Madison-Rafah Journal

Friends,

Thank you so much for your support of the Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament for Youth. Because of your kind contributions we made our goal and the event was a huge success. Twenty teams of youths and mentors played as neighbors in an uplifing community event. Together we helped created a genuine community space where Gazans could meet to heal the wounds of internal violence. Already plans are forming for next year's tounament and we hope you will be there with us to make it happen.

To get all the updates, photos and commentary, please visit us at Rachel Corrie Ramadan 2008 Cup.

Sincerely,
John Harvey and Andrew Ford Lyons

In conjunction with the play My Name is Rachel Corrie, a photo exhibition will be on display outside of Anderson Auditorium, Predolin Humanities Center, Edgewood College, from October 1 - 4. Free and open to the public, the exhibit features photos by award-winning Palestinian journalist, photographer and website host Mohammed Omer.

Requests for printed copies of any of the images can be made before or after the play performances, or by sign-up sheet at the exhibit, and purchased for delivery at a later date. All proceeds from the sale of the prints will go to support Omer, a native of Rafah.

For more information about Mohamed Omer, including an account of his recent detention and torture at the hands of Israeli officials while returning from Europe where he had been given the prestigious Martha Gellhorn prize for journalism, see rafah.virtualactivism.net/news/todaymain.htm.

For further information, contact Robin at 608-221-0809 or palestineinfocus (at) yahoo.com.

Friday, October 3 from 12 noon - 2 pm
Saturday, October 4 at 7:30 pm
Anderson Auditorium, Predolin Humanities Center
Edgewood College

We are pleased to announce that Edgewood College will host two performances of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie in October.

My Name is Rachel Corrie was created from the writings of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist who was killed in Gaza in 2003. Brittany Jordt, who performed before standing-room only audiences in Madison last spring, will again play the role of Rachel.

These are expected to be the production's final Madison performances. Both performances will be free and open to the public.

(Read on …)

IBRAHIM BARZAK, The Associated Press, August 30, 2008

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Egypt opened its sealed border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, allowing hundreds of people to enter and leave the coastal territory in a goodwill gesture before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan begins, officials said.

Palestinians who live abroad or are seeking medical treatment and Egyptians stuck in Gaza because of the sealed border gathered at dawn in a nearby sporting center, where Hamas police shipped them to the Rafah crossing in buses.

On the Egyptian side of the border, hundreds of Palestinians massed to cross back into Gaza after being shut out for months.

"I am going back home," said Umm Usama, an Egyptian woman married to a Palestinian man, who came to Gaza to visit relatives. "Thank you, President Mubarak, for letting us return home before Ramadan," which begins early next week.

(Read on …)

Dear Members and Friends of MRSCP,

We have been asked by some of our friends from Olympia, Washington, Rachel Corrie's home town, to solicit support for an ambitious new undertaking to benefit the young people of Rafah.

In September, during the month of Ramadan, the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP), one of our partner groups in Rafah, plans to host the first ever all-Rafah youth soccer tournament. They hope that this tournament will begin the process of establishing a soccer park and organized soccer leagues in the war-ravaged Rafah community, providing a healthy outlet for Rafah's youth (over half the population of Gaza is under 18).

Organizers have set a modest but critical goal of raising $2,500 by August 1. MRSCP has agreed to contribute $500 to this cause. We urge you to join us.

Tax-deductible U.S. donations will be channeled through the Gaza Mental Health Foundation, an approved 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Please do not make out checks or send donations to MRSCP.

As always, we thank you for your support!

(Read on …)

Shafia Powell and her friend Nabila have generously offered to host a garage sale next weekend to benefit the Rafah Youth Soccer Tournament planned for this September.

THE SALE WILL BE ON MADISON'S NORTH SIDE AT 3601 MARCY LANE, OFF OF TROY DRIVE. THE TENTATIVE HOURS ARE:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 12 NOON - 5 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 9 AM - 5 PM
SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 9 AM - 3 PM

Tournament supporters in the U.S. were successful in raising the money needed to launch the tournament and will shortly be doing "Phase 2" fund raising to support it.

IF YOU HAVE ANY ITEMS TO DONATE TO THE SALE, please contact Nabila at 242-9179 to arrange to drop them off. If you need help transporting donations please contact Shafia at 772-5744. Holy Land Olive Oil should be available at the sale as well.

Please help us spread the word about this sale. And as always, thanks for your support.

(Read on …)

The Madison production of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie, featuring Brittany Jordt in the title role, will be performed in Door County from July 25 to 27:

Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26 at 8 pm
Ephraim Village Hall
9996 Water Street

Sunday, July 27 at 2 pm
Baileys Harbor Town Hall
2392 County Hwy F

$7 general admission, $3 students

For ticket and general information call 608-278-0483 or e-mail rafahsistercity (at) yahoo.com. Tickets will be available at the door, or you can reserve tickets by leaving your name and phone number, the performance you wish to attend, and the number of tickets desired. Your reservation will be confirmed by return call. Tickets must be picked up and paid for at least one-half hour before play time.

(Read on …)

Nasser Jaber spent eighteen years building up his chicken farm in the southern Gaza Strip. Two weeks ago the IOF bulldozed his farm, killing 40,000 of his chickens, and destroying his business.

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 27 May 2008

“They came at four in the morning, with two bulldozers, and they left before 8am. I own this chicken farm with my three brothers, and we worked day and night for eighteen years to build up our business. The Israelis destroyed everything in less than four hours.”

Nasser Jaber’s chicken farm was bulldozed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) ten days ago, in the early morning hours of May 16, while he was sleeping at home in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. He still looks stunned. Wearily he guides us round the ruins of his eighteen-year business.

“This was a lifetime project for me and my brothers” he says as we clamber over rubble, wire, shattered sheets of metal and thousands of putrefying chickens. “I have never belonged to any political faction, and I have never been to jail. I don’t know why they did this.” The farm workers who are starting to clear some of the rubble are all wearing facemasks. Forty thousand dead chickens lie smashed amidst the rubble and the stench is sickening.

When his workers raised the alarm that the chicken farm was being bulldozed, Nasser Jaber didn’t rush out to the farm, but stayed at home, waiting until the Israelis had finally left. “It would have been too dangerous to come to the farm while they were destroying everything” he says. “This is not the first time the Israelis have been here. The [Israeli] border is only two and a half kilometers away, and they invade this area every month. They had already destroyed one of our walls, and then the water tanks. But nothing like this.” One section of the chicken farm, a large barn containing 9,000 chickens, was spared the attack, though Nasser Jaber says the poultry are traumatized, and laying few eggs. (Read on …)