Anna Baltzer, (right in photo) is a Jewish-American, granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, Columbia University graduate, Fulbright scholar and volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service, is touring the United States describing her experiences documenting human rights abuses in the West Bank and supporting Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent resistance to the Occupation. Anna’s presentation covers checkpoints, settlements, demonstrations, Israeli activism, environmental issues, the Separation Wall, and more. Providing photographic documentation and critical information often misrepresented or ignored in the U.S. media, Anna’s presentation encourages dialogue towards taking informed action.

Last week I sent out a story about a Gaza woman being asked to choose
which five of her children would live and which five would die--an
unmistakable parallel with the famous story of Sophie, a woman who had
to choose which of her children to give to the Nazis to kill. When I
first heard the story from Gaza, I could hardly believe it, and indeed
many readers have responded incredulously to my post over the past week.

The author of the report, Barbara Lubin of the Middle East Children's
Alliance, is someone whom I respect and trust completely. True, we can
never know with certainty that the mother was telling the truth, yet
one has to wonder why a mourning woman would make up such a story?
What would be required to give the account legitimacy--confessions by
the soldiers? Was Sophie's word accepted or were Nazi officials
consulted to corroborate her story?

What strikes me is the unspoken sense many of us have that surely an
Israeli soldier would never do such a thing. We would not question the
same story coming out of Darfur, or Rwanda, or Sri Lanka… but Israel?
Is it that we don't believe a Jewish person capable of something so
cruel? Is it our collective memory of the Holocaust? Or is it that we
want to believe that people like us--Westerners, whom we can relate
to--would never stoop so low, that we are different?

The truth is that everyday people of any background in any place are
capable of unthinkable crimes. Germans were not born Nazis.
Palestinians were not born suicide bombers. When you give 18-year-old
boys big guns and tanks and send them into an area full of people they
fear (and consequently hate), the result is predictable. It doesn't
matter where you come from. The story is not anti-Semitic; it's just
one story of many, all testimonies to the dangerous power-dynamic
created by unmonitored occupation and ethnocentric nationalism. And
it's a call for us to change the circumstances that can lead to the
repetition of history.

Comparing Israel's actions to anything done by the Nazis is something
I almost never do, because it is rarely accurate or useful. However, I
am tired of pretending that similarities do not exist. Obviously there
is no comparison between systematically exterminating 6 million Jews
and dispossessing or imprisoning 10 million Palestinians (and killing
tens of thousands more). Still, the ghettoizing, the massacres, the
humiliation tactics, the torture, the religious and ethnic profiling…
they all feel so horribly familiar. I might add that the official
definition of genocide extends also to the destruction of a cultural
or national identity, something of which Israel is surely guilty.

My last post was tainted with hopelessness, but I am as sure as ever
that things will--must--change, that Israel's unfettered control and
transformation of Palestinian areas are unsustainable. Israeli
commentators such as Uri Avnery assert that Israel's onslaught against
Gaza will hurt Zionism in the long-run, and I tend to agree. I'm
reminded by people involved in previous struggles (eg. for civil
rights in South Africa and the United States) that things often get
worse before they get better, and ultimately I believe the recent
events will only contribute to the inevitable downfall of Apartheid in
the Holy Land.

One hopeful thing to come out of these tragedies is that the
Palestinian people seem more unified than they have been in a long
time. In the West Bank, demonstrations in solidarity with the people
of Gaza continued, even after a protester was killed in the village of
Nil'in. The Palestinian hip-hop group DAM, based in Israel where they
live as second-class citizens, immediately put out a new song for
their brothers and sisters in Gaza.

In addition, multiple Jewish Israelis have recently written and joined
my list, saying it was the recent attacks on Gaza that finally forced
them to confront their government's crimes. Outside Palestine millions
stand in solidarity with frequent demonstrations around the world,
even now as Gazans begin to put their lives back together. In the US
we tend to get only a fraction of information about the atrocities and
the global movement against them (I've heard more about certain
demonstrations in the US than the local media in the exact same town
reported!). But even that has been enough to inspire many to join the
movement, just as the death of Rachel Corrie and the massacres at
Sabra and Shatila and so many other horrors stimulated the movement in
the past. It is little consolation to the victims of course, but can
at least motivate us to prevent future horrors.

I want to describe the feeling in Syria during the attacks, where I
watched everyone from 7-year-old children to minimum-wage janitors
donate money, clothing, and blood to the people of Gaza. A woman with
nothing left to give put her wedding ring into the charity basket. A
friend of a friend raised more than $1,000 but was robbed on her way
to delivering the money to an aid organization. Her purse was
delivered to the police, with her personal cash stolen (amounting to
about $100), but the envelope labeled "Money for the Children of Gaza"
was left untouched. There is a great feeling of universal solidarity
with the people of Gaza, transcending social, class, political, or
religious differences.

In the capitol, every day enormous protests flooded the streets. As we
marched past, shop owners would close their shops and hurry to join,
students would rush from school to take part, and the constant chant
"We are all Gazans" grew louder and louder. Each day had a different
theme, ranging from law to health to education. Women held other women
on their shoulders to lead cheers and floats with speakers played
inspiring music to energize the completely nonviolent crowd.

What struck me--aside from the sheer size and constancy of the
marches--was how empowering the events were. Rather than leaving
hopeless or angry (as I often do after frustrating protests), I left
with the knowledge that tens of thousands of others around me were
equally outraged, and that we would not be silent until something
changed. This unity is something very powerful and important for the
movement, and I'm watching it happen all around the world.

The question is where to put this energy, and I think I have an
answer. We are at a crucial moment for change in the US and beyond,
and it's time to take the next step. For years I have wondered what
this next step should be, and the answer has become increasingly
clear. It's a campaign that deserves its own email uncluttered by this
one, so expect it in your inboxes early next week, and don't put off
reading it. If there's one email you ever read from me, this should be
the one.

