The London Palestine film festival has simple but radical aims: to constantly push boundaries, disrupt our conventional understandings and make us see it all anew.
Zindeeq, the opening film of the 2011 London Palestine film festival
The perilous art of choosing a film on Palestine for an international audience may appear fraught with elephant traps. Weighted down by more than 40 years of military occupation and 60 years of dispossession, and comprising the largest refugee population in the world, Palestine is a touchstone for passion and political engagement across the world. Is a film about it inherently too political, too ideologically rigid to enlighten, or indeed entertain? Do the unhappy politics of the place trump any chance of critical engagement on a film's artistic merit, or allow room for happy accident and serendipity in choosing a film?
The long-running London Palestine film festival, established at London University more than 20 years ago and held annually at the Barbican since 2005, arrived at a highly unexpected and bold solution to this challenge. It somehow manages to transcend this traditional dilemma by holding fast to a few simple but radical aims: to constantly push boundaries, disrupt our conventional understandings, make us see it all anew, and open it up for us once more. With each screening, discussion, roundtable, photography exhibit, director's conversation and artist's event, the world of Palestine is seen yet again, as if for the first time.
Under this mandate, a serious but ebullient festival has emerged. In order to keep shaking things up, a key premise was to universalise Palestine. Although we are in the midst of a wave of Palestinian film talent, they forgo the confines of a traditional "national cinema" series for an unmistakably internationalist one. This year's festival showcases 30 works by artists working in 12 different countries, and across genres from video art to biopic, puts up work for UK premieres (16 this year), and shows cutting-edge documentaries such as Mahmoud al Massad's mesmerising This Is My Picture When I Was Dead.
It also regularly celebrates archive gems, this year showing the recently restored Far from Vietnam (1967), on which Chris Marker, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Claude Lelouch, Alain Resnais and Joris Ivens all worked. The result is a carnival of cinematic styles and concerns that transcend and unite the historical, the aesthetic, and the political in film, and that is why it works so well. Each film and event challenges – either obliquely or directly – our thinking around Palestine today.
The festival also plays a major role as the platform for introducing Palestinian films and film-makers to UK audiences. Since its inception in 1998, more than 320 works have been shown, nearly half by Palestinians. The festival's focus on Palestinian work unites established and emerging artists. This year's festival opens with Zindeeq (pictured), a remarkable work of sublime beauty. Bold, dangerous and difficult, it is the latest work of pioneering Palestinian auteur Michel Khleifi. But it also contains a body of work from a new generation of film-makers such as May Odeh, Rima Essa and Abdallah al Ghoul.
This year the programme highlights pressing contemporary issues, as well. Vibeke Løkkeberg's astonishing Tears of Gaza offers a searing account of the human impact of the 2008-09 war in Gaza, while a triple-bill on 7 May focuses on the tunnels that furnish Gaza's precarious lifeline. And this year includes the rare chance to see Heiny Srour's 1984 feminist masterwork, Leila and the Wolves (co-presented with Birds Eye View film festival), as well as the UK premiere of Dahna Abourahme's groundbreaking documentary on the women of Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon, The Kingdom of Women. Breathtaking, uplifting, heartbreaking, inspiring: welcome to Palestine.
The London Palestine film festival runs from 29 April to 11 May.
Details: palestinefilm.org
Cairo – PNN – The Egyptian Army Chief of Staff, General Sami Adnan, announced on Saturday that the opening of Rafah crossing located on the southern Gaza Borders with Egypt is a Palestinian-Egyptian matter that Israel do not have the right to interfere in.
Adnan statement was issued on his Facebook page, shortly after the Egyptian Forging Minister Nabiel al-Arabi announced on Thursday that the crossing will be open for supplies and people in both ways next week, ending the four years long siege on Gaza.
On Friday Israeli officials said that the opening of Rafah crossing could affect Israel's national security at a strategic level.
Israeli placed the Gaza Strip under siege in June of 2007. The army closed all crossings leading in and out of Gaza leaving the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the costal enclave in short of Food, fuel and Medical supplies.
Rafah crossing was handed over to the Palestinians by Israel in 2005 under international supervision. In 2006 when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip after ousting President Mahmoud Abbas forces Egypt closed Rafah crossing and only opened it two to three days a month for humanitarian cases only.
Egypt is to permanently open the Rafah border crossing to ease the Israeli blockade on Gaza, Nabil al-Arabi, the country's foreign minister, has said.
Arabi said Egypt would take "important steps to help ease the blockade on Gaza in the few days to come".
Speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, the minister said Egypt would no longer accept that the Rafah border, Gaza's only crossing that bypasses Israel, remain blocked, describing the decision to seal it off as "shameful".
The announcement came days after Hamas, which controls Gaza, and their secular West Bank rivals Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority (PA), agreed to end their rift and form an interim government to prepare for elections.
In talks before the deal, the two sides had discussed reopening the crossing after positioning PA representatives at the border, a condition in a US-brokered 2005 border crossing agreement between Israel and the PA.
