Madison Rafah Journal

YOUSEF MUNAYYER, New York Times, May 23, 2012

I’M a Palestinian who was born in the Israeli town of Lod, and thus I am an Israeli citizen. My wife is not; she is a Palestinian from Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Despite our towns being just 30 miles apart, we met almost 6,000 miles away in Massachusetts, where we attended neighboring colleges.

A series of walls, checkpoints, settlements and soldiers fill the 30-mile gap between our hometowns, making it more likely for us to have met on the other side of the planet than in our own backyard.

Never is this reality more profound than on our trips home from our current residence outside Washington.

Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport is on the outskirts of Lod (Lydda in Arabic), but because my wife has a Palestinian ID, she cannot fly there; she is relegated to flying to Amman, Jordan. If we plan a trip together — an enjoyable task for most couples — we must prepare for a logistical nightmare that reminds us of our profound inequality before the law at every turn.

(Read on …)

The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project has a library of films about Palestine available for free public showings or household viewing. We can also help introduce the films and facilitate discussion. See Speakers and Lending Policies for more information.

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, May 15, 2012

To commemorate the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) announced the online publication of a guide to Palestinian film and filmmaking. It features information on and access to hundreds of films and film institutions, giving an unprecedented overview of almost every aspect of Palestinian filmmaking. 

The filmography provides detailed information on individual narrative and documentary films by and about Palestinians. Films included are both full length and shorter. Their subject matter deals with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, in Israel, and in exile around the world. They address the history and politics of the conflict with Israel, the experience of exile, daily life under occupation, the resistance to occupation and dispossession, reconciliation with Israelis, women’s issues, religion, and culture. Many films focus on political issues; some are entertainment films; in a few the aesthetic dimension is primary. There is information on grassroots films made by human rights organizations and by ordinary Palestinians documenting their own lives and communities.  (Read on …)

Anderson Auditorium
Edgewood College
7:00 pm

Diyar Dance Theatre of Bethlehem: 40 talented, enthusiastic and committed dancers, male and female, of different age groups and backgrounds. The vision of Diyar Dance Theatre is to celebrate Palestinian culture and history through traditional dances, while promoting creativity.

Diyar Dance Theatre is the only dance troupe in Bethlehem representing Bethlehem’s rich history, values and heritage in a theatrical dance form combining Dabka, modern theatre and contemporary dance.

Diyar Dance Theatre believes in building cultural bridges and considers dance a powerful medium to unlock hearts and minds.

ABEL KERSHNER and FARES AKRAM, New York Times, April 1, 2012

The woman, Hana Shalabi, 30, from the northern West Bank, was the second Palestinian this year to have challenged and changed the terms of their “administrative detention,” a practice of the Israeli military courts that allows imprisonment based on secret informants or information and that has been used against thousands of Palestinians over the years.

Both Ms. Shalabi’s case and that of Khader Adnan, 33, who ended a 66-day fast in February in return for a reduced term, drew international attention to the continuing use of administrative detention and prompted concerns in Israel that a hunger strike to the death could set off widespread unrest.

But both cases were resolved individually and have so far failed to produce any fundamental change in Israeli policy. (Read on …)

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Hana al-Shalabi is a 30-year-old Palestinian woman and resident of Burqin village near Jenin who was taken from her home and arrested on February 16. On February 23, she was given an administrative detention order for six months. She has been on a hunger strike for 41 days in protest of her violent arrest, the harmful and degrading ill-treatment she suffered following her arrest and of her administrative detention.

Just two days ago, an Israeli military judge rejected an appeal against Hana’s administrative detention without charge or trial claiming that there are grounds to continue holding her as she is a threat to Israel’s security.

But as Amnesty International makes clear, Israel must either charge Hana with a recognizable criminal offence and promptly try her or release her.

Hana, just like Khader Adnan, needs international solidarity and support for her case to amplify her voice and that of nearly 5,000 fellow Palestinian prisoners, including approximately 310 held in administrative detention without charge.

Send a letter now to Israeli officials demanding her freedom.

Call the office of Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, and demand the United States intervene to force Israel to release Hana Shalabi and all political prisoners. The number is 202-647-7209. Find talking points here.

Tweet: Demand Israel release Hana al-Shalabi immediately! #FreeHana

Watch the video below to learn more about Hana’s case. And make sure to share with your friends and followers.

“What We Saw, What We Can Do”

April 12, 2012, 7:00 pm
180 Science Hall, UW-Madison Campus
Book signing to follow

Dr. Mads Gilbert, one of two Norwegian doctors who remained in Gaza under fire during Israeli Operation Cast Lead, will be in Madison to speak about his experiences. Both he and his colleague, Dr. Erik Fosse, testified as expert witnesses at subsequent Human Rights Committee Sessions held at the United Nations in Geneva after the attack. In January, 2012 Dr. Gilbert returned to Gaza where he met with his colleagues from Shifa Hospital, friends, and many of the patients he operated on, including the girl below.

Dr. Gilbert will address the US role in Operation Cast Lead, the use of illegal weapons on a civilian population, the ethics of weapons sales to countries that have used or tested weapons illegally, and the aftermath of Cast Lead with the continuing siege and blockade of the Gaza Strip 3 years later. It will include details of Dr. Gilbert’s January visit to Gaza, and will also look at the broader, regional context of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle within the “Arab Spring”.

Mads Gilbert is a specialist in anesthesiology and a leader of the emergency medicine department of University Hospital of North Norway, and has been a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Tromsø since 1995. Dr. Gilbert co-founded NORWAC, a Norwegian-Palestinian humanitarian aid organization. He worked in an underground Palestinian refugee camp hospital in Beirut during the 1982 Israeli invasion and bombardment of Lebanon. (Read on …)