In peace,
Anna

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Beirut trying to concentrate, but
I just can't. There are hundreds of heartbreaking emails to read
through, each one worse than the last. The carnage did not stop with
the so-called "ceasefire" (I use quotations because the slow massacre
of starving an entire population of basic human necessities --
sufficient food, water, medical supplies, heat -- continues). Everyday
on television we watch new bodies being dug out of the rubble. And now
that a few international reporters and humanitarian workers have been
allowed into Gaza, we hear more of the
stories that had previously been left untold.

I received the following letter written by my friend Barbara Lubin, a
Jewish American woman who founded the Middle East Children's Alliance,
a great organization to contribute to if you can
(www.mecaforpeace.org). Her account turned my stomach:

-------------------------------

January 23, 2009
Dear Aamir,
I entered the Gaza Strip on Wednesday night with my friend and fellow
activist Sharon Wallace after waiting ten hours at the Egypt/Gaza
border. The destruction and trauma is even greater than I expected.
...
Out of all the devastation I have seen so far, there is one story in
particular that I think the world needs to hear. I met a mother who
was at home with her ten children when Israeli soldiers entered the
house. The soldiers told her she had to choose five of her children to
"give as a gift to Israel." As she screamed in horror they repeated
the demand and told her she could choose or they would choose for her.
Then these soldiers murdered five of her children in front of her. The
concept of "Jewish morality" is truly dead. We can be fascists,
terrorists, and Nazis just like everybody else.
...
In Zaytoun, I saw families gathering wood from charred trees. The
almost two-year blockade of Gaza has deprived people cooking gas, so
these terrified families build fires to keep warm and cook the little
food they can get. I talked to people on the street who told stories
of wild dogs coming to eat their dead neighbors, relatives bleeding to
death because Israel would not allow emergency workers into the area,
and Israeli soldiers entering homes to beat and kill.

But despite the immense mourning and devastation, people are starting
to put their lives back together. Sabreen, a young woman from Rafah,
told me, "We are a strong people. No matter how many times Israel
bombs us we are not leaving. We will keep trying to live as normal a
life as possible."

Sincerely,

Barbara Lubin
Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine

-------------------------------

I was invited for dinner tonight by the president of a theological
school here in Beirut, who offered me a place to stay. She didn't seem
to want to talk about politics, but when I showed her my book she
looked at me and said "As a person of the scriptures, I was convinced
that the Jewish state must have some ethical grounding, for all its
faults... Until 2006. Until that summer when Israel bombed everything
in sight, and dropped 1,200,000 cluster bombs (authorized by
Condoleezza Rice) after -- AFTER! -- the ceasefire agreement. Just
yesterday a young man's leg was blown off by one of them, one of
millions that remain. And after watching the massacres in Gaza, I have
no more faith in the morality I so closely tied with Judaism."

I came to Syria and Lebanon worried that anyone I told I was Jewish
would be resentful, or even violent. But each person I tell seems
almost relieved to meet a Jewish person opposed to what Israel is
doing, wanting to revive their hope that Jews, Muslims, and Christians
can coexist. The problem is not that people here hate Jews; the
problem is the army of fighter jets bearing Jewish stars, claiming it
represents Judaism, repeatedly devastating children, families, an
entire nation, decade after decade, while most Jews (and others) in
the world let it happen without a peep. The problem is that I myself
am starting to wonder what it even means to be Jewish if the morality
and memory ("Never again") that tied me to it is now gone.

Something has happened since my last trip less than two years ago. In
the West Bank last month, formerly active friends told me to go home,
get a new job, start a family, forget about Palestine because there's
no hope. People seemed so tired, at the end of their rope, and this
was before the Gaza bombing started. People in Gaza were at the end of
their rope 18 months before, when their most basic needs were cut off
and they were encaged, left to waste away and fight amongst
themselves. How much can a person take?

I do not have the resilience to even bear one more month here. I am so
drained, so pained, and of course I have the luxury of being able to
buy a ticket and leave whenever I want. It's fitting that Beirut will
be one of my last stops. Here a city, devastated by war after war,
continues to rebuild itself, like the rest of Lebanon and like Gaza.
Beirut nightlife buzzes around me as I write, and I have to believe
that if the millions of Lebanese and Palestinian people repeatedly
traumatized in this war-torn land have pulled themselves together to
rebuild and look to a better future, then I'll manage to as well.

In solidarity with those who have lost their homes and families,

Anna Baltzer
Beirut, Lebanon

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted Monday January 12th 2009

Why now?... What now?... WRITE Now!

* What Now? *

As Israel's invasion of the Gaza strip continues its third week with
roughly 900 Palestinians killed and thousands more wounded, it is more
important than ever to understand the context behind the current
escalation, and then to move beyond our understanding into action.

At the bottom of this email is a piece including analysis inspired by
the recent writings and research of Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi (Security
General of the Palestinian National Initiative) and Phyllis Bennis
(Director of the New Internationalism Project). But first you'll
find-—as always, crucially—-a way to take action: WRITE!

___

* WRITE Now! *

In the first week of the attack on Gaza, the Washington Post ran 7-1
hawkish op-ed/editorials, the Washington Times ran 5-0 hawkish
op-ed/editorials, and the Wall Street Journal ran 4-0 hawkish
op-ed/editorials.

Many of us are upset by this, but we don't feel empowered to change
it. But biases in mainstream media do not come out of nowhere; they
are largely (though not entirely by any means) the result of active
media-monitoring by media watch-dog groups that inundate media who
stray from the Zionist party line.

Why can't we be as dedicated as those groups? Why aren't media being
inundated by people like us who want to see the truth that is reported
to the rest of the world every day? We need to be the change that we
seek. We need to write media--not here and there, a couple of us, but
consistently, all of us, a collective voice, demanding fair coverage.

I recently discovered the WRITE! Project (www.writetruth.org), which
has a team monitoring US media and sending out alerts to peace and
justice activists write in response to specific pro-Zionist articles
and editorials. They provide the email address to write to, the
original piece to respond to, and talking points to use. It doesn't
take more than 5 minutes.

I don't personally have the time to monitor mainstream US media, but
every time I get an alert I send a quick email to let the relevant
media know what I think. What if all 5,000 people on this list were to
do that? We could be the influence that we wish we had!

Contact the WRITE! Team to get alerts at writealert@...