Mahmud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, told the AFP news agency that it was understood that the crossing, which under the 2005 agreement was to be monitored by European Union delegates, would be opened after a unity deal.
Israeli Concerns
A senior official in Jerusalem said Israel was "very concerned" about the implications of the Rafah crossing being open.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Hamas had already built up a "dangerous military machine" in northern Sinai which could be further strengthened by opening Rafah.
"What power could they amass if Egypt was no longer acting to prevent that build-up?" the official said.
Earlier this week, unknown assailants in northern Sinai blew up a gas pipeline supplying Israel and Jordan, the second time it has been sabotaged in 10 weeks.
"We are troubled by the developments in Egypt, by the voices calling to annul the peace treaty, by the rapprochement between Egypt and Iran, and by the upgrading of relations between Egypt and Hamas," the Israeli source said.
"These developments potentially have strategic implications for Israel's national security."
Palestinian officials welcomed the Egyptian move, with Saeb Erakat, the PA's chief negotiator, saying it was one step towards loosening the siege on the Gaza Strip.
"We welcome this step by Egypt. We have been pressing them all the time to end the suffering of the people in Gaza, but the real siege is caused by Israel because there are many border crossing with Israel but only one with Egypt," he said.
"We ask Israel to open all the borders to end this crime against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," he said.
Hatem Ewidah, the Hamas official in charge of border crossings in Gaza, also welcomed the move, but stressed it was "important to open the commercial crossing with Egypt" to reduce the impact of the blockade.
Shift in Power
In a reminder of the border tensions, which is honeycombed with tunnels that supply Gaza with everything from cars and cattle to guns, police announced hours after Arabi's comments that smugglers had shot dead an Egyptian soldier on Thursday.
The border has remained largely shut since June 2006 when Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after fighters snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held.
The blockade was tightened a year later when Hamas seized control of the territory, ousting forces loyal to the Western-backed PA.
The UN has called the blockade illegal and repeatedly demanded it be lifted.
Cairo – PNN Exclusive – Palestinian sources confirmed for PNN that Hamas and Fatah have signed in Cairo on Wednesday a deal to end the division and achieve national unity.
Earlier on Wednesday delegations headed by Musa Abu Marzoka, member of Hamas Politburo member, and Azzam al-Ahmad, member of Fatah central committee started talks to reach the long awaited unity deal mediated by the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Nabeel al-Arabi.
Sources close to Azzam al-Ahmad of Fatah told PNN that the deal have in fact been signed adding that al-Ahmad and Abu Marzoka will announced the deal in a press conference at 8:00 PM ( 9:00 PM local Palestinian time).
In a phone call from Cairo al-Ahmad told PNN “we have reached reconciliation deal and both Fatah and Hamas have signed it.”
According to sources in Cairo that Fatah and Hamas signed the initial deal, while other Palestinian groups will arrive in Cairo within a week to sign the deal as well.
The Islamic movement Hamas is at loggerheads with Fatah, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, since Hamas won the parliamentary elections in January of 2006. Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip ending months of bloody conflict with Fatah allied security forces. Egypt and other Arab countries attempts of reaching a reconciliation deal between the two largest Palestinian factions have failed so far.
According to internal sources the agreement will include the formation of a care taker government until elections take place in both the West Bank and Gaza.
"[Palestinian unity] is the best weapon we have against the occupation," said Senior Fatah Central Committee member Azam al-Ahmad following the announcement of reconciliation agreement in Cairo.
At 9:00pm last night, representatives from Palestine’s two authorities, Fateh and Hamas, announced their reconciliation following talks begun in Damascus earlier this year. Now in Egypt, the reunified Palsetinian leaderships from Gaza and the West Bank have invited all of Palestine’s disparate groups to gather together in Cairo, set aside their differences, and focus on ending the occupation.
Two days ago, tens of thousands of Palestinians pressured Fateh and Hamas to reconcile via a Facebook page, building on the momentum and demands of the March 15 youth movement.
Diplomatic sources told the Jerusalem Post that "the recent upheavals in the Arab world, as well as the release in February by Al Jazeera of the ’Palestine Papers’ that provided details of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under Ehud Olmert’s government, has led the Palestinians to hunker down in rigid positions. The sources said that this ’rigidity’ in the Palestinian positions was made clear to Quartet representatives when they met twice over the last three weeks with Saeb Erekat."
Al Jazeera English’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara stated the reconciliation deal is a result of the geopolitical reality following the Arab Spring sweeping Palestine and Israel’s neighbors.
"At the end, you could say that President Abbas has lost his patron in Egypt, which is President Mubarak, and Hamas is more on less facing almost similar trouble now, with Bashar Al-Assad [Syria’s president] facing his own trouble in Damascus,"Bishara said. "So with the US keeping a distance, Israel not delivering the goods on the peace process and the settlements, it was time for Palestinians to come together and agree on what they basically agreed on almost a year and a half ago."
ISRAEL THREATENS
"Even before the details of the reconciliation deal were officially [announced], Israel attacked the agreement," Egyptian official Al-Ahmad said.
