October 21, 2009 - 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Darien Library
1441 Post Road
Darien, CT
"Life In Occupied Palestine" - Documentary showing followed by discussion.
October 28, 2009 - 8:30 am (Private Event)
A Tanenbaum Private Briefing: Israel and Palestine - Moving Beyond Differences
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti in a forum with His Excellency Michael B. Oren, Israel Ambassador to the United States
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 11:00 pm (Reshown October 29 at 8:30 pm)
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, and Anna Baltzer are guests, both noted Palestinian peace activists.
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Well.
(*)
This "project" describes itself:-
The Seventy Times Seven Project, Inc. is a not-for-profit human rights [Jewish rights, too?] organization dedicated to peace and justice in the Middle East and elsewhere through promoting the truth, reconciliation and forgiveness.
The Foundation's name is taken from Mathew 18:22. [funny that. the two verses there go: "21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?'" 22 Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times'." a) if Israel has done much less wrong than the Pals. as I would insist, who forgives whom? b) if we're forgiven, why keep blasting us?]
The Foundation's current focus [is there any other focus in the near future? like Pals. suffering from Hamas?] is on ending violence and injustice related to the occupation of Palestine.
While most Americans strongly support security for Israel--as do we--few people realize how severely Palestinians, including Christian Palestinians, suffer at the hands of the Israelis, and how often the line is crossed from security into harassment or brutality.
It's run by David Maloof:
He deals in propaganda, like this claim:
For Palestinian Christians, the Holy Land today does not provide a blessed life...Father Justinus, a Greek Orthodox priest, has been attacked numerous times by Israeli settlers who wish to repossess the well. Today, roughly 50,000 Christians remain in the West Bank -- less than 4% of the population, a figure which was 40% before Israel was created. Even, Jesus' birthplace, Bethlehem, is no longer majority Christian.Really?
While some have sought to blame Muslims for the decline, in a 2006 poll of Christians in Bethlehem, 78% attributed the ongoing exodus of Christians from Bethlehem to the Israeli travel restrictions on the area.
Who rapes Christian girls? Who really persecutes Christians in the Holy Land?
And he does reach out:-
And we spoke with Israelis who are fighting for Palestinians rights. People like Jeff Halper of Israel's Committee Against House Demolitions, who literally lays in front of bulldozers to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes. He has in the past been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. And Israelis like Rabbi Arak Ascherman...
I suggest he reconsider this verse, as it would seem to apply to his work:
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)
This David has got my hands up - but in despair.
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UPDATE
Received this from David Maloof:
Correction, the person who will attend the breakfast with Mustafa Barghouti sponsored by the Tanenbaum Foundation and supported by us is the Honorable Asaf Shariv, Israel's Consul General in New York.
Sincerely,
David T. Maloof
and see comments below
Posts
3 comments:
Why not just acknowledge that there is persecution of Christians on both sides and disavow it? You seem to defend and deny it, calling the accusation itself propoganda.
Stats that don't support my opinion=PROPAGANDA
Stats that support my opinion=FACT
Everyone knows that Muslims persecute Christians the world over on a broader scale than the Holy Land, much do to the numbers of scale. There are how many Muslim majority nations?
But the fact remains, that in the only Jewish state some Israelis also persecute Christians. And it's wrong in both cases, especially when Israel claims to allow freedom of religion, and protect the rights of minorities. Most Muslim states don't claim that.
You still haven't watched the video clip I posted have you?? Here's the link again, in case you need it: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-6985238613573695293
Thank you for your work... despite my disagreement with you on some issues, I thoroughly enjoy reading the information you post.
On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 2:14 PM, dmaloof wrote:
Thank you for your opinion.
We do strongly support Israel and believe that foregiveness by both sides is the path to peace. But the persecution of the Palestinians benefits no one and actually harms Israel. . Foster peaceful leaders on their side and get peace accomplished.
Shalom.
And I wrote back:
Israelis and Jews are not interested in persecuting Arabs.
The area for the Jewish National Home was divided in 1923 and 75% given to TransJordan.
In 1937-39, several additional partition proposals were made. The Mufti preferred killing Jews.
In 1947, the UN proposed partition. The Arabs launched a war.
Ther Arabs never accepted any of this compromise. For them, it was all or nothing. They got next to nothing when they lost the war of aggression against Israel.
But they didn't learn. So they had fedayeen in the 1950s and in 1964, 3 years before the Six Days War, they founded Fatah and continued terror.
Israel agreed to had over territory through Oslo and 97% at Camp David II. For the Arabs, it wasn't enough although Israel gained that territory legally as you surely know.
In 2005, Israel evacuated Gaza - no Jews, no communities, no farms. Did that stop the violence from Arabs directly exclusively at civilians? No.
Who is supposed to forgive here?
Thank you for your response. I have given my life to working with Arab leaders, both Christian and Muslim, to work towards peace. It may take another generation my friend, but it is possible with the right posture on both sides.
I encourage you too to foster understanding and humility from your side as I am working towards here, while graciously presenting your perspective such as the historical review you chose. The best thing you can do is to be the first to admit when you see something wrong, instead of appearing to condone or defend.
Forgiveness is necessary from all and to all. In a mud throwing contest, even bystanders are 'dirty.'
Blessings to you.
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