Take a minute to write after each alert.

It only works if we do it together.


___

* Why Now? *

Contrary to popular belief, plans for Israel's bombing and invasion of
Gaza didn't begin when Hamas started firing rockets at the end of last
year's ceasefire. According to the Israeli mainstream newspaper
Haaretz, plans for a massive attack on the strip began more than six
months ago as Israel and Hamas were negotiating the ceasefire (see
"IAF strike followed months of planning" -
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050448.html). Israeli Defense Minister
Ehud Barak reasoned that the ceasefire would give Israel time to
prepare for a "showdown" as soon as it was over.

At the end of the ceasefire, Hamas put forth diplomatic initiatives
aimed at extending the agreement (based on an end to both cross-border
attacks and blockade of the strip), but these efforts were actually
dismissed by Israel. With an end to diplomatic possibilities and the
continuation of a debilitating blockade, Hamas's returning again to
rocket attacks was, albeit lamentable, certainly predictable. Renewed
violence, far from coming as a surprise, was presumably precisely what
Israel was expecting.

So if the decision to strike Gaza in late December was calculated far
in advance, why now? The timing coincided precisely with three things:
elected officials' holidays in the US, a transitional period for the
US administration (a lame duck president and a president-elect
hesitant to say anything prematurely), and most importantly: a tight
race in Israel for the next prime minister. In fact Israeli Foreign
Minister Tsipi Livni, who rejected Hamas's efforts to negotiate an
extension of the ceasefire, is running a tight race with the hawkish
Likud party. The latter is campaigning on the claim that Livni's
political party, Kadima, is too "soft" on the Palestinians, something
Livni is working hard to disprove.

Official Israeli explanations mention nothing about US or Israeli
political factors, focusing squarely on eradicating Palestinian
violence. But if nonviolence and cooperation are Israel's conditions
for returning freedom to Palestinians, why weren't those conditions
enough in the past? By the end of the year 2008, more than six months
since a single fatal attack on an Israeli and following long-term
cooperation between the West Bank Fatah leadership and the Israeli
government, settlement expansion had heavily increased in the West
Bank, about 5,000 Palestinians had been newly captured and imprisoned
by Israel (most of them from the West Bank), and the number of West
Bank checkpoints had risen from 521 to 699. If Israel wanted to stop a
rise in Hamas, why not show that it is willing to make peace with the
more peaceful Palestinian leaders?

During my two weeks in the West Bank, coinciding with a time of calm
in Israel, I listened to countless stories of immobility, settler
attacks, torture, and humiliation. During my first night at the IWPS
house, nearby settlers stoned passing cars. I visited a close friend
in the nearby `Azzoun village, where settlers invade several times a
week carrying large American-made semi-automatic weapons. The army's
response is to declare curfew on Azzoun, forbidding villagers from
leaving their home. School and work have been cancelled three times a
week for the past month on orders of the army, wanting to "protect
Palestinians." One wonders why the army prefers to shut down a
Palestinian village rather than standing up to the Israeli settlers
themselves (my colleague Hannah wrote an excellent article addressing
this question: http://www.counterpunch.org/mermelstein12252008.html).

I visited the Bethlehem area where settlers routinely visit and
spray-paint stars of David and anti-Arab racist slurs (which locals
then paint over, until the settlers return the next time). Water and
electricity in the city are consistently shut off by the Israeli army
(Bethlehem has just one functioning traffic light), and enrollment at
Bethlehem University hovers at 70% female given the high proportion of
local men spending their youth in prison (similar to figures of
African American males in the United States).

The one concession I witnessed was Israel's release of more than 200
Palestinian prisoners as a gift for the Muslim "Eid Al-Adha" holiday
last month. Israel continues to hold more than 7,500 Palestinians
prisoner, more than 10% of them without charge. Hundreds more are
arrested every month. Then, occasionally, Israel lets out a couple
hundred as an act of goodwill and generosity, but somehow Palestinians
don't seem to find the habit terribly generous.

I traveled to Nablus where I learned one of my friends had been killed
while another, a major organizer of nonviolent civil disobedience
during Israel's invasion in early 2007, was in prison. On my way, I
passed a group of eleven cement factory workers who had been stopped
by the army on their way to the factory and I hopped out of my cab to
document the situation. After holding the group for more than two
hours, the Israeli soldiers decided to let the eleven grown men go to
work. Other breadwinners cannot even access the road to work anymore,
like a Bethlehem family whose home I found surrounded on three sides
by the Wall, their main road cut off.

Given the West Bank Fatah leadership's cooperation with Israel, one
might have expected a change in the situation in the West Bank, but
everywhere I visited the occupation continued as usual, sometimes
enhanced. There is no reason for Palestinians—-or us—-to believe that
an end to rocket attacks and suicide bombs would bring real change to
Israel's continued occupation since neither has in the past. Rather,
Hamas's violence provides a convenient, and unfortunate, excuse for
Israel to continue what it has been doing all along: expanding and
expanding, destroying any obstacle—-be it a home, an olive tree, or a
boy with a rock-—in its way.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted Wednesday January 7th 2009

What Most US Media Isn't Telling You

Four days ago, Israel invaded Gaza on the ground to compliment its
aerial bombardment. The Palestinian death toll has reached 660. The
official Israeli death toll is up to 5, of whom 4 were civilians.
Attacks on civilians, no matter who they are, is criminal. Yet the US
government, public relations officials, and mainstream media—unlike
those of almost every other country in the world—continue to
criminalize Palestinian violence while absolving Israel (the
undisputed party in power) of almost any responsibility of its own.
The official position seems clear: Israel can do as it likes until
Hamas stops all violence.

The underlying assumption here is that Palestinians' human rights
depend on the actions of their leaders. This is false. Palestinians do
not have to earn the human rights inalienable to every person on
Earth. Human rights are non-negotiable. Likewise, Israelis do not have
to earn their human rights. Israeli state terror notwithstanding, it
would be criminal to bombard the entire population of Israel (in
which, as in Gaza, fighters live alongside their families in civilian
areas) for the crimes of its government.