President Benjamin Netanyahu was the first to respond to the deal. He went on the attack.
"The PA must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There is no possibility for peace with both," Netanyahu said. Beset on all sides - Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt are all facing differeing levels of insurrection and revolution - Knesset is keeping both eyes open as the Arab Spring blossoms across the region. If a new regime in Egypt will accept Sadat-era peace agreements or old gas deals are questions worrying Israel, comfortable in the status quo of hushed yet rapid settlement growth, a siege around Gaza, and increasing interior culls of citizen freedoms.
Netanyahu added that his ultimatum would change evaporate if a reunified Palestinian movememnt disavowed violence, recognized Israel and accept previous agreements like the Oslo Accords.
Barak Obama’s administration has tread lightly, with the National Security Council expressing guarded optimism for a potential empowerment of democratically-elected Hamas, a group considered by Washington a terrorist organization. Congressmen told the New York Times the millions of US funds to the PA will be reconsidered.
Republican politicians will host Netanyahu in Washington next week, and have called for suspension of aid to the PA. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and other right-wing Israeli politicians have also threatened to withhold tax revenue collected by Israel because the PA has crossed the red line.
Abbas Tells Israeli Delegation Netanyahu does not want Peace
RAMALLAH, April 28, 2011 (WAFA) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday told an Israeli peace delegation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want peace.
Abbas received the Israeli delegation at his headquarters in Ramallah to discuss the initiative, which calls for establishing two states living in peace next to each other and for finding a solution to the refugee question and Jerusalem.
Abbas told the Israeli delegation that he was very close to reaching a peace agreement with Israel when former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had headed the government. However, he said, when Netanyahu came to office he wanted to start from point zero.
“We were very close but couldn’t conclude (an agreement),” said Abbas about the talks with Olmert.
He said an agreement on borders and security was within reach and could have been concluded, On borders, he said, the two sides agreed to the 1967 borders with land swap, and on security, Abbas proposed having a third party, such as NATO, to deploy forces in the Palestinian areas to monitor the area, but not Israeli forces.
“We were very close, but couldn’t conclude it. We had understandings on these issues,” said Abbas.
“We wanted to continue with Netanyahu, but he insisted to start from zero,” he said.
Netanyahu, said Abbas, rejected the idea of having NATO forces in the West Bank and insisted on having Israeli troops in the JordanValley and parts of the West Bank for 40 years.
“”I want to rely on my troops,” Netanyahu told Abbas, who responded saying: “I said to him this is an occupation, so keep it.”
Abbas said when Netanyahu closed all the doors in front of the peace talks, he had no choice but to seek other avenues, including going to the United Nations Security Council.
President Abbas talked about the new reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, which had upset Israel, apparently including the Israeli delegation visiting Ramallah, which told Abbas that they were reconsidering their visit to Ramallah after the reconciliation agreement was announced Wednesday night in Cairo.
“Netanyahu has said time and time again that the Palestinian Authority must choose between Hamas and peace talks, but I responded by saying Hamas is part of the Palestinian people,” he said. “Netanyahu must make a decision between settlement construction and peace,” stressed Abbas.
He said that politics is the job of the PLO and its chairman, and not of the government.
Abbas said the reconciliation agreement is the first step towards having a government of technocrats, whose only purpose is to rebuild Gaza and prepare for elections, and not to hold negotiations with Israel.
Abbas said the Israeli peace initiative could be a base for peace talks. He called on Netanyahu to adopt it as well, after he rejected it when it was presented to him.
The delegation thanked Abbas and considered his acceptance and welcoming of the initiative a major step forward towards accomplishing peace.
Ramallah – PNN - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday it would be "illogical" for the United States to block a Palestinian bid for statehood planned for September in the United Nations.
After a meeting between Abbas and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, French sources said that Sarkozy has given Abbas his 'clear support' for efforts leading to the formation of an independent Palestinian state.
Abbas, who is in Paris for talks with French leaders, commented that Washington is already in agreeance with the principle of a Palestinian state co-existing side by side with Israel in order to ultimately bring peace to the Middle East.
Speaking to France 24 television in an interview shown on Thursday Abbas said "in principle we have a lot of signs that the United States is ready to recognize the Palestinian state," he continued, "If the United States is not ready it would not be coherent and logical."
Palestinian leaders will be looking for backing of statehood at the U.N. General Assembly. Already over 100 nations have said they recognize Palestine as a state. In order to gain full UN membership however, this must come from the UN Security Council.
US diplomats say the U.S. government maintains uncertainties about a unilateral approach to Palestinian statehood and could hinder approval of full UN membership for Palestine.
Peace talks backed by the US between Israel and the Palestinians last September broke down after disputes over continued Israeli settlement building in the West Bank became unsurpassable. Abbas said that talks on his behalf will not be resumed until all West Bank settlement building is suspended.
After meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Abbas told journalists that the issue of Palestinian statehood was not mentioned as it was apparent what France's stance was.
