Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Soon I Will find My Way Back: It Is the Cruelty of it All

Soon I will find my way back.

A new terrain

I struggle to let words slip through my closed mouth, closed by the enormity of what is happening in America today, the Trump horror, arms waving, fingers pointing, hate and ignorance applauded. My mouth is closed by the silence allowing Israel's continuing cutting down of Palestinian life, the pretend bafflement at where the rage comes from, as bullets fly into the bodies of young Palestinian women with scissors in their hands, proclaiming as their blood seeps away, "I can no longer bare what I see every day, what I cannot see every day, like a future of possibilities. Terrorism, poor Israel, Bibi says into the cameras, while the soldiers murder at will and more and more Palestinian children are taken out of circulation by being swept into prisons, their names, their lives, unknown to us. No one dares to say that Israel's occupation is an open sore that bleeds into the international attacks, that pours into every bullet, that shatters every place of possible hope. I will say this, this Jew I am will say, that as long as Israel is not held to account for its brutal daily murders of Palestinian body and soul, we will live in increasingly armored fear. The Trumps will carry the night.

You see, I live in a sun filled island country now, where my darling climbs into the trees wearing her old American bowling shirt, found when we walked the streets of New York together, more then a decade ago now. The sun for some, the shadows of endless walls for others. such things close the mouth until it opens with an endless shout of No.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Now Is The Time...

Now is the time, as the hope for a two state solution, dies before our eyes, to raise our voices, to say the Occupation has brought only suffering. Now is the time, if you have ever felt squeamish over the checkpoints, the daily imprisonments of Palestinian youth, the growing racist chants on the streets of Israel, and if you knew somewhere in your heart, relentless removal of hope from Palestinian youth would make empathy for each other's histories, impossible-now is the time to speak out, to speak up,to take action, to support the peace movements in Israel, in America, in Australia, in all the countries of the diaspora where Jews and others are joining together to put a stop to the Occupation. Walls within walls--and the refusal of any international help: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a French call to station observers at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem..." (The Age, October 20, 2015,p. 14) Now is the time. This petition can be found on my Face Book page and here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-the-killing-end-the-occupation

And there is an article about it on +972: http://972mag.com/jewish-network-launches-worldwide-initiative-against-occupation/112896/

Women in black, Melbourne, 2014

STOP THE KILLING - END THE OCCUPATION

As members of Jewish communities around the world, we are horrified by the violence that is sweeping the streets of Palestine/Israel, costing the lives of over 30 people, both Palestinians and Israelis in the past two weeks alone. A 2 year old girl in Gaza was the youngest of 4 Palestinian children who were killed in the past two weeks. A 13 year-old Israeli boy is in critical condition after being stabbed nearly a dozen times. Over a thousand people were injured in the same period. Fear has completely taken over the streets of Jerusalem, the center of this violence. Israelis shooting Palestinian protesters in and around East Jerusalem. Palestinians stabbing and shooting Israeli civilians and policemen in the middle of the streets. Israeli forces killing Palestinian suspects when they are clearly not a threat and without trial. Palestinians throwing stones at passing cars. Israeli mobs beating up Palestinians or calling on police to shoot them. Humiliating strip searches of Palestinians in the streets – all of these have become a daily occurrence in the city in which we are raised to pray for peace, as well as other places in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

While violence is visible on the streets, it is also occupying people’s minds and hearts. Fear is bringing out the worst of people, and the demand for more blood to be shed, as if this will repair the damage done. Fear and racist rhetoric are escalating the situation. The Israeli government is once again responding in a militarised way: there have been hundreds of arrests; Palestinian access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound has been limited; parts of the Muslim quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem have been closed to Palestinians; open-fire regulations have been changed to allow the use of sniper fire against children; a minimum sentence for stone throwing has been introduced, including for over 150 children arrested in East Jerusalem alone in the past few weeks; and now there are talks of enforcing a curfew, or even a closure, of East Jerusalem.