But this is exactly what Israel is doing in Gaza with US weapons
before a seemingly impotent international community. Every day the
carnage unfolds on CNN-International (different from CNN-US—the United
States is the only country in the world with domestically customized
international news coverage): a mother and her 4 kids killed
instantly; a 7-year-old shot twice in the chest (I'm not sure how that
happens accidentally, but does that even matter?); more than 40
policemen in training obliterated (even Israel does not claim the
Palestinian police orchestrates rocket attacks); TV stations and
places of worship successfully destroyed; a mortuary out of room for
bodies.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, "sewage water is pouring into the streets in Beit Hanoun,
following damage to the main pipeline between Beit Hanoun and the Beit
Lahiya wastewater treatment plant." Save The Children reports that
newborn baby Gazans are battling hypothermia due to power cuts and
freezing winter winds.

Some of the worst news comes from the doctors. Can you imagine a
hospital functioning without electricity? According to the mainstream
British newspaper The Guardian, medics are working around the clock
and running out of anesthesia. There is no more gauze so doctors are
using cotton, which sticks to wounds. Nurses are forced to draw blood
with the wrong sized syringes and without alcohol. The Guardian
article was entitled, "The injured were lying there asking God to let
them die." Many have gotten their last wish, dying as they wait in the
emergency rooms.

Medical workers themselves have also been under fire, with at least 4
killed as they tried to reach victims. Ambulances are not safe, nor
are the schools:

When I woke up yesterday a UN school had just been bombed, killing 3
of the civilians who had come to the school seeking shelter. Watching
the news later in the evening, I learned the same UN school had been
bombed again (twice in one day), killing 40 more. The British director
of the school, having lost his usual calm, was irate and imploring the
world to understand that nowhere in Gaza is safe anymore—there is
nowhere left to go.

Yet reading the Washington Post and watching the nightly news you
might believe that Israel's is in fact the most virtuous army in the
world, going as far as sending text messages to and dropping leaflets
in Palestinian areas explaining that unless civilians leave, they will
be attacked. Reported alone, this might sound reasonable, but quickly
becomes absurd if you know that Gazans have no place to go to! Nowhere
inside the strip of land is safe and there is no way to leave it,
since the borders are sealed.

The bombing and invasion have clearly heightened the threat against
Gazans' lives, but they did not start it. For the 18 months preceding
the invasion, the average Gazan could not reliably go to school, make
a living, contact the outside world, divert their sewage, heat their
homes, drink clean water, or eat. This was due to the enclosure summed
up in the words of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human
Rights: "Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the
key." This was the reality of Israel's "ceasefire."

The closure pushed Gaza's humanitarian crisis to a new low, with
poverty reaching 80%. Any attempt to counter poverty was thwarted.
Gaza students dependent on transportation could not reach their
schools, and those accepted at foreign universities in America,
Europe, and the West Bank were denied permits to leave. Without enough
fuel, industrial businesses were either shut down or running below 20%
capacity, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. Contrary
to Israeli court order, the Israeli army allowed just 15% of fuel
needed for generators, wells, and transportation, resulting in garbage
piled high in the streets while up to 15,000,000 gallons of raw or
partially-treated sewage flowed into the sea every day. This was the
reality of Israel's "ceasefire."

On November 4th and 5th, Israel broke the "ceasefire" by killing at
least 6 Palestinians in Gaza, reported on CNN-International but
unlikely by CNN-US. Of course, there was no ceasefire to begin with,
since the main requirement on Israel was to sufficiently unseal Gaza's
borders, a requirement that was consistently ignored. By the end of
the "ceasefire," 262 had Gazans died due to lack of access to proper
medical care during the blockade.

Hamas should be condemned for its attacks on civilians, but it is
naïve to expect that they would renew a truce that Israel had never
adhered to. Whether or not it would cease cross-border attacks in
exchange for Israeli reciprocity—as Hamas continues to offer—is
something we cannot know, since Israel has never given the offer a chance.



----------------------------------------

10 IDEAS for TAKING ACTION:

Analysis and sympathy have no value if they do not result in any
action. There are enough action ideas below that every single person
on this list has the power to do at least one, ideally many more.

1. Monitor and contact local media to inform others and counter
misinformation. Write letters to the editor (usually 100-150 words) or
op-eds (usually 600-800 words) for local newspapers. Also contact
radio talk shows and television news departments, especially in
response to biased coverage. You can find all local media at:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/
The US Campaign to End the Occupation compiled a fact sheet about US
direct contributions to the war on Gaza, which you can use for facts:
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/gaza_us_weapons.pdf

2. Organize and join demonstrations in front of Israeli embassies or
(if that's not doable) in front of the offices of elected officials or
other visible place. Inform the media beforehand. Here is a list of
the many demonstrations happening around the country (For example, St
Louis, where I live, usually has one a month, but this month there are
demonstrations every day):
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1773

3. Join local activist groups organizing local actions. If there
aren't any, start your own. Now is an excellent time to rally support.

4. Initiate boycotts, divestments and sanctions to nonviolently
pressure Israeli compliance with international law, as was effective
in the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. Now is an excellent
time to rally support and begin a campaign. More info and resources at
http://www.bdsmovement.net/

5. Send direct aid to Gaza through one of the following organizations:
- United Nations Relief and Works Agency: www.un.org/unrwa/
- United Palestinian Appeal: www.helpupa.com
- Islamic Relief: www.irw.org
- Canadian Red Cross: www.redcross.ca
- American Near East Refugee Aid: www.anera.org
- Physicians for Human Rights: www.phr.org.il/phr
- Other groups: http://gazasiege.org/support_gaza.html
You can also support solidarity activists on the ground at
www.palsolidarity.org/main/

6. Contact elected and other political leaders in your country to urge
them to apply pressure to end the attacks. Find your representatives
and their contact info at
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/congress

Call the Obama/Biden Transition Office at 202-540-3000, press 2 to
speak to staff member. Tell them the U.S. needs a new Middle East
policy, which holds Israel accountable to international law and UN
resolutions and human rights. Tell them the U.S. should not support
Israel with billions of dollars every year and should not be arming
Israel with U.S. made weapons. Add your own suggestions. The time is
right for President-elect Obama to hear from the peace community.