A source from the presidential office said that Sarkozy had given Abbas his "clear support" for endeavors towards the creation of a Palestinian state. Fillon said last month that 2011 "should be the year when a Palestinian state is created."
Abbas spoke about possible unrest in the Palestinian territories if the Palestinian call for statehood was rebuffed in the United Nations.
Abbas warned "I don't know what the next step would be but maybe it would be difficult, maybe dangerous ...A third intifada (Palestinian uprising) is not my preference."
事實上，光是2009年，智利就發生了19萬1千件工安意外，導致443名工人死亡。智利政府必須為此直接負起責任，但是當局卻在過去12年來都拒絕簽署國際勞工組織（The International Labour Organisation）C176條有關礦區健康與安全的協議。企業家們享有不受限制的自由，工人卻沒有一丁點權利。
縱使智利在華盛頓的眼裡是一個經濟奇蹟，但事實上智利是全球最缺乏正義的國家之一。據「國家社經狀態研究中心」（Centre for Research on the National Socio-Economic Situation）的統計，智利的GDP正在成長，然而貧窮指數也以相同的速率增加，真正獲益的只是國家的少數人，而未來的不平等還會更加劇烈。2009年，貧窮指數上升至15％，30歲以下的人口受到的影響尤其嚴重，4個人當中就有1個人屬於貧窮人口。
Translation of the letter written by Egidia Beretta Arrigoni, mother of Vittorio Arrigoni.
19 April 2011
One has to die to become a hero, to hit the headlines and to have TV crews around the house, but does one have to die to stay human?
I recall Vittorio in the Christmas of 2005, detained and incarcerated in the Ben Gurion Airport, the scars left by the handcuffs that cut his wrists, the denial of any contact with the consulate, the farcical process. And I recall Easter that same year, when just across the Allenby Bridge at the Jordanian border the Israeli police blocked his entrance in the country, put him on a bus and, seven against one (one of the seven was a policewoman), they beat him up “with skill”, without leaving any external marks, like the real professionals they are, then hurling him to the ground and throwing at his face, as a last scar to add to the others, the hair they had ripped off him with their machines.
He was unwanted in Israel. Too subversive, for having joined his friend Gabriele one year earlier and demonstrated along with the women and men of the village of Budrus against the Wall of Shame, teaching them the lyrics and singing together our most beautiful partisan song ‘O bella ciao, ciao…’
Back then no TV crew came by, not even when in the fall of 2008 a commando attacked in Palestinian waters off Rafah the fishing boat he had boarded. Vittorio was incarcerated in Ramle and soon after sent back home with nothing but the clothes on his body.
Nevertheless, I cannot but be thankful to the press and television that have approached us with composure, that have ‘besieged’ our home with restraint, without excesses and that have given me the chance to talk about Vittorio and about his ideals and the choices he made.
This lost child of mine is more alive than ever before, like the grain that has fallen to the ground and died to bring forth a plentiful harvest. I see it and hear it already in the words of his friends, above all the younger among them, some closer, some from afar. Through Vittorio, they have known and understood, and now even more, how one can give ‘Utopia’ a meaning, like the thirst for justice and peace, how fraternity and solidarity still stand and how, as Vittorio used to say, ‘Palestine can also be found at your doorsteps’. We were a long way from Vittorio, but now we are closer than ever, with his living presence magnified at every passing hour, like a wind from Gaza, from his beloved Mediterranean, blowing fierily to deliver the message of his hope and of his love for those without a voice, for the weak and the oppressed, passing the baton.
Stay human.
This letter was published in Italian on the newspaper Il Manifesto, translated by Nena News.
Around the world, millions of children are the unheard voices of war. And the horrors they witness today will inform the adults they become tomorrow. Will they grow up to be the next leaders, teachers, freedom fighters or terrorists?
Children of Conflict is a four-part series which explores the lives of children whose lives are blighted by growing up in conflict zones. Nadene Ghouri goes in search of what the past has created and what the future holds for these young people.
She travels to Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lebanon but begins her journey in Gaza, where she meets children growing up in an environment of frequent violence and constant economic depression.
PART ONE: Gaza
14 year old Fatima
One of the World's biggest news stories, in one of the smallest and most claustrophobic strips of land on earth. Gaza is a virtual prison with no way in and hardly any way out.
In an exclusive story, we talk to the grandchildren of Fatima Al Najar – the oldest female Palestinian suicide bomber. Bewildered and grieving for their grandmother, the children say all they want to do is to follow suit and become 'martyrs' themselves.
13 year old Rana
"I want to do the same. And I will recruit the other children of this town for martyrdom," says 14 year old Fatima. When she grows up she wants to study chemistry and engineering at university. "That's if I don't become a martyr first," she says.
Her views are contrasted with another girl, 13 year old Rana, who dreams of being a journalist "so I can tell people how we suffer here. I am a child, I know what death means, I know what war means, I know what blood means. Me and all the children here know what it means".
10 year old Tehal
Or Tehal, just 10 years old – and who wants to be the first female Palestinian president.