All these constitute collective punishment on the entire population of East Jerusalem with over 300,000 people. In the past, these measures have proven themselves ineffective at ending violence. Decades of dispossession, occupation and discrimination are the main reasons for Palestinian resistance. Further Israeli military repression and ongoing occupation and siege will never end the Palestinian desire for freedom nor will it address the root causes of violence. Indeed, the current actions by the Israeli government and army are likely to create further violence, destruction, and the entrenchment of division. Only justice and equality for all will bring peace and quiet to the residents of Israel and Palestine.

As a group of Jews from around the world we believe that immediate change needs to come from the Israeli government and Israeli people. It is incumbent on all Jews around the world to pressure the Israeli government - and those who follow and support its words and deeds - to change its approach. The military crackdown must cease immediately, Palestinians must be allowed complete freedom of movement. It is also a responsibility of Jewish people worldwide to obligate the countries in which we live to immediately cease the economic and military support of the ongoing Israeli occupation in Palestine and siege of Gaza.

We call on our Jewish communities, and our broader communities, to publicly insist on an end to the violence, occupation, siege and military response and instead demand equality and freedom for the Palestinian people and justice for all.

Shomeret Shalom Rabbinic School & Learning Center
Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Australian Jewish Democratic Society (AJDS)
Women in Black, Melbourne
Jewdas, UK
Tzedek Chicago
South African Jews for a Free Palestine
Jewish Voice for Democracy and Justice in Israel/Palestine (jvjp), Switzerland
Een Andere Joodse Stem, Another Jewish Voice - Belgium
Jewish Socialists' Group - UK
United Jewish People's Order - Canada
Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in Berkeley, California
Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area Chapter
Jewish Voice for Peace Atlanta Chapter
Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles chapter

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

"Enough blood and Tears-Our Friend Talma from Haifa sends us this collective voice

ودموعاً! Enough blood and tears!

רק הסכם מדיני יביא לפתרון הסכסוך הצטרפו לאלפי נשים ישראליות ופלסטיניות הקוראות לעצור את מעגל הדמים.

(עברית אחרי ערבית English after Hebrew)

نرجوا منكم توقيع هذه العريضة المقدمة من نساء فلسطينيات وإسرائيليات يدعين القادة والشعوب لوقف العنف الممارس ضد أبنائنا.

بيان صادر عن حراك نساء يصنعن السلام وقيادات نسائية فلسطينية داعمة في أوقات الظلام، يفقد الناس قدرتهم على اتخاذ قرارات خاصة بحياتهم وبالتالي قدرتهم على البقاء احياء، الخوف وانعدام الإحساس بالأمان والتحيز والغضب كلها مشاعر توجه أعمالهم. ونحن، الفلسطينيون والإسرائيليون نعيش الآن حلقة أخرى من الظلام الذي يمكنه تصعيد الأوضاع إلى أقصى مستويات العنف. لذا ، وقبل إراقة المزيد من الدماء في الشوارع ورؤية المزيد من الأمهات تعاني فقدان أبنائهن، قررنا نحن النساء أننا لن نصمت، و بأننا سنكون صوتا أعلى من صوت السلاح وصفارات الإنذار لأن العنف لايولد سوى المزيد من العنف والمعاناة لجميع الاطراف.كفى يعني كفى.إننا ندعو القادة الإسرائيليين والفلسطينيين للجلوس معا الآن والعمل بجدية وأمانة لتحقيق سلام عادل لنا جميعا. إنها مسؤوليتكم الأخلاقية كقادة ومسؤولين لوقف هذه الدوامة الرهيبة من العنف. انتم قادتنا، عليكم التزام أخلاقي تجاه شعوبكم لتصنعوا سلاما حقيقيا الآن يجلب لنا السلام والعدالة.كفى يعني كفى نحن النساء سنقف ضد أي عمل عنفي من أي طرف وسوف نسير معا لاستعادة حياتنا وسننزل الى الشوارع لمنع هذا الجنون وسنواصل كفاحنا من أجل أمن ورفاه ومستقبل أطفالنا.كفى يعني كفى

هذه العريضة مكتوبة بثلاث لغات لكن اضافة التفاصيل سيكون باللغة العبرية لأسباب تقنية لكن يمكن وضع المعلومات باي لغة. الترجمة لاحقا:

الاسم الكامل:

مكان السكن:

البريد الالكتروني:

הצהרה משותפת של תנועת נשים עושות שלום ומנהיגות פלסטיניות:בזמנים חשוכים, יכולתם של אנשים לשרוד מוטלת בספק. פחד, דעות קדומות וכעס מנחים את מעשיהם. אנחנו, ישראלים ופלסטינים, עוברים עתה אפיזודה אפלה נוספת, אשר טומנת בחובה סכנה להסלמה שתביא לרמות קיצוניות של אלימות.לפני שיישפך עוד דם ברחובות ולפני שעוד אימהות יאבדו את ילדיהן האהובים, אנו הנשים נשבעות כי לא נשתוק, כי קולנו יגבר על רעם התותחים וצווחת האזעקות. אלימות מביאה רק עוד אלימות וסבל לכל הצדדים.מספיק ודי!אנחנו קוראות להנהגות של ישראל והרשות הפלסטינית לשבת יחד, עכשיו, ולפעול במשותף לכינון הסכם מדיני. זוהי האחריות שלכם, מנהיגינו, לעצור את מעגל האלימות האיום שמתרחש בימים אלה. כעומדים בראש, יש לכם חובה מוסרית כלפינו, בני העמים שלכם. דברו עכשיו והביאו לנו שלום וצדק.מספיק ודי!אנו, הנשים, מתנגדות לכל פעולה אלימה מכל צד. אנחנו נצעד יחדיו להחזרת השפיות לחיינו, ונצא לרחובות כדי למנוע את הטירוף הזה. אנו, הנשים, נילחם למען ביטחונם, רווחתם ועתידם של ילדינו.מספיק ודי!

Women Wage Peace met with Palestinian women leaders' and issued a mutual statement: Enough is enough.

In times of darkness, people lose their ability to survive. Fear, prejudice and anger guide their actions. Palestine and Israel are now going through yet another episode of darkness that has the potential to escalate to extreme levels of violence. Before more blood is shed in the streets and before more mothers lose their beloved children, we the women vow that we will not be silent, that we will be louder than the sound of weapons and sirens. Violence will only breed more violence and suffering for all sides.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

We call upon the leaders of Israel and Palestine to sit down together NOW and work towards a just peace for all of us. It is your, the leaders, responsibility to stop this new horrendous cycle of violence. You our leaders have a moral obligation towards your people. Talk NOW and bring us peace and justice.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

We the women will stand against any act of violence from any side, we will march together to reclaim our lives, we will take to the streets to prevent this madness. We the women will fight for the security, well-being and the future of our children.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

The petition is in 3 languages, but unfortunately, due to technical limitations, the "personal information" fields for signing are only in Hebrew. Please don't let that stop you:

Upper space – full name

Middle space – Residence

Lower space: Email address (will not be published)

The fields can be filled in any language

Please share!

Thanks

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Ferrante's Triology: A New Divine Journey

Amidst the failure of the Israeli State's heart to recognize the suffering of another people for so long under its domination, and the resulting living hopeless anger on the streets, amidst many daily moments of uncertainty of my body, and attempts at new organizing with my Women in Black comrades, amidst the pages of the past that flood our dining room table--the early history of LHA, I read to the last word on the last page, Ferrante's depiction of the infernos of the heart and history, of two women's push and pull to find selves they could live with, carrying the legacy of the old neighborhood of working class Naples into new historical and geographical territories but always drawn back to their childhood wonders and torments of family rages and political courage. But it was as a writer, a very small writer, that I was clinging to each relentless word, to each refusal to make her narrator more then she could be. Last month I read for the first time, Dante's epic work, his geography of lost souls so known to us and then his less compelling shining almost mathematical paradise. As Dante created modern Italian to tell his huge story flecked with historical sinners, so Ferrante never lets us forget that the choice of when to speak in dialect and Italian, if one has that choice, is central to her characters' journeys. I am sounding too much like an academic--perhaps a bad one--and I can hear Lila's harsh laughter at my pretense. Ferrante gives us worlds and takes them away all at the same time, the grand sad all we- have- tide of human endeavor. I felt her world slipping by as the words entered me, knowing, as a writer, the page empties itself of meaning with each turning and no Paradise awaits. Two created women took us through the history of mid 20th century Naples and it felt like the world. "Unlike stories, real life, when it has passed, inclines toward obscurity, not clarity." Only the clarity that I am so grateful I lived long enough to hold and let go of Lila.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

"Fighting for Their Lives"

From Haaretz, the words of Israeli writer and activist, Amira Hass:

"Palestinians Are Fighting for Their Lives; Israel Is Fighting for the Occupation
That we notice there’s a war on only when Jews are murdered does not cancel out the fact that Palestinians are being killed all the time."

