I miss his smile. But then again, when I smile, he is smiling. Yanni, Inti Bait Firas. I'm Firas's daughter.

Palestine smells like home and Rimawi's everywhere: Part one

It's been some what of a mystery as to why we all fell out of touch, as to why the family that was near to me through my father was no longer near to me once he was gone. Of course things like that are never done on purpose, but nevertheless, there was a piece missing inside of me that was connected to their part of my family.

I haven't really had a chance to write since I've been here so I'm using the quiet time I have now that folks are at work and school to write.

I love the way Palestine smells. It's so homey. I love the smell of Palestine. The sites and sounds. The smiles and the laughter of children. It makes me feel warm. Makes me feel safe. Makes me feel like I've come home.

It's like sweet and bitter and hot and salty. It smells the way I would imagine comfort smelling. It feels like life would be good here for me. Aside from war or oppression, life would be good. Where else isn't like that? The entire world is in turmoil. The entire world is falling apart. Where else can I go?

It's peaceful for me here, like a warm bath or the waves of the ocean playing along your skin hours and hours after you've left the waters. Just comforting.

And here I thought that there were alot of Rimawi's in NYC, but alas there are 10,000 Rimawi's here in Ramallah, mostly based in Beit Rima and then a few more thousand around Palestine.

My grandfather is having a complex built for most of his grandchildren and said that it's here if I want it and I just have to move here. That me, my brothers and sister each have an apartment ontop of one another and it's all paid for. Below the apartments will be stores. Maybe this is where I can put together a business. My uncle said the easiest way to become a citizen is to marry someone here or open a business. I think it's more likely for me to open a business than it is for me to marry someone here. I already have my heart set on someone else.

I'll continue writing later. I want to help my aunt cook, even though they don't want me doing much. At least I'll sit and talk with her and have some arabic coffee. Yum!
And I wanted to add more more pictures of Ramallah in here today, but the bloggy thing isn't working right. Maybe tomorrow or so it'll work fine.

Eyes like mine: Meeting some of the family

It's my first night in Ramallah and I am exhausted. I need to sleep after flying through the Ukraine and waiting and waiting and waiting to get into Tel Aviv and then having to wait there some more when they couldn't find a bunch of our luggage and having to have them tell me that I have to wait until Sunday to get it.
It amazes me just how backwards and careless some folks are.
In any event, I got here and saw these family members for the first time. I see now where Jamelah gets the other part of her smile from, because it's so much like my Aunt Haifa's. The shape of her mouth, her lips. Jamelah's are so much like our mother's, but they are also very much like Aunt Haifa. And her mouth is also like mine. So wide and welcoming.
And her eyes. Her eyes remind me of my father. Not so much in the shape or the color, but what they say, the knowledge they hold. The deeper meaning behind them. Her eyes are like mine. Her eyes are like my father's. She is my father's older sister, so we have a kinship there in having siblings younger than you. She's small, with wide hips and a full laugh, a jiggle of the inside and the soul.
And she wants to feed me all day. I feel welcomed. I feel good to be here.
I can't wait for the rest of the days. It's 9:14pm here right now.
Tomorrow Uncle Naser is coming with my grandfather and his children and I think my other aunt Hitaf. So I need to get to bed soon so that I have the energy to walk around with them all day tomorrow.

I'll be around, with more detail later when I'm less sleepy.

Less than a week until I leave

I've been so excited. I am excited. I'm ready to be there. Ready to do all the things I want to do, all the things I plan on doing, all the new things that may happen that I haven't planned. I'm excited.

But also very nervous. Very nervous about so many things.

Its like this hole that been in my heart about who I am and where I come from. In my soul and slowly, it feels like coming home. Palestine feels like home to me. It always has, it's just been out of reach. And now I get to reach it. It's always scary to get what you want. But I'm going head first into my fear and nervousness and going to experience everything that it has to offer.
Another reason I've been nervous is because of the news. Some of the news has been ok. Some of the news hasn't been very good and it makes me wonder how much traveling from town to town I'll be able to do. I check the news, all news sources to get all sides to see whats going on.