Her three wishes? To clean up the mess left behind by Israeli bulldozers, to give children their rights "because they have no rights here" and finally, "to build a new Gaza".
PART TWO: Lebanon
The town of Qana
The town of Qana has become synonomous with Lebanon's tragedy. Believed to be the site where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine, the town has earned infamy for two massacres of children 10 years apart. The first attack came in 1996, when Israel bombed a UN base sheltering 800 people – most of them children. Over 100 children were killed or maimed.
The second massacre was during last year's war on Lebanon. A rocket hit a house where several families had taken shelter in the basement. It collapsed – burying the children in rubble. Seventeen were killed. The images of children being carried from the rubble, looking as though they were sleeping, horrified the world.
Hussein Belhas 13 years old- survived an Israeli attack in 1996
The film goes back to find the survivors of the first massacre - now teenagers – to find that although most of them have rebuilt their lives, last summer's slaughter devastated them emotionally. And there are extraordinary parallels between the two stories.
In 1996, three year old Hussein Belhas was believed dead, and was put in a morgue freezer. Remarkably, he was discovered alive and was rescued. Now 13, a composed Hussein says: "I am the boy who died, and then came back to life. This was my destiny." Still suffering horribly from his injuries (his leg was blown off at the kneecap and has grown back as a twisted stick), Hussein will require medical treatment for the rest of his life: "When I try to play football, it hurts me. I stay awake all night with the pain."
Hasan Shalhoub 4 years old - survived an Israeli attack in 2006
His truly incredible story sits alongside that of Hasan Shalhoub, just four years old. In the massacre of 2006, Hasan lost his sister Zeinab, who was seven. Also believed dead, Hasan was left over-night in a makeshift morgue. "In the morning I woke up. I started talking to a little girl next to me, but she turned out to be dead. Then I asked for my mother."
Too young to fully realise the extent of his dramatic escape, Hasan says: "I was only injured a little bit in my head. I am fine now."
PART THREE: Afghanistan
Children scavaging in the dump for something to sell
Afghanistan is said to be the land where God only comes to weep. A place of wild beauty and extreme cruelty, it seems never to have known peace.
After the civil war of the 1980s, two-thirds of the population were either dead or refugees. And after the curse of the Taliban, a new hopelessness descended on the country.
Although Afghan children don't know why any of these wars happened, they know they have been born into a devastated land.
Victim of an unexploded mine
Misery, poverty, cold and never-ending internal conflict - this is their lot. The film looks at the many ways children are compelled to work in order to help their families to survive, and at the terrible conditions they are forced to endure.
Few play activities for children exist, and with no sewage or drainage system in Kabul (population 3.5m), many of their play areas double as open-air toilets.
The orphanage
Signs of war damage abound, and the hospitals bear witness to the daily admission of children maimed by the unexploded ordnance which has littered the fields and valleys of Afghanistan for decades.
The orphanage outside Kabul provides food and shelter for the parentless kids, and though there's no future to look forward to, at least it's warm.
PART FOUR: Democratic Republic of Congo
The film goes inside the minds of the Congolese child soldiers. What makes an 11 year old child capable of awful brutality? "I saw my father die, then they killed my aunt. I didn't want to die by machete at home. That's a pointless death. So I decided to join the militia," says 13 year old Eric.
Child soldiers marching
Responsible for the killings of thousands of innocent lives, the feared child militias of the DRC tell how their childhood was lost. Victims of a war no one understands, brutalised by their commanders who turned them into armed brigands, the children became murderers and rapists in a "kill or be killed" conflict.
For some there is hope. Fourteen year old Jolie describes how she preferred a machete to a gun in battle: "A gun can run out of bullets. A machete is safer if you want to stay alive." She calmly recalls how she first killed a man: "I hacked off his head and hands."
Commanders turn the children into armed brigands
But now she has changed her view. Holding her new baby in her arms she says: "This child will never join a militia. His father was killed in battle. And I saw too much suffering myself. What was it for? Nothing."
For others, like Eric, there is no way back to the normal world. Unable to tell his parents the truth about those he killed and unwelcome in his village he says: "At home I am nothing, but in the militia I had power and money. I want to go back to the bush."
Pink Floyd star Roger Waters – writer of the band’s famous album The Wall – has become patron of the Cambridge Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
The rock singer, who was brought up and educated in the city, has also backed efforts to impose sanctions against Israel.
Averil Parkinson, spokeswoman for the Cambridge campaign, said: “We’re delighted to announce that Roger has agreed to be our patron.
“He has over the years spoken out against the illegal Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land and more recently against the separation wall or barrier, echoing his song Another Brick In The Wall, as it has continued to grow and annexe more and more of the West Bank.”
She said the rock star supported a campaign of sanctions against Israel, including a cultural boycott, which has led to musicians including Carlos Santana, Sting and Bono refusing to play in Tel Aviv.
Mr Waters, who is currently on tour with a new production of the show The Wall, has denied that the show is anti-Semitic.
He said one of the songs from the album, Another Brick In The Wall Part 2, was banned by the South African government in 1980 as it was being used by black South African children to advocate equal education rights.
