Girls, Friends, PEACEMAKERS…the dreadfull news about Bessan hurts so much… the moment i read it i felt a phisicly strong pain in my chest, my stomach, and it spread out in all my body. i feel so sick… i didn’t know her. i think most of us didn’t. but what connects us to Bessan is that other then knowing the suffering she’s been through, growing up in the same conflict– we have ALL gone through the same experience at CFP. and every girl who belongs to the CFP family, works for peace- for the chance of a better future for ALL innocent people who were born into this situation. People who don’t want to live in terror and destruction.

In my name, the Israeli government claims the voice of millions of Jews who are silent all over the world.

In my name, Israeli leaders force young soldiers to commit war crimes against humanity for which we will one day be held accountable.

I call out to my friends serving in the IDF today.  As soldiers, we are taught and trained that war is between two armies.  Let us be clear, the bombing of innocent civilians in Gaza is NOT a war.  It is a MASSACRE.  It is a crime against Palestinians, against myself and against all of humanity.  This absurdity does nothing to advance the health, welfare or safety of Jews.

I was taught in school that Palestine was “a land without a people, for a people without a land.”  Today’s mainstream media presents the Hamas rocket firings as anti-Semitic attacks against innocent Israelis.  This does not take into account forty-two years of a brutal occupation, which I witnessed, and over sixty years of displacement for millions of Palestinian refugees. Many of us do not have the full picture of what is happening on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza until it is too late.  It has been too late for too long.

Jewish history lessons have taught us never to blindly follow orders.  This is the time for brave Israeli soldiers to refuse those orders.  Do not allow scared old men to dictate our reality!

In cities around the world, people are coming together today to protest American funded Israeli aggression.  Today Jews are gathering to reclaim our voice and Israelis must gather to reclaim their conscience.  Everyone has the right to a home, food and safety.  All human life is sacred; no one people deserves to live more than another.

I would like to thank organizers across the country for today’s demonstrations.  I’m here to ask for your support for Palestinian, Israeli and international grassroots organizations working on the ground who provide medical supplies, food and humanitarian aid.  These organizers transcend political and religious differences and address our urgent common concerns.

I am reassured and proud to add my voice to the thousands of protesters around the world.  Christians, Muslims and Jews are united in this call for the cessation of senseless violence in the Middle East.  There is a force in the world that is greater than fear.

This was written by Micha Kurz living in Taos, New Mexico and creator of www.grassrootsJerusalem.org

May her memory be a blessing…and work with Israel and Palestinian children continue.

Eighteen years ago, my best friend and daughter Yasha and niece Madhu’s “creative” Bat Mitzvah teacher, left the earth for a higher purpose despite our love for having this “tzadikah” in our lives. While I was designing the sterling silver Jerusalem Peace Hand, Ruti was personalizing hand painted Women’s Prayer shawls on silk. She understood the delicate dance between the material and spiritual world in art and reality. She must have been chosen to depart at the early age of 29 as the best soul to greet the child victims of the Gulf War and Israel/Palestinian conflicts as an Angel.

Ruti Hafsadi (1961-1991) was an internationally renowned textile artist of Kurdish Israeli background. She was an educator in several Jewish and secular schools in the Bay Area for seven years. Before she died of a rare form of cancer, she set the groundwork for a project to bring together Palestinian and Israeli young people.

Luckily in my newly adopted state of New Mexico, Creativity for Peace is working in the same vane as Ruti did. They bring together youth who live in close proxity, but never meet because of the political and cultural divide.

Creativity for Peace is a year-round program that brings adolescent girls from Palestine and Israel out of the violence and conflict of their communities into the safe New Mexico countryside for a three-week summer program that teaches leadership and communication skills and promotes understanding, trust and reconciliation.

Upon their return home, the girls continue to strengthen coexistence through regularly organized meetings, email, and telephone conferencing. The friendships continue to thrive and grow as they create new relationships that cross religious and cultural boundaries. The girls bring the power of their experiences and fresh perspective into the lives of their families and friends.

The program results in the development of deep friendships, which lead to reconciliation and a true desire for social justice and peaceful coexistence not only among participants but also throughout the communities to which they return.

I am blessed to see this spark of creativity which Ruti had so many years ago, continuing in this 10 year old camp which makes a real difference on the ground in the lives of Israeli and Palestinians citizens.

