Super Bowl Sunday

The first thing that penetrated my sleep-fogged mind this morning was the announcer on the television set telling me that a ticket near the 50-yard-line of today's game would cost about $15,000.

FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS?? 

FOR ONE TICKET--TO ONE GAME??

I was suddenly wide awake and filled with a mix of strong emotions--outrage, sadness, and a feeling of helpless frustration. I was yelling at the television set,

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY PEOPLE THAT COULD FEED? 

HOW MANY BLANKETS FOR FREEZING REFUGEES?"

http://en.tempo.co/read/beritafoto/12250/Syrian-Refugees-in-Lebanon-Face-Bitter-Winter/6

"They can't hear you. You know that, don't you?"

My husband, always the voice of reason. I know he was talking about the television, but it holds true for a much broader audience. They can't hear me--yet. 

One of the reasons I started writing novels is to reach an audience that has little or no knowledge of the plight of refugees, how they live, or what desperate efforts they make just to have a touch of normalcy in their lives.

http://amazon.com/dp/1633200183/

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1633200035/

Refugees are just like us. They have families they care about, have hopes for their children to have a better life. They do what they can to survive and try to boost their children into a better world. Each family has a story; each story has moments of sadness and moments of triumph.

Yes, I understand that nobody ever said life was fair, but understanding and accepting are very different. 

What can you do to make a difference?

http://www.endtheoccupation.org

• You can stay informed. Listen to what's happening in other parts of the world.
• Be compassionate. People are people regardless of the flag flying overhead.
• Remember the less fortunate, and give what you can.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency
http://www.unrwa.org

International Rescue Committee
http://www.rescue.org

Gaza: Where the Arab Spring Turned to Winter

As I begin writing another novel about Palestine, it was suggested that I write about the Palestine of today, this minute—the Palestine with cell phones and Facebook.

Could I do that? Could I write about the Palestine of computers and cell phones without writing about the Palestine of hunger and constant fear? Could I do that without including the children traumatized by Operation Cast Lead and the smaller, unnamed operations that continue, unceasing, yet unremarked by the media?

According to the Gaza Community Health Programme, Operation Cast Lead affected approximately 95% of the people in Gaza, and an estimated 12% suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. 

The Arab Spring gave a flare of hope for Gaza. In spite of the Israeli blockade that was imposed in 2007, the economy revived in 2012. Hundreds of tunnels were built under the houses and olive groves of Gaza, stretching to Rafah and different strategic points in the Sinai. Goods of all sorts, including building supplies, clothing, computers, fuel, medicine—even Kentucky Fried Chicken, flowed through the tunnels. Men were employed rebuilding the homes destroyed by bombs. Engineers, truck drivers, shopkeepers, dressmakers, health care workers went back to work. Taxes on the goods imported through the tunnels paid the government employees. Teachers, clerks, ministers, sanitation workers were paid.

Then the Egyptian President Mursi was ousted, and the new Egyptian government began to destroy tunnels. Ceaseless and relentless, they destroyed or water-logged an estimated 90% of the tunnels, and Gaza was sealed at both ends. (Read more about this: http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/gaza-between-the-rock-and-a-hard-place-1.1247751)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1450513948

Gaza has a long coast line and has always relied on the sea for food and as a source of income. Since the beginning of the Israeli blockade, many Gaza fishermen have avoided the guns of the Israeli naval forces by fishing in Egyptian waters. This , too, stopped suddenly and without warning when Gaza fishing boats were fired upon by Egyptian forces. The video below gives more details. Gaza is now the world’s largest prison.

Can I write about this? Even when I write about Palestinian refugees, I need to have stories that end well. I like happy endings. Can I find a happy ending in Gaza? 

Maybe not today, but I know where I would begin looking for a happy ending--the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme under the able direction of Dr. Eyad Sarraj. The doctors and staff work tirelessly to help alleviate the suffering and depression that invades the population a conditions grow steadily worse. Perhaps that is my happy ending--not an ending but a beginning, a place to find hope.

You can help these efforts by donating today: http://www.gazamentalhealth.org The Gaza Mental Health Foundation is a US charity that is run entirely by volunteers and all donations go to the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme.

ART - Telling the Story

What is art? Despite the fact that the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/art-definition/) says the definition of art is controversial, and that it has even been debated if art can be defined, few of us have any doubt that art exists—with or without a definition. We even know that it has existed almost as long as mankind has existed, and that it involves creativity.

What is the purpose of art? Again, there are differences of opinion. Some say that art needs no purpose, that beauty itself is sufficient. Others say that artists create the art as an act of expression. They are telling the world something through their art.

Palestinian artists, more than any other group, feel compelled to include their story in their art. Even Palestinians who were born in the diaspora and Palestinian-in-laws find ways to express their feelings through their work. Or perhaps I have it the wrong way around—perhaps it is the Palestinian condition that generates the immense emotional pressures that, for some, can only be relieved through art.