He said: “In 2005, Palestinian children participating in a West Bank festival used the song to protest against Israel’s wall around the West Bank, singing: ‘We don’t need no occupation! We don’t need no racist wall!’
“At the time, I hadn’t seen first hand what they were singing about.
“Then I visited Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw that day. The wall is an appalling edifice to behold.
“In so far as The Wall has a political message it is to seek to illuminate our condition, and find new ways to encourage peace and understanding, particularly in the Middle East.”
Ramallah - C. Martin/PNN - The Prince of Spain Don Felipe de Borbon and his wife Doña Leticia were welcomed today by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in the Presidential Compound.
It is the first time that a European Royal Family has paid an official visit to Palestine. After listening to the Spanish and Palestinian anthems, the royal couple met and greeted the Palestinian army.
The royals were also welcomed by different authorities. Among them the Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister, the Governor of Ramallah, the Palestinian Ambassador in Madrid.
Spanish Royal Family in Ramallah - PNN PhotoAlso there was a representation of the religious authorities, such the Head of the Patriarchate and of the Holy Synod, Patriarch Theophilos III.
After an official lunch that is being held now with the Palestinian President, the prince and the princess of Asturias will continue on to Jordan.
Two weeks ago around thirty associations and NGOs from Spain and Israel submitted a letter to the Chief of Spanish Royal Household, Alberto Aza, asking for the cancellation of this official visit.According to the NGOs letter, which was also signed by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), this visit supports somehow the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land.
ICAHD say that Israel promotes, finance and legitimate the illegal construction of settlement in violation of the international law.
JERUSALEM, April 12, 2011 (WAFA) – A new United Nations report on progress by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in building institutions said that “in six areas where the UN is most engaged, government functions are now sufficient for a functioning government of a state,” Tuesday said a UN press release.
The report, “Palestinian State-building: A Decisive Period,” has been prepared for the forthcoming meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee in Brussels scheduled for Wednesday.
It reviews progress in implementing the PA’s August 2009 “Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State,” a program of the thirteenth government, which is backed by the Quartet. The program seeks to ensure as its target Palestinian institutional readiness for statehood within two years.
The report reviews developments in six key areas where the UN is most engaged and able to assess progress: governance, rule of law and human rights; livelihoods; education and culture; health; social protection; and infrastructure and water.
In each sector, the report provides a detailed assessment of progress to date in light of strong Palestinian reform efforts and donor engagement. It also notes Israeli measures to facilitate movement and access which have also supported economic activity.
United Nations Special Coordinator Robert Serry, whose office UNSCO prepared the report, commended the achievements of President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
“This is a decisive period, as we approach the September 2011 target for the PA’s institutions to be ready for statehood,” he said. “It is also the target set by the parties to reach a negotiated permanent status agreement to create a Palestinian state at peace with Israel.”
Commenting on what needs to happen in the months ahead, Serry said, “The PA is clearly on track and I know is committed to continuing its hard work. However the institutional achievements of the Palestinian state-building agenda are approaching their limits within the political and physical space currently available, precisely at the time when it is approaching its target date for completion. No-one should underestimate what is at stake now. What we urgently need are further steps on the ground that can enable a broadening of this progress. I believe Israel needs to roll back measures of occupation to match the PA’s achievements. I also stress the urgent need for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations on a two-state solution to resume, if the state building and political tracks are to come together by September.”
The report underlines the UN’s concerns about Gaza. Serry commented, “Recent escalations have been very worrying and I appeal once again for all to observe calm so that civilians are protected. Rocket fire must stop and Israel must show maximum restraint. This is also essential in moving forward to help meet the needs in Gaza.'
The socio-economic situation in Gaza needs to be more fully addressed, said Serry.
“I have noted Israeli steps over several months to implement cabinet decisions to adjust Gaza policy consistent with security,” he said. “This has seen a welcome approval of $155 million of UN construction projects as well as a broader range of consumer goods entering through the crossings. But much more is still needed. I am looking forward to the further approval of UN projects, a streamlining of coordination procedures, and the liberalization of the import of construction materials including aggregate, iron bars and cement. The people of Gaza need this, and it would send an important signal.”
The report also points out that the persistent Palestinian divide hinders efforts to lay the economic and institutional basis for statehood when it comes to Gaza
“The progress that has been achieved by the PA must be more meaningfully connected to all areas of de jure PA responsibility and to all Palestinian citizens,” it said.
As noted in the report, the UN continues to support efforts to achieve real progress towards unity within the framework of the Palestinian Authority and the commitments of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) is a 12-member committee that serves as the principal policy-level coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinian people. It is chaired by Norway and co-sponsored by the European Union and the United States. In addition, the UN participates together with the World Bank’s secretariat and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The AHLC seeks to promote dialogue between donors, the Palestinian Authority and the government of Israel.
RAMALLAH, April 12, 2011 (WAFA) - Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Tuesday that reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to withdraw troops from the West Bank to stave off international pressure are games intended to evade this pressure.
