Thoughts on a Palestinian Conference

Includes several news items and a review of history.

Israel's record of abuse against Palestinian children is unprecedented in a modern world and shameful; it is one area activists are trying to change in this apartheid atmosphere.

(BETHLEHEM) - In this week in history: Filastin newspaper closed by the Ottoman authorities after Zionist complained (1914), bylaws of the "Muslim-Christian Association" approved in Jerusalem (1919), First Palestinian Arab Congress opens in Jerusalem (1919), over 100 peaceful demonstrators were gunned down by British forces in Baghdad (1948), over 60,000 Palestinian demonstrated in Nazareth under the collective slogan of ending the occupation and giving the Palestinian people legitimate rights (1988).

I returned last week to Palestine after a short, tiring, but productive trip (Belgium, Italy, Holland, USA). In this week's message there are: 1) brief comments on a conference in Palestine on strategic options/directions for Palestinians going forward, 2) a new syllabus I teach on Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian struggle (with lots of useful references but we could use more input), 3) updated resource of 64 common Zionist mythologies and links to debunk them, 4) a story about a Jewish editor who suggested Israel consider assassinating US President Obama, 5) Attack on Palestinian Human Rights Advocate, 6) Cyber attack on Israeli stock exchanges, and more.

1) Thoughts on a Palestinian conference on changing course held in Jericho Friday and Saturday http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2012/01/thoughts-on-palestinian-conference.html

2) I am teaching a course this semester in Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle (a subject of my 2004 book "Sharing the Land of
Canaan"). The syllabus and reading material maybe interesting for readers of this list.  Any input would be appreciated. http://www.qumsiyeh.org/syllabus/.

3) Updated resource (some links expired and were removed): "This year will mark 64 years since the founding of the state of Israel on the ruins of 540 Palestinian villages and towns.  As 7 million of the 11 million Palestinians in the world remain refugees or displaced people denied basic human rights, it is more important to debunk myths and lies. I updated this list to now include 64 lies/myths (one for each year)." http://www.qumsiyeh.org/liesandtruths/

4) Jewish Newspaper Editor: Israel Should Consider Assassinating Obama http://gawker.com/5877892/newspaper-editor-israel-should-consider-assassinating-obama (after an uproar about this, the editor decided to apologize. The talk in Israeli media was not that this is impossible to happen but that it should not be said and it is "stupid" to say.  Israel of course is well known for its targeted assassinations and bombings including those done via "false flag" operations such as the Lavon Affair when American and British interests were targeted by the Mosad while blaming others.  Israel also intentionally targeted the USS Liberty ship to stop its intelligence gathering and claimed it was a mistaken attack)

5) EuroMediterranean Human Rights Network condemns the attack against Gaza
human rights defender Mahmoud AbuRahma http://www.euromedrights.org/en/news-en/emhrn-releases/statements-2012/10940.html A good article by Mahmoud http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=449852

6) Cyber-attacks strike Israeli stock exchange, airline, banks
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/cyber-attacks-strike-israeli-stock-exchange-ai-rline-banks.html

7) Fellowship for one semester Postdoctoral Study at Columbia: The Ibrahim
Abu-Lughod Award in Palestine Studies (deadline 3 February) http://www.columbia.edu/cu/palestine/about/fellowships.html

8) (Video) Road to Tantura: Tantura is one of dozens of villages in which massacres were committed to drive their inhabitants out in 1948. This is a personal story of a Palestinian http://vimeo.com/34769420

Note: there are still people who try to write to me at the old closed hotmail account. Please write to mazin@qumsiyeh.org and write again if you do not hear back and it is important since your email may be lost in the hundreds of emails we get daily:

Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Striving to "Stay Human" http://qumsiyeh.org
Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People http://www.pcr.ps/ Al-Rowwad Cultural and Theater Society http://www.alrowwad-acts.ps/ http://www.obethlehem.com/lit-a-candle

Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD (formerly of Yale and Duke universities) teaches at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine and chairs the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People. Professor Qumsiyeh has authored over 110 scientific papers in areas of mammalogy, biology, and medicine including mammalian biology and evolution, clinical genetics, and cancer research. He has published over 100 letters to the editor and 30 op-ed pieces in International, national, regional and local papers on issues ranging from politics to environmental issues. His appearances in national media include the Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, CNBC, C-Span, and ABC, among others. He is the founder and president of the Holy Land Conservation Foundation and ex-President of the Middle East Genetics Association, and Prof. Qumsiyeh won the Jallow activism award from the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee in 1998. Those are just a small list, visit Mazin Qumsiyeh's amazing and informative Website to learn more: qumsiyeh.org.

End Israeli apartheid