7. Sign petitions for Gaza, for example:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1
http://capwiz.com/arab/utr/2/?a=12364076&i=90758629&c
https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Advocacy?s_oo=d13BldH27ypl2jxg-1cOFA..&i\
d=233

8. Put a Palestinian flag at your window. Wear a Palestinian head
scarf (keffiya). Wear black arm bands (this helps start conversations
with people).

9. Do a group fast for peace one day and hold it in a public place.

10. Inform others in your community with flyers, vigils, and
conversations. At the very least, forward this on.

This list was based on a call from the Palestinian Center for
Rapprochement Between People and Friends of Sabeel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted Friday January 2nd 2009 

www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com

Gaza Massacres; The Time is Now

Please, everyone, stop what you're doing. This is not just any report
from Palestine, but the worst in my lifetime, the worst in 40 years.
At this moment, Israel is raining bombs down on Gaza, an enclosed tiny
area that is home to 1.5 million men, women, and children, most of
them innocent civilians. This space is tightly sealed by Israel, which
constantly denies Gazans electricity, food, medicine, and the ability
to leave. Gaza is one big prison being bombed from above. The death
toll is up to 428 in the past 7 days. That's more than the number of
Israelis killed in the last 7 years. This is what I would call a massacre.

Yes, more Palestinians killed in 7 days than Israelis in 7 years, and
yet no comments from President Bush or President-elect Obama.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice places blame solely on Hamas for
holding Gazans "hostage," as if Israel's actions were beyond judgment.
Would Rice ever respond to a Palestinian attack on Israelis by blaming
the Israeli government for holding its citizens hostage with their
army's violence?

I am writing you from Jordan. I arrived the day after the attacks
began. The day before they began, my friend and colleague Hannah had
asked me to deliver a book of poetry to her friend Summer in Gaza,
hoping I'd manage to make it on a Free Gaza boat. Since then, these
boats bringing unarmed witnesses to Gaza (www.freegaza.org) have been
attacked in international waters, and Summer's house has been blown to
pieces, her brother almost died under the rubble, and her father
desperately needs an operation but the hospitals are overflowing. In
every home or shop I enter in Jordan, people are huddled watching the
stories unfold: a family killed in their home, a university destroyed,
a pharmacy blown to pieces, countless bloody babies screaming or
worse, silent.

I wonder if people in the US are also seeing the bodies and faces or,
as I fear, only some rubble and angry Gazans. The day after attacks
began, Israel's largest newspaper Yediot Aharonot covered almost the
entire front page with the words, "500,000 Israelis Under Attack!" In
smaller font, one could learn that in addition to 1 Israeli, 225
Palestinians had also been killed. It was surreal. Consider where you
are getting your news, and what is not being told to you.

For example, the stated purpose of the attack is to drive out Hamas,
i.e. to kill anyone in Hamas and scare the rest into turning against
Hamas. Not only does this tactic not work (brutality fosters
violence), but it clearly fits the definition of terrorism: unlawful
violence intended to frighten or coerce a people or government in
order to achieve a political or ideological agenda. Israel is
operating as a terrorist state in the true sense of the word.

Hamas is also a terrorist organization by this definition, so it would
be easy to simplify the conflict as "an endless cycle of violence"
were there no historical context. But there is a context, and there
are alternatives: Let us remember that Hamas was elected after an
intentional shift away from violence towards a mainstream political
agenda. Hamas stopped its attacks and began offering the Palestinian
people an alternative to the corruption of Fatah. Hamas was
democratically elected and immediately strangled by a US-led boycott,
preventing the government from functioning. Hamas continued to hold to
its one-sided ceasefire (totaling almost 2 years), meanwhile the US
and Israel began to train and arm the opposition government, Fatah,
which they preferred. In response to plans for a coup in Gaza
(anti-democratic takeover by the US-supported opposition government),
Hamas secured its control (again, democratically-elected whether or
not we like them) over Gaza, and continues to offer Israel an
indefinite ceasefire--no more violent attacks, period--if Israel
simply complies with international law. The Arab League (comprised of
22 Arab nation members) has offered the same. These offers are
dismissed by Israel and silenced in the US media. Israel says it has
tried everything else, but it has not tried the most obvious:
complying with international law and accepting repeated offers for a
peaceful resolution.

As events unfold in Gaza neither the media nor the people are silent
here in Jordan, where people refuse to go on as if nothing were
happening to their brothers and sisters (sometimes literally--more
than 60% of Jordan's population is Palestinian refugees). Just one day
after attacks began, the king of Jordan gave blood to send to Gaza and
inspired hundreds of others to do the same (meanwhile President Bush
was on vacation in Texas). Spontaneous demonstrations have erupted at
least twice here in the capitol today, and thousands are protesting in
various major cities around the Middle East and around the world.

Please, wherever you are, do something. Write a letter to the editor.
Get a large group to inundate your congressperson at once. Protest!
There are demonstrations being organized around the US. If there isn't
one happening near you, then do what I would do: buy a poster-board
and large marker and write something on it ("Gazans Are People Too,"
"Massacre in Gaza: Silence is Complicity," "Our Weapons Are Killing
Palestinian Children," or anything you can think of). Go outside and
stand on a busy corner with it. Force others to confront the reality.
Talk to people, invite them to join you. People around the world are
empowered enough to take to the streets; we have no excuse not to. The
time is now.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted Sunday November 30th 2008 

www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com

Free TV Time for US Residents!

If you are someone who wants to educate others about Palestine, please
take a minute to read through this email:

There are many ways to spread the word, but none as EASY yet
under-utilized as with Public Access TV. This is an invaluable asset
in building the movement, yet most of us have ignored it.

We could EACH be reaching thousands of people. See below:

===================================

For example, today my DVD "Life in Occupied Palestine" is airing on
Free Speech TV nationally:

NOV 30th SHOW-TIMES:
- 3am, 7am, 1pm, 6pm, 9pm, and midnight in PST
- 6am, 10am, 4pm, 9pm, midnight & 3am Dec 1st in EST
(Adjust to your time-zone.)

