Al-Awda Conference
About 150 people took part in the Ninth Annual International Convention of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, in Anaheim, California last week. Three representatives from Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends participated. In view of our Nobel Peace Prize-winning President’s Moe Greene Special -style assassination of Osama bin Laden, this writer took note of the words of speaker Jamal Nasser. Dr. Nasser explained the deep embarrassment, and humiliation felt by the Arab world upon “seeing an Arab leader [Saddam Hussein] whether they liked him or not – hanged by an invading foreign power.” And he implied that this humiliation and subsequent anger would follow an American arrogance which militarily does as it pleases throughout the world, conducts extra-judicial killings as it preaches “Democracy” to others. As a sign of hope, however, Dr. Nasser confessed he was “born again – as an Egyptian – ” on January 25th of this year.
Ali Abunimah described reading the Palestine Papers – released by Clayton Swisher of Al-Jazeera – and concluded that “the whole Oslo regime is corrupt and collapsing.” He described his shock upon reading that the Palestinian Authority received Israel’s Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as an honored guest at the same time Israel was assassinating Hamas leaders. “These problems cannot be solved by PA elections”, he said.
Boycotts Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) were discussed in a breakout session, where it was remarked that Israel feels more of an “existential threat” from BDS than it does from an alleged nuclear threat from Iran.
Dr. Salman Abu Sitta had the last word of the conference and gave this writer hope that some in Al-Awda were cognizant of the effect of Jewish power on the Palestinians. He listed more than a few embarrassing statements issued by Israeli rabbis on the topic of Jewish supremacism. Most participants, however, seemed willing to shield the Jewish community from criticism. One Palestinian woman thought the “No Jewish State” t-shirt worn by this writer should read “No Zionist State”, but changed her mind when reminded that no Christian Zionist was entitled as a right to become a citizen of the Jewish state.
Article Published by Intifada – Voice of Palestine
Elias Harb, editor of Intifada – Voice of Palestine, met this writer at the conference and has just re-published our article, “The Role of Jews in the Palestine Solidarity Movement”, including a rather attractive layout. Link here to view.
Gatekeeper Norman Finkelstein
Last week we reported how Jews in the Palestine solidarity movement serve as shields for criticism of the Jewish community. Peacemonger takes issue with Dr. Norman Finkelstein’s book, This Time We’ve Gone Too Far, and describes how he massages and spins poll data to conclude that American Jewish support of Israel is waning. Rather than describe Israel’s attacks of 2008-2009 on the world’s largest concentration camp (Gaza) as the Hanukkah Massacre, Finkelstein refers to a “recent military action that Israel took in Gaza” and shields from his readers the fact that fully 75% of American Jews supported that criminal invasion. Read more at http://zionistsout.blogspot.com/2011/05/not-far-enough-fact-checking.html
Five Vigilers
End Jewish Supremacism in Palestine
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
Submit comments at https://blog.deiryassin.org/2011/05/08/report-on-beth…vigil-04-30-11/
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