tramonto su Ramallah

the Annapolis Conference

Haaretz news
Al Jazeera English
BBC News Middle East

670 Students in Gaza blocked from higher education abroad

"Israel seems determined to punish all Gazans, including students, for the behavior of Hamas," said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East division. "Israel should not make young people seeking education pay the price for its conflict with a political or military
group."
Universities in Gaza do not offer degrees in a variety of subjects, including undergraduate degrees in languages other than Arabic, English and French, and master's degrees in law, journalism and information technology.
Doctoral degrees are not offered at all in Gaza or the West Bank.
Israel forbids Gaza residents from studying in Israel or the West Bank, and rarely permits foreign professors and lecturers to visit Gaza to teach.
Most of the students are waiting for permission to leave Gaza, either to get visas for the countries where they have been admitted to universities or to travel to those countries directly. Many started their studies in previous years and were trapped in Gaza when they returned home for the summer.
In some cases, Israeli authorities have given students exit permits but then refused to let them leave via the passenger crossing at Erez due to unspecified "security concerns." (...)

(fonte Human Rights Watch)

Billo le grand Dakhar

che effetto vedere un film in italiano (più o meno) a Ramallah....
Billo le grand Dakhar (regia di Laura Muscardin, coproduzione italo-senegalese) è stato premiato alla tredicesima edizione del Temecula film festival di San Diego... interessante ...musiche del meraviglioso Youssou N'Dour ...

Billo, è un giovane senegalese arrivato in Italia clandestinamente. Nonostante sia vissuto in una famiglia povera ha ricevuto una solida educazione ed ha imparato il mestiere di sarto nel quale eccelle. Il sogno di diventare famoso in Italia, patria della moda è forte. Prima di partire ha giurato amore eterno a Fatou, sua cugina. In Italia le cose non sono facili, ma nonostante questo riesce a farsi una piccola posizione ...

a gesture to the prisons Service

un articolo di Amira Hass su Haaretz.

Al Kasaba International film festival

17th-30th November 2007

The festival will screen 35 recent produced feature, documentaries, and shorts films organized into different program sections.
European Cinema: 9 recently produced films will be screened from Different European Countries in cooperation with the European representative offices in palestine. Also the festival will screen films from different Asian and African countires, Al Kasaba participation in durban film festival- South Africa enabled signing agreements with the producers of the films in order to screen their films in the festival.
Films from South Africa, Mali, Benin, Senegal, Congo, Pakistan and India will be also screened in the Festival.
Also, there will be a major part for the Arab cinema throuth the cooperation with the Med Screen program.
Recent Films from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Palestine will be screen in the festival.

How to Get Out?

an article by Uri Avnery.

waiting for Annapolis

un articolo di Noam Chomsky (in English here).

qualcosa è cambiato...

non ci si può mai annoiare in partenza da Israele: mentre arrivavo in grande ritardo all'aereoporto di Tel Aviv, già consapevole del fatto che avrei dovuto fare tutto di corsa, mi metto in fila per la prima parte dei controlli e ... ta da!!! non ci sono più i patacchini colorati, ma bianchi!
però con dei numeri sopra... da 1 a 6... facile indovinare quale numero mi abbiano dato!
insomma, poche domande, controlli a tappeto di bagaglio e di me (ma con grande gentilezza corrisposta), un caos incredibile (a voler fare in fretta si dimenticavano di attaccare patacchini, per cui ri-controllavano tutto), il check-in fatto praticamente a mano... insomma, tutto nella norma!

Palestine Indipendence day

celebration for the Palestinian Independence day in Ramallah Cultural Palace

un enorme campo rifugiati

Gaza is reverting to its status as the largest of the Palestinian refugee camps. It is a bleak and hopeless territory twice the size of Washington, DC where 1.5 million inhabitants eke out living on $2 a day and handouts from the UN Relief and Works Agency and the World Food Program. The steady deterioration of Gaza life to camp-like conditions is the result of Israeli and American policies toward Hamas, the dominant political party who took power in Gaza in a violent coup this past summer.

The painful irony of Gaza's evolution from regular refugee camp to mammoth refugee camp is that it is being painfully ignored in the run-up to the "international peace conference" for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (...)

