The Anglican Church of St Philip's O'Connor, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Parish action flows from the lives and work of parishioners and pastoral contacts that happen from the parish as well as parish responses to diocesan and wider appeals.
We have parishioners from Israel and from Zimbabwe; some who have returned home to Kenya and to the Solomons; others working in the Pacific. A number of parishioners whose homes are in Canberra are often working throughout the world for the government or aid agencies. Our contact with the ANU keeps us in contact with many different places of the world. (thank you all!) This page has many links to opportunities for individuals and parishes to act in areas of the world that are often (or not often enough) in the news. It was started after a group met with to focus on Israel and Palestine.
http://www.anglicord.org.au/current.html Anglicord appeal for Al Ahli hospital Gaza. also http://www.abmission.org/ ABM emergency appeal. (two ways to donate to a joint appeal)
http://www.ncca.org.au/actforpeace The National Council of Churches' Emergency Gaza appeal.
Update on 8th January 2009 from the Bishop in Jerusalem. Anglican Communion News Bulletin.
January 15th http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/1/15/ACNS4558 Anglican Communion News Service Update from Al Ahli Arab Hospital.
Read Rev'd Dr Ray's Epiphany sermon. http://www.stphilipsoconnor.org.au/sermons/04January2009_RW.html
"Every Hospital in the Gaza strip is already overwhelmed with injured people and does not have the medicine or the capacity to treat them. Israel is committing crimes against humanity, it is violating international and human rights law, ignoring the United Nations and planning even bigger attacks."
Ewa Jasiewicz (Polish and British) Free Gaza Movement
More information on Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City:
http://www.jmeca.org.uk/biblelands_pentecost2007/biblelands_jerusalem_gaza.html (Jerusalem and Middle East Churches Association)
An action to take: Sign a letter to Israel.
http://december18th.org/ to free the Shministim. These are youngsters (17-19yr olds) who refuse to join the Israeli army. Thousands of postcards were delivered to the Minister of Defence in Israel on the 18th December 2008. Sign the letter now. (The global response continues to grow. December 23rd)
"There is a traditional belief in Yiddish culture, which comes from the Jewish mystical tradition, about the lamedvavniks, the thirty six righteous and humble people for whom God saves the world. The shministim are our lamedvavniks-our voice of conscience, our tiny flickering hope of building a society that does not willingly participate in controlling, terrorizing, and killing the Palestinian people — enforcing the checkpoints, demolishing homes, destroying ancient olive groves, building the Wall, confiscating land, enforcing siege and all the other immoral and illegal actions of the occupation." (Rebecca Vilkomerson)
The Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC, The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, delivered a powerful sermon Sunday, October 5 2008, at St. Columba Church, the
largest Episcopal church in DC, on the topic of his recent trip toPalestine/Israel.
Click on link below:
http://www.columba.org/listen/sermon/sermon2008-10-05JBCau.mp3
Download (right click and 'save as') Blood on their hands.pdf
a pdf file (2MB) reporting on the killing of 68 Palestinian children in Gaza between 30th June 2007 and 30th June 2008.
More details at: http://www.pchrgaza.org/ The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
Israelis are helping Palestinians to bring in the Olive harvest. see: "Israelis cross religious divide to shelter olive farmers from settlers' attacks." in The Independent. By Donald Macintyre in Awarta, West Bank Friday, 10 October 2008
In the Federal Government on 1st September 2008 a Private Members Bill on Palestine-Israeli conflict was debated. The draft Hansard of that debate is in two files here: Palestine_motion.rtf and Palestine_motion.pdf. Four members spoke to the motion.
New High School Graduates are now being called up for military service in Israel (August 2008). Some are Conscientious Objectors:
http://www.newprofile.org/showdata.asp?pid=1236 Read about Udi Nir and the Recommended Action to support him (and others).
http://thispalestinianlife.blogspot.com/ A view from the borders of Gaza.
A series of articles in The Guardian (UK) on the West Bank barrier:
The Great Divide
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/westbankbarrier
http://www.combatantsforpeace.org/
Combatants for Peace. An organisation formed in 2005 by former combatants in Palestine and Israel.
See: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/woman-who-wore-a-suicide-bomb-takes-up-fight-for-middle-east-peace-914553.html
Articles in The Electronic Intifada:
from Avigail:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9567.shtml
A change needs to come
Avigail Abarbanel, The Electronic Intifada, 26 May 2008
"Growing up as an Israeli provided me with an intimate understanding of Israeli-Jewish psychology. Ever since I can remember, we in Israel were told that Jews have nowhere else to go because the world didn't like Jews. Seventeen years ago, when my former husband and I were about to migrate to Australia, most of the people we knew were dismayed by our decision. I was told by many that I was making a big mistake. My father's heart surgeon for example, was in complete shock when he heard our news. He took me aside and said that he did not understand how I could leave; that he would never be prepared to live anywhere where there might be even one anti-Semite alive. Like many others he believed that Jews can only safely live in Israel."
