Wednesday, December 30, 2009

eye opening to be sure...Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos ..A MUST SEE!



Anna Baltzer presents...


Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos




This was an eye-opening 59 minutes to be sure and then the hour after with a handful of folks who showed up was very helpful. My question to this moment is “what is the end game?” so far, all I can come up with is it’s a natural resource grab by a group who is dominating some of the people who have been living and using the resources of the region also. Palestinians have been designated “the other” in the same way other groups of indigenous peoples have many times in the past. As I have explored more at Anna Baltzer’s site, I have seen a movement that I can really stand with. Oh and I really recommended the 2 clips from her quest appearance on Jon Stewart that are linked from her home page.

As a human community I believe we have to constantly recognize each other and stand with those who stand for the common human values we share. It is my belief that humans everywhere want the same things. We all want to live on planet earth with enough water, food, shelter, safety and our communities are the ways we can work together for that life for all humans.

I was very touched by a Jewish woman visitor from New York who attended. She was very knowledgeable and she introduced the word “genocide” and said that she rarely did that because it immediately took on a life of its own and ended any discussion. It’s hard not to ask the question when you witness the living conditions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. I put myself in their place and I can’t even imagine getting through one day. I travel freely at any time I choose. Just having to wonder if it will take 30 minutes or 8 hours to work 25 miles away seems unimaginable and this is a daily fact for many Palestinians. Not knowing if me or my family would be able to reach a hospital if we had an emergency, because it was on the other side of a checkpoint (aka roadblock, in my world), is chilling.

I am horrified that my tax money is going to support a country continuing to violate human rights and my country continues to block UN efforts to hold Israel accountable. Occupations are not won, occupations are ended.
I will be exploring what ways I can be part of the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions movement. It is the nonviolent organized movement that makes sense and gives hope for our human future.
Thank you Code Pink Rebekah for bring this to us.


this issue of Newsweek explains alot to me......we are not getting the facts about what is happening there.

No comments: