Peers,

I’ll never forget the day I met Hanan.  We were in Ramallah at the time.  It was April 16, 2004.  I heard her speak with about 600 people who were in Jerusalem to attend Sabeel’s Fifth International Conference on Christian Zionism.  After Hanan and others spoke, I stood in a line to meet her for the first time.  I gave her one of my cards which is identical to today’s letterhead, and she gave me one of her smiles.  I told her I had read Amazon.com…: This Side of Peace.  I had my picture taken standing in solidarity with her.

We only got a chance to talk for a short time, less than a minute, because there were others waiting in line to speak to her.  But here is the way I will always remember my friend Hanan: Conversations with History: Palestinian Voice Hanan Ashrawi – YouTube (29:47).  That video was produced by the University of California at Berkley.

From my perspective, Peers, Hanan’s presence in New York this month will facilitate the peace process while the United Nations are meeting.  The paper trail is intact.

Note: Those Peers who are new to the mailing list may not know that MIFTAH was founded by Hanan Ashrawi in 1998

Peace,

Roy

Palestine Vote Approaches: Israel in Crisis with surrounding countries. – miftah.org…

Egyptian protesters stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo on September 9-10, tearing down the security wall, throwing documents out of the window and taking down the Israeli flag. The incident, the second in a month, prompted Israel’s ambassador and his family to flee back to Israel and the latter’s relationship with Egypt to hit yet another bump. On September 9, around 500 protesters gathered outside the embassy and lit tires and cars before throwing stones at the embassy and finally breaking in.

“This action shows the state of anger and frustration young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel especially after the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing of Egyptian soldiers,” explained Egyptian political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah.

A senior Israeli official denounced the attack on the embassy, calling it a “blow to peaceful relations.”…

To continue reading the article click here.

Note: The highlights in this news report are mine.   Peace, Roy

Polls in France, UK and Germany show the majority of people back recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN

Article by Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem from commondreams.org…

The majority of people in the UK, France and Germany want their governments to vote in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state if a resolution is brought before the United Nations in the next few weeks, according to an opinion poll.

Portraits of youths pasted on the West Bank barrier show the flags of countries backing the Palestinian bid for statehood. Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters The three European countries are seen as crucial votes in the battle over the Palestinians’ bid for statehood at the UN, which meets next week. All three are pressing for a return to peace negotiations as an alternative to pursuing the statehood strategy, but they have not declared their intentions if it comes to a UN vote….

• The Avaaz poll, carried out by YouGov in the UK and Germany, and Ifop in France, was conducted online, with 2,552 respondents in the UK, 1,017 in Germany and 1,011 in France.

© 2011 The Guardian/UK

To read the full article click here.

Note:   It seems that every day there springs up a new organization or two calling for justice in the Holy Land.  It’s justice that makes peace possible.  Fotonna has been around for a while, but I’ve not circulated their mailings before.   Peace, Roy

FOTONNA NEWSLETTER – TENT OF NATIONS UPDATE –

NOTES FROM DAOUD –

The political situation is tenser now; many people are waiting for what is going to happen at the end of this month. It is becoming a daily subject to talk about, although all political windows seem to be closed, and September is a bad month for the Palestinians.  But, still miracles might happen.  Our situation is becoming more critical after the confiscation of the hill west of the Tent of Nations. Towers for electricity were installed, roads were built to connect the settlements together, and more houses are being built in those settlements.

We have to expect the worst but still hope for the best.  By the end of this year, we will finish almost all projects that will help the Tent of Nations to be self-sustainable and to function even if it will be totally isolated from the city of Bethlehem.  All funds we received from our Friends of Tent of Nations North America were spent on developing the infrastructure as well as for the educational programs we are running – the women’s education center and the children’s summer camp.  In terms of infrastructure, with the funds we received from FOTONNA, we built cisterns for rain water collection, increasing the capacity of rain water storage from 200 cubic meters to 650 cubic meters.  We bought machines and equipment to help in cultivation and planting more fields to increase the land production which will help to bring the Tent of Nations within the coming years to be totally financially independent. The Tent of Nations farm started to produce crops, and our gift shop is full of products the farm is producing.  The products are sold to guest groups.  The wine press we received donated through FOTONNA helped us in doing the processing of the grapes much easier and more efficiently than ever before.

A first-aid facility has been developed on the farm, and next week a medical student is coming to give our five long-term volunteers a first-aid course for two weeks.  Our maintenance workshop is still under development, and we hope to have it functioning very soon….

Many thanks to all of you who believe in Peace with Justice for both Palestinians and Israelis.  Let’s make it happen!!

The read the full article and see Tent of Nations contact details click here.