Amira Hass Oct 07, 2015 2:12 AM
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.679129

"Yes, this is a war, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with his mandate from the people, has ordered its intensification. He does not listen to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ messages of conciliation and acceptance in calmer times, why should he listen to them now?
Netanyahu is intensifying the war mainly in East Jerusalem, with orgies of collective punishment. He thus further reveals Israel’s success in physically disconnecting Jerusalem from most of the Palestinian population, accenting the absence of Palestinian leadership in East Jerusalem and the weakness of the government in Ramallah — which is trying to stop the drift in the rest of the West Bank.
The war did not start last Thursday, it does not start with the Jewish victims and does not end when no Jews are murdered. The Palestinians are fighting for their life, in the full sense of the word. We Israeli Jews are fighting for our privilege as a nation of masters, in the full ugliness of the term.
That we notice there’s a war on only when Jews are murdered does not cancel out the fact that Palestinians are being killed all the time, and that all the time we are doing everything in our power to make their lives unbearable. Most of the time it is a unilateral war, waged by us, to get them to say “yes” to the master, thank you very much for keeping us alive in our reservations. When something in the war’s one-sidedness is disturbed, and Jews are murdered, then we pay attention.
Young Palestinians do not go out to murder Jews because they are Jews, but because we are their occupiers, their torturers, their jailers, the thieves of their land and water, their exilers, the demolishers of their homes, the blockers of their horizon. Young Palestinians, vengeful and desperate, are willing to lose their lives and cause their families great pain because the enemy they face proves every day that its malice has no limits.
Even the language is malicious. Jews are murdered, Palestinians are killed and die. Is that so? The problem doesn’t begin with our not being permitted to write that a soldier or police officer murdered Palestinians, at close range, when his life was not in danger, or by remote control or from a plane or a drone. But it is part of the problem. Our comprehension is captive to a retroactively censored language that distorts reality. In our language, Jews are murdered because they are Jews and Palestinians find their death and their distress, because presumably that’s what they’re looking for.
Our worldview is shaped by the consistent betrayal by Israeli media outlets of their duty to report events, or their lack of the technical and the emotional ability to contain all of the details of the world war that we are conducting in order to preserve our superiority in the land between the river and the sea.
Not even this newspaper has the economic resources to employ 10 reporters and fill 20 pages with reports on all the attacks in times of escalation and all the attacks of the occupation in times of calm, from shooting through building a road that destroys a village to legalizing a settlement outpost and a million more assaults. Every day. The random examples we do manage to report are but a drop in the ocean, and they have no impact on the comprehension of the situation for a large majority of Israelis.
The goal of this unilateral war is to force the Palestinians to give up all their national demands in their homeland. Netanyahu wants escalation because experience so far has proved that the periods of calm after the bleeding return us not to the starting line, but rather to a new low in the Palestinian political system, and adds privileges to the Jews in Greater Israel.
Privileges are the chief factor that distorts our understanding of our reality, blinding us. Because of them, we fail to comprehend that even with weak, “present-absent” leadership, the Palestinian people — scattered in its Indian reservations — will not give up and will continue to find the strength necessary to resist our malicious mastership."

Amira Hass
Haaretz Correspondent

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read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.679129?utm_content=Palestinians+are+fighting+for+their+lives%3B+Israel+is+fighting+for+the+occupation&utm_medium=hdc+Most+Popular&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

From the conversation on my Facebook page and in honor of the memory of Henning Mankell, writer, theater director and social justice activist. From Inna Michaeli:

"As a Jewish Israeli I would like to point out that in Israel/Palestine, Jews aren't the victim anymore. Unfortunately, we are the perpetrators. Victim is the weaker side of power relations, and in the region, it is Israel that concentrates military, political and economic power. There is nothing "safe" about being on the privileged side of an ethnically segregated system of violence and discrimination. Israel is the only place in the world where I am ashamed to be a Jew. Check out the website of Adalah for legal rights of Arab minority in Israel - they list *dozens* of laws in Israel discriminating against non-Jews. And that's even before entering the terrible everyday racism and the "truths" I heard upon immigrating as a child to Israel, like "a good Arab is a dead Arab". There is nothing safe in having your soul and the souls if your loved ones poisoned by hatred, racism and active complicity in violence, mass-killings and de-humanization of people. I also personally knew people who died - but I don't think my life worth more than that of a Palestinian woman in Gaza. But their deaths are not a big deal, the Israeli society feels it's natural that entire families are murdered. They are used to entire families dying and the israeli "we" will never remember their names. Of course some people will feel sorry from a human perspective. But there will always be justification and it will always be their fault anyways. Because we can do terrible things and victimise people for generations and still somehow claim to be the victim. But the fact that an abusive person was abused in childhood doesn't make the abuse alright."

Monday, October 5, 2015

Demolitions of Homes, with no end in sight...

I am sharing with you here one of the organizations that allows me some sanity here in Melbourne and as a Jew in the world, the Australian Jewish Democratic Society. I am sure you too have your sites of dissent. How precious.

"Hi,

You are receiving this email because in the past weeks you signed our petition to Julie Bishop to put pressure on the Israeli government against a recent spike in Palestinian house demotions.
We would firstly like to thank you for taking the time to sign the petition, which will soon be handed to Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs. This email contains some updates and information to get further involved.

The Australian Jewish Democratic Society has been active for 30 years providing aprogressive voice among Jews and a Jewish voice among progressives. We have been involved in a range of issues, from advocating for justice and peace in Israel Palestine, to supporting humane refugee policies in Australia, engaging with issues of Indigenous sovereignty and rights, and tackling issues of racism.

For those of you who aren't already on our mailing list, If you would like to keep receiving updates and information from us simply hit reply to this email. "

A progressive voice among Jews and a Jewish voice among progressives - See more at:http://www.ajds.org.au/#sthash.a1fqJOgt.dpuf

Sunday, October 4, 2015

All the Violences Come Home to the Lesbian Body

From my dear friend Lepa who keeps insisting we hear, we feel, we witness and we organize.

4 LESBIANS CRUELLY ATTACKED IN A CAFÉ IN BELGRADE

lepa mladjenovic

Report after the Press conference in Media Center Belgrade

http://www.mc.rs/u-beogradu-napadnute-i-pretucene-cetiri-lezbejke.4.html?eventId=9899

Saturday evening 26-27 of September 2015, after the book-reading public event Dragoslava Barzut, a lesbian writer and feminist activist went the nearest café with three other lesbian friends from the lesbian football team. They were relaxed & singing in the small cafe with live music, filled with around 40 people altogether. Around 1am after midnight one guy came in and started to beat one by one of them systematically, screaming and cursing ‘Lesbians Lesbians!’.

Three of them were injured in this attack, one tooth broken, eye damaged, one fell down on her head, leg damaged. One was hiding behind the fridge. When they were little back to sense, Dragoslava Barzut called in the police and in the mealtime another men came to beat them up, screaming more words against Lesbians. This one had highly aggressive energy and then the waitress, for whom Dragoslava noted is ‘thin and small’, stood in between the raged man and the lesbians to stop him! She then grabbed the lesbians and locked them in the small WC. That’s how the violence stopped. While they were locked the police came and took the notes and brought two of them to the Urgent center for medical check up.

The hypothesis is that the violent men are part of the violence football fun clubbers “Rad” that were already known for homophobic attacks – because during the evening they sang their songs with the live music. Important fact is that Dragoslava Barzut was leading the Campaign Against Homophobia in Sport, and was on this same place in Belgrade Press Center last year talking about it.

On the press conference the lawyer from YUCOM organisation said they will file a case using the law on hate crime, that was passed in Serbia in 2012, but there is not one verdict using it.