Written by Katya Miller http://www.culturalimages.net

On the 4th November, while the US was focused on our residential election, the Israeli army violated the ceasefire by raiding the Gaza Strip and killing six Palestinians.  The next day rockets were lobbed once again into Sderot.  Israel reacted by slashing supplies of medicine, fuel, food, cooking gas for 1.5 million people.  Families were reduced to eating bread made from animal feed.

But their e-correspondence continued.  “Peaceman and I talk every day. We worry for each other’s well being.  There is much fear and pain on both sides. We call on an end to the violence and an end to the siege in Gaza.  To bring back hope, we must start talking.”

I sit beneath the clear blue New Mexico sky reflecting on the streaks of white phosphorous that filled the sky above the Gaza Strip during the first weeks of January 2009.  White Phosphorus, an illegal and banned weapon when used against civilians (a 1980 addition to the Geneva Conventions), burns to the bone when it comes into contact with human skin and causes multi-organ failure. This “Hazardous Air and Soil Pollutant,” is a Public Health nightmare that will come back to haunt Israel for years. Collective punishment for the citizens of Gaza is strictly forbidden by “international humanitarian law”.

Now that there is a fragile truce.  Let the sky above Gaza remain free of firearms.  Let us use the power of the airwaves to receive the truth from the international press who have been denied access to Gaza.  Let us create a bridge of communication between Israelis and Palestinians who have the power to negotiate a peaceful society based on security and justice for both peoples. We must also promote a Department of Peace in our state as well as nationally to learn to communicate the skills it takes to implement true peace. We are all human beings with simple needs of heart, mind, and spirit on the planet for a limited time. A healthy earth, not a scorched earth, should be passed on to all future generations. 

Katya Miller, creator of the Jerusalem Peace Hand, and host of Another Jewish Voice blog (www.culturalimages.net/blog)

In 2006, I returned to commemorate the 40th year since the war. The family I lived with have died or moved. Fahami was the only person who remembered me from so long ago. When I called the other morning, it was hard to believe his voice came from Silwan, a Palestinian village outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Some Israeli archeologists believe Silwan is built over the ruins of the Biblical city of David. Perhaps. They may have found an ancient tunnel connecting Silwan to the Temple Mount/al Haram al Sharif, a plateau that holds the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aksa Mosques. Excavations have caused roads to cave in and undermined foundations.

“How is your family?” I was not ready to ask about their house.
“We are fine. We are alive. Thanks to God. Enshallah. And how is your family?”
“My daughter is going to have a baby and my son is getting married.”
“Mazel tov,” He said.

After forty years, Fahami welcomed me back like a long lost sister and invited me to a feast. Surrounded by his family, I ate as many stuffed grape leaves and zucchini as my stomach could hold. Sharing food was a respite from the conflict raging outside. Their crowded two-story stone house, built by his grandfather was shared with four of his married children, five grandchildren and a pet gerbil. Israel forbids them to add any rooms. His youngest daughter will graduate from Bennington College this spring. The family looked forward to her return but I wondered what kind of work was available to an American educated Palestinian.

Fahami was trying to save his precious library but he never mentioned this. The building that housed the private library had been condemned for the enlargement of the street. Why should anyone be concerned over a collection of 30,000 books, periodicals and local newspapers issued in the Arab world since ‘67. In a city filled with research centers and historical archives, there are no public libraries for the Palestinian public.

In forty years, nothing has been resolved. People live in a legal limbo under an occupation that affects freedom of movement, access to health care and the ability to work. Fahami’s home is within Jerusalem’s administrative boundary. His family holds precious identity cards granting residency status but not the rights of citizenship.

“What’s happening with your library?”

“It must be moved but I have found a home for my books– inside the Walls.” I breathed a sigh of relief. Jews believe that if you save a life you have saved an entire world. Fahami’s private library– opened to Israelis as well as Palestinians– was a memory key to Palestinian history, every bit as important as the keys to their precious lost homes. Saving this library was akin to saving an entire world.

On the day I left Jerusalem, Fahami arrived at my hotel with a sack full of Jewish artifacts– two sets of sabbath candlestick holders, three menorahs, a mezuzah, a white robe for my husband, two embroidered dresses for me and my daughter and a Hebrew prayer book for my mother. As I light the menorah this year, a gift from my Palestinian friend gives needed light in the dark of the year as we hold onto hope and celebrate friendships across the world.