BROADCAST LOCATIONS:
- 189 Public Access TV stations in 38 states
- Dish Network Ch. 9415 in all 50 states

HOW TO FIND YOUR LOCAL STATION(S):
- In your phone book
- www.communitymedia.se/cat/linksus.htm
- www.freespeech.org/html/affiliates_list.html

===================================

*** What's the significance? In one day, I have the potential to reach
more Americans than I have in 3 years of touring.

There are thousands of Public Access TV stations around the
country—sometimes several in one city. Even if just 1 tenth of 1
percent of Americans ever watch, that's still hundreds of thousands of
people, thousands for every local station.

The best part: Public Access TV stations are required to air materials
submitted by local citizens. In fact, to my understanding, FCC
regulations prohibit station employees from censoring films (except
those including pornography, extreme violence, and commercial
content). Informing your community is your right—so use it.

Over 2,500 stations nation-wide are currently without sponsors to air
Palestine films. This is a much-needed community service, and it
doesn't matter if:
-you don't have money
-you haven't visited Palestine
-you want to remain anonymous

All that matters is if you're a resident somewhere with Public Access
TV (almost everywhere). Take advantage--

*AIR EDUCATIONAL FILMS about PALESTINE on your local TV STATIONS!*

===================================

4 EASY STEPS:

1. Choose DVD(s) about Palestine. If you want to use Anna's DVD but
don't already have a copy, write anna.baltzer@... for a
complimentary copy to air on your local station(s).

2. Find local station(s)—instructions above.

3. Call station(s) to tell them you wish to air the film(s) and ask
what is necessary.

4. Follow the steps they give. If you encounter problems, contact Fred
Shepherd at Global Information Services for help: 415-459-8738,
Altencon@...

===================================

FOLLOW-UP IDEAS:

1. Notify schools & libraries—for which this presents an opportunity
for teachers and others to "safely" educate their students about the
conflict—as well as friends & local peace groups.

2. If using Anna's film, notify her at anna.baltzer@... (she can
publicize further).

3. Consider sponsoring A WHOLE SERIES of films on Palestine on your
local station(s). 2 options:

- SERIES 1: "America, Israel, & Palestine: Cause & Effect," has over
50 films (including Anna's), which you may be able to submit all at
once. TV stations (or local sponsors) can pay $179 for the 45+ hours
of content, with a $30 rebate if all are aired during a 6-month
period. Contact Anna for more information.

- SERIES 2: Get a monthly time-slot (this is remarkably easy—I called
my local station and got a WEEKLY slot on the spot!) and "Alternate
Focus" will send you tapes once a month to deliver to the station.
There are sponsors around the country. Details at
www.AlternateFocus.org or contact Ed Sweed: 858-551-0191,
edsweed@...

===================================

Public Access channels are taxpayers' TV stations. They welcome
quality films, many of which are broadcast repeatedly and can be used
to fill dead air and scheduled randomly, which is helpful for the
stations and for the cause. With your help, we can educate millions
who can stand with us for responsible US policy & a just peace in
Palestine. Please, join us!

Yours truly,
Anna
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I prepare to return to the Middle East, I wanted to send you 4
chapters that I never sent out. This is the first. Some of you may
recognize it from a similar story published in the Link.

It's perhaps the most personal piece I've ever written. I hope you'll
find it compelling.

Yours,
Anna

---------------

Held at Einab Junction: Inside Israel's New Terminals

When I first visited the West Bank in 2003, checkpoints were controlled
by young Israeli soldiers, nervously clutching their weapons and yelling
at Palestinians to stay in line. When I returned in 2005, I found many
checkpoints replaced by metal turnstiles into which Palestinians were
herded to wait for soldiers to push a button, letting them through one
by one or sometimes not at all. Each year I return, the method of
control over Palestinian movement is further institutionalized, most
recently Israeli terminal-style buildings, entirely separating
soldiers from the Palestinians whose movement they are controlling.

I first encountered one of these terminals after visiting a women's
cooperative in Tulkarem to purchase embroidery to send home. Because
there are no reliable postal services in the West Bank, and because I
did not want to risk the products being damaged or confiscated by
Israeli airport security if I transported them in my luggage, I knew I
would have to send them to the US from a post office in Israel. I had
traveled from Tulkarem to Tel Aviv once in the past by taking a shared
taxi to the nearby Einab junction, where I had walked from the
Palestinian road to the Israeli one and caught transport into Israel.

This second time, I was traveling with my backpack and six plastic
bags full of embroidery, and I assumed the trip would be as
straightforward as it had been in the past. When I arrived at Einab
junction, I found a large new building, fortified by several layers of
metal fences, walls, and gates. The first layer reminded me of rural
parts of the Wall—wire fence reinforced with electric sensory wire and
razor wire with a heavy iron gate. The gate was open but nobody was on
the other side. I walked through and came to two large iron turnstiles
surrounded by a wall of iron bars. The turnstiles were locked.
Frustrated, I put down my six bags to rest for a moment. Maybe someone
would come back? I waited, but still there was nobody.

I called out. "Hello? Anybody there?"

"Please wait a moment," a staticky voice above me blared. I looked up
to find a speaker attached to the turnstile.

I didn't have much choice but to wait.

Whoever was operating the turnstiles didn't seem to be in much of a
hurry, so I took out my camera.

"Excuse me!" the voice snapped.

"Yes," I answered as I took my first photo.

"Please put your camera away immediately!"

"Please let me in immediately," I answered.

"I said to wait," said the voice, and I answered, "And I am waiting."

The light above the turnstile turned from red to green and I put away
my camera and picked up my bags to walk through. It was difficult
squeezing into the tight rotating cage with all my bags, and by the
time I'd made it to the other side, I was hot and cranky.

In front of me was a metal detector surrounded by iron bars. I began
to walk through but the voice called out from another speaker above:
"Stop!"

I continued through the metal detector and groaned, "What?!" into the
air, wondering where he was watching me from.

"Go back and put down your bags."

I went back through the metal detector and set down my six bags, which
were feeling heavier by the minute. I took the opportunity to take
another picture. The soldier didn't bother protesting this time, but
ordered me to walk through the metal detector again.