After the press conference today, with small number of media and about twenty activists of lesbian, gay, trans and queer community from Belgrade, some of us lesbians were commenting that this is first so cruel physical attack on lesbians in the public space in this country. Beating lesbians=women in public is not gentlemanlike, usually the violent men beat men. But analyzing the many comments on social media lesbians came to conclusion that the modern criminal men understand that lesbians are not (classic) women (!!) so they beat us more then ever before

! What would Monique Wittig say about it? ("Lesbians are not women ")

At the end of very emotional speech in the Press conference in Belgrade today, Dragoslava Barzut said:

“As a writer, activist of Labris and a Lesbian I think now of all my friends and family members who are suffering because of my sexual orientation, but I choose to love myself today. I feel moral responsibility to condemn the lesbophobic attack on my friends and me.”

The press conference ended in long applause of solidarity from the lesbian gay trans and queer community for the four brave lesbians who had to endure the violence for all of us who could have been on their place, to thank them for their courage, fear and visions that are ours

Saturday, September 26, 2015

A Little Visit

During all the hard times of my life, the Lesbian Herstory Archives demanded that I pay attention to its needs in a myriad of small ways. Through bouts of illness, the filing was there, the mail pick ups with Deb, the greeting of visitors--always the need for touch, hand to paper, a thin thing but a life line, and in a way, the archives is doing that again. I am afraid I have let too much time go by to for the project that has gripped me for the last two years: creating the pastiche, as I see it now, the portrait of a city and a community and one apartment. You know this project as "13A: The Story of an Apartment, a Community and an Idea: LHA from 1974-1990." I am now deep in touching papers once again, all made possible by Rachel who works with LHA back in Brooklyn. She is my paid research assistant and has managed to provide me the correspondence of the first 20 years of LHA's existence. Last week I sent out the call for memories on my Face book page and the stories, two or three sentences at times, call to others--the early archives reforming itself forty years later, the researchers, the traveling musicians, the women who need a New York bed for the night or for a few spoke to me. As I said to Chocolate Waters, a poet whose work came to the archives so many years ago, this is not about nostalgia but about resistance and communal generosity.

This is my first writing about my project now, a beginning of sharing with you the progress of this work, some discoveries, and thoughts and feelings I cannot predict, but I can share with you a very personal gift the correspondence has already given me. Two thousand pieces of printed letters,in an old fashioned way, in pencil, in pen, on envelopes, on home made stationary with all our symbiotics--paired axes, intertwined women's bodies, double women gender signs, in inks of all colors. Then this, its reference number, 1980--12--098. The year, 1980, the month December, the first part typed.

Dear Joan,

I'm desperately trying to finish this rewrite by the new year. I

just retyped this page and I'm sending it to you because I thought

of you when I did it, and how often we seem to be at crossed swords

which are not real, because we both are survivors. I wish we did

not only communicate when there's a function or a problem, but I

guess that's a piece of the lives we live.

The last time I saw you you said you'd send me some of your writing

but you never did. Is that because of too-busy or is there something else?

Anyway, it was nice and unexpected to find you coming up in this

obsessive undertaking I'm doing here, kind of like a little visit. That's

from my heart, Joan. May this new year be a healthy fruitful one for

you and for Deb, and for all those you love.

[In pencil] In the hand of Afrekete,

Audre

2:30 AM

I have no memory of ever seeing this letter, perhaps it was enclosed in the monthly LHA mail and so it never reached me but yesterday it did, reached me to the depths of my heart. I said to my two younger friends, Maddy and Sam, visiting today with tears rolling down my face, never turn away from the offer of comradeship, no matter how unworthy you may feel, I let my aching body rest in the hands of Afrekete, I let the sword drop, something I should have done a long time ago--dear Audre, from my heart, let us be in each other's presences now, a little visit, dear fierce gentle woman poet warrior.

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

From the Electronic Intifada:

Alice Walker disinvited from University of Michigan over ‘Israel comments’

Ali Abunimah 15 August 2013

World-renowned American author Alice Walker has been disinvited from giving a speech at the University of Michigan because a donor objects to her views on Israel, the agent negotiating the contract was told.

Walker, the Pultizer Prize winning author of The Color Purple, posted on her blog an excerpt of a letter from the agent informing her that the invitation to keynote the 50th anniversary celebration of the Center for the Education of Women at the University of Michigan had been withdrawn.

