Response to Neighbors on Mark Hannah (St.)

Eleven households on Mark Hannah St. in Ann Arbor received my written response to the concerns raised in their letter of June 5, regarding the Israeli flag with an international “NO” sign on it in my front yard. The response attempted in part to describe the events leading to raising this flag, including a reference to our group’s decision to self-identify as an anti-Israeli peace group. See our vigil report of June 2 for more specifics about this decision. Also included in the response was a one-page letter to the neighbors from Vigiler Y, who now resides in her home in Gaza. Neighbors on Mark Hannah might remember her and her family as they frequently visited the block. Y writes:

Besides, I do not really understand how a flag of people who displaced and occupied another people’s land made you feel offended, while this apartheid Jewish country keep killing, confiscating our land, uprooting our trees, building a racist wall, which made our children in the West Bank walk miles; and consequently, they are exposed to danger when crossing the Israeli army checkpoints to reach their schools. Do not you think that our children have equal rights as yours in terms of safety at least! You know what! Given the fact that I have been to Mark Hanna place many times, I envy you and your children for living at Hanna Mark place, where there is no danger, no army around them, no killing! I wish my brother Mahmoud* would have a place like Mark Hanna to live in! Mahmoud was 2 years when the “Cast Lead Operation” against Gaza occurred in 2008-2009, and I still remember how he would be bursting into tears when hearing Israelis bomb, and I still remember how we carried him and ran from death in the streets of Gaza! Now when he hears bombing, he would close his eyes and put his hands on his ears!

Readers can view the entire response by clicking here.

Anti-Israel Flag in the News

A July 20, 2012 article in the Arab American News has drawn attention to our flag on Mark Hannah St.

ANN ARBOR — A neighborhood in Ann Arbor has worked together on an initiative to take down an anti-Israeli flag being demonstrated in front of another neighbor’s house. But the petition that has so far been signed by 11 households is not discouraging the man responsible for the display, as he has responded with a five-page letter defending his freedom of speech rights, asking his neighbors to re-consider their request. Article continued here

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* pseudonym used

Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
Speaking up for the censored for over eight years
Nine vigilers on July 14