I tried to pick up my bags again but he ordered, "No, without your
bags." I walked through. Nothing happened.

"Now, go back."

I closed my eyes with a sigh, walked back, picked up my six bags, and
walked through again before he could give me the order to do so.
Somehow this seemed so much worse than the turnstiles and metal
detectors I had seen at Huwwara checkpoint. At least there you could
see the people humiliating you. Or maybe it was more upsetting because
I wasn't used to being the one humiliated.

Beyond the metal detector was another set of turnstiles, locked again.
I took a deep breath and stared at the red light, hoping to see it
turn green rather than let the guard hear my voice crack if I spoke.
Thankfully, the turnstile buzzed and I squeezed through to reach the
building itself. That was the end of the pre-screening. Now it was
time for the real screening.

The inside of the building reminded me of an airport terminal—high
ceilings and multiple floors, and multilingual signs for travelers.
The ones here read, "Prepare documents for inspection" in Hebrew,
Arabic, and English. The signs didn't clarify where one was supposed
to go, however. There were a series of five doors with red lights on
top, and I called out, "OK, my documents are ready... Now what?" I had
yet to see a human face.

This time nobody answered, so I asked again. Again, nothing. I set my
bags down, annoyed. My back was hurting, I was sweating, and I didn't
know where I was or what was going to happen to me. I yelled, "Is
anybody there?! Hellooooooo!"

Eventually a second staticky voice came through from a speaker on the
wall. "Please proceed to the door."

"Which door?"

"The one on the left."

"Left of what? Where are you?"

"I can see you," the voice said. "Walk backwards and go left."

I saw a door behind me on the left and carried my bags over to it.
Above the door was a red light, which I stared at. Nothing happened. I
was ready to cry. "Now what?" I yelled. Silence. I yelled again, even
louder.

"What am I supposed to do?!"

"Calm down!" yelled a cheerful soldier walking by on an upper level
above me. He was finishing a conversation on his walkie-talkie, and
put up his hand for me to wait. I glared at him. "Go there," he
pointed to another door near the one I was standing at, and began to
walk away.

"No, please!" I blurted out, forgetting my policy of not pleading with
soldiers. "You're the first human face I've seen and I'm starting to
lose it."

He motioned towards the door and promised that if I stood there, the
light would eventually turn green. I picked up my bags, approached the
door, set them down, and waited. Eventually, the light turned green,
this time accompanied by a little buzz that unlatched the full iron
door. I expected to find a soldier on the other side, but as the
heavy door slammed behind me I found myself in a tiny room with white
walls, no windows, and a second iron door. That door eventually buzzed
as well, and I struggled to open it as I held my bags, settling to
kick one in front of me instead.

The next room had three walls and a double-paned window with a soldier
on the other side. The soldier asked for my ID and I slipped it under
the glass. He tried to make small talk and asked me what part of the
United States I was from. I told him flatly, "For the first time in my
life, I want to blow something up."

He must not have heard me because he let me through to the next tiny
windowless room. The next buzzing heavy door led out into the other
open-spaced side of the terminal, where I picked up the pace, hoping
to get out finally, an hour after I'd arrived. No such luck.

One more soldier behind a window beckoned for my passport again.
"Where's your visa?" he asked, not finding the stamped slip of paper
issued by Israel when the passport itself is not stamped. I answered
truthfully, "They told me at the airport that there were none left and
that it would be OK." As the words came out, I realized how absurd
this sounded, and I kicked myself for falling for it when I'd flown in
the week before. How could the airport run out of visa sheets? Wasn't
it more likely that they were deliberately trying to inhibit my travel
in the Occupied Territories?

It was hard to blame the soldier, since, for all he knew, I'd snuck in
over the hills of Jordan. "Whatever," I sighed. "Call airport
security—I promise I'm in the system."

I knew it would be a while, so I sat down again. I thought I was past
the point of anger until I noticed a line of 25 or so Palestinians
waiting outside to come in from the other direction, heading back to
Tulkarem. Had they been waiting there all this time? Why weren't they
being processed? I asked the guard holding my passport and he said
he'd tend to them after I left.

It was one thing to feel frustrated and humiliated, but another to
know that my ordeal had held up dozens of Palestinians from getting
back to their homes and families. "Wait," I said. "Are you telling me
that in your fancy new facility you can't process people coming in two
directions? Don't let the problem with me delay these people any longer."

He told me not to worry, that the Palestinians were used to waiting.
This made me even more upset. I insisted that I would rather wait
longer myself, and eventually he beckoned the group forward. I
marveled as they waited patiently and yet somehow not submissively,
beacons of dignity next to my defeated and angry presence. I took out
my camera and took a few photos. Within seconds, a guard appeared next
to me—in person, nothing but air between us!—and said sternly, "Come
with me."

I followed the guard back towards the section of the terminal from
which I had just come. We passed through the windowless rooms and into
a new room with crates on the floor. From there, the guard opened
another, even heavier iron door, and motioned for me to pass ahead of
him. Expecting the guard to follow me in, I turned and instead found
him placing my bags into the crates. Realizing that soldiers were
going to go through my bags, I demanded to be present during the
search to ensure that nothing would be damaged or stolen. "That's not
possible," the guard said flatly, and the door slammed shut between me
and my belongings.

I kicked the door with frustration, realizing that all my contact
information for Palestinian organizers and friends was still on my
computer. I realized that I still had my phone in my pocket and
quickly called my friend Kobi, an Israeli activist. I told him where I
was and asked if he might make some calls on my behalf. He said he'd
do what he could and we hung up.

I looked around the room. It was empty except for a chair and an empty
crate on the floor. There were no other doors, but there was a
two-paned window with a soldier watching me from the other side of it.
"What are you looking at?" I snapped at the soldier, and he walked out
of view. Another soldier appeared, a young woman. She spoke into an
intercom so that I could hear her through the window. "Please take off
your clothes and put them in the container on the floor."