See also from Avigail: "What 'Peace' really means to Israelis" http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3548.shtml
and "Speaking out about Israel to save the Jewish soul" by Cecilie Surasky, The Electronic Intifada, 2 February 2005
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3593.shtml
In the May meeting with Archbishop Aspinall, Avigail talked about her perceptions of fear in Israel and its consequences. Read her articles to understand more of what she is saying. The article by Cecile Surasky underlines one of the suggested activities which came from that meeting. People in Israel who are working for peace and justice for all peoples in Israel/Palestine need to be supported.
Other Links:
Australia:
International Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel http://icappi.org.au/
Heads of Churches Statement http://icappi.org.au/images/stories/pdf/hocstatementp-isignatories.pdf
Introductory Information Pack on Palestine-Israel
http://tinyurl.com/4tgf48
http://www.sabeel.org.au/
Friends of Sabeel (Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center)
Women for Palestine (A Melbourne based group)
Israeli groups:
B'Tselem http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. B'Tselem are providing video cameras to Palestinians to record settler violence.
Sabeel Center, Jerusalem
Web site for the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. http://www.sabeel.org/
http://www.sabeel.org/etemplate.php?id=70:
"Sabeel believes that Christians are called to prophetically speak of justice and hope in the face of injustice and hopelessness. While memories of 1948 are often shocking and disturbing, the necessity of shining the light of justice and truth on the events of the past remains. By so doing, Sabeel hopes to forge a path from remembrance to justice and mercy and to challenge Christians and the global community to come to terms with1948, to have a better understanding of the Palestinian Christian community inside the state of Israel, and to find a just solution to the refugee crisis."
http://www.kibush.co.il/index.asp
Occupation Magazine. current news, well covered, especially from the checkpoints. (With news from Machsom watch)
Machsom Watch. An organisation of peace activist Israeli women.
http://www.machsomwatch.org/en
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel.
http://www.acri.org.il/eng/
Gila Svirsky's site. http://www.gilasvirsky.com/ Gila is an Israeli "Woman in Black" A Women in Black vigil is regularly conducted in Canberra on Fridays 1pm-2pm (Petrie Plaza, Civic,
near the merry go round.) see: http://www.womeninblackcanberra.org.au/
And Breaking the Silence.
Various web sites:
"Breaking the Silence"
http://www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp Israeli soldiers talk about the occupied territories.
more links for this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_The_Silence the Wikipedia site.
http://www.jpost.com/
The Jerusalem Post. Worth reading!
http://www.givathaviva.org.il/english/welcome.htm
Don't rely on the news to tell you casualty statistics.
Links to current and authoritative statistics:
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/219.shtml
(including Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Palestine Red Crescent Society)
brought over from the index page:
Palestine
The Elders
The Elders of our global village are acting to bring the world together. "The Elders can be a group who have the trust of the world, who can speak freely, be fiercely independent and respond fast and flexibly in conflict situations." Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi are some of this group. Sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at EveryHumanHasRights.org.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/niilin-the-west-bank-focus-of-unarmed-demonstrations-and-civil-disobedience-881584.html
Independent.co.uk
Ni'ilin: the West Bank focus of unarmed demonstrations and civil disobedience
By Donald Macintyre in Ni'ilin
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Mariam Moussa appeared almost catatonic in her grief yesterday, seated immobilised on a sofa, her eyes fixed on the "martyr" poster she was clutching of her ten year old son, killed by an Israeli bullet the previous evening. "Since she heard the news she didn't say anything and she didn't eat or drink anything" said Isma Amireh, 36, a family friend.
Outside, young men joining the procession, some with green Hamas and yellow Fatah flags, marching past the family's white two storey house to the adjacent cemetery chanted: "Mother of the martyr, ululate, all the young here are your children" In the centre of this village in the hills west of Ramallah, freshly painted red graffiti on the wall proclaimed "The death of the martyr Ahmed Moussa will increase our struggle against occupation."
But in the upstairs room crowded with tearful women mourners where the pregnant Mrs Moussa sat silently staring at the photograph of her third son, and flanked by two of the boy's aunts, there was little of this political defiance. One aunt, giving her name only as Umm Mala, wearily deflected questions about her nephew, a keen footballer and excellent Arabic student, according to one of his teachers "What will help us with all this talk?" she asked. "He will not come back to us."