(fonte Terry Walz on CNI, Gaza - A Vast Unimproved Refugee Camp)

Yasser Arafat

3° anniversario ...

dead sea

gita sul Mar morto allo stabilimento Mineral.
interessante guardare chi c'è: una prevalenza di russi (che in massa stanno arrivando in Israele...), nord americani in gita, gruppi di coreani che parlano inglese tra loro, israeliani che creano settlement di ombrelloni-seggiole-sdraio-cibarie costringendoti a spostarti sempre più in là.
Israele è una nazione composta da un mix incredibile di culture ed etnie, anche solo osservare le fisionomie di chi hai intorno ti da la dimensione di quanto variegata sia ...

Jazz in Ramallah

in Vatche, cool atmosphere ...

che facciamo stasera?

cosa si fa la sera a Ramallah? o in generale nel tempo libero?
a parte mangiare (tanto), bere, ritrovarsi in casa a fare 4 chiacchiere, ascoltare musica, Ramallah offre sempre qualche possibilità in più grazie a un po' di locali carini (incredibilmente alcuni dall'aspetto occidentale) e a qualche evento (concerti, rassegne di film, mostre, etc.).
Così capita che ci si ritrovi a mangiare in casa, si vada a fare un salto allo Zan, poi al Grand Park (dove chiedono 35 shekels per entrare -circa 6 euro-, quindi se ne fa una questione di principio e non ci si va), poi di nuovo allo Zan...
ma almeno c'è qualche possibilità... a Nablus che si può fare la sera? da quanto mi hanno detto, assolutamente nulla...

ciao Enzo ...

Credo che la libertà sia uno dei beni che gli uomini dovrebbero apprezzare di più. La libertà è come la poesia: non deve avere aggettivi, è libertà.

Enzo Biagi




(foto da Arci Bologna)

Why Are Their Needs Ignored?

Gaza is grim indeed, and this is where any chance of peace malingers if not treated. Since June, when Hamas upended Fatah in Gaza and took over the administration of the area, Israelis have adopted a continuous series of measures harming the civilian population. Border crossings were closed - then, after an international outcry, briefly reopened to allow in food. In September, Gaza was declared "an enemy entity," and imports were restricted to 9 basic materials. Prohibited have been such items as certain medicines, furniture, electrical appliances, cow and cigarettes, and decreased amounts of such basic foods as fruits, milk and dairy products. (...)
The European Union has asked Israel to end the blockade on humanitarian grounds, and Ban-Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, has also appealed for both an end to the Qassam attacks and to the Israeli blockade.
Where is the US Secretary of State on this matter? Why hasn't she - or President Bush - called on Israel to put an end to actions that are contrary to the Geneva Convention? If they are keen for an Annapolis peace process, why aren't they putting real teeth into the expensive shuttle/photo-op/PR diplomacy thus far practiced? How can they expect anything to emerge from Annapolis other than the usual platitudes when Palestinians of Gaza are living an imposed nightmare existence?

(fonte CNI Fundation, Gaza’s Place at Annapolis)

buttano giù le scuole

On the Thursday, the 17th of October the Israeli Occupation Forces issued a demolition order for Fasayil's primary school and yet another Palestinian family's home in the village. Construction work requires a permit from the Occupation authorities but since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967 not one has been granted. The systematic ban on destruction is clearly aiming at driving out Palestinians of the Jordan Valley.

According to the demolition order issued against the primary school the community has to dismantle the school within 40 days or to face the arrival of the Occupation's bulldozer and a heavy fine for not respecting the construction ban. (...)

(fonte Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, Palestinian Primary School in Fasayil to be demolished on the 29th of November!)

Damascus gate by night

Shashat Third Women's Film Festival in Palestine - 2007

SHASHAT is a formally registered NGO in Palestine whose focus is on women’s cinema and the social and cultural implications of women’s representations. Shashat also aims at building the capacity of the independent Palestinian filmmaking sector, especially women filmmakers. Shashat was formed in order to provide sustainability and continuity to these objectives.
This annual women‘s film festival showcases the creativity of Palestinian, Arab, and international women filmmakers. Shashat held its 1st Women Film Festival in 2005, 2nd Women‘s Film Festival in 2006, and is now launching its 3rd Women‘s Film Festival, 2007. This is the only ongoing annual women‘s film festival in the whole Arab world.


.... very very interesting