In a statement issued by his office, Abed Rabbo described the Israeli newspaper reports as “games that aim to stop the international pressure on Israel and its bloody and racist policies.”
He said, “Don’t believe what is said in the Israeli press. We are accustomed to these balloons and games by the respective Israeli governments to evade the requirements demanded from them.”
Abed Rabbo said that “the right wing government in Israel is trying to use these balloons, lies and intentional press leaks to stave off international pressure and to change positions calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
The Israeli Haaretz newspaper said on Tuesday that Netanyahu plans to withdraw Israeli troops from the West Bank and a series of other measures to block “the diplomatic tsunami” that may follow international recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Netanyahu “is examining ideas for steps that would be taken in the absence of negotiations to demonstrate an Israeli diplomatic initiative that would rally the United States, the European Union and other Western countries against a unilateral Palestinian move in the UN,” said the paper.
The Palestinian two-year “Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State” plan looks at state institutions being ready by September, the date the Palestinians hope the UN would recognize their state on the 1967 borders. The International community has been pressuring Netanyahu to come up with a proposal to save the deadlocked peace process.
The newspaper quoted two sources “with ties to Netanyahu’s bureau” as saying that the withdrawal would see redeployment of Israeli forces and handing over security responsibility to the Palestinian Authority in areas B and C, where Israel has total security control. However, it said, the withdrawal will not include evacuation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Netanyahu may also call for an international conference with the participation of Israel and the Palestinians to call for resumption of negotiations stalled since September after Israel had refused to extend a moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank.
The Palestinians insist that they would not return to negotiations with Israel without a total halt to all settlement activities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
片名： 美麗天堂
原文： Promises
導演： Carlos Bolado、B.Z. Goldberg
Justine Shapiro
編劇： Stephen Most
攝影： Ilan Buchbinder、Yoram Millo
音樂： Rabih Boukhari
剪輯： Carlos Bolado
演員： Moishe and Raheli Bar Am
Faraj Adnan Hassan Husein
Mahmoud Mazen Mahmoud Izhiman
Daniel Solan、Yarko Solan
Sanabel Hassan、Shlomo
出品： 2001年 美國
L'ancien champion du monde 1998, Lilian Thuram, a inauguré jeudi à Ramallah en Cisjordanie, le nouveau stade international palestinien d'Al-Bireh. Une initiative financée par l'Allemagne, la France, la Fifa et la municipalité.
AFP - L'ancien international français de football Lilian Thuram, champion du monde en 1998, a inauguré jeudi le nouveau stade international palestinien d'Al-Bireh, limitrophe de Ramallah en Cisjordanie.
Le joueur a donné le coup d'envoi d'un match de première division palestinienne dans le stade d'Al-Bireh, d'une capacité de plus de 8.000 places et d'un coût d'un million d'euros, financé par la France, l'Allemagne, la Fédération internationale de football (Fifa) et la municipalité.
L'inauguration du stade s'est déroulée en présence du président de la Fédération palestinienne de football (PFA) Jibril Rajoub et de diplomates allemand et français.
"J'ai eu la chance de rencontrer le peuple palestinien, j'ai eu la chance de rencontrer des enfants et nous avons passé un très bon moment", a déclaré aux journalistes Lilian Thuram.
"Le football joue un rôle très important. Il permet de créer des liens", a-t-il ajouté.
Lilian Thuram, qui achevait une visite de quatre jours dans les territoires palestiniens, organisée par la (PFA) et le consulat général de France à Jérusalem, est mobilisé en France dans la lutte contre le racisme.
Lilian Thuram à la rencontre des jeunes Palestiniens
L'ancien international français Lilian Thuram, champion du monde de football en 1998, engagé dans la lutte contre le racisme, a rencontré lundi des jeunes Palestiniens dans le camp de réfugiés de Qalandia, près de Jérusalem.
AFP - L'ancien international français Lilian Thuram, champion du monde de football en 1998, engagé dans la lutte contre le racisme, a rencontré lundi des jeunes Palestiniens dans le camp de réfugiés de Qalandia, près de Jérusalem.
Entamant une visite de quatre jours dans les territoires palestiniens, le fondateur de la Fondation "Lilian Thuram - Education contre le racisme" s'est amusé avec ses jeunes supporteurs en visitant une école de l'Agence pour les réfugiés palestiniens (UNRWA) à Qalandia.
Il s'est aussi livré à une petite séance d'entraînement avec les enfants.
"J'ai tellement entendu parler des enfants de Palestine et de l'environnement dans lequel ils grandissent. Aujourd'hui, j'ai pu constater leur enthousiasme et leur détermination à réussir", a-t-il déclaré.
Le porte-parole de l'UNRWA, Chris Gunness, s'est félicité que "les écoliers palestiniens aient l'occasion de rencontrer des légendes vivantes du football comme Lilian Thuram, le genre de modèle dont ils doivent s'inspirer".
Au cours de son séjour, organisé par la Fédération palestinienne de football (PFA) et le consulat général de France à Jérusalem, l'ancien défenseur aura l'occasion d'échanger avec beaucoup de jeunes Palestiniens, généralement fous de foot, à Jéricho, Hébron et Ramallah.
