Never Go Down… Never Give Up

So be Good for Goodness Sake…

This past Friday Santa Clause stood in solidarity with and attempted to go where fewer and fewer Palestinians are able to go, their own farm lands in the southern hills of the Beautiful little town called Bethlehem. For the second year in a row, taking time away from his main work in this very busy season, Santa decided to come to Bethlehem to support the farmers in reaching their land in order to maintain it and plant it… For the second year in a row (as happens every week when Santa is not there), the Israeli soldiers barricaded and prevented the villagers from reaching their land.

Barbed wires were placed on the main road leading to the farming lands and soldiers with heavy guns stood in a line pouting the whole time at the Palestinian farmers, their international and Israeli friends, and of course… Santa…

First Reflection: From Palestine to the Jungles of Colombia, the Solution is One

Sami Awad from Holy Land Trust, Saskia Breithardt and Andrea Regelmann from Tamera in Colombia

I just returned from an incredible experience. From the 25th of September to the 10th of October and for the first time in my life I traveled to Latin America, more specifically to an incredible area in the north of Colombia, where the absolute beauty and tranquility of God’s creation and the majesty of Mother Earth become one. It is also a place where those commitment to be agents of peace clash with those who are addicted to greed, power, control and violence, and who are willing to destroy everything in their path in order to fulfill their craving.

When Settlers get Abusive, Israeli Soldiers Attack the Abused, but the Sun Shines on All

On Thursday the 16th of October, hundreds of Israeli settlers / squatters gathered in a Palestinian hill known as Oush Gurab located in Beit Sahour (Shepherd’s Filed). This location was used for many years as an Israeli military outpost. Palestinians who live in its vicinity recall daily the violence and terror they experienced from Israeli soldiers stationed there. When the location lost its strategic advantage to the illegal separation barrier, the Israeli military evacuated the location. They no longer had to be in the middle of a Palestinian residential area, they can move to the other side of the prison walls now. After the evacuation, Palestinians returned to Oush Gurab and began working on numerous humanitarian and recreational projects including a children’s hospital and an outdoor activity park.

Empowered by Nonviolence

Text of interview published in http://www.globalonenessproject.org/

Sami Awad

 

When I talk about nonviolence, and when I discuss nonviolence with people, the first word that comes to mind related to nonviolence is the word empowerment.  And this is, for me, what nonviolence is all about.  It is to empower individuals, empower families, empower communities, empower nations to deal with issues of injustice and oppression that they face in their lives on a daily basis.  It is both a strategy of resistance, and also a strategy for moral and ethical growth within society.  As a Palestinian, for example, living in this land, nonviolence becomes a core value for me because it is how we as Palestinians need to deal with oppression and resisting the injustice that we are facing, to be empowered not to be victims of the circumstances, not to give in to the circumstances but to deal with them in direct and effective ways.  The power of nonviolence is for me also creates a situation where barriers are broken down between nations and between peoples, and even again within individuals themselves and the things that they go through in their own personal life.  Nonviolence does not threaten the other, does not threaten the existence of the other but threatens the structures of injustice that are created that prevent that relationship from developing between you and those who are doing injustice to you.  And the result of engaging in nonviolence is not in the fact that it stands on resistance one, nonviolence is powerful because it goes beyond resistant. It goes to creating the future that you seek with the other.  And this is where equality becomes important—nonviolence really creates that foundation that premise where you can build that relationship of mutual trust and respect with those who have treated you unjustly that is founded on equality between you and them.

Global Oneness Interview…

The challenge is to create a common thread of values where Jews, Christians, and Moslems begin to see that what is common between them outweighs, tremendously, what makes them different from each other.

Sami Awad
in The Core Essence

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Sami Awad is the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust (HLT), a Palestinian nonprofit organization which he founded in 1998 in Bethlehem. HLT works with the Palestinian community at both the grassroots and leadership levels in developing nonviolent approaches that aim to end the Israeli occupation and build a future founded on the principles of nonviolence, equality, justice, and peaceful coexistence.

The Man Who Brought The Mahatma To Palestine

In between all the violence, Mubarak Awad has slowly brought the Gandhian way to bear…

by Robert Hirschfield,

Mubarak Awad

LINK TO ARTICLE

Gandhis Of Olive Country

Another path to peace? Palestinians revel in Gandhi and the nonviolent struggle.

by Aimee Ginsburg,

 

LINK TO ARTICLE

2nd Annual Home Rebuilding Summer Camp

Join people from across the globe in this incredible and moving expereince; be personally invovled in re-building a home for a family that has suffered so much.

Why come to Palestine this Summer???

I know it may seem cold now, but summer will eventually be here and many of you are planning their vacations. Some will travel to traditional tourist locations, get a nice tan and a T-shirt they will be too embarrassed to wear at home, others will want more than to be tourists and will seek for an opportunity to change their life and to the lives of those they meet.

Let me therefore ask you a few question….

• Would you like to experience the Holy Land in a way that does not only introduce you to its rich history but also to its present situation?

• Are you interested in truly knowing what life is like in the Palestine and learn about its culture and traditions?

• Are you interested in learning about the political conflict in the Middle East from those who are living it and are working on resolving it?

• Are you interested in increasing your role in achieving peace in the Middle East when you return home?

• Are you interested in volunteering and truly helping a community in need?

• Are you interested in learning Arabic and even get college credit for that?

• Are you interested in living with a local family and to have a second home in Palestine where you will always be welcomed for a traditional meal and some good coffee?

If the answer is “NO” then maybe, just maybe, what you are really interested in is to learn the traditional Palestinian line dance called the “Dabkeh.”

 

 

If you got Happy Feet after watching this youtube and your answer is now “YES” then visit the Palestine Summer Encounter Program website… and join us for a life changing experience….