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Worcester Palestinian Friendship (WPF)
an article by Lorna and Colin Archer, Worcester Palestine Friendship Group
Ever since Operation Cast Lead in Gaza three years ago, a group of us created the Worcester Palestine Friendship Group. We have direct contact with Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the UK and feel very much part of the global movement for a culture of peace and non-violence. We are members of Twinning with Palestine, write letters to politicians about the injustices of the occupation, and are part of a wide network of organisations which draw attention to the gross human rights violations against Palestinians since 1948. Our Palestinian friends have asked us to promote awareness of the daily difficulties they face.
Stories from our mothers' meeting
photo from WPF Facebook
click on photo to enlarge
Here are some Ideas for things to do:
Follow the alternative news media to get to know what is happening. www.maannews.net/eng is helpful. Write letters! Sir Robert would probably appreciate support for the line he is taking. Ask your MP to ask the Foreign Secretary to support the line being taken by Sir Robert Atkins.
Are you a member of a club or organisation that might welcome a speaker about the work of WPF to a meeting? If so please let us know.
Would you be interested in Sponsor a Child? If so information is available about how to assist a child in Palestine is on www.interpal.org .
The film ‘Little Town of Bethlehem’ (LTOB) is available to show to interested clubs, groups, organisations. This is the story of how three men from different backgrounds, Jewish, Palestinian Christian and Muslim, came together to promote non-violent solutions to the continuing conflict in Palestine/Israel.
The campaign of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) has been achieving some success, with a number of councils in the UK ending contracts with companies which have been engaged in building infrastructure for illegal settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank . . .
Next WPF meeting June 11, 2012. This meeting will be addressed by Stan Rowe, an Ecumenical Accompanier who returned from the West Bank in February after a three month stay, helping protect Palestinians from a variety of abuses.
If you would like to receive information about future events, and are not yet on our contacts list, please complete a slip with contact details. If you would like to become more closely involved, please let us know: worcester_palestine_friendship@hotmail.co.uk ; Facebook. Worcester-Palestine Friendship group.
Information is difficult to access from mainstream media. Consequently we have identified websites which remedy this, and provide links to other sites.
Jews for Justice for Palestinians
Kairos Palestine
Breaking the Silence
Palestine News Agency
Critical analysis of media
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Palestine produce, olive oil, olives, dates, etc
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DISCUSSION
Question(s) related to this article:
Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?
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LATEST READER COMMENT:
Presenting the Palestinian side from the blog of Mazim Qumsiyeh:
1- Palestine is the Western part of the Fertile Crescent: an area that includes Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. In this Fertile Crescent the first human agriculture developed. Here the first domestication of animals (e.g. goats, donkeys, camels) and plants (e.g. wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, olives) happened.
2- This is also where civilization began including development of the first alphabet (by Phoenician Canaanites) and the first laws. It was where we first developed sciences like astronomy, engineering, and mathematics
3- The original inhabitants of the Western part of the Fertile Crescent were called Canaanites and the original language was called Aramaic which Jesus spoke (he was born in the country called then Palestine and thus he was Palestinian)
4- The old Aramaic language gave rise to derived languages including Syriac, Arabic, and Hebrew and this language group is called Semetic languages
5- Arabic alphabet evolved in Southern Canaan (today’s Jordan and Palestine) while the Latin alphabet evolved in Northern Canaan (Phoenicia, present day Lebanon and Syria). The Alphabet used in Europe today came from our part of the world.
6- The people of Southern Canaan including Palestine endured many invasions of armies with nearly 15 times that local people were ruled by kings or emperors (Persian, Roman, Umayyad, Abbasid, Israelite etc). . ...more.
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