DALLAS/SEATTLE - The Palestine Chronicle is teaming up efforts with the staff at KinderUSA, (www.kinderusa.org) one of the most reputable US charities working in Palestine, to launch a month long fundraising effort, titled: “Project Humanity: Sending Love and Relief to the Children in Palestine”. During this month, we are aiming to raise $20,000.00, to provide food and other basic necessities to needy families during Ramadan. In referring to the ongoing anguish endured by Palestinians, Dr. Riad Abdelkarim chairman of KinderUSA said, “We must not only consider the humanitarian consequences of this devastation, but also the psychological affect it is having on the children. Our children are our greatest assets and KinderUSA has made a commitment to do all within our means to enable these innocent children to survive.” Ramzy Baroud, Editor-in-Chief of the highly respected online publication, The Palestine Chronicle emphasized, “Our responsibility toward Palestine and its people has broadened like never before, because the untold suffering experienced by Palestinians has invited equally untold misery,” He continued, stressing, “ This is not an abstract story, nor is it history that merely merits a sigh of regret and reflection. It is the dim reality of today. But it will become bleaker if we do not step in to show solidarity with those in need.” Suzanne Russ, Managing Editor of the Palestine Chronicle stressed, “With severe attacks just this week in Gaza and Rafah, and the displacement of thousands of people, including hundreds and hundreds of children, the Palestine Chronicle implores all readers and supporters to give generously and expediently to further the work of KinderUSA.” “Our subsidiary office in Gaza, KinderPAL, has distributed $50 food vouchers for families to shop at local merchants for immediate food and hygiene needs. There are still more families in need, and with the beginning of Ramadan it is imperative that we meet the tremendous demand. “As long as there is one child going to sleep hungry, we consider our work incomplete,” said Dr. Abdelkarim. Baroud affirmed Dr. Abdelkarim’s words, saying, “Your donation will ease the pain of a child, will comfort the fears and uncertainty of an orphan, and proclaim that you care enough that you refuse to turn your back on the Palestinian people, indeed, on humanity.” Russ stressed, “We ask everyone to give to KinderUSA, until it hurts, there is simply no time for mediocrity.” To show their gratitude, The Palestine Chronicle and KinderUSA will send a “Free Palestine” Button, to donors at the $25.00 level, a “Free Palestine” bumper sticker to donors at the $50.00 level, a copy of Ramzy Baroud’s book “Searching Jenin” to donors at the $100.00 level, and a package of all three items to donors at the $150.00 level. You can send your tax-deductible donation to KinderUSA online at www.kinderusa.org/baform.asp Please select “Project Humanity” on the pull-down menu!
You can also donate by sending your check to Kinder USA
For further information, contact Dalell Mohammed at 1-888-451-8908, or email her at kinder@kinderusa.org. Inquiries can be faxed to 972-664-1994. Or you can contact Suzanne Russ at the Palestine Chronicle at russ@palestinechronicle.com. Inquiries can be faxed to 425-778-9237 Read More...
By: MIFTAH
Date: 06/07/2022
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Zero tolerance for violence against women ... #SolidarityAcrossBorders
In light of the escalating rate of femicide in the Arab world, which recently claimed the lives of university student Naira Ashraf and TV broadcaster Shaima Gamal in Egypt, Iman Arsheed from Jordan, Palestinian engineer in the UAE Lubna Mansour, among many others, the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy "MIFTAH" announces its unwavering support for all feminist movements, coalitions and activities calling for a general strike by women across the Arab world on 6/7/2022 and calls on Palestinian women to participate and express their opinion in rejecting violence committed against women. For decades, Palestinian women have been subjected to the most heinous types of crimes and violations under Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, occupation and apartheid. They continue to be exposed to various risks due to the ongoing Israeli policies of demolishing their homes and displacing their families, nightly home raids that terrorize them and their children, and willful killings of women at Israeli military checkpoints. Despite this large-scale injustice inflicted daily, Palestinian women are not exempted from the patriarchal culture and its violent and oppressive manifestations that are prevalent in our society and across the world. It treats them as second-class citizens, de-prioritizes their needs and legitimizes various forms of discrimination and violence against them. Since the beginning of 2022, six Palestinian women have been murdered inside Israel, followed by the killing of two Palestinian girls in Nablus and Tubas. The perpetrator often evades accountability, as the local society provides cover and legitimizes such crimes. Every year, Palestinian women renew their call on decision-makers to put an end to the horrific series of killings against them. However, many laws that guarantee the protection of the dignity and rights of Palestinian women and their families are still shelved by the government under the pretext of the public mood rejecting them. Here we are today, joining our voices to all feminist voices, along with all the oppressed groups in our Arab societies, to say enough is enough. It is time for us to stand united against this great injustice, and to combat all practices that rob Arab women of the right to life, devalue them, or justify their oppression. We reject all inherited cultural traits that perpetuate patriarchal authority to control the fate and decisions of Arab women and limit their independence and permit forms of violence and discrimination. We call upon the authorities throughout the Arab world to stop disregarding women’s issues and to take the necessary measures to protect women from violence, by enacting a system of laws that guarantees safety for women and preserves their dignity and their right to equal participation in various political, economic and social fields, and by underpinning the principles of democracy and equality, the fight against all forms of discrimination as well as the criminalization of its practices. We also call on Palestinian women to express their rejection of all forms of crimes and violence perpetrated against them, in the manner they find appropriate, whether through demonstrations and vigils in the streets and public spaces, on social media platforms, or a strike on paid or house work, in order to demonstrate the extent of societal rejection of all discriminatory and violent practices against women and to highlight the role of women in building societies and states.