The agent wrote:

I’m saddened to write this because I’m a proponent of free speech and have been brought up to allow everyone to have their say. But I also realize that there are other considerations that institutions are faced with. This afternoon I was contacted by the University of Michigan instructing me to withdraw their invitation due to the removal of funding from the donors, because of their interpretation of Ms. Walker’s comments regarding Israel. They are not willing to fund this program and the university/Women’s center do not have the resources to finance this on their own. They are deeply regretful but I wanted to let you know immediately either way. I hope you can appreciate the fact that I’m uncomfortable even having to send this email in the first place. Hopefully we can work together again down the road. Thanks for understanding. I wish things had turned out differently.

Calling the withdrawn invitation “Censorship by Purse String,” Walker wrote, “Such behavior, as evidenced by the donors, teaches us our weakness, which should eventually (and soon) show us our strength: women must be in control of our own finances. Not just in the family, but in the schools, work force, and everywhere else. Until we control this part of our lives, our very choices, in any and every area, can be denied us.”

Walker is listed as one of the speakers represented by the American Program Bureau agency.

Alice Walker not “optimum choice”

Gloria D. Thomas, director of the Center for the Education of Women, acknowledged that Walker had been disinvited, but said that the matter was a “misunderstanding.” In an email to The Electronic Intifada, Thomas wrote:

The [Walker’s] blog was a result of an unfortunate misunderstanding. As director of the Center for the Education of Women (CEW), I decided to withdraw our invitation because I didn’t think Ms. Walker would be our optimum choice for our 50th anniversary.

Our 50th anniversary funding is assured. All donations, for this and other events, are accepted with no provisos or prohibitions regarding free speech. In fact, in a conversation with one of Ms. Walker’s friends/representatives, I indicated that I would be willing to speak with other units around campus to serve as a possible co-sponsor for a lecture by Ms. Walker in the near future.

Asked if a speaker had been chosen to replace Walker, Thomas wrote, “No contract has been signed yet. This information will be made available on our website once the contract is confirmed.”

Walker: supporter of Palestinian rights

In recent years, Walker has become increasingly outspoken in her support of Palestinian rights, sometimes likening Israel’s abuses to the Jim Crow racist system she grew up with in the southern United States.

Walker has written about her visit to Gaza, and participated in the June 2011 solidarity flotilla that attempted to reach the territory besieged by Israel, which led to her being demonized by the Israeli army.

Her position on boycott has also been deliberately distorted by Israeli media.

Walker has campaigned for other artists, most recently Alicia Keys, to respect the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

In her letter to Keys, Walker wrote:

I have written over the years that explain why a cultural boycott of Israel and Israeli institutions (not individuals) is the only option left to artists who cannot bear the unconscionable harm Israel inflicts every day on the people of Palestine, whose major “crime” is that they exist in their own land, land that Israel wants to control as its own.

Could Walker, one of the most celebrated figures in American letters, now be paying the price of refusing to be silent about Palestine?

Ali Abunimah's blog

Monday, September 7, 2015

Europe Opens Borders, Israel Builds More Walls

What does a poet make of the floating bodies, washed so gently and so lifeless up on a desired shore, what does a poet make of Israel, inhabited by a people who knows what happens when shores are closed to the endangered ones, now building more and more walls until like a pearl of hardened irritation, it is impenetrable to any other histories. What does the poet do with the knowledge that the thousands of Palestinian families in the destroyed refugee camps of Syria cannot flee to their own nation, because Israel and Egypt have not allowed it to have shape. Only rubble is their fate.

Other users of words, reporters, lawyers, UN workers, politicians, rush after the floating bodies.

Opposition Labor party leader Isaac Herzog, called on the Israeli government "to act toward receiving refugees from the war in Syria" ( AFP/Jack Guez, File)

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Opposition Labor party leader Isaac Herzog called Saturday for Israel to take in Syrian refugees, recalling the plight of Jews who sought refuge from past conflicts.

"Our people has experienced first-hand the silence of the world and cannot be indifferent in the face of the murder and massacre raging in Syria," Herzog posted on his Facebook page.

Speaking at a panel discussion in Tel Aviv, he called on the government "to act toward receiving refugees from the war in Syria, in addition to the humanitarian efforts it is already making."