I know I'll be ok. I have this strong feeling, deep inside me. Just like the feeling I felt that I knew that NOW was the time for me to go. Just like that feeling, I know I'll be ok. But it still makes me nervous. I don't know what the soldiers will say. I don't know if someone will have had their last straw and board a bus I'm on and take his/her and everyone else life. I don't know. I guess no one knows.
I'm going with very positive energy and a very positive attitude.

But I can, of course only control myself. We'll see what happens. Next week on Thursday, I'll be flying. Thats another nerve-wracking thing. I hate flying. And it's going to be cloudy and possibly rainy. UGH!
It's time for bed. It's time for reading my arabic.

Min fadlek read my blogs as they come along through October. I want to share my experience with everyone. I've noticed I've been getting more traffic on both blogs. I'm really glad. And excited.

Until later.

Here are some articles I found. Good news, Bad news, Scary news. All going on right now.

Jerusalem crash 'not deliberate'

The family claim the 19-year-old driver was murdered by Israelis

Relatives of a Palestinian who was shot dead after his car ploughed into a group of Israelis at a bus stop have denied it was a deliberate attack.

Nineteen people, mostly soldiers, were treated for light or moderate wounds in the incident in central Jerusalem.

Off duty soldiers shot the 19-year-old driver, in what Israeli police have said was an attack.

"My son was murdered, they killed him. He did not carry out a terrorist attack" said the driver's father.

"This was a car accident. The car stopped after hitting a wall. Why did they kill him?" Mahmoud Mughrabi said at his home in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli police have said they were "100% sure" Qassem Mughrabi intended to carry out a deliberate attack, with one spokesmen saying a failed romance may have been the trigger.

Israeli police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said investigators had found Mr Mughrabi, who had no prior police record, "wanted to marry his cousin but when she refused he apparently decided to carry out the attack".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7631693.stm

A mobile circus to challenge immobility

The beautiful story of the First Palestinian Circus School

The First Palestinian circus school was set up in 2006 when Shadi Zmorrod and Jessika Devlieghere -“father and mother circus”- launched that original project. Based in Ramallah, the school teaches circus arts to children from the West Bank. Bringing much more than circus knowledge to the kids, the school aims to break the barriers– both physical and social- within the Palestinian society, gather people with art, and provide a new way of expression for Palestinian kids. This summer, the Circus school was touring all across the West Bank to present a ‘mobile circus’ filled with Palestinian and Danish performers, joy, motivation and audience’s smile.

It all started in a checkpoint, like many Palestinian stories. At one of the biggest ones in the West Bank -Qalandia- were we met on a Saturday the members of the Palestinian Circus School. It is 3’o clock in the afternoon, and the sun is burning while some 25 teenagers and circus performers are waiting and queuing behind the gates of the checkpoints to leave Ramallah for a day and attend their first performance in Jerusalem.

Sebastian, circus performer from Denmark at Qalandya checkpoint

Pictures: Thomas Freteur

Amongst the teenagers, there’s Mays, Nayef, Marah, Ashtar, Hazar or Fadi … 10 Palestinian circus trainers and students along with Ramit, Mariam, Sebastian, Steffen, ... 7 professional circus performers from Denmark who came to Palestine for cultural cooperation.

The beautiful story of the circus started several years ago when Shadi Zmorrod, a young Palestinian actor discovered randomly circus art in 2000. Two years later, he met Jessika, a Belgian woman who came to Palestine a couple of years ago and fell in love both with the country, the man and the project and decided to stay in the country. Together, they start up a circus project that then became a school. They started out of nothing but now, the determined dreamers have performed with the school in Europe and Palestine, training more than 130 kids in the West Bank.