It took a moment for the words to sink in. Once they had, I looked the
soldier straight in the eyes, and I began to undress. I removed each
piece of clothing slowly, not once taking my eyes off hers. I watched
her with a look of hurt. I wanted her to see that she was not just
searching me—she was humiliating me. Several times she looked away.
When I was down to my underwear, the soldier stopped me; she said that
was enough. A part of me wished that she hadn't. Perhaps if I were
completely naked, she would more likely recognize the extent of my
humiliation and her role in it.

The iron door behind me buzzed and the soldier told me to place the
crate containing my clothes and phone into the room where I had last
seen the guard. My other belongings were long since gone, and I could
hear soldiers in the next room going through them. When I got back to
the room, the soldier in the window was gone. I sat down on the chair
and waited. The soldiers next door were chatting and laughing. I
imagined them examining my personal photographs and letters. I was too
upset to sit still. I stood up and started pacing back and forth in
the small room. I had to do something—anything—to express my emotions.
If I could hear them, then they could hear me. I began to sing.

I sang an old song that I'd learned at summer camp as a child. Its
words were meaningless, but I sang it at the top of my lungs. Within
seconds, the female soldier was at the window, looking alarmed. I
waved. I sang that stupid song until my voice hurt. It felt good to
sing—I felt empowered. It was easier to act like a crazy person than a
prisoner. If I was unpredictable, then they had lost the power to
control me.

Half an hour passed. Or was it an hour? My energy had worn off and I
sat down miserably on the chair. I was tired. The soldiers were gone
from the next room now. What was taking them so long? It was cold in
the room, and I had nothing to cover myself with. I began to shiver
and rock back and forth on the chair. I had no more energy to yell. I
began to cry. I cried for what felt like a long time. Eventually, the
female soldier appeared in the window. I could tell she felt bad for
me. I looked away. The door buzzed and she instructed me to open it.
On the other side was a jacket and a cup of water. I put on the jacket
and drank the water to soothe my throat, but I was unimpressed. I
didn't want a jacket or water. I wanted my freedom to leave. I wanted
my dignity back.

Time passed. I stopped looking at the soldiers and talking to them. I
stopped thinking of ways to pass the time or express myself. I didn't
even feel like myself anymore. I felt empty, defeated. I just sat and
waited, with a feeling of profound loneliness.

After what felt like an eternity, the iron door buzzed and I opened it
to find all my clothes and bags in a large pile brimming over the tops
of the containers. The soldiers had emptied every single item
separately into the crates. The papers from my notebook were strewn
about loosely. Each piece of embroidery had been removed from its
protective wrapper and crumpled into a pile. A can of tuna had been
opened and left amidst the hand-sewn garments. Even the boxes of
Turkish delight—a soft sticky candy covered with powdered sugar, which
I'd brought for some friends—had been opened and rummaged through.

The only thing stronger than my anger was my desire to leave. I sat
down miserably and folded everything back into my bags. I was crying
uncontrollably, but I bit my tongue each time I was tempted to speak.
When I was dressed and ready, I stood up, collected myself, and tried
to open the door. It was locked.

"The door's still locked," I informed the soldier watching through the
window.

"Yes, please wait a little longer."

"Why?" I asked. "You saw everything I have. You know I'm not a
security threat, and surely you know by now that I have a visa."

"I'm sorry but you're going to have to wait," she said.

I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I lost it. I opened up my bags
and took out what was left of my canned tuna. With my fingers, I began
to spread the oily fish all over the window.

"What are you doing?" asked the soldier, disturbed.

"You don't respect my stuff, I don't respect yours," I answered.

Next, I opened a box of Turkish delight. "I'm not going to stop until
you let me out," I announced as I began mashing the gummy cubes into
the hinges of the iron door.

"OK, OK," said the soldier's voice over the intercom. "You can go
now." The door buzzed.

I gathered my bags and walked out. A soldier was waiting for me on the
other side. He gave me my passport and said I was free to leave. I
called Kobi as soon as I was outside. He said it was the US Consulate
that had helped get me released. The army claimed they were holding me
because of the photographs I had taken inside the terminal.
Interestingly, they hadn't bothered to delete the images from my
camera when they searched my bags.

I told Kobi what had happened. I felt as if I had lost a part of
myself inside that terminal as I had slowly lost control. Kobi
reminded me that even the option of losing control was a sign of
privilege—Palestinians who behaved as I had would not likely have been
freed. I tried to imagine what it would be like to endure such an
invasive screening every day of my life.

Kobi told me a story about his Palestinian friend, Sara, whom he'd met
in Maryland. Sara would frequently travel back and forth between her
home in Palestine and the United States, where she was studying. Each
time she returned to Palestine, she was able to walk right through the
checkpoints. She had enough confidence to just assert her will and go
through, simply by the fact that she was used to being treated like a
person. And each time, after a few months in Palestine, she would lose
that ability.

In just a few hours I had gone from empowerment to craziness to
submission to destructiveness. What would I become after months of
such treatment? What about a lifetime of the even worse treatment that
Palestinians experience?

It was dark outside the terminal as I hung up the phone. I had been
held for 3 hours, and there were no more buses running. I could see
the lights of a settlement on a nearby hill. I began walking in what
seemed like the direction of Tel Aviv. I stuck my thumb out to the
occasional passing car, and eventually a settler stopped. He moved his
gun out of the front seat so that I could get in. Feeling lousy about
it, I accepted a ride to the nearest bus stop from where buses were
still running to Tel Aviv. I boarded the first bus out and cried the
whole way back to the city.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are just a few reports, calls to action, and a petition regarding Gaza this week:

www.alhaq.org/etemplate.php?id=345
www.freegaza.ps
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BBA4E18B-E72F-4AB2-A1B4-26612DEFEAE3.htm
www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_end_the_siege/

For more information about Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions, visit
www.BDS-Palestine.net
For a list of companies profiting off of the Occupation, visit
www.InterfaithPeaceInitiative.com/ProfitingFromOccupation.htm

For organizing ideas, campaigns, and to get more involved in the
movement, visit www.EndTheOccupation.org

Thanks for reading,
Anna

Anna Baltzer
P.O. Box 2687
St Louis, MO  63116
www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com