Strikingly, however, the mourners were joined not only by leftist independent politicians like Mustafa Barghouti but also by Rafiq Husseini, the right hand man of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. For Ni'ilin has become the West Bank focus of unarmed demonstrations and civil disobedience against the military's separation barrier, which farmers here say is cutting them off from more than 800 acres of West Bank olive groves on which their livelihood depends.
Ahmed Moussa, was killed on Tuesday evening by a what an initial Border Police investigation confirmed was a live M16 bullet fired by the driver of a military jeep which advanced on a group of youths and children, including the dead boy. They had wandered after just such a demonstration among rolls of barbed wire used to build a fence to keep them away from the infrastructure of the barrier itself. As the Israel Defence Forces opened an investigation into the fatal incident. Mr Husseini declared "Our child is equal to an Israeli child. I hope the Israelis realize they are going nowhere by killing children." Endorsing the tactics deployed by Ni'ilin villagers, he added: "This resistance is not armed but peaceful and it will win."
Palestinian medics said later that a 21 year old Palestinian man severely wounded in the head was among nine injured by rubber bullets fired by Israel troops as protesters gathered for the funeral threw stones. Earlier Israeli forces had used stun grenades and tear gas to prevent crowds of mourners getting to close to them.
Mohammed Kanan, 28, a member of the committee organizing the protests said that the shooting of the ten year old was a "revenge" on Ni'ilin because a local woman, Mr Kanan's 17 year old sister, had three weeks ago taken video footage-widely shown on Israeli TV-of a soldier shooting a blindfolded and handcuffed 27 year old protestor Ashraf Abu-Rahma at close range in the foot. The battalion commander at Ni'ilin Lieutenant Colonel Omri Bruberg, whom the soldier accused of ordering him to carry out the shooting, has been suspended for ten days pending an investigation. Mr Kanan's father was arrested the day after the video aired and is still in detention.
Mr Kanan acknowledged that stones had been thrown during protests but added "We call on people to use non-violence but the Israelis provoke people and they are not in our control.That is the problem." He said that "people are divided about this." Some say if the Israelis use violence we should respond. Others say we should not respond. I think we should use only legal means."
He added: "We depend on this land for our livelihoods. And it is all our land. If the wall was on the 1967 border [between Israel and Palestinian territory] we would not make any protest."
Said Amireh, 16, who had been among the group near the barrler, said that when the boys had seen the jeep - which had been "hiding" - move towards them they had worked their way back through fencing and started to run to safety. "But the younger ones weren't able to keep with us. I looked back and saw the driver of the jeep get out and fire three bullets and a young boy was lying on the ground. One young man went to fetch the body and shook it to see if there was life and part of his skull just went on the ground."
One witnesss Mohammed Hamdan, a 27 year old bakery worker said that the dead boy had been standing by an olive tree. While he said there had been stone throwing before the incident, another of the youths who escaped, Hamad Attallah, 18, said there was no chance for anybody to throw stones during the fatal incident. "We were just trying to get away." He added: "We have a right to be on our land. They don't have the right to shoot him on our own land."
Said Amireh added: "Why didn't they shoot rubber bullets? Why did they shoot live bullets? That is the question."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/crossing-the-divide-cooking-with-the-enemy-860009.html
"Take two chefs, one Israeli and one Palestinian, and you have the recipe for a groundbreaking TV drama that is helping to break down barriers in the Middle East.
"As with the fictional cookery show, the channel's network company Reshet took some persuading to run Good Intentions. The inspiration for it came from the Parents Circle-Families' Forum (PCFF), a joint grassroots organisation of Israeli and Palestinian families bereaved by the conflict. One of its most prominent members is Robi Damelin, whose 28-year-old army reservist son, David, was killed by a Palestinian sniper in 2002.
Ms Damelin, who believes 'the occupation is killing the moral fibre of Israel'…"
27th June 2008; from Jim Wallis' Sojourners mailing, a New York Times article on the "Two Israels".
Nicholas Kristof writes: "It is here in the Palestinian territories that you see the worst side of Israel: … Yet it is also here that you see the very best side of Israel. Israeli human rights groups relentlessly stand up for Palestinians…".
http://www.imemc.org/article/55812
Recommendations to the International Community:
Due to the number and severity of Israeli attacks this week, the PCHR made a number of recommendations to the international community. Among these were a recommendation that the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their legal and moral obligations under Article 1 of the Convention to ensure Israel's respect for the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. PCHR believes that the conspiracy of silence practiced by the international community has encouraged Israel to act as if it is above the law and encourages Israel continue to violate international human rights and humanitarian law
The site was first published on July 28th 2003.
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