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article609

Eid al-Fitr arrives to empty pockets

26.09.08 - 11:32

PNN / Fadi Yacoub - Under the Israeli siege and closure imposed on the Gaza Strip, and with the deteriorating economic situation that has followed, the coming Eid al-Fitr is looking bleak. This year is the worst yet, according to many in the Palestinian street. There is little money, prices are up and the dollar is down so low that the world market is being hit hard. Ghazi says there are many obstacles preventing the Eid celebration. He told PNN that in Gaza there is nowhere to go except to walk on the beach. "There is no money to shop or go to cafes." The Gaza resident continued, “The financial hardship experienced by citizens because of underpayment or nonpayment of salaries is an additional hardship to the other factors which include price increases because of the continued Israeli closure of the Gaza crossings.”

http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3624&Itemid=1



Abbas: Israeli, US Leadership Changes Won’t Deter Peace Efforts
AHLC Urges Israel to Relax Restrictions, Pledge $300m to PNA

23/09/2008

Palestine Media Center – PMC

En route to his summit meeting at the White House with U.S. President George W. Bush on September 25, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in Dublin, at a joint press conference with the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Miche?l Martin, that the uncertainty caused by leadership changes in Israel and the United States will not deter efforts to further the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Meanwhile a group of international donors pledged nearly $300 million in new aid to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), according to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, at a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC), which urged Israel in a statement Monday to curb its settlement activity and relax restrictions on the West Bank and Gaza Strip in order to help revive the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=2024

Settlers raid 'Asira al-Qibliya and attack residents, Sept. '08.

Over the past year, settlers from Yitzhar and the surrounding area have sharply stepped up violent acts in nearby Palestinian villages. The attacks include throwing stones at passing cars, physically attacking farmers, burning down crops, and stealing livestock. On 14 Sept., after a Palestinian stabbed a Jewish boy and burnt down a caravan in the Shalhevet Yam settlement near Yitzhar, dozens of settlers raided the village of ‘Asira al-Qibliya. They threw stones, fired into the air, broke windows, drew Stars of David on walls of homes and widely damaged property. Testimonies given to B’Tselem indicate that soldiers were present at the time, yet did nothing to prevent the settlers' actions, and fired at the Palestinians.

http://www.btselem.org/English/Video/20080913_SB_Settler_riot_in_Asira_al_Qibliya.asp

Finding out everything I can about Palestine

See, of course I know all the things I've been told, but there are also a lot of other bits of information out there about the land, about the history of all the towns, about the spots that are most beautiful (and most heart breaking). I've been looking into them today and I'm preparing to list out all the places I want to try and see next month.

And that is another thing. It's already September 9th. In less than a month, I'll be there. I fly out the evening of Oct 2nd and I come back the evening of Oct 28th. I can't believe I'm actually going.

Here are some of the things I found that I may want to check out. I know of course there will be things I find out about when I get there, BUT I also wanted to see if I could find some things in advance.

So here's what I've got so far. The list will grow of course. I have a month to explore.

http://www.telaviv4fun.com/galilee.html

Although this site is very much from an Israeli perspective, it gives an interesting insight into places to visit. This is just one of the links on the site that talks about Galilee, which looks really beautiful. I know I want to go there, but also on that site, they talk about The Dead SEA, Jerusalem (also because I know people who live there who I'll be seeing as well), Haifa (if I can get there since it's a little ways away from where I'll be spending most of my time), Tel Aviv (even though I know if I come in touch with a fucked up Israeli, I'm not sure I can hold my tongue, which will get me in trouble... but I'd like to visit it too and I'm flying into and out of there, so maybe I can do it on my way out to make it easy...i dunno), Ramallah (of course since I'll be all up in there with the familia, but also, apparentl, there is an amazing "night life" which I'd like to see... because there's isn't too much info and I want to see what folks mean by that) and Beit Rima if I can get to it since I'm a Rimawi from Beit Rima.

These are just some of the places I'd like to explore wholly or as much as possible. This won't be my last trip, so I can see more the next time but I'm not sure when next time will be.

I don't know in what order I'll be doing this and how much time I'll be in each, but yeah, just wanted to share while I looked all over the place at everything there is to see