There is already hostility in Israel toward asylum-seekers from Africa and a concerted government effort to repatriate them.

Official figures show there are 45,000 illegal immigrants in the Jewish state, almost all from Eritrea and Sudan.

Most of those who are not in detention centers live in poor areas on the south side of Tel Aviv, where there have been several protests against them.

Someone identifying himself as Sefi Kamrani wrote on Herzog's Facebook page: "Take all the refugees into your home if you're so worried about them. I'd like to see you live just one week in south Tel Aviv."

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United Nations Saturday to press Israel to allow Palestinians from refugee camps in Syria to take shelter in the Palestinian territories, whose external borders are controlled by the Jewish state.

"President Abbas has asked the Palestinian representative to the UN to implement as quickly as possible, in coordination with the UN secretary general, measures for the return of Palestinian refugees from Syria to the Palestinian territories," his office said.

The UN says there are more than 525,000 Palestinian refugees at its camps in Syria, many of whom have been displaced by the civil war there.

Israel has long been treating wounded Syrians who reach Israeli lines on the occupied Golan Heights, but hostility among the Druze of the area has flared due to rebel attacks on their brethren in Syria.

In June Druze attacked an Israeli military ambulance on the Golan transporting wounded Syrians to hospital, killing one of them.

Previously, Druze in northern Israel's Galilee region stoned a military ambulance they suspected was taking Syrian rebels to hospital.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=767461

From NY Times article

“We are not waiting,” Netanyahu said. “To the extent that it is possible we will encompass Israel’s borders with a security fence and barriers.”"

"You Have Forgotten What It Is To Be Jews"

words of Isaac Herzog

"The issue of Arab asylum seekers is further complicated by the unresolved and politically loaded question of the fate of the Palestinianrefugees who fled or were expelled during the war over Israel’s creation in 1948 and their millions of descendants who demand the right of return to their former homes. ThePalestinian refugee issue has become one of the most intractable of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel, a state of about eight million people that was largely founded by refugees, has long been torn between the humanitarian demands of taking in non-Jews in need and its fears about maintaining its Jewish character and security in a hostile and increasingly chaotic region. It is still grappling with the presence of tens of thousands of African migrants and asylum seekers who surreptitiously crossed the border from Egypt in recent years.

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Saturday instructed the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations to act to bring Palestinian refugees now fleeing the war in Syria to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The presidency has asked the United Nations, the European Union and other players to press Israel to allow Palestinian refugees in, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. The Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the West Bank, but Israel controls the borders and entry points to the territory.

In broadcast remarks at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu said, “Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees from Syria and Africa. We have already devotedly cared for approximately 1,000 wounded people from the fighting in Syria, and we have helped them to rehabilitate their lives.”

But he added, “We must control our borders, against both illegal migrants and terrorism.”

......

Mr. Herzog replied to his critics with a post on Facebook on Sunday, writing, “You have forgotten what it is to be Jews. Refugees. Persecuted.” Calling again for Israel to take in a limited number of refugees who would be vetted, he added that Mr. Begin “must be turning in his grave.”

The African migrants and asylum seekers already in Israel are in a kind of legal limbo. Most are from Sudan and Eritrea, and are afforded blanket protection from deportation in line with international conventions. But Israel has granted only a very few of those who have applied official status as refugees, and their future remains uncertain.

Israel has mostly halted the influx of Africans across the border from Egypt over the last couple of years, in large part by completing construction of a 150-mile, 16-foot-tall steel border fence stretching from the southern resort town of Eilat to Gaza.

Having also built security fences on its frontiers with Lebanon and Syria, through parts of the occupied West Bank and along the border with Gaza, Israel now says it is moving ahead with a previously announced plan to build a fence along the border with Jordan. Although Jordan and Israel have signed a peace treaty and that border has long been calm, Israel fears that it could become a vulnerable entry point for illegal migration and hostile infiltrations.

Mr. Netanyahu said Israel would start by building the fence along a roughly 18-mile stretch from Eilat to Timna, where an airport is under construction.

“We are not waiting,” he said. “To the extent that it is possible we will encompass Israel’s borders with a security fence and barriers.”"