The connection between intense emotion and art has been used for decades by those treating pediatric victims of trauma. The results are poignant and heart breaking. (Click this link or view below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byn4Byyya48

Whether it is a Palestinian artist who lived through the Nakba and was forever scarred by the experience, like Ismail Shammout (http://ismail-shammout.com), often called the father of Palestinian painters, or a young vibrant artist like John Halaka (http://www.johnhalaka.com/artwork.html) whose work often moves into new territory, they have one thing in common: empathy for the oppressed. They also have to fight for the right to show their work. John Halaka has said that “American curators are cowards when it comes to political art.” http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/sarah-irving/american-curators-are-cowards-when-it-comes-political-art-says-palestinian-artist

Art does not always express itself in paint. There are also amazing literary artists, like Lisa Majaj, whose wonderful poetry in her book, Geographies of Light, evoke more than a sense of loss, the call upon an entire culture which she uses as a foundation for her own identity. To hear her poem, “Guidelines” read and later discussed by another Palestinian American poet of note, Naomi Shihab Nye, go to  http://www.loc.gov/poetry/poetry-of-america/american-identity/naomishihabnye-lisasuhairmajaj.html 

Her book is available through Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1934832081  

Novelist abound in the world of Palestinian art. Sahar Khalifeh, Susan Abulhawa, Raja Shehadeh, are just a few of the names I can pull from my limited personal experience. There are many more.

Even my own novel has earned some modest recognition.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1450513948 

WORLD REFUGEE DAY - June 20

June 20^th was declared World Refugee Day less than thirteen years ago. Millions of Palestinians have been refugees for five times that many years. Over a million Syrian refugees have joined their ranks only recently, and their numbers are growing daily.

The United Nations reports that more than 45.2 million people have been displaced from their homes due to conflict or violence, making it the highest number since 1994, when millions of people fled ethnic violence in former Yugoslavia and genocide in Rwanda.

And each day, another 23,000 people begin to search for safety from harm or persecution—the world has a new refugee or internally displaced person every 4.1 seconds. “Each time you blink, another person is forced to flee,” said Antonio Guterres, chief of the U.N.’s Refugee Agency, in Geneva. Earlier, he called the numbers “truly alarming.”  http://world.time.com/2013/06/20/the-worst-refugee-crisis-in/

No one wants to be a refugee. They didn't want to flee their homes, often with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They don't want to live on borrowed land, dependent on the charity of the world. No one chooses that path easily. It is chosen as a last resort—an alternative to certain death for loved ones.

Refugees love their families. They have hopes and dreams. Refugees would like nothing better than to leave their refugee status behind and live normal lives with only the ordinary problems of going to work each morning and raising their children to be good decent people...but that is not an option for them.

As UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie said in her press release today, 20 June 2013

I have met refugees around the world. They are resilient, hardworking and gracious people. They have experienced more violence and faced more fear than we will ever know. They have lost their homes, their belongings and their countries. They have often lost family and friends to horrific deaths. Faced with war and oppression they have chosen not to take up arms, but to try to find safety for their families. They deserve our respect, our acknowledgment and our support – not just today but for the duration of their ordeal. http://www.unhcr.org/51c2f7c26.html

Blogging for the same purpose with a new look

While searching for inspiration for this week’s blog, I ran across this painting by an unknown artist available as a free download for wallpaper http://mobile.brothersoft.com/36023.html.  Yes, of course the picture made me think of Ali in Born a Refugee, but it made me think of my own reasons for starting this blog—my belief that the pen (or the keyboard) is mightier than the sword (or stones).  Not everyone chooses to fight with stones, not everyone can fight with stones, and Mahmoud, Ali’s brother, will tell you that not everyone should fight with stones.  Maybe he’d even say no one should fight with stones.

After thinking about this, I gave the blog has a new look and a new name, one that is more descriptive of the content.  Originally, I thought the blog would draw from two different groups of readers.  One group were readers who had enjoyed my novels and would like to learn more about Palestine; the other group I hoped to attract were people already interested in Palestine who might want to read the novels.  In short, the blog was to focus on my two passions:  books and Palestine.

Along the way, the message of Palestine broadened.  Whenever possible, I combined the two, as when I blogged about Naji al-Ali’s Handala in A Child in Palestine, or the wonderful poetry of Lisa Suhair Majaj in Geographies of Light.  I again blended the two topics when I heard about possible censorship of legally sold ebooks.  Censorship of books is something that raises the ire of most writers, just as censorship of the art of Palestinian children raised the ire of art lovers and Palestinians alike.  http://www.pckprclothing.com/blog/banned-palestinian-childrens-art-mocha-oakland-ca-let-children-play-and-heal

The discovery of an Amazon widget meant I could concentrate the blog on different aspects of Palestine and let the widget take care of the books—and I’m going to broaden the horizons of the blog.

Next week I’m going to stand things front to back and start with "Z" -- and tell you about zatar—real thyme that tastes wonderful and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. 

I am also inviting others to participate as guest bloggers.  Anyone who has something to say concerning Palestine is welcome to contact me.