By: MIFTAH
Date: 14/05/2022
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229 Arab and International Human Rights Organizations and Networks call for an end to impunity, and Demand the Opening of an International Investigation of the Crime of Executing the Journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh by the Occupation Forces
The undersigned human rights organizations strongly condemn the assassination of the journalist, Al-Jazeera correspondent, Shireen Abu Aqleh, after she was targeted by the forces of the occupation and apartheid state with a bullet in the head, and the journalist Ali Al-Samoudi was shot in the back, while covering the storming of the Jenin refugee camp Wednesday morning, 11 5/2022, thus increasing the number of Palestinian journalists and media professionals who were killed by the occupation bullets to (83) journalists since the beginning of 1972. The signatories affirm that the crime of the occupation that targeted the journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh is a deliberate and premeditated act and a full-fledged assassination operation. The martyr Shireen Abu Aqleh is a direct victim of organized state terrorism, which behaves with the mentality of criminal gangs. This crime came as a result of the systematic incitement against Palestinian journalists by the occupying state against them for their professional role in revealing the truth and exposing its crimes. This is in addition to the international society's silence on the crimes of the occupation committed against the Palestinian people because of their double standards. The signatories stress that the Israeli occupation forces, by their heinous act, want to obscure the truth and cover up their heinous crimes against the Palestinian people. In addition, the occupation, by its heinous act, wants to scare and intimidate journalists to prevent the transmission of the truth to the world. The signatories call for the opening of a neutral, independent, and transparent international investigation under the supervision of the International Criminal Court to find out the crime of targeting journalist Abu Aqleh by the occupation forces, and the need to launch an international campaign by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the International Federation of Journalists, international non-governmental organizations and Palestinian human rights institutions to hold Israeli war criminals accountable, to prevent impunity for perpetrators, and to bring a legal human rights case regarding this crime before the International Criminal Court, to prosecute Israeli leaders and politicians who publicly incite the killing of Palestinian civilians, including journalists. They are calling on the United Nations and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to provide the necessary protection for journalists and media crews working in the occupied territories. Likewise, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights considers targeting journalists while covering armed conflicts and wars a war crime, similar to targeting ambulance crews. The signatories recall that journalists and media workers enjoy special protection under the provisions of international humanitarian law, just like civilians in times of armed conflict, especially Articles (51 and 79) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, where Article (51) paragraph (2) provides for the protection of the civilian population (the civilian population as such and the civilian population shall not be the object of attack). Article (79) of the same states that “Journalists who undertake dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict are civilians... and they must be protected in this capacity in accordance with the provisions of the conventions.” The crime committed by the occupation forces against journalist Abu Aqleh is a flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2222 on the protection of journalists, which the Council issued in May 2015.
To View the Full Statement as PDF
By: Civil Society Organizations
Date: 13/01/2022
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Statement by Civil Society Concerning Israel’s Assault on Birzeit University
We, the undersigned national figures and civil society organizations, vehemently condemn the Israeli occupation forces’ criminal assault on Birzeit University on 10 January 2022. The Israeli forces raided - namely, the Birzeit University campus, firing live ammunition, injuring students, and abducting and detaining several of them. We hold the occupation authorities fully responsible for the safety of the incarcerated students and demand their immediate release. This abhorrent crime requires immediate international intervention to provide protection for the Palestinan people as well as Palestinian academic and cultural institutions. It also requires that all Palestinians, individuals and organizations, to rally to the defense of Birzeit University, a distinguished national and academic institution. Birzeit University prides itself on its established and rich history of political and intellectual diversity and inclusion, while practicing and defending participatory democracy, making it a cornerstone in Palestinian resilience as well as the resistance to the occupation. In this context, we call for focusing our collective efforts and energies on confronting the Israeli aggression and denying the occupier the opportunity to undermine and weaken our institutions or meddle in our internal affairs. We also urge for continued internal dialogue within the university and in a manner that guarantees the resolution of any internal disputes and allows for the prompt resumption of academic life on campus.
By the Same Author
Date: 17/10/2002
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Carter: US "In Bed" with Israel
WASHINGTON (PMC) - Former US President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter on Monday voiced a sharp criticism of President George W. Bush’s ongoing policy in the Middle East, saying the current US administration was mistreating Palestinians while being ‘in bed’ with Israel. “We’re in bed, you might say with the Israelis and we won’t even talk to the leaders of the Palestinians,” Carter said expressing anger at the Bush administration’s consistent attempts to sideline Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. In an interview with Sky Radio Network, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate accused Bush of doing very little to bring peace into the Middle East, especially because of Washington’s unequivocal bias towards its chief ally, Israel. Winning the Nobel Prize was seen as a rebuke of Bush’s administration for its persistent push for a war on Iraq, threatening to drag the entire region into mayhem. “We’re doing very little,” Carter said of Bush’s attempts to pacify the situation. “As a matter of fact, this administration has basically abandoned any real effort to bring about reconciliation between the Israelis and the Palestinians.” Speaking on the day he received his prize, the former President stressed the US cannot be seen as a neutral mediator between Palestinians and Israelis. “You have to be trusted by both sides…you have to deal equally with both sides, we’re not doing that,” Carter said, lamenting what he said was the end of a nearly 30-year US commitment to the Middle East peace process, AFP reported. “I hope that eventually we will see the error of this procedure and get back into a real mediation role,” he added. Carter, who was renowned for his peacemaking during and after his time at the White House, unleashed his harsh wordings prior to a visit by Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to Washington, which previously criticized Israel for its persistent killing of Palestinians and the dire humanitarian situation it is inflicting in the occupied Palestinian Territory. Contact us
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