Il doit aussi inaugurer jeudi le nouveau stade international palestinien d'Al-Bireh, ville limitrophe de Ramallah, capitale de la Cisjordanie. Ce stade de 9.000 places, d'un coût d'un million d'euros, est financé par la France, l'Allemagne et la fédération internationale de football (Fifa).
"Une telle visite d'une star internationale comme Thuram participe aux efforts contre l'embargo (israélien) imposé sur le sport palestinien", s'est réjoui le secrétaire général de la PFA, Abdoul Majid Hijeh.
Les instances sportives internationales ont demandé au gouvernement israélien d'assouplir les restrictions de déplacement qui affectent les athlètes palestiniens.
Et Lilian Thuram de visiter les “pauvres enfants de Palestine”
source: JSS news http://jssnews.com/2011/04/07/et-lilian-thuram-de-visiter-les-pauvres-enfants-de-palestine/
Lundi 11 avril, la star du football français Lilian Thuram se rendra dans les territoires disputés dans le cadre d’un programme financé par la France et l’UNRWA. Thuram se rendra dans la ville de Qalandia où les Palestiniens lui montreront leur misère. Après cette visite guidée (un peu comme quand on va à Ikea et que l’on est forcé de voir ce que l’on veut nous montrer), il se rendra dans son hôtel 5 étoiles où il y rencontrera des jeunes footballeurs palestiniens.
Heureux de venir, Thuram déclaré que la visite était organisée pour sa propre culture et pour s’amuser avec les enfants palestiniens. « J’ai tellement entendu parler des enfants de Palestine et de l’environnement dans lequel ils grandissent. J’ai besoin de voir par moi-même, d’interagir avec eux et de les divertir ».
La présence de Lilian Thuram est d’autant plus importante qu’elle permettra aux enfants palestiniens de passer moins de temps devant la télévision nationale. Sur cette TV, ils sont éduqués à haïr les juifs, à travers des programmes “éducatifs” financés par l’Autorité Palestinienne (donc par la France). Des programmes où l’on retrouve “Farfour”, le Mickey palestinien, qui veut se faire exploser dans un bus israélien. Ou Twic et Twax, les deux petites souris israéliennes qui veulent donner leurs maladies aux musulmans.
Le consul général français à Jérusalem, considéré pour être un fervent défenseur de la cause palestinienne (dont la carte de visite est en arabe et en anglais bien qu’il soit le consul en Israël), Frédéric Desagneaux, a déclaré que cette visite met les pleins feux sur le soutien français à l’UNRWA. Au lieu de faire le malin, il ferait mieux d’écouter ce que les anciens dirigeants de cette organisation disent : « Il serait temps de démanteler l’UNRWA ! »
Au fait, Lilian Thuram a-t-il l’intention de passer du temps avec les enfants de Sdérot ?
Jonathan-Simon Sellem – JSSNews
French Footbal Legend to Visit Occupied Palestinian Territory
JERUSALEM, April 7, 2011 (WAFA) French football star Lilian Thuram will visit the occupied Palestinian territory on Monday in support of the education program funded by France through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Thursday said an UNRWA press release.
At the Qalandia refugee camp, Lilian will see first hand the realities of life for Palestinian children under Israeli occupation. After a brief tour, he’ll visit the local UNRWA school for a friendly match with some of the camp’s young footballers.
A delighted Thuram said the visit was about his own education as well as having fun with Palestinian children.
“I have heard so much about the children of Palestine and about the environment they grow up in. I need to see this for myself, interact with them and with luck, I will entertain and even inspire them,” he said.
Thuram made sporting history by becoming the most capped player in the history of the French national squad. He also played for top European clubs, Barcelona and Juventus. Off the pitch, he has dedicated much of his time and energy to the promotion of human rights and education against racism.
French Consul General, Frederic Desagneaux, said this visit put the spotlight on France’s long-standing support for UNRWA and its human development work.
“UNRWA has a long association with the Palestinian people and my government is proud to have worked so closely with UNRWA for so many years. Bringing Lilian here is a real joy for us, showing to Palestinians the sorts of sporting and human development they can also achieve,” he said.
Through its contributions to UNRWA’s regular budget, France supports education to some half a million children in the Agency’s five fields of operation (Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank). UNRWA also provides health, relief and social services to some of the most disadvantaged people in the Middle East. Last year alone France’s contribution to UNRWA stood at nearly USD 10 million of which USD 6 million supported core program activities.
“Lilian is a living football history”, said UNRWA spokesman, Chris Gunness. “It is brilliant that UNRWA school kids will have an opportunity to be coached by him and witness his extraordinary skills first hand. He is just the sort of role model our students should be inspired by and we are very grateful to the Palestinian Football Federation and the French government for facilitating his visit. At this time of turmoil, the stabilizing influence of UNRWA’s human development work with some of the most marginalized communities in the region has never been so important”, Gunness said.
